Postgraduate Course: Society, Culture and Diplomacy in the Soviet and Post-Soviet Space (PGHC11410)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course will look at culture and society in 'Russia' as well as Eastern Europe and Central Asia more generally from first years of the twentieth century to the present day. In addition the course will examine recent developments in Russia's relations with her neighbours in historical perspective. |
| Course description |
This course will provide an interdisciplinary approach to the history and politics of the Soviet and Post-Soviet space in the Twentieth Century and after, focussing on issues of society, culture and diplomacy. The first part of the course will analyse the Soviet Union's
experiment in creating a new cultural formation, Soviet socialist culture, and will explore the relationship of this experiment to fundamental issues in Soviet social and political history down to 1941. The middle of the course will examine the Jewish experience in Russia/the Soviet Union from the Revolutions of 1917 to the present. The last part of the course will examine developments in Soviet society and culture for the period after the conclusion of the Great Patriotic War down to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and include an assessment of Russian foreign policy during the same period. Finally, the course will also look to examine the development of Russian foreign and energy policy from the Revolutions of 1917 to the present crisis in Ukraine.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Learn forum posts (20%) and one 3,000 word essay (80%). The weekly use of Learn discussion forums will serve as a critical component of the teaching of the course.
Using discussion forums is a well-established practice in online learning to help students engage with the material and interact with each other. This is particularly important for courses, like those taught as part of the online MSc, that have a significant asynchronous component.
Each week, students will be responsible for a 200-250 word posting in which they will make a significant observation about the reading(s). They will also be responsible for posting two responses to their classmates' initial postings, each 100-150 words in length. These posts will help to create a conversation among the students prior to the course's infrequent synchronous sessions and provide the instructor with insight as to the students¿ mastery of the readings and interests. The forum posts will be evaluated weekly, using the standard written material rubric. |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate in forum posts and the final essay a detailed and critical command of the body of knowledge concerning the Soviet and Post-Soviet space
- Demonstrate in forum posts and the final essay an ability to analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship, primary source materials concerning, and conceptual discussions about society, culture and diplomacy in the Soviet and Post-Soviet space
- Demonstrate in forum posts and the final essay, an ability to understand and apply specialised research or professional skills, techniques and practices considered in the course
- Demonstrate the ability to develop and sustain original scholarly arguments in seminars and in written assessment by independently formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence considered in the course
- Demonstrate in seminar discussions, forum posts and written assessment originality and independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers; and a considerable degree of autonomy
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Reading List
Katerina Clark, Moscow, the fourth Rome: Stalinism, cosmopolitanism, and the evolution of Soviet culture, 1931-1941 (2011)
Linda Edmondson (ed.), Women and Society in Russia and the Soviet Union (1992)
Sheila Fitzpatrick, Education and Social Mobility in the Soviet Union, 1921-1934 (2002)
Jonathan Frankel, Crisis, Revolution, and Russian Jews (2008)
Wendy Z. Goldman, Women, the State and Revolution: Soviet Family Policy and Social Life,
1917-1936 (1993)
Roger E. Kanet (ed.), Russian foreign policy in the 21st century (2010)
Alastair Kocho-Williams (ed.), The Twentieth Century Russia Reader (2012)
Stephen Lovell, Shadow of War: Russia and the USSR, 1941 to the Present (2010)
Wendy Lower, Nazi empire-building and the Holocaust in Ukraine (2005)
Robert Service, The Penguin History of Modern Russia: From Tsarism to the Twenty-first
Century (2009)
Lewis H. Siegelbaum, Soviet State and Society between Revolutions, 1918-1929 (1992)
Ronald Grigor Suny (ed.), The Cambridge History of Russia (2008), Vol. 3, The Twentieth
Century and After |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Soviet Society Culture Diplomacy |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr David Kaufman
Tel: (0131 6)51 3857
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: |
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