Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Soviet Ellipses: Omissions as Techniques of Border Transgression in Photography, Literature, and Everyday Life

Project description

Framing Soviet ellipses as subversive strategies

The Soviet Union ellipses (conscious omissions) in Soviet photography, literature, and daily life emerged as subversive strategies against political repression and restriction of expression. The EU-funded SOVEL project will demonstrate how these ellipses functioned as challenging techniques against constructed symbolic borders and reframe our understanding of cultural counter practices under the Soviet regime. The project will examine the creation, accumulation, function, and the creative power of ellipses by developing a methodological model to analyse ellipses as techniques transgressing different forms of borders. SOVEL will combine literary studies, border studies, image theory, cultural semiotics with geographic information systems (GIS) to perform theoretical investigation, interpretation, systematisation, and comparison of ellipses regarding production, representation, and border crossing.

Objective

This research action at the University of Oslo (UiO) deals with the creation and representation of ellipses (i.e. conscious omissions) in Soviet photography, literature, and everyday life. It sets out from the premise that the accumulation of omission practices during Soviet times (1917–1991) did not occur by accident, but rather served as a subversive strategy to undermine political repressions and the restriction of expression, which had been dominating the Soviet society for so long. The main objective of the action is to demonstrate how ellipses function as techniques that challenge (constructed symbolic) borders in order to reframe our understanding of cultural (counter) practices within Soviet society. By bringing together Literary Studies, Border Studies, Image Theory, Cultural Semiotics, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) the project will examine the making, the accumulation, the function, and the creative power of ellipses with regard to different types of media and in a diachronic and comparative scope. The action thus comprises of (1) the development of a methodological model to analyse how ellipses function as creative techniques aiming to transgress different forms of (constructed symbolic) borders; (2) the subsequent theoretical investigation, interpretation, systematization, and comparison of ellipses in terms of production, representation, and border crossings by means of the model in addition to their contextualization and visualization by means of a digital map. The action draws on broad ranging resources and an interdisciplinary research environment at UiO’s Faculty of Humanities and includes a secondment at Humboldt University of Berlin (HU). The research and training activities, the collaboration with the supervisors and with experts from multiple fields at UiO and HU, and the multi-layered implementation will enable me to enhance my academic profile significantly and will thus be pivotal in order to secure a successful career in academia.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

UNIVERSITETET I OSLO
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 202 158,72
Address
PROBLEMVEIEN 5-7
0313 Oslo
Norway

See on map

Region
Norge Oslo og Viken Oslo
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 202 158,72
My booklet 0 0