Nationalism in Communism - JTM337

• Title: Nationalism in Communism
• Guaranteed by: Department of Russian and East European Studies (23-KRVS)
• Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
• Actual: from 2021
• Semester: winter
• E-Credits: 6
• Examination process: winter s.:
• Hours per week, examination: winter s.:1/1, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: 16 / unknown (unknown)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: Mgr. Ondřej Klípa, Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): Mgr. Ondřej Klípa, Ph.D.
• Class: Courses for incoming students

Annotation

Last update: Mgr. Jiřina Tomečková (26.09.2023)

This course explores the relations between Communism and Nationalism. We will examine the role of Nationalism both in Communist theory (Marxism, Austro-Marxism, Marxism-Leninism etc.) and policies of Communist states in various historical periods. We will address the issue of Nationalism as a tool for both building and dismantling Communism in Central and Eastern Europe. The main attention will be paid to the ideas and policies elaborated in the USSR which served as a role model for the rest of Communist Europe. By the end of this course, students will have a deep understanding of inherent conflicts between Communism and Nationalism as well as of the way how these conflicts were resolved in theories and practices of Communist states in both intra-state and inter-state contexts. Students will gain an in-depth knowledge of notions such as korenizatsiya, Titoism, anti-Zionism, and socialist internationalism. They will learn how Communism eventually produced Nationalism despite various attempts to suppress it. The course is a combination of a lecture and a seminar.

Aim of the course

Last update: Mgr. Jiřina Tomečková (26.09.2023)

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• understand elementary theories of ethnicity and nationalism;
• explain the role of “nation” and “nationalism” in Marx´s seminal works;
• explain various Marxist theories on the nation;
• identify different stages of “nationality policy” in the USSR;
• understand the role nationalism plaid in state socialist countries with an emphasis on the end of communist regimes;
• develop the ability to analytical writing appropriate to the graduate level;
• take an active part in a discussion on communism and nationalism nexus with deep insight.   

Course completion requirements

Last update: Bc. Sára Lochmanová (05.10.2023)

Students are requested to attend classes to get graded. More than 2 absences will automatically lower the final grade.

 

Presentation (20 minutes): 40 %; In-class test: 30 %; Participation/Engagement: 30 %

 

Grading scale:

• 91 and more = A

• 81 - 90 % = B

• 71 - 80 % = C

• 61 - 70 % = D

• 51 - 60 % = E

• 0 - 50 % = F

More in SMĚRNICE S_SO_002: Organizace zkouškových termínů, kontrol studia a užívání klasifikace A–F na FSV UK. 

Literature

Last update: Mgr. Jiřina Tomečková (26.09.2023)

Roman Szporluk: Communism and Nationalism. Karl Marx versus Friedrich List 

Kohn, H.: Nationalism. Its Meaning and History. 

Pal Kolsto: Faulted for the wrong reasons. Soviet institutionalization of ethnic diversity and Western (mis)interpretations

Brubaker, R.: Nationhood and the national question in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Euroasia: An institutionalist account

Gitelman, Z.: Judaism and Jewishness in the USSR: Ethnicity and Religion

Quinn Slobodian: Socialist Chromatism: Race, Racism, and the Racial Rainbow in East Germany

Jonathan R. Zatlin: Scarcity and Resentment: Economic Sources of Xenophobia in the GDR, 1971–1989 

Zürcher, C.: The Post-Soviet Wars. Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict, and Nationhood in the Caucasus. NYU Press, 2007

Teaching methods

Last update: Mgr. Ondřej Klípa, Ph.D. (21.09.2023)

The main teaching methods of this course will be lectures (and micro-lectures) and seminars (students’ presentations, group discussion). We will also watch documentary films relevant to the topic. Within the seminary part, students will present selected readings upon which we will start a discussion. There will be one or two presentations at every class session, depending on the number of students enrolled.   

In fall 2023, the course will be taught in a semi-bloc way, i.e., the class sessions will be doubled. Weekly class sessions will last 170 minutes (two topics will be covered), with a break between mid-November and mid-December.