E-learning course

Enrolment starts on August 27. at 12.00 and ends September 10. at 12.00.

E-learning course

Enrolment starts on August 27. at 12.00 and ends September 10. at 12.00.

Course can be used as part of the Uskonto ja maailmankuva -theme.

E-learning course

Enrolment starts on August 27. at 12.00 and ends September 10. at 12.00.

E-learning course

Enrolment starts on August 27. at 12.00 and ends September 10. at 12.00.

The course explores number of issues central for the understanding of the Stalin's regime - the origins of the terror, the beginning of the Second World War and the ideological/cultural underpinnings of Stalinism. The key question which we are going to address is that of the degree to which Communist regime was able to mobilize support of Soviet population and the means it was using in order to achieve it. Politics of terror and politics of culture will be considered as two parallel and interdependent strategies of gaining such support. The course is based on newly published archival sources and presents a discussion of recent historiography of Soviet history. Students are expected to produce papers discussing the themes of the seminar.

The main themes of the course are the following:

1. The problem of totalitarianism and the origins of Stalinism. Recent historiography of Soviet history. The problem of archives. The concept of totalitarianism: history, promises and limitations. Three projects for the twentieth century: liberal democracy, fascism and communist. Nazism and Stalinism: what did they have in common?
2. Stalinism: organization of power. The making of the Stalin's regime. Everyday administration in 1930s. The Red Army and the party-state. Stalinism in Russian regions. Stalinist elites: fathers, sons and the origins of terror.
3. Stalinism: mobilization of support and the forms of protest. Cui prodest? Social mobility and forms of socialization. Stalinism and nationalism. A society organized for war? Was there any space for public protest? Was there any space for privacy? "Soviet subjectivity" under debate.
4. The politics of terror. Recent historiography of Goulag. Numerical estimates. Whom should we count as victims? The logic of terror (if any). The key question - how could it happen? What does terror reveal about human condition? The task of a moral history.
5. Assessing the efficiency of the Soviet System: the debate of the origins of the Second World War. Recent historiography of the war. The role of the war for the making of the Soviet system. Did Stalin plan a preventive war? Why did the Red Army surrender in 1941? War and terror: the experience of the extreme. 
6. Stalinism as a form of thought. Stalinism in the light of the 'linguistic turn'. Framing the mind: reading the "Short Course". Stalin and intelligentsia. Mass culture in the age of terror.
7. Stalinism after Stalin. The dismantling of Stalinism and its limits. The concept of the "cult of personality". A Neo-Stalinist state? Stalinism worldwide: is communism without terror possible? "Stalinism in its time": the problem of comparison in history.

The course is organized in cooperation with Aleksanteri Institute's Russian and East European Master's School.

Enrollment via NettiOpsu

The course aims at examining the problem of dramatic transformations in attitudes towards the Soviet past undergone by the Russian society since 1985 till nowadays.  Representations of Stalinism and that of Soviet regime have diverged over this period from a predominant radical denial of "everything Soviet" manifested in the heated public debates and wages of public revelations of Stalinism and the Soviet terror (1986-1991) to a sudden loss of interest in and an ignorance of the Soviet heritage (1992-1997) followed by the mass nostalgia for the Soviet times, revisionism and glorification of Stalinism (1999-2009). Alongside these transformations, debates on the Soviet past have moved to the very center of internal affairs and foreign politics. The course will consider the theoretical problems that this process in the Russian historical memory poses to the memory studies.

• Introduction: History and memory as related concepts. Origins of historical memory studies, their place and role in the XX century historiography. How historical memory is transmitted: collective memory, memory of social groups or individual historical memory? Sources to study historical memory: oral history, life story, opinion polls, fiction.

• Ideology of the Soviet intelligentsia (1960-1980ss). Debates over Stalinism during perestroika. Representations of the West and "market discourse" in mid-90s.
• Concept of totalitarianism and its role in the discourse over the Soviet past. The comparison of German and Soviet totalitarianism and its influence over perception of Stalinism in post-Soviet Russia.
• Soviet myth of the "Great Patriotic War" (1941-1945) and its role in the historical memory of Stalinism. 60s anniversary of the II WW and its impact on the historical memory and public debates.
• False memories as a new problem in memory studies: Russian and French cases. "Golden myth of Stalinism" and the selective historical amnesia in post-Soviet Russia. Opinion polls and oral history interviews on the memory of Stalinism.
• Memory wars and memory politics in post-Soviet Russia (2006-2010).  State politics in history education: textbooks on the Soviet history. Memory laws and academic freedom
• Closing discussion: Concept of trauma and its relevance for the post-Soviet case. Historical memory and current debates in historiography. 

The course is organized in cooperation with Aleksanteri Institute's Russian and East European Master's School.

Enrollment via NettiOpsu

E-learning course / Verkkokurssi

Enrolment starts on January 3. at 12.00 and ends January 12. at 12.00.

E-learning course / Verkkokurssi

Enrolment starts on January 3. at 12.00 and ends January 12. at 12.00.

This intensive lecture course examines the role of the United States in world affairs. Although the emphasis will be put on the years since 1945, the lectures will also explore the long-term reasons behind and the processes that led to America's rise to a global superpower. Specific focus will be put on the interplay between domestic pressures and external threats.

Language of instruction will be English, but students may write their essays in Finnish.

Evaluation: Course will be assessed on the basis of an essay of ca. 2000-2500 words. The questions for the essay will be provided during the first lecture. The essays should be sent as an email attachment by 6.5. 2011 to: jussi.hanhimaki@uta.fi

No enrolment. Everyone is welcome.

E-learning course / Verkkokurssi

Enrolment starts on January 3. at 12.00 and ends January 12. at 12.00.

E-learning course / Verkkokurssi

Enrolment starts on January 3. at 12.00 and ends January 12. at 12.00.