Prof. Julie Hessler

hessler@uoregon.edu

tel:  346-4857 (office), 302-9032 (home)

Office hours:  Mon., 12:30-1:30, in PLC 271

Fridays 12:30 - 2:00 in McKenzie 351

 

History 608  Historiography of the Soviet Union

Wednesdays, 2:00 - 4:50, in McKenzie 375

 

 

 

Description:  This course is designed to introduce you to some recent trends in the English-language historiography of the Soviet Union.  All of the assigned books have been published since the year 2000.  The course is reading-intensive rather than oriented primarily toward scholarly writing.  Grades will be based on:  a) general preparedness for class (it is possible that I will occasionally give you a written quiz on the assigned texts).  b) two 4-5 page book reviews of assigned readings, prepared in advance, plus your leadership of class discussion on the days that you have a book review. c) short final assignment - details to come later.

 

 

Wednesday, April 5  Organizational meeting

 

Wednesday, April 12  Reading:  Francine Hirsch, Empire of Nations:  Ethnnographic Knowledge and the Making of the Soviet Union

 

Wednesday, April 19  Reading:  Terry Martin, An Affirmative Action Empire:  Nations and Nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923-1939, pp. 1-208, plus two of the following five articles (your choice):  a) Adrienne Edgar, “Genealogy, Class, and ‘Tribal Policy’ in Soviet Turkmenistan, 1924-1934,” Slavic Review 2001, 60 (2):  266-88.  b) Shoshana Keller, “The Central Asian Bureau:  An Essential Tool in Governing Soviet Turkestan,” Central Asia Survey 2003, 22 (2-3):  281-97.  c) Shoshana Keller, “Trapped between State and Society:  Women’s Liberation and Islam in Soviet Uzbekistan, 1926-1941,” Journal of Women’s History 1998, 10 (1):  20-44.  d) Douglas Northrop, “Subaltern Dialogues:  Subversion and Resistance in Soviet Uzbek Family Law,” Slavic Review 2001, 60 (1):  115-39.  d) “Languages of Loyalty:  Gender, Politics, and Party Supervision in Uzbekistan, 1927-41,” Russian Review 2000, 59 (1):  179-200.

 

Wednesday, April 26  Reading:  Terry Martin, An Affirmative Action Empire, pp. 209-461.

 

Wednesday, May 3  Reading:  Igal Halfin, Terror in My Soul:  Communist Autobiographies on Trial, plus two of the following three articles by Jochen Hellbeck: a)  “Fashioning the Stalinist Soul:  The Diary of Stepan Podlubnyi (1931-1939),” Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 1996, 44(3):  344-373.  b) “Speaking Out:  Languages of Affirmation and Dissent in Stalinist Russia,” Kritika 2000, vol. 1 (1):  71-96.  c) “Working, Struggling, Becoming:  Stalin-Era Autobiographical Texts,” Russian Review 2001, vol. 60 (3):  340-59.  I’ll also pass out a 2002 interview (in Russian) from the Russian journal Ab Imperio with both authors for those who are interested.

 

Wednesday, May 10  Reading:  Stephen Lovell, Summerfolk:  A History of the Dacha

 

Wednesday, May 17.  Reading:  Barbara Walker,  Maximilian Voloshin and the Russian Literary Circle, plus Barbara Walker, “On Reading Soviet Memoirs:  A History of the ‘Contemporaries’ Genre as an Institution of Russian Intelligentsia Culture from the 1790s to the 1970s,” Russian Review 2000, 59 (3):  327-52.  Guest lecturer:  Barbara Walker (University of Nevada, Reno).

 

Wednesday, May 24.  Reading:  Julie Hessler, A Social History of Soviet Trade

 

Wednesday, May 31.  Reading:  Catherine Merridale, Ivan’s War

 

Wednesday, June 7.  Reading:  Amir Weiner, Making Sense of War