Politics, Culture and Identity in Russia, Ukraine and Other Post-Soviet States

<p>What happens when one of the world’s most powerful states collapses - and an entirely new political map take shape? In this course, you follow developments in Russia, Ukraine, and other post‑Soviet states after 1991, with a focus on how politics, culture, and identity changed across the region.</p><p>In this course, you are introduced to the 20th century history of Russia and the Soviet Union, which you then use as a foundation for understanding developments after the collapse of the Soviet Union. You gain an overview of the political changes in the post Soviet states and learn about key themes such as nation building, memory politics, and the shaping of identity. You also study migration, including labour migration from Central Asia to Russia and Ukrainian migration to Italy and Poland, as well as security policy issues with examples from the Caucasus region. </p><p>In the final part of the course, you work with post Soviet Russian and Ukrainian film. You watch and analyse 6-9 films that show how culture and identity are expressed through visual storytelling. The films highlight themes such as the traumatic experiences of the 20th century, how identity is shaped through narratives, and how religion, myth, and memory politics influence a society’s self image. </p><p>This course gives you tools to understand a region that continues to undergo major political, cultural, and historical change, and it helps you develop your own analyses of both the present and the past. The two course modules can also be taken separately (ÖCKB16 and ÖCKB17). </p><p><br/></p>