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

Empire of solidarities: a connected history of private charity across a decentred Romanov Empire, 1855–1914

Project description

Solidarity and private charity in the Romanov Empire

In the late 19th century, the Romanov Empire spanned a vast territory from Tallinn to Vladivostok, encompassing a diverse range of populations. However, our understanding of whether people felt inclined to help each other during times of need is limited. The ERC-funded EMPSOLID project aims to pioneer a new history of affective practices by focusing on private charity as a means of making solidarity visible. It will examine the history of solidarity in the Romanov Empire during the long nineteenth century and analyse grassroots private charitable initiatives across four distinct regions from 1855 to 1914. The project will digitally map the flows and networks of donations to identify trends and spatial patterns in charitable practices.

Objective

By the late nineteenth century, the Romanov Empire stretched half-way across the globe, turning inhabitants of the territory stretching from todays Tallinn to Vladivostok into subjects of one and the same empire. Yet, we know little about whether the population felt any impulse to help one another in times of need. Under what circumstances did people feel compassion towards distant others and how far-ranging did their sympathies extend? What did these solidarities mean, how were they enacted and expressed through ideas, emotions, and lived experiences? If solidarities could reach across such a multiconfessionally and multiethnically heterogenous empire, how does the Romanov experience enrich our understanding of empire and solidarity as seemingly irreconcilable notions? EMPSOLID applies an unconventional lens to answer these questions. It pioneers a new history of affective practices that, for the first time, focuses on private charity as a method to make solidarities visible and allow us to study them in action. The projects objectives are to: 1) trace the conceptual history of solidarity in the empire; 2) gather and analyse examples of grassroots private charitable initiatives (benevolent and charitable associations, fundraising campaigns, and private donations) across four regionally distinct Romanov imperial border regions (Baltic provinces, Southwestern provinces, South Caucasus, Turkestan) from 1855-1914 on behalf of beneficiaries outside of the givers vicinities; and 3) digitally map flows and networks of donations to generate insights into larger trends and spatial patterns in charitable practices. The projects ambitious, decentring perspective aspires to envision a long-overdue new spatial history of the Romanov Empire in the long nineteenth century founded on horizontal threads of solidarity linking regions and postulates that these charitable entanglements formed a crucial part of the social fabric holding together nineteenth-century empires.

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.

HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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) ERC-2024-STG

See all projects funded under this call

Host institution

TARTU ULIKOOL
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.

€ 1 499 954,00
Address
ULIKOOLI 18
51005 TARTU
Estonia

See on map

Region
Eesti Eesti Lõuna-Eesti
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.

€ 1 499 954,00

Beneficiaries (1)

My booklet 0 0