Ермолаева Оксана Евгеньевна
These include the need to develop forms of analytical synthesis among its key conceptual frameworks of a comparative approach—such as modernity, empire, and ideology; to balance approaches to ethnicity within the expanding «decolonization » of Gulag studies; and to reconcile nationally inflected, and often conflicting, memoir traditions within transnational research trajectories.
Analyzing the evolution of Gulag studies in Europe and the United States as a network of initially distinct and increasingly intersecting academic communities, and engaging with the complexities of Western scholarly traditions, the article demonstrates how shifting political and methodological priorities continue to shape an otherwise deeply transformed field. Methodological advances and the consolidation of Gulag studies as an established international field have, in turn, generated new challenges. These include the need to develop forms of analytical synthesis among its key conceptual frameworks of a comparative approach—such as modernity, empire, and ideology; to balance approaches to ethnicity within the expanding «decolonization » of Gulag studies; and to reconcile nationally inflected, and often conflicting, memoir traditions within transnational research trajectories. Finally, this paper points out how the field continues to grapple with overcoming its cyclical patterns of development, shaped in part by the reemergence of geopolitical tensions.