Boris Noordenbos’ interview for Der Standard about the new forms of Russian cyber propaganda (in German)

An Austrian news portal Der Standard has asked Boris Noordenbos to provide a detailed account of how Russian online propaganda works in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The interview is available via this link.

Boris Noordenbos’ article on Aleksandr Dugin published in NRC (in Dutch)

A Dutch newspaper NRC has published an article by Boris Noordenbos. In it, he discusses two recent books by Victor Kal and Michael Millerman that in their analysis attempt to take seriously the philosophy of Aleksandr Dugin, who is considered the spiritual father of Putin’s geopolitics.

The article is available via this following link.

Conspiratorial Memory team presents at Eastplaners #6

On June 28, cultural anthropologist Anna Greszta and cultural and media theorist Maria Plichta presented and discussed their work in one of the events in the Eastplainers series. The leader of the Conspiratorial Memory team Boris Noordenbos moderated the session. Professor of Slavic literatures Ellen Rutten opened the meeting with a short introduction into the Eastsplainers series as a whole.  

Public lecture series by the Department of Slavic Languages & Cultures (University of Amsterdam), in cooperation with the University of New Europe, with artists and intellectuals who recently migrated or fled from Central & Eastern Europe to the Netherlands.    

Conspiratorial Memory team to present at Eastsplainers #6: Media & Memory

Public lecture series by the Department of Slavic Languages & Cultures (University of Amsterdam), in cooperation with the University of New Europe, with artists and intellectuals who recently migrated or fled from Central & Eastern Europe to the Netherlands.    

Date: June 28, 2023

Time: 17.oo-18.30

Location: VOX-POP 

Registration: here

As the Russian war in Ukraine and imperialist Kremlin rhetoric continue to disturb world media, Eastsplainers offers a counterweight to westsplaining – the habit of looking at developments in Central & Eastern Europe through Western lenses. In this public program series, we listen to scholars, journalists, artists, musicians, and other cultural and academic professionals who migrated or fled from Kyiv, Łódź, Minsk, and Moscow, among other places, to the Netherlands. Rather than amplifying views on various Central & Eastern European locations as a monolithic European ‘East,’ our programs show that these locations merit independent study and careful attention to local dynamics.    

On June 28, cultural anthropologist Anna Greszta and cultural and media theorist Maria Plichta will discuss how  conspiracy theories tap into stories about the past. Focusing on different East European contexts, all of which are heavily impacted by the Russian war in Ukraine, they discuss the role of culture (online and offline, fiction and non-fiction) in imagining past and present plots against “our” community. Cultural and literary theorist – and leader of the Conspiratorial Memory research team – Boris Noordenbos moderates the session. Professor of Slavic literatures Ellen Rutten opens the meeting with a short introduction into the Eastsplainers series as a whole.  

NB. This event will be accompanied by a fundraising market organized by Collect4Ukraine, Amsterdam-based grassroots initiative that aims to support people and animals who suffer due to Russian aggression. 

For information about the other sessions, please visit the Eastsplainers webpage. The series is set up with support from the University of New Europe, Middle- and Eastern-European studies publisher Pegasus, the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis and the diversity & inclusion team of the UvA's Faculty of Humanities.

Anna Greszta to give a lecture on memory, conspiracy and coloniality in the Main Cathedral of the Russian armed forces at H401

On Tuesday, May 23 at 17.00 Anna Greszta will give a lecture titled: (Dis)entanglements of Memory, Conspiracy and Coloniality in the Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces. The lecture is a part of SPEME – Questioning Traumatic Heritage: Spaces of Memory, a project hosted by H401. More information is available here.
 
If you wish to participate, please send an email to Micol Manunta (m.manunta@h401.org).

On Cultural Analysis in the Study of Local Contexts - Boris Noordenbos in conversation with Ernst van Alphen

Two theorists and practitioners of Cultural Analysis – both situated outside the field of Modern Greek studies – talked to Greek Studies Now Cultural Analysis Network about the practice of Cultural Analysis in their own work and its relevance and implications for the study of local (and national) contexts. This discussion took place during a panel at the 2nd ‘Greek Studies Now’ conference in Amsterdam in 2022. The reflections epitomise some of the main insights of both discussants.

Events recommendations. 1 year since the start of the full-scale Russian military invasion of Ukraine

As the 1 year anniversary of the full-scale Russian military invasion of Ukraine is approaching, our team has put together a few event recommendations in the Netherlands that will mark the date.

Solidarity & Benefit Concert for Ukraine

Date: February 24, 2023

Time: 20.00

Location: Aula Lutherse Kerk, Singel 411, Amsterdam

For more information follow this link.

The evening is organised by the University of Amsterdam, Davidsbündler Music Academy, University of New Europe and the Ukrainian Embassy of the Netherlands, with the support of TRIDA Foundation, the Amsterdam University Fund and Alumni Association AUV. The benefit concert will feature various Ukrainian musicians, including the SonCe Trio, percussionist Konstantyn Napolov, singer Maryana Golovchenko and young students from the Davidsbündler Music Academy

By purchasing a ticket for this concert, you support Ukrainian people in Ukraine and the Netherlands. Most of the proceeds (75%) of the concert will go to UNITED24  to purchase food, medicine, and essential items that will be sent to Ukraine. The remaining 25% will be used to grant scholarships to talented Ukrainian children who had to flee their country together with their mothers and now continue their music education at the Davidsbündler Music Academy in The Hague. Several young talented Ukrainian musicians will perform at the benefit concert as well.

