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Papers by Alison Rowley

Journal of Russian American Studies

Canadian Journal of History, 2009

This article challenges accepted interpretations of Soviet women’s history, particularly the noti... more This article challenges accepted interpretations of Soviet women’s history, particularly the notion that the Soviet government engaged in a pro-natalist campaign in the 1930s. It undertakes an examination of the depiction of mothers in Soviet films, arguing that, given the close Party supervision of the film industry, these figures represent the official Soviet view of motherhood. The content of the films reveals that maternity was secondary in importance to labour outside of the home, and that the Soviet Union rejected the kind of pro-natalist campaigns found in the rest of Europe, especially the racially inspired one in Nazi Germany. The article concludes that the 1936 Soviet family legislation, in fact, had no effect on the depiction of mothers on Soviet screens.

The International Journal of the History of Sport, 2006

Page 1. Sport in the Service of the State: Images of Physical Culture and Soviet Women, 1917–1941... more Page 1. Sport in the Service of the State: Images of Physical Culture and Soviet Women, 1917–1941 Alison Rowley Using images drawn from a number of media, this article explores how and why the Soviet government encouraged women to take up sport prior to World War II. ...

Canadian Slavonic Papers, 2002

... Finally, I turn to the use of colour in Envy. Since Iurii Olesha's novel Zavist' (E... more ... Finally, I turn to the use of colour in Envy. Since Iurii Olesha's novel Zavist' (Envy) appeared in two successive issues of Red Virgin Soil in 1927, it has been open to a wide variety of interpretations. Much of the scholarship has ...

This article challenges accepted interpretations of Soviet women's history, particularly the noti... more This article challenges accepted interpretations of Soviet women's history, particularly the notion that the Soviet government engaged in a pro-natalist campaign in the 1930s. It undertakes an examination of the depiction of mothers in Soviet films, arguing that, given the close Party supervision of the film industry, these figures represent the official Soviet view of motherhood. The content of the fiims reveals that maternity was secondary in importance to iabour ouiside of the home, and that the Soviet Union rejected the kind of pro-natalist campaigns found in the rest of Europe, especially the racially inspired one in Nazi Germany The article concludes that the 1936 Soviet family legislation, in fact, had no effect on the depiction of mothers on Soviet screens.

This paper examines Soviet regional periodicals for women from their beginning as special stranic... more This paper examines Soviet regional periodicals for women from their beginning as special stranichki in newspapers to the end of the 1930s, when they became instruments for publicizing mass campaigns. In the 1920s-when these periodicals were subject to market mechanisms and had to be profitable in order to survive-they presented a vibrant blend of practical advice, fashion, and emancipatory promises. With the advent of the First Five-Year Plan, the contents of women's magazines changed dramatically and came to include an ever greater emphasis on the Party leadership and the latest propaganda campaigns. However, a close examination of the periodicals also reveals that the transmission of information, tropes, language, and images from the centre to the periphery was not always smooth or unidirectional. Local periodicals could initiate campaigns, delay publicizing them, and sometimes virtually ignore them.

Using images drawn from a number of media, this article explores how and why the Soviet governmen... more Using images drawn from a number of media, this article explores how and why the Soviet government encouraged women to take up sport prior to World War Ii. It is suggested that the regime had three goals in mind: to strengthen the military preparedness of the country; to improve the productivity of its workers; and to further the acceptance of new, more ideologically correct, forms of leisure. These goals offer a striking contrast with movements in Western Europe and North America, where women's participation in sport was heavily connected with their roles as wives and mothers.

Minerva Journal of Women and War, 2008

Drawing on images found in a number of Soviet media, this article analyzes the messages presented... more Drawing on images found in a number of Soviet media, this article analyzes the messages presented to women concerning their role in the defense of the country in the 1930s. The subject is divided into four categories: the memory of nurses in the Civil War; the attention given to female pilots; the vigilance of women combating internal enemies; and the defenserelated aspects of the wives' volunteer movement. Particular attention is also paid to the implications of these materials for the scholarship devoted to Soviet masculinity.

