The Power of Maps: Cartography and Cultural Revolution in the USSR, 1917-1957

This project explores the history of Soviet cartography between the October revolution and the death of Stalin, in particular examining the ways in which the communist regime used maps to construct and control knowledge of space and territory, and the role of cartography in wider discourses of social identity and cultural transformation. The project's wider aim is to establish a new interpretation of the political role and significance of cartographic practice and map culture in the modern world. It has two strands: 'Cartography, Politics and Power', which examines the development of cartographic policy, leadership and organisation, regulation and production; and 'Cartography and Cultural Revolution', which considers the role and significance of maps and mapping in forming the Soviet spatial imagination and creating the 'New Soviet Person'. The research is grounded in a close reading of many thousands of declassified Soviet archival documents concerning the state's administration, control and conduct of mapping, as well as a vast range of published maps and atlases; school textbooks; specialist and popular handbooks on map-making and map-reading; and literary works, films, photography, architecture and graphic arts (including 'ephemeral' materials such as postcards, stamps or newspaper cartoons) featuring cartographic themes or imagery.