Syllabus
Weekly Schedule
1. The Russian Identity: Geographical and Historical Background.
2. Pre-Petrine Russia: Origins of the Russian Identity.
3. Despotic Reformers and Progressive Dictators: Paradoxes of the First Imperial Century.
4. Patriotic Feeling in the Russian Empire: From 1812 to the Decembrists.
5. Nicholas I: Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality.
6. Alexander II and Alexander III: Great Reforms and Great Disillusionment.
7. The Fall of the Monarchy: Interpretations of the Russian Revolution.
8. On the Way to a World Proletarian Revolution: Bolsheviks in Power.
9. Stalin's Russia: a Kingdom of Terror and Reverence.
10. Ideology vs. Reality in the Late Soviet Union: Daily Life of a Homo Sovieticus.
11. The Fall of the Soviet Union and an Identity Crisis.
12. Historical Consciousness and National Identity in Putin's Russia.
13. The Heart of the Nation: the Great Patriotic War and Victory Day Cult in Russian Symbolic Policy. Assignments Final Paper (1500 words) Recommended readings PERRIE, Maureen, ed. The Cambridge history of Russia. Vol. 1, From early Rus' to
1689. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2006. xxii, 777 s., [12] l. obr. příl. ISBN 0-521-81227-5. LIEVEN, D. C. B., ed. The Cambridge history of Russia. Vol. 2, Imperial Russia, 1689-1917. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2006. xxvii, 765 s., [6] l. obr. příl. ISBN 978-0-521-81529-1. SUNY, Ronald Grigor, ed. The Cambridge history of Russia. Vol. 3, The twentieth century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2006. xxiv, 842 s., [8] l. obr. příl. ISBN 978-0-521-81144-6. PIPES, Richard. Russia under the old regime. Second edition. London: Penguin Books,
1995. XXII, 361 s. ISBN 0-14-024768-8. GILL, Graeme J. Symbols and legitimacy in Soviet politics [online]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011 [cit. 2019-09-01]. Dostupné z: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/natl-ebooks/detail.action?docID=691959. GILL, Graeme J. Symbolism and regime change in Russia [online]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013 [cit. 2019-09-01]. Dostupné z: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/natl-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1057553. ROWLAND, Daniel B., ed. a CRACRAFT, James, ed. Architectures of Russian identity: 1500 to the present. Ithaca: Cornell University Press,
2003. vii, 253 stran. ISBN 978-0-8014-8828-3. Elusive Russia: current developments in Russian state identity and institutional reform under president Putin [online]. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2007 [cit. 2019-09-01]. Dostupné z: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/natl/Doc?id=10452839. FRANKLIN, Simon, ed. a WIDDIS, Emma, ed. National Identity in Russian Culture: an Introduction. [2nd edition]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2006. xiii, 240 stran, 2 nečíslované strany obrazových příloh. ISBN 978-0-521-02429-7. Religion and identity in modern Russia: the revival of orthodoxy and Islam. Hants: Ashgate,
2005. xiv, 149 s. Post-Soviet Politics. ISBN 0-7546-4272-0. RIASANOVSKY, Nicholas Valentine. Russian identities: a historical survey [online]. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005 [cit. 2019-09-01]. Dostupné z: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/natl/Doc?id=10091884. ISURIN, Ludmila. Russian Diaspora: culture, identity, and language change. New York: De Gruyter Mouton,
2011. xv, 234 stran. ISBN 978-1-934078-44-0. SCHULER, Catherine. Theatre and identity in imperial Russia [online]. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press,
2009. Studies in theatre history & culture [cit. 2019-09-01]. Dostupné z: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/natl/Doc?id=10579423. NORRIS, Stephen M. A war of images: Russian popular prints, wartime culture, and national identity, 1812-1945. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press,
2006. xiii, 277 s. ISBN 978-0-87580-363-0. TROYAT, Henri. Daily Life in Russia under the Last Tsar. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press,