Revolutionary Russia, 2009

In mid nineteenth-century Europe, the emerging market for new paper products facilitated, for the... more In mid nineteenth-century Europe, the emerging market for new paper products facilitated, for the first time, the widespread circulation of mass-produced depictions of royalty. This article uses picture postcards to explore this process of commodification as well as some of the implications of it. In particular, the author focuses on the depiction of members of the Romanov dynasty and examines the unwitting desacralization that accompanied their efforts to employ a new form of mass media. From objects of awe, the Romanovs were transformed into something much more mundane: an ordinary bourgeois family. Existing scholarship has looked at this shift in terms of the impact of ceremonial occasions, of pornographic images of the tsar, the tsarina and Rasputin and of such major events as Bloody Sunday or the Lena Goldfields massacre. The contribution of such ephemeral items as picture postcards has so far been overlooked. It is argued herein that the production of literally millions of such itemsalbeit that they were things that could be defaced or thrown in the bin -had ramifications on the popular perception of the tsar.

Revolutionary Russia, 2008

The Art Fair Age: Art Fairs/Art Market/Collecting by Alison Rowley

Palgrave Macmillan , 2023

This book inaugurates a new phase in kitsch studies. Kitsch, an aesthetic slur of the 19th and th... more This book inaugurates a new phase in kitsch studies. Kitsch, an aesthetic slur of the 19th and the 20th century, is increasingly considered a positive term and at heart of today's society. Eleven distinguished authors from philosophy, cultural studies and the arts discuss a wide range of topics including beauty, fashion, kitsch in the context of mourning, bio-art, visual arts, architecture and political kitsch. In addition, the editors provide a concise theoretical introduction to the volume and the subject. The role of kitsch in contemporary culture and society is innovatively explored and the volume aims not to condemn but to accept and understand why kitsch has become acceptable today.

Max Ryynänen is Senior Lecture of Theory of Visual Culture in Aalto University (Helsinki/Espoo)

Paco Barragán is an arts writer and curator and has earned an international PhD from the University of Salamanca (USAL), Spain.

Journal of Russian American Studies

Canadian Journal of History, 2009

This article challenges accepted interpretations of Soviet women’s history, particularly the noti... more This article challenges accepted interpretations of Soviet women’s history, particularly the notion that the Soviet government engaged in a pro-natalist campaign in the 1930s. It undertakes an examination of the depiction of mothers in Soviet films, arguing that, given the close Party supervision of the film industry, these figures represent the official Soviet view of motherhood. The content of the films reveals that maternity was secondary in importance to labour outside of the home, and that the Soviet Union rejected the kind of pro-natalist campaigns found in the rest of Europe, especially the racially inspired one in Nazi Germany. The article concludes that the 1936 Soviet family legislation, in fact, had no effect on the depiction of mothers on Soviet screens.

The International Journal of the History of Sport, 2006

Page 1. Sport in the Service of the State: Images of Physical Culture and Soviet Women, 1917–1941... more Page 1. Sport in the Service of the State: Images of Physical Culture and Soviet Women, 1917–1941 Alison Rowley Using images drawn from a number of media, this article explores how and why the Soviet government encouraged women to take up sport prior to World War II. ...

Canadian Slavonic Papers, 2002

... Finally, I turn to the use of colour in Envy. Since Iurii Olesha's novel Zavist' (E... more ... Finally, I turn to the use of colour in Envy. Since Iurii Olesha's novel Zavist' (Envy) appeared in two successive issues of Red Virgin Soil in 1927, it has been open to a wide variety of interpretations. Much of the scholarship has ...

This article challenges accepted interpretations of Soviet women's history, particularly the noti... more This article challenges accepted interpretations of Soviet women's history, particularly the notion that the Soviet government engaged in a pro-natalist campaign in the 1930s. It undertakes an examination of the depiction of mothers in Soviet films, arguing that, given the close Party supervision of the film industry, these figures represent the official Soviet view of motherhood. The content of the fiims reveals that maternity was secondary in importance to iabour ouiside of the home, and that the Soviet Union rejected the kind of pro-natalist campaigns found in the rest of Europe, especially the racially inspired one in Nazi Germany The article concludes that the 1936 Soviet family legislation, in fact, had no effect on the depiction of mothers on Soviet screens.