Kourliandski, Kurbatov, Desyatnikov in 'Who am I?'

Date: February 25, 2023

Time: 17.00 - 22.00

Location: Waalse Kerk, The Hague

For more information follow this link.

Stichting “Music for Peace” in collaboration with FreeRussiaNL and LetterenFonds present “Who am I?” The cultural event will try to answer such questions as “How it became possible what is going on in Ukraine now? Why do Russians behave like that? Why could Russians do nothing about Putin? Do all the Russians agree and think alike? What is their type of thinking?” It will feature expert talks, a video exhibition, a conceptual art performance, and a concert.

“Brave suffering - on heroism and trauma.” Anna Greszta invited to a talk during a mini-festival “Ukraine: Culture for Hope” at Lab-1, Eindhoven

As part of the cultural mini-festival and an introduction to a screening of Valentyn Vasyanovych’s film Atlantis (2019), Anna Greszta was interviewed by a Polish poetess Aldona Kopkiewicz about the role of affect, memory and trauma in cultural representations of the Russian war against Ukraine.

Boris Noordenbos to lead a seminar Weaponizing the Past: The Conspiratorial Memory Work of Putinist Propaganda at Utrecht University (January 18, 2023)

Date: January 18, 2023

Time: 17.15

Location: Utrecht University, Drift 21, GA 0032

For more information follow this link.

In the context of the current war, commentators frequently point to the Kremlin’s ludicrous vilifications of Ukrainians, as brutal ‘fascists,’ rabid ‘nationalists,’ dangerous ‘Bandera-supports,’ or marionetted ‘instruments’ of the ‘Russophobic’ West. The conspiracism and anachronism of this rhetoric is widely acknowledged. Yet the mechanisms by which Putinist propaganda weaponizes ‘the past’ leave many questions open. How exactly do tropes of memory and conspiracy reinforce one another in the Russian leadership’s propagandistic justifications for their unprovoked war against Ukraine? What are the (Soviet and post-Soviet) genealogies of these tropes, and how do official and grassroots voices (selectively) recycle them as interpretive lenses onto current affairs? What kind of relations between past, present, and future are imagined in the process?  

Exploring these questions, the lecture proposes the concept of ‘conspiratorial memory’ for this toxic mix of mnemonic gestures and conspiracy-based interpretations. Extending its scope beyond the recent invasion of Ukraine, the paper also zeroes in on the 2014 annexation of Crimea, and the Covid-19 crisis of 2020-2022. It scrutinizes how conspiratorial memory informed state-aligned perspectives on these events, as expressed in journalism, popular culture, and political rhetoric. Finally, the lecture addresses the value and limitations of memory studies’ conceptual toolkit. How may recent scholarship in this ever-expanding field help to elucidate – and inspire strategies to counter – the rhetorical and affective appeal of conspiratorial memory?

Boris Noordenbos to participate in Creative Culture Talk (December 12, 2022; in Dutch)

Date: December 12, 2022

Time: 20.00

Location: LUX 7, Nijmegen

For more information and tickets follow this link.

This Creative Culture Talk explores the narrative aspects of contemporary conspiracy theories. With scientists and creators, it investigates which characters, plot lines, motives and metaphors are central to radical political (online) discourses. What are the stories conspiracy theorists tell about themselves and the world, and where do they come from? Who are the bad guys, the good guys, the side characters, the extras? How can artists teach us to understand such stories?

Boris Noordenbos will make appearance together with theater makers Eva Line de Boer and Booi Kluiving, both of whom made performances about the radical aspects of online culture. In KEK, Booi explores the frayed edges of the right-wing internet subculture through his alter ego Anon. Eva Line's Infinity Chan is inspired by the story of Fredrick Brennan, the founder of the forum 8Chan, where racist, sexist and anti-Semitic messages are posted uncensored.

Image: LUX Nijmegen.

Memory Studies Association Memory Scholars at Risk Fellow to join the project

From the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014, and especially with the beginning of the massive military invasion on 24 February 2022, this MSA Fellow from Russia used his Facebook account as a platform for anti-war discussion and published a declaration against the war in Ukraine. For his activism, he has been persecuted by the FSB, which forced him to abandon Russia and seek refuge elsewhere. After a period in Uzbekistan, the professor and researcher who worked at the Perm branch of the Higher School of Economics had moved Germany, where was accommodated at the Universities in Bremen and Mainz.

From mid-December on, he will continue his research at the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis thanks to the MSA Fellowship “Memory Scholars at Risk”. Together with the PI Boris Noordenbos and the rest of the Conspiratorial Memory team, he will continue to analyze memory-related news stories and opinion pieces about the current war against Ukraine.

We share an excerpt of his story. The full text can be found here. For reasons of his personal safety, his story has been anonymized.

