Course Description
The Soviet Union was a diverse federation of fifteen proto-states, peopled by myriad ethnic groups speaking nearly two hundred languages and dialects. While Russians in many ways occupied the center, the non-Russian peoples of the Soviet Union are central to understanding the country’s form and fate. These are their histories.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Additional readings and/or writing projects are normally required
for graduate students.
Athena Title
Histories of the Soviet People
Prerequisite
One course in HIST or POLS or INTL or CMLT or RUSS or SOCI or JOUR or COMM
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The principal objective of the course is to teach students to think critically for themselves about the relationships between the past and the present, to learn to ask questions of the past that enable them to understand the present and mold the future, and to become attuned to both the limitations and possibilities of change. The course seeks to acquaint students with the ways in which past societies and peoples have defined the relationships between community and individual needs and goals, and between ethical norms and decision-making. In general students will be expected to: 1. read a wide range of primary and secondary sources critically. 2. polish skills in critical thinking, including the ability to recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, and the ability to evaluate--and support or refute--arguments effectively. 3. write stylistically appropriate and mature papers and essays using processes that include discovering ideas and evidence, organizing that material, and revising, editing, and polishing the finished papers.
Topical Outline
-Problems of definition and theory -Tsarist national policy -1917 and Lenin's view of ethnic minorities -A NEP alternative? The 11920s -Collectivization and industrialization on the periphery -World War II and a "Soviet" identity -Krischev and the rebirth of nationalism -Dissent and the politics of human-rights principles -Gorbachev, the nationalities, and the collapse of the USSR -Post-Soviet politics in the CIS
Syllabus