THE PROCESS OF SHAPING NEW URBAN CULTURE IN LENINAKAN DURING THE EARLY SOVIET PERIOD

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32653/CH214561-570

Keywords:

Leninakan, tradition, sovietization, socialist ideology, industrialization, immigration, new urban culture

Abstract

In the USSR, an entity largely isolated from the global sphere due to its distinctive formation and evolution as a multinational yet cohesive state, unique processes, unparalleled in their scope and vigor, unfolded, which outlined the novel paths for traditional cultural development. These dynamics manifested in different ways across rural and urban settlements, shaped by emergent political, ideological, socioeconomic, and cultural imperatives. Within the Armenian context, such transformations manifested most vividly and idiosyncratically in Leninakan, propelling the city by mid-century to become a major industrial hub not only in Soviet Armenia but across the broader USSR. This article aims to delineate the principal factors that profoundly shaped the city’s emergent cultural complex, while demonstrating the interplay between Alexandropol’s entrenched urban traditions and the evolving Soviet ethos of Leninakan, reflected in every facet of civic life. Although the traditional culture of Alexandropol has received considerable scholarly attention and documentation, the multifaceted cultural milieu of Soviet Leninakan demands deeper, more detailed approach, which constitutes the core ambition of this study. Employing historical, ethnographic, and ethnocultural methodologies, the research centers on comparative analysis framed within a systemic paradigm. The contemporary periodical press was widely used as a reliable source for studying the dynamics of historical and cultural processes and transformations. Particular attention was paid to the analysis of previously unpublished archival materials.

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Author Biography

  • Карине Размиковна Базеян, Shirak Center for Armenological Studies, NAS of RA
    PhD. (Ethnography), Assoc. Prof

References

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Published

2025-12-29

Issue

Section

Ethnography

How to Cite

1.
Базеян КР. THE PROCESS OF SHAPING NEW URBAN CULTURE IN LENINAKAN DURING THE EARLY SOVIET PERIOD. ИАЭК. 2025;21(4):561-570. doi:10.32653/CH214561-570