This paper examines Soviet regional periodicals for women from their beginning as special stranic... more This paper examines Soviet regional periodicals for women from their beginning as special stranichki in newspapers to the end of the 1930s, when they became instruments for publicizing mass campaigns. In the 1920s-when these periodicals were subject to market mechanisms and had to be profitable in order to survive-they presented a vibrant blend of practical advice, fashion, and emancipatory promises. With the advent of the First Five-Year Plan, the contents of women's magazines changed dramatically and came to include an ever greater emphasis on the Party leadership and the latest propaganda campaigns. However, a close examination of the periodicals also reveals that the transmission of information, tropes, language, and images from the centre to the periphery was not always smooth or unidirectional. Local periodicals could initiate campaigns, delay publicizing them, and sometimes virtually ignore them.

Using images drawn from a number of media, this article explores how and why the Soviet governmen... more Using images drawn from a number of media, this article explores how and why the Soviet government encouraged women to take up sport prior to World War Ii. It is suggested that the regime had three goals in mind: to strengthen the military preparedness of the country; to improve the productivity of its workers; and to further the acceptance of new, more ideologically correct, forms of leisure. These goals offer a striking contrast with movements in Western Europe and North America, where women's participation in sport was heavily connected with their roles as wives and mothers.

Minerva Journal of Women and War, 2008

Drawing on images found in a number of Soviet media, this article analyzes the messages presented... more Drawing on images found in a number of Soviet media, this article analyzes the messages presented to women concerning their role in the defense of the country in the 1930s. The subject is divided into four categories: the memory of nurses in the Civil War; the attention given to female pilots; the vigilance of women combating internal enemies; and the defenserelated aspects of the wives' volunteer movement. Particular attention is also paid to the implications of these materials for the scholarship devoted to Soviet masculinity.

Revolutionary Russia, 2009

In mid nineteenth-century Europe, the emerging market for new paper products facilitated, for the... more In mid nineteenth-century Europe, the emerging market for new paper products facilitated, for the first time, the widespread circulation of mass-produced depictions of royalty. This article uses picture postcards to explore this process of commodification as well as some of the implications of it. In particular, the author focuses on the depiction of members of the Romanov dynasty and examines the unwitting desacralization that accompanied their efforts to employ a new form of mass media. From objects of awe, the Romanovs were transformed into something much more mundane: an ordinary bourgeois family. Existing scholarship has looked at this shift in terms of the impact of ceremonial occasions, of pornographic images of the tsar, the tsarina and Rasputin and of such major events as Bloody Sunday or the Lena Goldfields massacre. The contribution of such ephemeral items as picture postcards has so far been overlooked. It is argued herein that the production of literally millions of such itemsalbeit that they were things that could be defaced or thrown in the bin -had ramifications on the popular perception of the tsar.

Revolutionary Russia, 2008

Palgrave Macmillan , 2023

This book inaugurates a new phase in kitsch studies. Kitsch, an aesthetic slur of the 19th and th... more This book inaugurates a new phase in kitsch studies. Kitsch, an aesthetic slur of the 19th and the 20th century, is increasingly considered a positive term and at heart of today's society. Eleven distinguished authors from philosophy, cultural studies and the arts discuss a wide range of topics including beauty, fashion, kitsch in the context of mourning, bio-art, visual arts, architecture and political kitsch. In addition, the editors provide a concise theoretical introduction to the volume and the subject. The role of kitsch in contemporary culture and society is innovatively explored and the volume aims not to condemn but to accept and understand why kitsch has become acceptable today.

Max Ryynänen is Senior Lecture of Theory of Visual Culture in Aalto University (Helsinki/Espoo)

Paco Barragán is an arts writer and curator and has earned an international PhD from the University of Salamanca (USAL), Spain.