‘Tourism as memory-making: heritage and memory wars in post-Soviet cities’ is a two-year research project, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of a New Investigator Grant. The project investigates the construction of cultural memories in Russian tourism to cities that used to be part of the Soviet Union and after 1991 became part of newly independent states. It asks how, in a time of geopolitical tensions between Russia and its neighbours, tourists and tour guides negotiate contested heritage and what consequences this has for present-day identities and relations.

The project is led by Dr Alena Pfoser, Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies at Loughborough University.