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Semester 2

Culture and Power under Stalin 1924-1953 (Level 09 - Ordinary) (ELCR09007)

Subject

European Languages and Cultures - Russian Studies

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

In order to be eligible to take 3rd/4th Year Options, Visiting Students should have the equivalent of at least two years of study at University level of the appropriate language(s) and culture(s).

Course Summary

This course will focus on the relationship between culture and power in the Soviet Union under Stalin (1924 to 1953). It will apply recent critical perspectives to an exploration of the ideas and aims that shaped official policy on the arts in different phases of the Stalin era. The course will introduce students to the mechanisms of co-option, coercion, control and terror used to implement Communist Party policy, and the complex power dynamics between members of the creative establishment and the state authorities. It will examine the factors that led to the development implementation of the prescribed form of Socialist Realism, Students will develop an awareness of the cultural context and familiarity with a range of critical approaches, which they will use in exploring and analysing of works in various artistic fields, looking at how these promoted, reflected or resisted the prevailing orthodoxy. Particular emphasis will be placed on censorship, propaganda, the weaponisation of word and image, and on strategies of collusion and resistance that enabled survival in totalitarian societies, the use of marginal genres such as childrens literature, and the contrast between public and private narratives.

Course Description

The course will address various aspects of the relationship between art and power during the Stalinist period from a number of critical perspectives, drawing on classic scholarship and recent studies of Stalinist culture and society. Students will have the opportunity to engage critically with a range of primary sources including political and artistic manifestos, journalism, literary fiction, cinema, visual culture (photography, poster art, caricature) childrens poetry and fiction, book illustration, painting, diaries, monumental art etc. The course blends asynchronous and synchronous learning, with set reading and/or viewing or listening in preparation for weekly discussions in class. Each week there will be input from the tutor(s) in the form of a lecture style presentation and feedback in class. The course aims to put some emphasis on language, so that Russian studies students will be encouraged to engage with primary texts in the original Russian, but the overall approach will be inclusive, with students from outside Russian using translated or subtitled work. The course aims to develop critical skills and to promote reflection and independent thinking. This is embedded in the course assessment: for continual assessment, students will produce 2 personal reflective pieces (in writing or in audio/ video form) summing up what they learnt in class discussion. They will receive written feedback on these. The final research project will encourage self-led research, with students producing an original piece of critical analysis on a work of their choice, which they can present in a variety of formats.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 100%, Practical Exam 0%

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