Simo Mikkonen

Simo Mikkonen is Professor of Sociocultural Remembering at the University of Eastern Finland (Joensuu). He is specialized in 20^th Century Eastern European, particularly Soviet cultural history, cultural diplomacy of the Cold War era, and memory studies. He is currently preparing a monograph in English dealing with musical exchanges between Finland and the Soviet Union between 1944-1985.

The project

Title: Circumventing Moscow: Soviet-Western Artistic Networks during Late Socialism

"Soviet history is typically viewed through the lens of Russia and Russian culture. Although there is a lot of scholarship on non-Russian Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs), it tends to emphasise nation-states, treating their histories largely in isolation of the broader Soviet context. This is particularly evident regarding SSRs’ foreign relations, which have frequently been dismissed as non-existent or as anomalies that are difficult to integrate into nation-centric historical narratives. By focusing on SSRs, this project produces vital new knowledge about their development and global position. Local artists and administrators used arts to resist the fierce Russification of the late Soviet period. This project calls this subtle resistance, pointing out that foreign cultural connections were vital to the rise of nationalism, contributing to the end of the USSR. Rather than viewing the USSR as a monolith, this project focuses on the agency of SSRs. Existing scholarship on Soviet cultural diplomacy emphasises centralisation, even though SSRs often had their own agendas. This project will deepen our understanding of the complex dynamics between the Soviet centre and periphery, clarifying the role of SSRs in cultural exchange. It will contribute to a nuanced understanding of international relations during the Cold War era, challenging simplistic East–West binaries. Thus far, SSRs have mostly remained on the outskirts of European historiography. However, the socialist past significantly influences contemporary Europe. Cultural networking in the Baltic Sea area during the Cold War era has never been systematically studied, although cultural exchange occurred among the few spheres in which direct foreign contact was possible, effectively serving as a substitute for open political action. By adopting transnational approach to the role played by arts in foreign cultural networking of the SSRs the project attempts to step beyond the existing Russo-centric Soviet historiography."

Hosting Institution(s): École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS)

Selective Bibliography

• Simo Mikkonen & Pia Koivunen, Beyond the Curtain: Entangled Histories of the Cold War-Era Europe (Berghahn 2015)
• Simo Mikkonen & Pekka Suutari, Music, Art, and Diplomacy: East-West Cultural Interactions and the Cold War (Routledge 2016)
• Simo Mikkonen, Giles Scott-Smith & Jari Parkkinen, Entangled East and West. Cultural Diplomacy and Artistic Interaction during the Cold War (Degruyter 2018)
• Hon-Lun Yang, Simo Mikkonen & John Winzenburg, Networking the Russian Diaspora: Russian Musicians and Musical Activities in Interwar Shanghai (Hawaii UP 2019).
• Simo Mikkonen, ”Presenting Soviet music: Gubaidulina, Schnittke and others at the Helsinki Week of New Soviet Music in 1984”. Twentieth-Century Music 22 (4), 2025.