Introducing: Intigam Mamedov
In November, Intigam Mamedov joined the Institute for History as a postdoctoral researcher. Below, he introduces himself.
Hallo, dear colleagues! My name is Intigam, and I am excited to have joined the Institute for History at Leiden University as a postdoctoral fellow. I am a political scientist, with a special interest in Russia, the post-Soviet space, and great-power competition.
I earned my PhD at Lomonosov Moscow State University, where I worked until 2022. Most recently, I was a fellow at Northumbria University in Newcastle, United Kingdom, within the critical security and foreign policy research cluster in the Department of Social Sciences.
At present, my work focuses on how narratives and discourse shape normative beliefs and attitudes, particularly in the context of international conflicts like the wars in Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh. My current project examines how ideational power is exercised by states in their struggle for discursive hegemony, that is, the ability to establish social and political representations of reality as ‘normal’ or ‘natural’ perspectives.
While conventional approaches like ideology or strategic narrative have provided valuable frameworks for understanding how political regimes influence meaning and legitimacy, I believe they might not fully capture the complexity of ideational politics today. To test this hypothesis, I am conducting a case study of modern wartime Russia, where the dynamics of ideational power are especially pronounced and where a variety of ideational tools are employed, including reimagining historical narratives, framing rivalry with the West or constructing and promoting identities for itself, Ukraine and the Global South.
Given the inspiring academic environment at Leiden, I have no doubt my research will be successful here.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to both the University and Institute administrations for facilitating a smooth transition, as well as to Dr. Isaac Scarborough, who is mentoring my research, my office mate, Dr. Tamsin Prideaux, and Inge Ligtvoet, Karen van Asten and Pam de Groot from the Institute Secretariat for their very warm welcome and support.
I am looking forward to meeting my new colleagues. Please feel free to reach out to me via email, or drop by Huizinga 2.13 for a chat, coffee, or lunch.
Tot ziens!