PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

This article analyses representations of children in the photographs published in the Soviet propaganda magazine SSSR na Stroike (USSR in Construction), concentrating on the volumes devoted to different Soviet Socialist Republics. The changes in the Soviet Union’s nationality policies during the 1930s are clearly visible in the images. The article begins with classification of the child-related photographs. Next, images are analysed using representation theory, developed by cultural theorist Stuart Hall, and the theory of orientalism, presented by literature theorist Edward Said. It is also considered how the representations of children were used as a part of the Soviet nation-building process.