Aunala, Aki

Description of research

Doctoral researher at University of Jyväskylä in Finland. Studying history of Soviet Union and Russia. The goal of my PhD project is to research printed Soviet propaganda in Russian Karelia between 1918 and 1922. The main question is how the Bolsheviks tried to persuade the local population, the Karelians, to support their aims, and what their initial methods were. I seek to find out the means that led to their presumed success and investigate how they built their propaganda apparatus during wartime and a short period of peace. In the core of research there are two different languages (Russian and Finnish), their rhetorical differences and most-used concepts, and the political discourses the Bolsheviks created while legitimating their reign. I will also compare Bolshevik propaganda and its methods to Finnish counterpropaganda, as it is possible and rational inside the framework of my research.

Keywords

History, Russia, Soviet Union, Karelia, Communism, Propaganda, Rhetoric, Concepts, War, Discourses

Education

Degrees

Master of Arts, M.A. 1.9.2005 - 12.9.2011 / University of Jyväskylä

Doctor of Philosophy, PhD 2019 / University of Jyväskylä