University of Texas Arlington

Russia was the largest modern land empire on Earth.  In this course we will study the political, social and cultural mechanisms of Russian imperial rule between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries.  We will focus on the interactions between the Russian state and non-Russian nationalities during the successive stages of the Russian expansion: the Siberian frontier in the 16th and 17th centuries; the “Western Borderlands” (Eastern Europe) from the 18th century on; in the Far East and in America; and during the expansion to the Caucasus and Central Asia in the 19th centuries.  Special themes will include: 1) the structure and functioning of Russian imperial institutions; 2) types of contact between Russians and non-Russian (strategies of conquest, resistance, forms of collaboration, etc.); 3) the production of culture and knowledge for the Russian empire; 4) changing notions of nationality and 5) the complicated relationship between Russia and the West.  

The course is an overview of the history of Western Civilization from 1500 to the present day.  Emphasis will be put on the major developments within the European society and culture, and their place within broader political and economic trends.  Themes of the course will include: modernization; the changing boundaries of freedom and oppression; European identity and its challenges; elite and popular cultures; European interactions with non-European peoples; the divisions between Western and Eastern Europe.

This is a survey course of the history of Modern Russia and the Soviet Union.  It covers the period from the mid-nineteenth century to the present times—an era of political upheavals and extraordinary cultural and social change.  Our focus will be on the social and cultural aspects of Russia’s domestic developments and their links with the broader political and economic context.  The broad themes of the course will include: the relationship between the state and society (reforms, persecution, individual freedom and social engineering), elite and popular cultures, continuities and discontinuities between the Russian and Soviet political practices, and competing visions of modernity.

Course Description: In this course, students will learn about the Soviet side of the Cold War, from Joseph Stalin to Mikhail Gorbachev.  When, how and why did the Cold War start? Why exactly did it end? What were the Soviet motivations and means for fighting it? Themes of the course will include: Soviet foreign policy vis-à-vis the West, China and “The Third World;” Soviet-sponsored regime changes in Eastern Europe; the Soviet role in East European rebellions and in the global “hot spots” of the Cold War; the role of atomic weapons and arms race; Soviet cultural diplomacy, foreign propaganda and Cold War culture; the role of consumption in the Cold War.  Students will have the opportunity to learn about new interpretations of the Cold War based on recently declassified Russian archival materials, and to appreciate the complexity of the evolving Soviet view of international relations.

This course will examine the ways in which authorities in the Soviet Union and communist Eastern Europe thought about international border crossings throughout the twentieth century. It will also examine the various forms of international outreach under communism, including diplomacy, cultural and scientific exchanges, leisure travel and political tourism within and to countries of the Soviet Bloc; tensions between extreme isolationism and internationalism; mechanisms of international cultural and economic integration of the "socialist Second World;" numerous forms of international anti-communist opposition; and, the ways in which state-sponsored international initiatives subverted the totalitarian party-states.  The overarching theme of this seminar-style course will be the contradictory nature of communism, a sociopolitical system that often touted the benefits of international outreach, yet practiced extreme isolation; a system that sponsored various international initiatives that also undercut the power of the communists.  Students will read recent works in the dynamic field of international and transnational history of communism.

The course is an overview of the history of Western Civilization from 1500 to the present day. Emphasis will be put on the major developments within the European society and culture, and their place within broader political and economic trends. Themes of the course will include: modernization; the changing boundaries of freedom and oppression; European identity and its challenges; elite and popular cultures; European interactions with non-European peoples; the divisions between Western and Eastern Europe.

This seminar is an introduction to historical methodology. It is structured around two chief components. First, and most broadly, we will think, read and talk about what historians do and why they do it. We will also explore how one can, might, should or should not write history. We will be interested in various historiographic approaches, and we will discuss issues such as: reasons for writing about the past, reliable methods for evaluating evidence, compelling forms of argumentation and structuring a narrative, as well as resources available to historians and students of history. Second, students will have the chance to engage in practical exercises meant to introduce them to the craft of history at the undergraduate level, including analysis of historical evidence, summarizing and reviewing academic articles, and conducting, writing and presenting one’s own research.

The course is a survey of Russian history since the origins of the Kievan state in the ninth century to the eve of "the Great Reforms" in mid-nineteenth century. We will trace the growth of Russian institutions and the evolution of the political culture and society. Other themes will include: The development of Russian identity, empire and expansion, foreign policy, elite and popular cultures, the changing relationship between state and society as well as Russia’s evolving interactions with the "West."

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