92674 - History of Modern and Contemporary Russia (1)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will know and be able to apply the main methods of analysis to cultural and historical processes in Russia over the modern and contemporary eras, whether in the specific geo-historical context or through interaction with other complex cultural worlds. They will be able to place political, religious and cultural phenomena in historical context, critically examining the interconnections (including comparison with other cultural areas), and use specific cases to illustrate various aspects of the encounter among different cultures. They will be able to recognise and analyse the documentary and textual sources relevant to the areas in question. They will know how to listen, understand and debate respectfully with different cultures and viewpoints, spotting tie-ups among the different disciplines involved in interpreting cultural and historical phenomena.

Course contents

The course aims to provide the latest knowledge on the political and social history of Russia/USSR in the 20th century up to the beginning of the Putin period. Although the course focuses on the specific history of the USSR/Russia, students will be able to contextualize it in a broader framework through the study of the ways in which Russia's international projects influenced its domestic agenda.

The major phases of the Russian and Soviet twentieth century will be covered, with a stronger focus on the years 1945-1999, which we might call the period from postwar Soviet power to Russia's international decline, but also to the country's first real democratic experience.

However the first week of the course will be devoted to presenting the situation of the Russian empire at the beginning of the 20th century and working methodology on primary sources and historical concepts.

Readings/Bibliography

Some readings are required before class (see the space Virtuale of the course). Attending students have a specific list of texts to study for the final written exam, while non-attending students will work on indicated books (see below).

To allow for classroom discussion, it is crucial that students read, prior to Lecture 1, at least a general overview of Russian history in the 20th and 21st centuries, including:

- Cigliano, Giovanna. La Russia contemporanea : un profilo storico, 1855-2005. Roma: Carocci. diversi edizioni (the most recent edition, 2013, is recommended)

or

- la coppia Mark Edele, The Soviet Union. A Short History. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 2019 e De Stefano, Carolina. Storia del potere russo. Dagli zar a Putin. Brescia: Morcelliana, 2022.

Other recommended references for further study:
- Graziosi, Andrea. L’Unione Sovietica, 1914-1991. Bologna: Il Mulino, 2011 (exists in ebook format obtainable through AlmaRe) This is the most comprehensive synthesis work on the Soviet period, and contains reflections on historiography.
- Benvenuti, Francesco. Russia oggi. Roma: Carocci, 2013. This is a very clear work on a most recent period (1985 to 2010)

Teaching methods

Lessons are based on an active exchange among students and with the teacher.

Almost all lectures are built around a primary document (textual or visual) that all students are required to read/observe before class.

Through the study of sources and of the main concepts for academic knowledge of contemporary Russian and Soviet history, students will also be invited to train themselves to the method of primary source (critical) analysis. During class, students are expected to acquire or improve their skills in historical methodology.  Before the end of the second week of the course, the attending students must sign up to short classroom presentations, for which they will have to: do small bibliographical searches and develop a critical approach to all types of historical sources, as well as a good grasp of essential academic interpretations and debates. The preparation of (individual) presentations will demand group work (of 3-5 students), in order to harmonize each one's input for the rest of the class.

The historical content of the classes is described in the detailed agenda below. In broad lines,

*the first week (3 lectures) is devoted to explanations by the professor on the content and functioning of the course, including the methodology to be used by attending students for oral classroom presentations of primary sources (part of the final grade).

*The second week remains essentially composed of face-to-face lectures, but the professor will introduce more historiographical debates and recent theses on the 1905-1932 period. *The third week alternates between collective discussions (starting with very short student presentations) and frontal lectures. *The final six lessons are based on student presentations and collective discussions.

Week 1
Classes 1, 2, 3 (Mon. 18-Mart. 19, Wed. 20 Sept.). Presentation of course methods and study of (a) the St. Petersburg Workers' Petition of Jan. 9 (22), 1905; (b) the concept of autocracy

Week 2
Class 4 (Mon. Sept. 25) Russian imperialism: stages and dynamics, academic interpretations.
Class 5 (Tues. Sept. 26). The Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917, an episode in the "continuum of crisis" (Peter Holquist)
Class 6 (Wed. Sept. 27). From the dream of global revolution to the "revolution from above" (1918-1932).

