Stalin's Cult in Georgian Colours: Stalinist History Textbooks, Press, Mass Culture and the Emergence of Georgian Stalinism, 1930-1956

The proposed research topic to be undertaken on a doctoral level at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies is built on my MA dissertation, examining the origins and the development of the Georgian nationalist forms that created the fertile grounds for the emergence of Georgian Stalinism, and aims to broaden its scope through in-depth archival research. The scholarly interest toward Georgian Stalinism has lately increased due to the recent public surveys, revealing that positive attitudes toward Stalin's figure are higher in his homeland, Georgia than in the other former Soviet republics. Although various studies indicate that there are apparent links between the Stalinist discourse and the Georgian national narrative, the initial phase of the nationalist forms upon which Georgian Stalinism has emerged, remains under-researched. Such analysis is especially relevant because there is significant archival proof that Stalin was personally involved in the editing of the first official history textbooks of Georgia and interfered in the creation of Georgian mass culture.

For this, my MA dissertation was focused on the analysis of the Georgian history textbooks published during Stalin's rule. There I contended that the associations between Stalin's cult and the prominent Georgian historical figures have emerged out of the Stalinist history textbooks, penetrated the sphere of Georgian nationalism, gave rise to the myths about Stalin's Georgian patriotism and crystallized into the locally nationalist form of Stalinism.
For my doctoral studies, I plan to expand my research beyond history textbooks and include literary works, paintings, films and a wider range of archival materials to explain the paradoxical linkage between the Georgian nationalism and Stalinism by examining the Stalinist cultural policy and the policy of history writing in the Georgian SSR. It will explore how the Communist Party under Stalin's leadership used Georgian history to legitimize state ideology in the Georgian society and to what extent the Stalinist cultural policy and its public reception in the Georgian SSR have contributed to the emergence of Georgian Stalinism.
Such research is important for several reasons: first, while Georgian Stalinism attracts the interests of scholars due to its perplexity, its historical origins remain under-researched; Second, studying the origins of Georgian Stalinism can lead to a more in-depth understanding of Stalin's nationality policy; Third, omnipresent Stalinist sentiments in contemporary Georgia are often weaponized by various propaganda sources and the comprehensive understanding of their origins is a key for elaborating preventive measures against them.