On May 22, from 09:30 to 1:00, in the conference hall of Caucasus University. Organized by the International Research Center for Georgia Studies of Caucasus University, a roundtable discussion will be held on “Culture, Power, and Political Narrative in the Post-Soviet Context.”

This invitation-only roundtable brings together a select group of scholars, cultural practitioners, art historians, cultural studies and memory studies researchers, critical historians and others to examine the interrelations between culture, politics, memory, and historical narrative production as mechanisms of social control, symbolic power, and resistance in post-Soviet societies.

In contemporary contexts in Georgia political and cultural struggles are deeply embedded within layered, contested historical narratives and new hybrid practices of cultural and memory politics.

The conversation aims to critically investigate how both official and unofficial narratives shape political realities, reinforce ideological projects, and mobilize collective emotions. Participants will interrogate how states and political elites construct “desirable” and “punishable” historical and cultural narratives, how memory is institutionalized, censored, or strategically erased, and how archives, monuments, and public performances become sites of both ideological reproduction and subversion.

Equally, the roundtable will explore how marginalized voices, independent artists, grassroots movements, intellectual communities, and archivists resist hegemonic structures by reclaiming suppressed histories, producing counter-narratives, and challenging dominant symbolic orders.

Key Themes for Discussion

• Culture as a Political Instrument: Historical and contemporary uses of culture as a tool of governance and ideological control
• History, Narrative Politics & Memory Governance: Who writes history and how are memories institutionalized, censored, or erased
• Imperial Nostalgia & Mythologized Pasts: The weaponization of nostalgia for imperial and Soviet pasts in cultural and political discourse
• Post-Soviet Soft Power & Cultural Recolonization: The role of soft power propaganda, and cultural diplomacy in regional influence projects
• The Fate of Archives & Repressed Memory: Contested archives, oral histories, and suppressed narratives in moments of political transition
• Forms of Cultural Resistance: Artistic, performative, and intellectual strategies challenging hegemonic cultural narratives.
• The Consolidation of Power through Cultural Practices: How symbolic hierarchies and ideologically charged aesthetics mobilize collective emotions and political loyalties
• Colonization: How “desired” narratives are produced and disseminated

Participants

• Nana Sharikadze, PhD, Assoc. Prof at Caucasus University, Head of International research center on Georgian studies at CU
• Peter J. Schmelz, Prof at Johns Hopkins University
• Philip Ross Bullock, Professor, University of Oxford, Wadham College
• Maia Sigua, PhD, Assoc. Prof, Tbilisi State Conservatoire
• Tsotne Chanturia, PhD, Professor, Caucasus University
• Davit Jishkariani, PhD, Professor, Caucasus University

Each presentation will be followed by a brief moderated exchange to allow for cross-disciplinary reflection and critical dialogue.

Working language: English.

Attendance and participation in the discussion are free, but those interested must register at the link.