Unit information: The Russian Revolution in Social and Cultural Perspective in 2012/13

Unit name	The Russian Revolution in Social and Cultural Perspective
Unit code	RUSSM0017
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Shaw
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Russian
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

In 1917, two revolutions in St Petersburg shook Russia and changed the course of world history. Yet these shattering events did not come out of nowhere. At the turn of the century, Russian was in a state of revolutionary flux, as its people struggled to come to terms with modernity and social change and to shape their nation’s future. This unit examines the cultural and social context of the Russian revolutionary era, from the radical visions of the 1870s, through the turbulent events of 1905 and 1917, to attempts to put these utopian dreams into practice in the Soviet 1920s. It will consider the role of religion and autocracy in the late tsarist period, the development of radical politics, the utopian dreams of artists and thinkers, and the social fears and problems that accompanied this revolutionary moment. Through analysis of primary texts and visual materials, alongside a wide range of historical articles and monographs, the unit will:

• develop students’ knowledge and understanding of the social and cultural history of Russia, from the 1870s to the 1920s
• develop a sophisticated understanding of the interplay of political, social and cultural forces
• develop students’ abilities to work with primary and secondary sources and awareness of historiographical and wider scholarly debates
• develop students’ ability to formulate and engage with complex questions and produce structured, logical responses founded in systematic research

Intended Learning Outcomes

Students will:

1. have advanced knowledge and understanding of the social and cultural history of Russia from the 1870s to the 1920s
2. developed an appreciation of the complex mechanisms of revolutionary change
3. have developed their skills in research based on a variety of primary and secondary materials
4. have enhanced their skills in written and oral presentation

Teaching Information

Informal seminar format, with input from at least two academic subject specialists, to include student presentations in small groups. Readings and discussion points will be made available through Blackboard, and students will be encouraged to debate issues around the subject using the online discussion forum.

Assessment Information

Formative: students will be required to give one or more presentations, normally as part of a small group Summative: one 5000-word essay. All assessments require students to demonstrate high-level subject knowledge of the field, drawing in detail on appropriate primary and secondary material. Essays require students to research independently, with some tutorial guidance, and present their findings in a cogent and structured manner. Similar skills are required for presentations, where skills of oral communication are developed. Both forms of assessment test all 4 of the learning outcomes listed below.

Reading and References

Richard Wortman, Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy from Peter the Great to the Abdication of Nicholas II (Princeton University Press, 2006) Reginald Zelnik (ed.), A Radical Worker in Tsarist Russia: The Autobiography of Semen Ivanovich Kanatchikov (Stanford University Press, 1986) Joan Neuberger, Hooliganism: Crime, Culture and Power in St. Petersburg, 1900-1914 (University of California Press, 1994) Richard Stites, Revolutionary Dreams: Utopian Vision and Experimental Life in the Russian Revolution (Oxford University Press, 1989) David Hoffmann and Yanni Kotsonis, Russian Modernity: Politics, Knowledge, Practices (Palgrave Macmillan, 2000) Mark Steinberg, Proletarian Imagination: Self, Modernity and the Sacred in Russia, 1910-1925 (Cornell University Press, 2002)