1979. 242 s. FEDYASHIN, Anton A. Liberals under autocracy: modernization and civil society in Russia, 1866-1904 [online]. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2012 [cit. 2019-09-01]. Dostupné z: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/natl/Doc?id=10611811. BOTERBLOEM, Kees. Life and death under Stalin: Kalinin Province, 1945-1953 [online]. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, ©1999 [cit. 2019-09-01]. Dostupné z: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/natl/Doc?id=10141762. PURLEVSKII, Savva Dmitrievich. A life under Russian serfdom: memoirs of Savva Dmitrievich Purlevskii, 1800-1868 [online]. Budapest: Central European University Press, ©2005 [cit. 2019-09-01]. Dostupné z: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/natl/Doc?id=10133543. CONQUEST, Robert. The great terror: a reassessment. London: Pimlico,
2008. 576 s. ISBN 978-1-845-95144-3. CHLEVNJUK, Oleg Vital‘jevič, ed. The History of the Gulag: from Collectivization to the Great Terror. New Haven & London: Yale University Press,
2004. xviii, 418 s., [8] l. obr. příl. Annals of Communism. ISBN 0-300-09284-9. HARRIS, James. The Great fear: Stalin's terror of the 1930s. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2016. x, 205 stran. ISBN 978-0-19-969576-8. FIGES, Orlando. A Peoples' tragedy: the Russian Revolution 1891-1924. London: The Bodley Head,
2014. xxii, 923 stran, 36 nečíslovaných listů obrazových příloh. ISBN 978-1-84792-291-5. FIGES, Orlando a KOLONICKIJ, Boris Ivanovič. Interpreting the Russian Revolution: the Language and Symbols of
1917. New Haven: Yale University Press,
1999. 198 s., [8] l. obr. příl. ISBN 0-300-08106-5. FIGES, Orlando. Natasha's dance: a Cultural History of Russia. First Edition. New York: Metropolitan Books Henry Holt and Company,
2002. XXXIII, 728 s., [8] obr. příl. ISBN 0-8050-5783-8. VOLKOV, Solomon Moisejevič. The magical chorus: a history of Russian culture from Tolstoy to Solzhenitsyn. New York: Vintage Books,
2009. 333 s. ISBN 978-1-4000-7786-1.
Annotation
The course focuses on the evolution of historical consciousness and national identity in Russia from the early 18th century to the present. At the beginning of the course, we will try to shape major aspects of the Russian national and cultural consciousness and identity. We will also attempt to reveal factors which had an impact on its formation, first of all such as geography, religion, economy, political traditions, social situation and so on. In search of the origin of the Russian identity as well as that of the Russian statehood, we will turn attention to a large historical period that preceded the Russian Empire and is sometimes called Old Russia - in comparison to New Russia, created by Peter the Great. A particular emphasis will be put on the development of political and historical thought in Muscovite Russia, the relations between the Orthodox Church and the state, the perception of tsar's power and that of the Russian role in world history. Then we will proceed to the examination of the imperial identity and its transformation by reforms of Peter the Great in the early 18th century up to the reign of Nicholas II and his abdication in 1917. The analysis of the Soviet period will cover the Bolshevik revolution and the subsequent Civil War, the Stalin's great terror and the GULAG system, the post-Stalin era and Brezhnev's stagnation, paying special attention to the influence of identity issues and historical consciousness in Russia. At the final stage, we will focus on the modern Russian identity and especially on symbolic and historical politics of today's Russian regime, which tries to position itself as an integral part and a logical continuation of a glorious thousand-year history. We will also compare state identity policies and ideological strategies that were practiced during the Soviet era, and to a lesser extent at the imperial stage, with that of the present-day Russia. The purpose of the course is to provide students with general idea of Russian identity, its peculiarities and evolution. This course is designed for all students who are interested in Russian history, its cultural and social development and is suitable for students with little or no previous knowledge of Eastern Europe or Russia.
In 2020/2021 academic year the course will be taught online due to COVID restrictions. Before every lecture the students will get a link to join a meeting on Zoom.