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Regular version of the site

History

2020/2021
Academic Year
ENG
Instruction in English
4
ECTS credits
Course type:
Compulsory course
When:
1 year, 1, 2 module

Instructors


Kolesnik, Alexandra


Morozov, Oleg

Course Syllabus

Abstract

In the past three decades, historians have become intensely interested in the power of memories, i.e., how memory and forgetting shape both the individual and collective relationship to the past. This course explores diverse sites and practices used by American, European, and Russian societies to commemorate their past from 1914 to the present. Beginning with a discussion on collective memory and a brief foray into the theory of the politics of memory, we will look at the pivotal events of American, European, and Russian twenty-century histories (e.g., World War I, World War II, the Holocaust, the Great Famine, the Great Purge) and analyze how individuals and public institutions created new visions of the events and (mis)used those visions for their benefit. In the process, students will see why history, particularly that one of the twentieth century, is repeatedly rewritten, and why, eventually, it has so many conflicting interpretations. In the end, they will manage to see a huge gap between public or state-affiliated interpretations and those of professional historians. Indeed, while discussing the ways of remembering and forgetting, we cannot ignore the factual basis of historical events. Hence, students should be prepared to work with historical material and be aware of key figures, dates, and concepts given in each topic. The course draws on a range of primary and secondary sources, e.g., memoirs, speeches, films, scholarly writings, the Internet and social media. The course includes fifteen lectures and seminars, two tests, and one exam.
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • Students will get the basics of how to work with primary and secondary sources including digital ones.
  • Students will develop the ability to present clear and coherent arguments about the material discussed in class.
  • Students will learn to use professionally the language of memory studies.
  • Students will be able to see the difference between public or state-affiliated interpretations and those of professional historians.
Expected Learning Outcomes

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • Students will learn to work with historical material.
  • Students will gain knowledge of key figures, dates, and concepts given in each topic.
  • Students will learn to use professionally the language of memory studies.
  • Students will learn to use professionally such terms as the politics of memory, collective memory, trauma, survivor, victim, witnessing, etc.
  • Students develop the ability to present clear and coherent arguments about the material discussed in class.
  • Students develop the ability to present clear and coherent arguments about the material discussed in seminars.
Course Contents

Course Contents

  • History & Memory
    Memory studies in the twenty-first century
  • The Politics of Memory in Europe: World War I and the Holocaust
    Remembering World War I. Fascism and nazism compared. The Holocaust: Survivors and their testimonies. The politics of memory in Western Europe: Germany and France. The politics of memory in Eastern Europe: Poland, Hungary, and the Baltic States. Challenges to European historical remembrance in the twenty-first century
  • The Politics of Memory in Russia: Stalinism and World War II
    Stalin and stalinism in the 1920s and 1930s. The Famine of 1932-33: Ukraine and Russia. The Great Purge of 1937-38. Remembering the Great Purge. The Gulag and Its voices. 1945: War and victory in the Russian politics of memory
  • History and Memory in the USA: The Civil War
    Coping with white suprematism: The Civil War in American historical memory. The "Black Lives Matter" movement and the future of the Confederate monuments.
  • Decolonization and memory
    European empires and colonial regimes in the 16th-20th centuries. Direct and indirect rule. Slavery and its role in shaping maritime empires. British policy in India in the 19th century and the Sepoy mutiny. Belgium colonialism and the Rubber Terror. Decolonization and nationalism in South Africa. Decolonizing memory about colonialism. The "Rhodes Must Fall" and "Black Lives Matter" movements. Modern decolonization theories.
Assessment Elements

Assessment Elements

  • non-blocking Exam
    The exam is taken online on the MS Teams platform. Students are provided with the link for logging in before the exam. Students should schedule their preferable time for joining the session at least one day prior to the exam. A group of 5 students logs in simultaneously. Others join the session at the appointed time, one by one. All students are supposed to check out their microphones, webcams, and Internet connection before the exam. As the exam goes on, it is not allowed to: turn off the microphone or webcam; use notes, textbooks, and other educational materials as well as smart gadgets; leave the place where the exam task is taken (go beyond the camera's viewing angle); look away from computer screen or desktop; talk and seek outside help. A short-term communication failure during the exam is considered to be the loss of a student's network connection with the MS Teams platform for no longer than 1 minute. A long-term communication failure during the exam is considered to be the loss of a student's network connection with the MS Teams platform for longer than 1 minute. A student cannot participate, if there is a long-term communication failure. The retake procedure is similar to the exam procedure. In case of long-term communication failure in the MS Teams platform during the examination task, the student must notify the lecturer, record the fact of loss of connection with the platform (screenshot, a response from the Internet provider). Then contact the manager of the academic program with an explanatory note about the incident to decide on retaking the exam.
  • non-blocking Cumulative assessment
    Starting November 16, all lectures and tutorials are held online via MS Teams. Students are provided with necessary links and materials in advance (please, check out your LMS schedule.) The format of class discussions does not change. All cumulative assessment formulae remain the same.
Interim Assessment

