How do Russians perceive Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Researching war perception in war time Russia using interviews and ethnography
03.12.2024 03.12. / 6 – 7.30 pm / Lecture Hall 3 / Lecture by Svetlana Erpyleva (Public Sociology Laboratory)
Abstract:
On February 24th, 2022, Russia launched a military offensive in Ukraine. One of the topical questions, discussed by academics, politicians, and the wider public alike, is whether Russians genuinely support their government’s decision. Public opinions about the war in Russia is widely studied using survey data. However, many Russian citizens have no consistent position on the issue, and they cannot fully express their position by answering multiple choice questions. Thus, to grasp more of the complexity, discrepancies, and contradictions behind war support and opposition, we need qualitative methods, such as in-depth interviews or ethnography. The lecturer represents the Public Sociology Laboratory, the only research team systematically monitoring war perception in Russia using qualitative methods.
But how does one study war time Russia with qualitative methods? How can we make people suspicious of strangers talk with researchers about highly sensitive and censored topics? How can researchers be sure that the qualitative data they receive is truly spoken in this context? How are ethnographic observations of war perception possible; in short, what exactly does the researcher observe? And finally, what can we learn about Russo-Ukrainian war perception in Russia by using qualitative methods? This lecture will cover these questions.
Bio:
Svetlana Erpyleva is a sociologist, a researcher with Public Sociology Laboratory, Centre for Independent Social Research (Russia), and a post-doctoral researcher Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen. She received her PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Helsinki. Her research is focused on protest movements and collective action, political involvement, political socialization, youth and children’s political participation, perception of the war in Ukraine. Her articles have been published in American Journal of Cultural Sociology, Journal of Youth Studies, Current Sociology, Childhood, and other academic journals and media.
Contact: Anna Kalinina (anna.kalinina@leuphana.de)