Course unit details:
Culture, Media and Politics in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia
| Unit code | RUSS60601 |
|---|---|
| Credit rating | 15 |
| Unit level | FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree |
| Teaching period(s) | Semester 1 |
| Available as a free choice unit? | Yes |
Overview
This course explores the relationship between culture and power under state socialist system and in contemporary Russia. The first part of the course will analyse the policies of the Soviet government towards the media, as well as towards writers, artists, musicians and other cultural figures and the response of the latter to these policies. Students will be introduced to relevant theoretical frameworks, particularly those developed by Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault, and encouraged to consider the extent to which these frameworks can help us understand the processes in societies which are politically and socially different from those of the ‘West’.
The discussion of cultural developments in the Soviet Union will be linked to major historical events of the twentieth century, such as the Russian Revolution, Stalin’s terror, the Second World War, Cold War, De-Stalinisation and the fall of the communist regime. Cultural figures will be presented as, simultaneously, beneficiaries and victims of the government’s approach to cultural matters. On the basis of selected case studies, the final part of the course will explore the ways in which the Soviet past has been reinvented in the cultural production of Putin’s Russia.
Aims
The aim of the course are
- To introduce students to the complexity the relationship between political authorities and intellectuals in the state socialist system.
- To explore how the relationship between culture and power has changed in Russia post-1991.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course students will be able to:
- Demonstrate a systematic knowledge of Soviet government policies towards various forms of cultural activities.
- Appreciate the changing dynamics of the relationship between the government and cultural figures in different periods of Soviet history.
- Consider changes and continuities between Soviet and post-Soviet periods of Russian history.
- Evaluate critically different types of sources.
- Demonstrate originality and independent thinking in tackling complex issues.
Syllabus
Sessions 1-2: Russian culture and the new political order
Sessions 3-5: Culture and power under Stalin
Three weekly hours in the class for 11 weeks
Two consultation hours per week.
By the end of this course students will be able to appreciate and understand:
- The complexity of the relationship between culture and power under state socialism.
- The changing nature of the politics of culture in different periods of Soviet history.
- The extent to which 1991 was a major divide in Russian political history.
- The relationship between the politics of culture and identity politics during the post-Soviet period.
- The role of 'history wars' in Europe in the first decade of the new millennium.
Intellectual skills
By the end of this course students will be able to:
- Evaluate scholarly debates pertaining to Soviet history and Russian politics of culture and identity.
- Evaluate the applicability of particular theoretical frameworks to the Soviet/Russian case.
- Analyse different types of primary sources.
- Conduct independent research.
Practical skills
- Deliver a public presentation;
- Use library, electronic and online resources effectively;
- Critically read and critique existing literature.
Transferable skills and personal qualities
By the end of this course students will be able to:
- Engage in independent reflection and enquiry.
- Analyse data and provide a synthesis of the findings.
- Deliver an oral presentation in a formal setting.
- Write a report on a piece of original research.
- Engage in group discussion (both in the class and online).
- Work as part of a team.
Employability skills
- Analytical skills
- Ability to assess information critically; ability to analyse different types of sources
- Oral communication
- Ability to give oral presentations
- Written communication
- Ability to write clearly and coherently
Assessment methods
Assessment task | Weighting within Unit (%) |
20-minute presentation | Formative, 0% |
Essay | 100% |
Feedback methods
- Written feedback on presentation.
- Additional one-to-one feedback (during consultation hours or by appointment).
- Global feedback on Blackboard.
- Written feedback on essay.
Recommended reading
Katerina Clark and Evgeny Dobrenko, Soviet Culture and Power. A History in Documents, 1917-1953 (New Haven, 2007)
Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Cultural Front. Power and Culture in Revolutionary Russia (Ithaca, 1992)
David Brandenberger, National Bolshevism: Stalinist Mass Culture and the Formation of Modern Russian National Identity (1931-1956) (Cambridge MA, 2002)
Polly Jones, ‘Memories of Terror or Terrorizing Memories? Terror, Trauma and Survival in Soviet Culture of the Thaw’, Slavonic and East European Review, 82,2, 2008
Thomas Lah, Late Soviet Culture: from Perestroika to Novostroika (Durham, N C, 1993)
Ellen Mickiewicz, Television, Power and the Public (Cambridge, 2008)
Alexei Miller and Marina Lipman, eds., The Convulsions of Historical Politics (Budapest, 2013)
Fishman, J. A. (2006) Language loyalty, language planning and language revitalization. Multilingual Matters.
Haugen, E. (1966) Dialect, Language, Nation. American anthropologist, 68, 922-935.
Haugen, E. (1972) National and international languages. IN Haugen, E. (Ed.) The Ecology of Language. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Kaplan, R. B. & Baldauf, R. B. (1997) Language planning from practice to theory. Clavedon: Multilingual Matters.
Koenig, M. & de Varennes, F. (Eds.) (2001) Lesser used languages and the law in Europe. IJMS: International Journal on Multicultural Societies 3:1, UNESCO http://www.unesco.org/shs/ijms/vol3/issue1.
Matras, Y. (2004) The future of Romani: toward a policy of linguistic pluralism. Roma Rights Quarterly, 1:31-44 http://romani.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/downloads/2/Matras_Pluralism.pdf.
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. & Phillipson, R. (1995) Linguistic human rights: overcoming linguistic discrimination. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Wright, S. (2004) Language policy and language planning. From nationalism to globalisation. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
Study hours
| Scheduled activity hours | |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 11 |
| Seminars | 22 |
| Independent study hours | |
|---|---|
| Independent study | 160 |
Teaching staff
| Staff member | Role |
|---|---|
| Vera Tolz-Zilitinkevic | Unit coordinator |