Week 3
Class 7 (Mon. Oct. 2). Collectivisation and State violence. Work on primary sources Graziosi, Andrea (a cura di), La grande guerra contadina in Urss. Bolscevichi e contadini (1918-1933), Roma, Officina Libraria, 2022, pp. e di Nicolas Werth, L’isola dei cannibali. Siberia, 1933: una storia di orrore all’interno dell’arcipelago gulag, tr it di Francesco Roncacci, Milano, Corbaccio, 2007. 5 students launch the discussion

Class 8 (Tues. Oct. 3). Stalinism in the 1930s (frontal lecture by the prof.)
NO LECTURE Oct. 4 (San Petronio, holiday).

Week 4

Class 9 (Mon. Oct. 9). World War II in the USSR. Work on primary sources: excerpts from Vassily Grossman, A Writer at War, 1941-1945, Milan, Adelphi, 2015. 5 students will open the discussion.

Class 10 (Tue. Oct. 10). The Khrushchevian Thaw. Work on primary sources: excerpts from Nikita Khrushchëv's "secret report." 5 students will open the discussion.

No class on Wednesday 11th Oct., for extraordinary reasons

Week 5

Class 11 (Mon. Oct. 16). The Brezhnev years 1. Work on primary sources: A. Kosterin's letter, Oct. 1968. 5 students will open the discussion.

No class on Tuesday 17th Oct., for extraordinary reasons

Class 12 (Wedn.18 Oct). The Brezhnev years 2. Work on primary sources: excerpt of S. Alexeevich, Second hand time, and 2 photos of 1960s-70s' Mosscow. 5 students will open the discussion.

Class 13 (Mon. Oct. 23). Gorbachev's perestroja. Work on primary sources: two documents. 5 students will open the discussion.

Week 6

Class 14 (Tues. Oct. 24): From hope to crisis, 1991 and 1993. Work on primary sources (to be defined). 5 students will open the discussion.

Class 15 (Wedn. Oct. 25): The Putin era. Work on primary sources: Text by A. Politkovskaya, Feb. 24,  20322 speech by V. Putin. 6 students  will open the discussion (3 per source).

Assessment methods

• ATTENDING STUDENTS

The grade for attending students will consist of two parts:

1/ An oral part, in the classroom (35% of the grade).

Each attending student must enroll in the calendar here, at the latest at the end of the second week of class: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PlLylpW8CZGZhiuFOOfBt9OCLRjPyHn0DzR073sRtaM/edit#gid=0.

There are a maximum of 5 slots per class open to enrollment (except the last class: 6 slots). Those enrolled should contact us to discuss their presentation together. In total, there are 41 places. Attendance and participation in classes are especially important for those who choose the 'attending' mode of examination.

The work will consist of preparing, by choice: student 1- information research and brief analysis of the author of the document to be studied; student 2- information research and brief analysis of the context and precise date of the document; student 3- information research and brief analysis of the nature of the document, recipients, mode of dissemination/circulation; student 4- identification of the structure of the document (organization of content) and tone; student 5- identification of errors, or non-neutral words, or deliberate distortion of facts, identification of all other interesting detail, hypothesis about the purpose(s) of the document.

The grade assigned to the preparation of a primary source will be based as much on the research done by students (the bibliography/sitography used by them) as on the methodology followed (depth of analysis and reflection). The intelligibility of the discourse will also be assessed.

2/ A written exam after the end of the course (65%).

The test will consist of answering about ten questions about the content seen in classrooms: the primary sources studied together, syntheses of the content seen in each class (id est the teacher's powerpoint uploaded on Virtuale), and any academic texts given to read on Virtuale for the exam.

