EAST CENTRAL EUROPE AND THE MODERN WORLD (UNDERGRADUATE)

The course examines the eastern stretches of the European continent and their relationship with the broader world between the eighteenth century and the present.  Where is--and was--East Central Europe, anyway?  Was it chiefly Europe's brutal battleground or the continent's backward periphery?  Should we think of it as lands in-between the developed, "First," and underdeveloped "Third" worlds or perhaps a crucible of various social and economic experiments and a source of immigration in the West?  The themes of the course include: the imperial experiences and legacies in the region; the role that real and imagined differences between East-Central Europe and the West played in how the region developed, was defined, and defined itself; the role of East-Central Europe in globalization; travels and cultural exchanges between East-Central Europe and the rest of the world; Eastern Europe's economic "catching up" with the West; Eastern Europe's role in the Cold War and the manifold experiences behind the "iron curtain;" we will also be asking about the extent to which history can help us answer questions about the tensions and conflicts in East-Central Europe today.

SOVIET UNION IN GLOBAL COLD WAR (GRADUATE & UNDERGRADUATE)

The course examines 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.

SOCIALISM AND CINEMATIC IMAGINATION

The course examines the complicated relationship between cinema and history in the Soviet Union and communist Eastern Europe, between 1917 and 1991.   How did films recount the past in various moments of history of socialist states?  How did the cinematic imagery and institutional context of film production and distribution reflect the possibilities and limitations of a given political moment--and of socialism more generally? Was there such a thing as "socialist cinema" behind the "Iron Curtain," a region where various states and peoples continued to embrace nationalism?  Students will survey a sample of famous and lesser-known films from various periods (the early years of the Soviet state, Stalinism, "the Thaw," and late socialism) and genres (comedy, drama, science fiction) to try to answer these questions, become familiar with the vibrant cinematic imagination that was born under socialism, situate the films in their historical contexts, and hopefully enjoy themselves too.  Themes of the course will include: state manipulation through propaganda, efforts to create socialist pop culture, narratives and counter-narratives of socialism on film, tensions between national cinema and "socialist" cinema, film reception, and the question of artistic freedom under socialism.