February, 23

I work in my country household (“dacha”), dropping wet, heavy snow from the roof of the house. Incoming letter from my German colleague: “Hooray! Our project, ‘Remembrance of Solidarity as a Resource in the Current Conflict Situation,’ is supported by the German foundation!”

We are working!  I have a feeling that everything will be fine and that the war will not start». That’s great news. For several years we have been preparing this Belarusian-German-Russian-Ukrainian project, dedicated to the memory of Jews from the western regions of the USSR who came (being evacuated, deported, exiled, fleeing) in the Urals during the Second World War. Evening, I read the news. The feeling grows more and more anxious. I am preparing a draft anti-war statement on behalf of the board of the regional branch of the Memorial Society and sending it to my colleagues.

Early in the morning — a shock, Putin’s crazy speech, the invasion begins. I write to my Ukrainian friends… God, this is madness. We discuss with colleagues from the Perm Memorial the text of the anti-war statement — this time against the actual, not the possible invasion, make some changes and publish it on our website.

Anna Greszta gave a series of lectures

Anna Greszta gave a series of lectures at Gerrit Rietveld Academie (Amsterdam) and in Plant Fictions gallery (Eindhoven), during the Dutch Design Week. Together with Ukrainian artist Yulia Krivich, they addressed the issues of (de)colonizing practices in Western academia and art initiatives, and critically revised the Western knowledge production about the Russian war against Ukraine.

Cultures of Conspiracy Interdisciplinary Course at the University of Amsterdam

The PI Boris Noordenbos will coordinate Cultures of Conspiracy course as an elective offered by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (UvA) in the second semester of 2022-2023 academic year. The course is based on the winning proposal of Leonie von Platen (PPLE) for the UvA Create a Course challenge. It is open to second-year and third-year UvA Bachelor's students and Master’s students (when available).

Description:

In a world overflowing with suspicion, traditional anchors of knowledge (scientists, politicians, mainstream media) are no longer taken for granted. How do we differentiate between healthy skepticism and dangerous paranoia?

In this course, we take a curiosity-driven approach to understanding conspiracy theories. How do we define and delineate them? What is their rhetorical and emotional appeal? And what are their real-life repercussions? We explore to what extent current conspiracy cultures are historically unique and investigate the complex interdependencies between their social, psychological, and political dimensions. Which individuals and groups are susceptible to conspiracy thinking and how is their suspicion co-opted for (populist) politics in different national contexts?

We also look at cultural and technological mediation, as conspiracy theories now typically come to us through social media. Does online communication amplify and accelerate (global) conspiracy thinking, or does it merely render the conspiratorial worldview more visible? Can we distinguish new, tech-enabled variations from its offline predecessors?

Discussing these and other questions with experts from various fields, we explore new, interdisciplinary understandings of conspiracy theories and ways to respond to them.

Images from Conspiratorial Memory workshop

Conspiratorial Memory workshop took place in Amsterdam on June 9-10, 2022.

Boris Noordenbos will be part of an expert panel discussion at SPUI25

How New Media Reshape Traditional News Agencies and Politics: Fake News, Lügenpresse, and Disinformation Campaigns in the US, Germany and Russia

With the coming of age of digital media, the social debates on the importance of fake news, media hoaxes and disinformation came into focus of analysts, scholars and politicians. Interestingly, this global phenomenon has had similar features while developing within various local contexts. Particularly the US, Germany and Russia are of interest, since fake news has risen in different social contexts and the concept has different meanings in these countries. The experts Hanco Jürgens, Katy Hull and Boris Noordenbos will discuss the global influence of the new media on both traditional news-gathering and politics.

Anna Greszta and Maria Plichta take part in Eastern European Memory Studies Summer School

Anna Greszta and Maria Plichta gave presentations at Translating Memories in Literature, Film, Museums, and Monuments: An Eastern European Memory Studies Summer School on July 11-15, 2022 (Tallin University, Roosta, Estonia).

Anna’s presentation “Memory, History and Conspiracy in Russo-Ukrainian War” was part of the Memories of Socialist Past panel.

Maria took part in the Texts, Practices, Identities panel with the presentation “Fake Fog and Suspicious Doppelgängers: Conspiratorial Narratives around the Smoleńsk Catastrophe.” 

Boris Noordenbos appears on BNR’s Big Five radio show (in Dutch)

Russia's propaganda machine is working overtime and the tone in TV shows is getting fiercer. What is the ideology behind that? Boris Noordenbos discusses this and other questions with the host.

Workshop registration deadline extended

The new registration deadline for the Conspiratorial Memory Workshop is June 5th. To register please send an email with your name and affiliation to conspiratorialmemory@gmail.com.

Conspiratorial Memory workshop program

The program of the two-day workshop “Conspiratorial Memory,” which will take place in Amsterdam on June 9-10th, 2022, is out and can be found here.

Boris Noordenbos appears as a guest on BNR De Wereld (in Dutch)

The project leader Boris Noordenbos appears in De Wereld programme at radio BNR (hosted by Bernard Hammelburg). The audio recording of the whole episode can be found here (min. 27 onwards). A shorter video clip from the same interview is below.