Researcher
Natalia Moen-Larsen
Contactinfo and files
Summary
Natalia Moen-Larsen is a senior research fellow in the research group on Russia, Asia and International Trade. Her research interests are culture and national identity, inter-ethnic tensions, migration, and nationalism. In addition, Moen-Larsen is interested in political communication, the use of traditional and digital media, and the spread of disinformation and misinformation in Russia.
Moen-Larsen holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Oslo. The PhD examines what three Russian national newspapers wrote about refugees from Ukraine who came to Russia in the spring of 2014 and refugees from the Middle East and North Africa who went to Europe during the "refugee crisis" in 2015. The thesis also discusses the connection between representations of refugees in Russian newspapers and notions of Russia's place in the world and about the West as Russia's adversary.
Moen-Larsen is the editor in chief of Nordisk Østforum, the Nordic journal for East European and Post-Soviet studies.
Expertise
Education
2022 PhD of Sociology at the University of Oslo
2009 MA of Sociology at the University of Oslo
Work Experience
2022- Senior Research Fellow, NUPI
2015-2022 PhD Candidate, UiO
2013-2022 Research Fellow, NUPI
2011 Junior Research Fellow, NUPI
2010 Intern, NUPI
2010 Seminar leader, Institute of Sociology, UiO
Aktivitet
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Dealing with the challenge of political warfare in the COVID-19 and Ukraine war context (FLANKS 2)
This project will investigate how Nordic and Black Sea Region must be prepared to meet and deal with the challenges posed by political warfare....
COVspiracy? COVID-19 conspiracy theories in Putin’s Russia
For years the Kremlin has been promoting conspiracy theories to legitimize its actions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the regime itself became the target of such theories.
How Russian press describes Ukrainian refugees
“Victims of Democracy” or “Enemies at the Gates”? Russian Discourses on the European “Refugee Crisis”
With over one million people arriving in Europe as refugees, the UN Refugee Agency declared 2015 “the year of Europe’s refugee crisis.” This article explores the meaning-making process surrounding the “refugee crisis” in a Russian context, using discourse theory to analyze representations of refugees, Russia, and the West in opinion pieces and interview articles in three major Russian newspapers. In addition to the humanitarian and security discourses presented in existing studies, I identify a geopolitical discourse that represents refugees as victims of interventionism and democratization processes that the West has promoted in the Middle East and North Africa. More generally, this study adds to the literature on discursive construction of identity and difference.
Migrant Workers in Russia. Global Challenges and the Shadow Economy in Societal Transformation
Moen-Larsen reviews Migrant Workers in Russia. Global Challenges and the Shadow Economy in Societal Transformation edited by Anna-Liisa Heusala, Kaarina Aitamurto and published by Routledge.
Putins propagandaproblem
In this op-ed, Moen-Larsen and Gjerde write about the propaganda that has characterized the official Russian media coverage of the so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Brothers and barbarians: Discursive constructions of ‘refugees’ in Russian media
This article maps the unexplored terrain of representations of refugees in Russian media, using discourse theory and the concepts of subject positions and symbolic boundaries to analyse these representations. The research questions are: Who are the refugees? What discourses do they feature in? What kinds of symbolic boundaries do these representations maintain? This study analyses the three Russian newspapers Izvestija, Novaya gazeta and Rossiiskaya gazeta, focusing on how, between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2015, these newspapers came to employ the term ‘refugee’ for persons from Ukraine and for those from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Analysis of the subject position of ‘refugee’ in discourses about security, humanitarianism, integration and nationalism reveals contrasting images of refugees from Ukraine and MENA refugees. The latter are represented as ‘threatening’ and ‘alien’: symbolic boundaries are maintained between Russians and these refugees as well as between ‘superior’ Russia and ‘inferior’ Europe. In contrast, refugees from Ukraine are often presented as similar to Russians. Nationalist discourse merges with security, humanitarian and integration discourses, creating contrasting symbolic boundaries between these two groups of refugees and Russians. Refugees are classed as ‘preferred’ or ‘non-preferred’ migrants on the basis not of their situation, but their ethnicity.
Suitcase – shelling – Russia’: narratives about refugees from Ukraine in Russian media.
The armed conflict in South-East Ukraine has brought a massive increase in refugees in the Russian Federation. This article examines the meaning-making process surrounding the sudden presence of these refugees, through analysis of narratives in three major national newspapers – Izvestiya, Novaya gazeta and Rossiiskaya gazeta –1 June – 30 September 2014. Three thematic groups of narratives predominated: about war, about refugee reception and aid, and about Russia in international relations. These give meaning to the subject-position “refugees from Ukraine” primarily as war victims and aid recipients.
Research group for Russia, Asia and International Trade
Research group for Russia, Asia and International Trade