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

Anamnesis: Post-Soviet Memory and Religion through the Prism of New Martyrs

Project description

Martyrdom narratives in post-communist countries

The use of martyrdom narratives by religious institutions in post-communist Eastern European countries and particularly the mass canonisation and commemoration by the Orthodox churches of people who perished under Communism suggests that religion plays a significant role in shaping narratives of the past and influencing collective identities. The EU-funded ANAMNE project will study Orthodox commemorations of New Martyrs in Estonia, Russia and Ukraine, focusing on gender due to the lack of female martyrs. This innovative project will apply an interdisciplinary method of memory studies, cultural history, anthropology and religious studies to reveal the relationships between the communist past and the collective identities of today's Orthodox Christians, advancing comparative research on memory and religion.

Objective

The use of martyrdom narratives by religious institutions and believers in Eastern Europe to deal with the deaths of men and women who perished in communist purges and camps has attracted scholarly attention, but still lacks a comprehensive treatment. In particular, the mass canonisations and commemorations of so-called New Martyrs by the Orthodox churches suggest that religion has an important role to play in shaping narratives of the past and, thus, affecting collective identities. Yet, because works on post-communist non-secular memory are generally lacking, the role of East European churches in the process of coming to terms with the past remains poorly understood.
The aim of ANAMNE is to provide a comparative, evidence-based study of Orthodox commemorations of New Martyrs in three national contexts, Russia, Ukraine and Estonia, with a special focus on gender, in particular on the lack of female New Martyrs. Using an interdisciplinary approach of memory studies, cultural history, anthropology and religious studies, this innovative study will provide insight into the relationship between the communist past and the collective identities of contemporary Orthodox Christians, and contribute to our understanding of the workings of martyrdom narratives globally. Expected outcomes of the study will be a change in the attitudes of the various stakeholders towards religion’s role in the process of ‘coming to terms with the past’. More broadly, the project will advance the excellence of comparative research on memory and religion in several Widening EU countries, a large majority of which have strong Orthodox representation. This MSCA fellowship in the Faculty of Religion and Theology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam will allow the very Experienced Researcher to build strong leadership in her field, take the next step towards a research professorship, and strengthen her international networks and funding.

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

STICHTING VU
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.

€ 187 572,48
Address
DE BOELELAAN 1105
1081 HV Amsterdam
Netherlands

See on map

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.

€ 187 572,48
My booklet 0 0