‘Stalinist Russocentrism’: An Interview with David Brandenberger about the Second Russian Edition of his Monograph National Bolshevism: Stalinist Mass Culture and the Formation of Modern Russian National Identity, 1931-1956 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2002. viii, 378 p.)

Abstract

David Brandenberger holds a doctorate in history (PhD.) and is professor of Russian and Soviet history in the Department of History at the University of Richmond (USA). He is also an associate researcher at the National Research University “Higher School of Economics” in Moscow. He is the author of books on the formation of Russian national identity during the Stalin era and on the infl uence that party propaganda and mass culture had on that process. In this interview, David Brandenberger discusses the arguments and methodologies that contributed to his monograph that was initially published in English and then in two Russian editions: National Bolshevism: Stalinist Mass Culture and the Formation of Modern Russian National Identity, 1931-1956 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002), Natsional-bol’shevizm: stalinskaya massovaya kul’tura i formirovaniye russkogo natsional’nogo samosoznaniya, 1931-1956 gg. (St Petersburg: Akademicheskiy proekt, 2009) и Stalinskiy russotsentrizm: Sovetskaya massovaya kul’tura i formirovaniye russkogo natsional’nogo samosoznaniya, 1931-1956 gg . (Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2017). Among other things, the author discusses how his thoughts on the topic of this book have evolved since its fi rst publication in light of scholarly debate and the increased availability of primary and secondary sources.