Ideology and Factuality: Soviet Censors and Censorship

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

Censorship centres on the premise that facts can be more or less harmful and are thus in need of judgment and management by the authorities in order for them to function ‘properly’ in the process of social construction. This interdisciplinary panel explores the relationship between creative production and censorship, examining the means by which ideologically or politically acceptable representations of reality were constructed in the light of official Soviet agendas. Broadening our conception of censorship to include the action of editors and ‘community’ censorship, the panel explores how cultural producers, cast in the role of censor, sought to maintain some creativity, and preserve certain facts for which it was worth discarding others. A central theme of the panel is the relationship between social actors and censorship. Werneke’s paper will explore the growth of unofficial photography as a response to and escape from ‘community censorship’. The paper by Sherry will, by contrast, discuss issues of accommodation with the regime, using memoir material to investigate how censorial actors retrospectively (re)constructed the facts of their work and sought to justify it, while casting themselves in a heroic role, contrary to the popular image of the censor. Meanwhile, Knight’s paper will engage the knotty issue of intent versus outcome with regards to foreign film censorship, examining how the regime sought to promote an ideological agenda at the cost of permitting Soviet viewers access to material facts about life in the West.

Sub Unit

• History: Russian and Eurasian, since 1924

Organizer

• Samantha Sherry, U of Oxford (UK)

Chair

• Jonathan Waterlow, U of Oxford (UK)

Papers

• Censorship and Amateur Photography: Sovetskoe Foto and Soviet Photography Clubs in the Late Soviet Period - Jessica Marie Werneke, U of Texas at Austin

• Censoring Hollywood: Trophy Films, 1947-56 - Claire Knight, U of Cambridge (UK)

• Autobiographical Writing by Soviet Censors - Samantha Sherry, U of Oxford (UK)

Discussant

• Brian Kassof, U of Alaska, Fairbanks