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2014/15 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

SLAV3116 Imagining the Post-Soviet Realm: Popular Culture and Representation of Russia and the Newly Independent States since 1991

20 creditsClass Size: 16

Module manager: Vlad Strukov
Email: v.strukov@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2014/15

Pre-requisite qualifications

Successful completion of Level 2 programme of study or equivalent

This module is approved as a discovery module

Module summary

This module explores the ways in which popular mass media shape perceptions of post-Soviet space and its peoples in the United States, United Kingdom, and the greater English-speaking world. The political, cultural, and socio-economic ramifications of these popular (and populist) ethnographical and geographical representations are also explored. The module will demonstrate how power and fear inform certain cultural stereotypes and their circulation in popular media. From depictions of Russians as anarchist madmen, rogue generals, and mafiosi to parody travel journals set in fanciful or utterly fabricated post-Soviet neverlands, we will interrogate the impact of popular geopolitics on the construction of everyday opinions about Russian space and its inhabitants after the collapse of the USSR. The module will demonstrate how power and fear inform cultural stereotypes and their circulation in popular media.

Objectives

The module aims to introduce students to discourse concerning popular culture, politics and representation of power in the contemporary world. The modules will utilise theories of power, nationality, post-imperialism and globalisation to account for a specific 'Russian' narrative available in the West. The module will challenge cultural stereotypes and will enhance the students' understanding of contemporary media and prepare them for work in increasingly globalised and mediated environments.

Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of this module, students will be able to demonstrate the following skills:

- Describe the connections between media depictions of the post-Soviet East and neoliberal power in the globalized world
- Critically reflect upon prejudices in contemporary mediations of Russians which are historically associated with much older Anglo-Russian and US-Soviet rivalries
- Contextualize the role of popular culture in shaping the contours of international relations since 1991
- Articulate how mediated representations of post-Soviet space inform concepts of cultural and national identity, both from the perspective of one’s image of oneself (Selbstbild) and how one conceives of foreign peoples and places (Fremdbild)
- Identify and analyze the key differences and similarities between government propaganda and politically-informed cultural production
- Draw connections between the geographical imagination of post-Soviet peoples and space with meta-theories such as Orientalism, governmentality, and hegemony

Syllabus

The module will investigate discrete media formats (e.g., film, TV series, Internet memes, songs, video games, cartoons, comic books, novels, and travelogues) through a thematic approach to post-Soviet geographical imagination in the Anglophone West, The module will critically analyse such cultural stereotypes of Russians as revanchist 'villains'; criminality and corruption as 'normal' in the post-Soviet 'East'; the over-sexed (male) immigrant from the former USSR versus the Russian/Ukrainian 'bride'; and various stereotypical depictions of Russia and other parts of the former USSR as a frozen wasteland, an irradiated ruin, a benighted backwater, etc.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	10	1.00	10.00
Seminar	10	1.00	10.00
Private study hours			180.00
Total Contact hours			20.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

- Preparation per class: 20 x 4 hours = 80 hours
- Essay and exam preparation: 2 x 50 hours = 100 hours.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Students will be monitored by course work; they will receive regular feedback on their contributions in seminar discussions.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	3,000-word essay	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		50.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Exams

Exam type	Exam duration	% of formal assessment
Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc)	2 hr	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)		50.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 25/03/2015

Disclaimer

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• Undergraduate module catalogue
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• Taught Postgraduate programme catalogue

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