Historiography has assigned a very particular understanding to the perestroika project: it is perceived as enacted from above, hinging on the persona of Gorbachev, and a phenomenon to which people reacted rather than forced action upon. This project will instead look at “perestroika from below”.
image credits
Street sweepers, Kiev 1986 / Photo: © Karsten Brüggemann
The project "Perestroika from Below" is dedicated to a well-known moment in Soviet history and aims to look at it in a completely new way. It focuses on the large number of people who participated in the ambitious attempt to redefine the life, history and future of the Soviet Union and its successor states in the 1980s and 1990s.
The project will explore Soviet people’s thoughts, feelings and actions during the ‘long’ Perestroika of the 1980s and 90s.
Have a look at the corresponding sub-projects by our team.
