Research

This body of work examines how Belarusian state propaganda constructs social and political reality, which strategic narratives it uses, and how propagandistic communication affects society, social ties and the possibility of public dialogue.

Over the years, the research examined conspiracy narratives, mechanisms of dehumanisation and polarisation, the propagandistic construction of external threats, differences between propaganda, journalism and strategic communication, and the question of what state communication in a democratic Belarus could look like without reproducing the propaganda model.

The studies were conducted in different institutional and partnership contexts, including collaboration with Media IQ, the Belarusian Association of Journalists and as part of Belarusian Propaganda Watch.

This body of work examines how gender norms and inequalities are created and reproduced through media and public communication, how they shape the visibility and representation of different groups, and how gender relates to the distribution of power and the right to a public voice.

A major part of this trajectory was a multi-year analysis of Belarusian media in collaboration with Media IQ, including monitoring of gender representation, stereotypes and gender sensitivity in media content. Over time, the research focus expanded from media representation to the relationship between gender, power, political communication, propaganda and social institutions.

The study examines how authoritarian models are reproduced through the institutional, educational and communication practices of Belarusian schools, and to what extent educators can create alternative models of interaction and practice within an authoritarian system.

Within the project, Iryna Sidorskaya examined the role and potential of educators in resisting the formation and manifestation of authoritarian patterns. This part of the study was based on eight in-depth expert interviews with Belarusian educators. The analysis showed that teachers’ capacity to act is structurally constrained by the institutional environment, yet even under these conditions “islands of freedom” and alternative practices of interaction can emerge.