Interim Assessment

  • Interim assessment (2 module)
    This course follows the grading practices outlined in the HSE assessment regulations. For more information on the HSE grading system, please refer to the HSE Academic Handbook. The course does not have “blocking grades.” A final grade results from the cumulative assessment and the exam grade, according to the formulae: G(final) = G(cumulative) * 0,6 + G(exam) * 40%. The cumulative assessment includes class discussions, G(tutorials), quizzes, G(quizzes), and essay scores, G(essay) as to the formulae: G(cumulative) = G(tutorials) * 40% + G(quizzes) * 30% + G(essay) * 30%. All grades are rounded to the nearest ten. No rounding in G(tutorials) and G(quizzes) calculations. According to § 14 of the HSE Assessment Regulations, students can be exempted of the exam, if their G(cumulative) is 7.5 or higher ("excellent" or "very good.")
Bibliography

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

  • Alexis Papazian. (2018). Suny, Ronald G.: “They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else”. A History of the Armenian Genocide, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2015. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.CD28A9C1
  • Applebaum, A. (2010). Gulag : A History. New York: Anchor. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=720010
  • Assmann, A. (2006). History, Memory, and the Genre of Testimony. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.3E7E9235
  • Assmann, A. (2008). Transformations between History and Memory. Social Research, 75(1), 49. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=f5h&AN=32455564
  • Blight, D. W. (2001). Race and Reunion : The Civil War in American Memory. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=281960
  • Catherine Portuges. (2018). Kékesi, Zoltán. 2015. Agents of Liberation – Holocaust Memory in Contemporary Art and Documentary Film. Trans. Reuben Fowlkes. Budapest and New York: Central European University Press; Saint Helena, CA: Helena History Press. 221 pages. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.CFF1AF43
  • Faust, D. G. (1979). A Southern Stewardship: The Intellectual and the Proslavery Argument. https://doi.org/10.2307/2712487
  • Fitzpatrick, S. (DE-588)132798344, (DE-576)160958431. (1999). Everyday Stalinism : ordinary life in extraordinary times; Soviet Russia in the 1930s / Sheila Fitzpatrick. Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.075108488
  • Levi, P., & Benedetti, L. de. (2017). Auschwitz Testimonies : 1945-1986. Cambridge, UK: Polity. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1619156
  • Lipman, M., & Miller, A. I. (2012). The Convolutions of Historical Politics. New York: Central European University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=481164
  • MacMillan, M. (2013). The War That Ended Peace : The Road to 1914. New York: Random House. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=738500
  • Marcuse, H. (2018). Holocaust Angst: The Federal Republic of Germany and American Holocaust Memory since the 1970s. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edssch&AN=edssch.oai%3aescholarship.org%2fark%3a%2f13030%2fqt4hw4z9f0
  • Miller, A. I. V. (DE-588)142901873, (DE-576)176793100, aut. (2018). The Russian revolution of 1917 : history, memory, and politics / Alexei Miller ; Valdai Discussion Club. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.500671486
  • Papazian, S. (2019). The Cost of Memorializing: Analyzing Armenian Genocide Memorials and Commemorations in the Republic of Armenia and in the Diaspora. https://doi.org/10.18352/hcm.534
  • Rogan, E. L. (2015). The Fall of the Ottomans : The Great War in the Middle East. New York, NY: Basic Books. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=953819
  • Smith, K. E., & Inter-Republic Memorial Society (Soviet Union). (2009). Remembering Stalin’s Victims : Popular Memory and the End of the USSR. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1814616
  • Snyder, T. (2010). Bloodlands : Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. New York: Basic Books. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=953826
  • Snyder, T. (2015). Black Earth : The Holocaust As History and Warning. New York: Tim Duggan Books. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=926463

Recommended Additional Bibliography

  • Assmann, A. (2014). Transnational Memories. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.D7305AE2
  • Assmann, A. (DE-588)121012700, (DE-576)160116279. (2007). Der lange Schatten der Vergangenheit : Erinnerungskultur und Geschichtspolitik / Aleida Assmann. Bonn: Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.274288982
  • Bennich-Björkman, L., & Kurbatov, S. (2019). When the Future Came : The Collapse of the USSR and the Emergence of National Memory in Post-Soviet History Textbooks. Stuttgart: Ibidem Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=2117494
  • Blight, D. W. (1993). `What will peace among the Whites bring?’: Reunion and race in the struggle over the memory of.. Massachusetts Review, 34(3), 393. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=f5h&AN=9401275675
  • Dekel, I. (2016). Subjects of memory? : On performing Holocaust memory in two German historical museums. Dapim; Studies on the Shoah, 30(3), 296–314. https://doi.org/10.1080/23256249.2016.1266990
  • Eder, J. S., Gassert, P., & Steinweis, A. E. (2017). Holocaust Memory in a Globalizing World. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1478240
  • Faust, D. G. (1981). The Ideology of Slavery : Proslavery Thought in the Antebellum South, 1830–1860. Baton Rouge: LSU Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=534487
  • Faust, D. G. (1990). Altars of Sacrifice: Confederate Women and the Narratives of War. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.89B3D6DB
  • Faust, D. G. (2008). This Republic of Suffering (Vol. 1st ed). New York: Vintage. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=723220
  • Fitzpatrick, S., & Geyer, M. (2009). Beyond Totalitarianism : Stalinism and Nazism Compared. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=263477
  • Hansen-Glucklich, J. (2014). Holocaust Memory Reframed : Museums and the Challenges of Representation. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=716934
  • Hovannisian, R. G. (2008). The Armenian Genocide : Cultural and Ethical Legacies. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=395706
  • Welch, S. (2011). The resilience of the nation state : cosmopolitanism, Holocaust memory and German identity. German Politics and Society, 29(3), 38–54. https://doi.org/10.3167/gps.2011.290303