List (check also the Virtuale of the course):

•Prologo di Graziosi, Andrea. L'Urss di Lenin e Stalin : storia dell'Unione Sovietica, 1914-1945. Bologna : Il mulino, 2007.

•“Petizione degli operai di San Pietroburgo del 9 (22) gennaio 1905”

•Masoero, Alberto, «Russia tra Europa e Asia», Pietro Rossi (a cura di), The Boundaries of Europe. From the Fall of the Ancient World to the Age of Decolonization, 175–191, Berlin, De Gruyter, 2015.

•Estratti da V. Aleksandrova, Quello che ho vissuto, 1917-1921, A. Accattoli (a cura di) , Milano, Biblion, 2021.

•schede informative sul 1917

•Werth, Nicolas, «Stalin, il “Lenin di oggi”, o come Stalin è diventato Stalin», Olivier Guez (a cura di) , Il secolo dei dittatori, 66–88, Vicenza, Neri Pozza, 2020.

•estratti da Graziosi, Andrea, La grande guerra contadina in Urss. Bolscevichi e contadini (1918-1933), Roma, Officina Libraria, 2022

•estratto del rapporto « Sulla situazione politica della regione al 15 agosto 1931 », pagine 50-51 di Nicolas Werth, L’isola dei cannibali. Siberia, 1933: una storia di orrore all’interno dell’arcipelago gulag, tr it di Francesco Roncacci, Milano, Corbaccio, 2007

•estratti da Grossman, V., Uno scrittore in guerra, 1941-1945, Milano, Adelphi, 2015.

•Hellbeck, Jochen, «L’autoconsapevolezza al tempo di Stalin», Paul Corner (a cura di) , Il consenso totalitario : opinione pubblica e opinione popolare sotto fascismo, nazismo e comunismo, Roma; Bari, GLF editori Laterza, 2012, pp. 42–59.

•Salomoni, Antonella, «Il Comitato antifascista ebraico dell’URSS (1941-48): dalla mobilitazione alla riscoperta dell’identità», Alberto De Bernardi, Paolo Ferrari (a cura di), Antifascismo e identità europea, 177–195, Roma, Carocci, 2004.

•estratti del “Rapporto segreto” di Chruščëv (1956)

•estratto di Giovanni Moretto, La strada dell’abondanza : consumi e comunismo in URSS ai tempi di Nikita Chruščëv (Milano: UNICOPLI, 2018)

•estratti di Svetlana Aleksievič, Ragazzi di zinco (Roma: Edizioni e/o, 2003)

•documenti sulla perestrojka e glasnost'

•estratto di Giovanni Moretto, Consumi e benessere nell’Unione Sovietica di Michail Gorbacëv. Politiche, strategie e cultura (Milano: UNICOPLI, 2015)

•estratti di Anna Politkovskaja, Per Questo : alle radici di una morte annunciata : articoli 1999-2006, trans. Claudia Zonghetti (Milano: Adelphi Edizioni, 2009).

•discorso di V. Putin la mattina della guerra (24 febbraio 2022)

 

Questions will be open questions, calling for redacted answers. The evaluation criteria will be: accuracy and precision of the answer, choice of appropriate vocabulary, ability to tie concrete aspects and facts with broader notions that have been studied in the classroom.

There will be only 3 different dates offered: November 17 (two rounds : 2-4:30 pm and 4:30-7 pm), 20 December (two rounds: 2-4:30 pm and 4:30-7 pm), and  February 1 (two rounds : 2-4:30 pm and 4:30-7 pm).

In the evaluation of the test, particular account will be taken of the student's ability to know how to navigate within the sources and bibliographical examination material in order to draw out useful information that will enable him or her to illustrate themes and problems and to know how to link them together. Therefore, the following will be assessed:

- The mastery of content

- The ability to synthesize and analyze themes and concepts

- The ability to express oneself adequately and in language appropriate to the subject matter.

