War as Peace: A Psycho-Rhetorical Reading of the Militarization of Russian Education

• In Event: Memory as a Weapon of Control and Resistance: Militarization of History and Culture in Russia and the USSR

Abstract

This paper focuses on the issue of an increased militarization of education in contemporary Russia. This process includes the introduction of content and events emphasizing the Kremlin’s rationale for the war in Ukraine - Russia’s aspirations for the supposed safety and peace guided by the memory of the Great Patriotic War. The analysis of the militarization of education and memory is performed through the prism of Kenneth Burke’s rhetorical theory of motives and Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory of the four discourses to explain how the cult of war has become a focal part of Russian national identity.

Author

• Hanna Baranchuk, Curry College