Professor Craig Brandist

My research is currently focused on the history of cultural theory, particularly as it was affected by the Russian Revolution and its subsequent degeneration. I am particularly interested in highlighting the continuing relevance and influence of early Soviet intellectual history for social and cultural theory today.

I have long been interested in the interaction between Marxism, phenomenology, Gestalt Theory and various forms of linguistic and cultural theory within the specific context of early-Soviet Russia. I am also interested in the changing institutional contexts within which these figures worked and the way in which the shaped the development of the fields to which they contributed. This has developed into work on the parallels between Stalinist and neo-liberal reforms in the public sector and in Higher Education in particular, and the ways in which they affect language, intellectual labour and research.

Most recently I have been working on the relationship between the anti-imperial policies of the revolutionary movement and early Soviet state and the development of an ideology critique of the main trends in European philology and oriental studies. This has significant implications for understanding the origins of post-colonial scholarship and the way in which ideas such as 'hegemony' are employed today. This has resulted in my latest monograph The Dimensions of Hegemony: Language, Culture and Politics in Revolutionary Russia, and in some ongoing research on early Soviet Oriental Studies.

I have also been researching the years Antonio Gramsci spent in Russia, which will result in a collection of articles and archival materials co-edited with Peter Thomas of Brunel University.