The student's achievement of an organic view of the topics covered in class together with their critical use, a good command of expression and specific language will be evaluated with grades of excellence.
A mnemonic knowledge of the subject matter together with synthesis and analysis skills articulated in correct but not always appropriate language will lead to fair grades.
Formative gaps and/or inappropriate language - albeit in the context of minimal knowledge of the examination material - will lead to grades that do not exceed sufficiency.
Formative gaps, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the bibliographic materials offered during the course will be negatively graded.

 

• NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

Students who cannot attend class regularly are always welcome to come when they can. For them the course grade will result from an oral test, with questions designed to test the student's knowledge of the literature listed below. If there are any questions or concerns about the content of this oral examination, students are encouraged to contact the lecturer during office hours, or by e-mail.

There will be 6 exam appeals : early December 2023, late January 2024, mid-April, early May, late June, late September 2024.

The highest grade will be awarded to the student who shows a general understanding of the topics discussed in the literature to be studied, combined with a critical approach to the material and a confident and effective use of appropriate terminology.
An average grade will be awarded to the student who has memorized the main points of the material and is able to summarize them satisfactorily and provide critical and effective responses, while failing to show complete mastery of the appropriate terminology.
The student will fail the examination if he or she shows significant errors in his or her understanding and inability to grasp the general contours of the question, along with a poor grasp of the appropriate terminology.

LITERATURE FOR EXAMINATION (NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS)
2 parts:
1/A general overview of the contemporary age in Russia/Urss, to be chosen between

- Cigliano, Giovanna. La Russia contemporanea : un profilo storico, 1855-2005. Roma: Carocci. diversi edizioni (nel caso di un acquisto, si raccomanda l'edizione più recente, 2013)

or

- the set composed of Mark Edele, The Soviet Union. A Short History. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 2019 and De Stefano, Carolina. Storia del potere russo. Dagli zar a Putin. Brescia: Morcelliana, 2022.

2/ one volume of your choice among:
- revolutionary period : Liudmila G. Novikova, La controrivoluzione in provincia : movimento bianco e guerra civile nella Russia del Nord, 1917-1920, Roma, Viella, 2015.

(the book exists in Russian and English and can be studied in those languages: Liudmila Novikova, An Anti-Bolshevik Alternative. The White Movement and the Civil War in the Russian North, Madison, The University of Wisconsin Press, 2018)

- a broad period (with a focus on stalinism): Oleg V. Chlevnjuk, Stalin. Biografia di un dittatore, Milano, Mondadori, 2016.

(the book exists in English and can be studied in that language : Oleg Khlevniuk, [https://sol.unibo.it/SebinaOpac/resource/UBO4473721], Yale UP : 2015)

- a long-term history of the relations Ukraine-Russia: Andrea Kappeler, Fratelli diversi. Russi e Ucraini dal Medioevo ai giorni nostri, UTET Università, 2023

(the book exists in German and in French and can be studied in those languages)

- The end of the Soviet Union: Giovanni Moretto, Consumi e benessere nell’Unione Sovietica di Michail Gorbacëv. Politiche, strategie e cultura, Milano, UNICOPLI, 2015.

 

Graduation Policy

The final overall grade will be in the range 18-30:

- 30 cum laude (outstanding, sure grasp of all the material and many interesting insights)

- 28-30 (excellent, sure grasp of all the material and some interesting insights)

- 26-27 (very good, competent grasp of all the material)

- 24-25 (good, competent grasp of some the material)

- 21-23 (satisfactory, partial grasp of the material)

- 18-20 (pass, barely sufficient grasp of the material)

- 17 or below (fail, insufficient grasp of the material);

 

Teaching tools

During the lectures, the professor will make extensive use of power point presentations.

After the lectures, powerpoint files and other texts will be uploaded to the teaching materials section of the site for students to download and learn.

Other tools will be made available in the teaching materials section of the site, such as lists of original terms and abbreviations with their translation.

Office hours

See the website of Vanessa Voisin