This course aims to provide an introduction to oral history using the historical phenomena of the Cold War with
special emphasis at ex-communist countries such as Czechoslovakia, Eastern Germany, Soviet Union, and China
and also actors of Western leftist groupings. Most histories emphasize major political events or structures of
economic development. Professor Donald A. Ritchie, the author of the influential book Doing Oral History, once
explained the core of the discipline in these telling words: we do not do oral history to confirm what we already
know, but rather to question what we consider to be supposedly clear. So, our main goal will be entirely different
from the usual perspectives on Cold War: we will avoid major narratives and attempt to understand the structures
and meaning of the historical subjectivity of so-called „ordinary people“, living under these oppressive regimes.
How was life beyond the Iron Curtain for them? In which terms they had conceptualized their life experience? How
did they relate to people, ideas, and material objects from the West? Oral history understands „ordinary people“ to
be much more than just „onlookers“ to the actions of major historical actors.
Poslední úprava: Kučabová Veronika, Bc. (14.06.2024)
This course aims to provide an introduction to oral history using the historical phenomena of the Cold War with
special emphasis at ex-communist countries such as Czechoslovakia, Eastern Germany, Soviet Union, and China
and also actors of Western leftist groupings. Most histories emphasize major political events or structures of
economic development. Professor Donald A. Ritchie, the author of the influential book Doing Oral History, once
explained the core of the discipline in these telling words: we do not do oral history to confirm what we already
know, but rather to question what we consider to be supposedly clear. So, our main goal will be entirely different
from the usual perspectives on Cold War: we will avoid major narratives and attempt to understand the structures
and meaning of the historical subjectivity of so-called „ordinary people“, living under these oppressive regimes.
How was life beyond the Iron Curtain for them? In which terms they had conceptualized their life experience? How
did they relate to people, ideas, and material objects from the West? Oral history understands „ordinary people“ to
be much more than just „onlookers“ to the actions of major historical actors.
Poslední úprava: Kučabová Veronika, Bc. (14.06.2024)
Podmínky zakončení předmětu -
Requirements to pass the course:
at least 75% attendance
written semestral test with four open questions, covering the topics discussed. Each answer can be awarded 0-3 points.
Test grading: 12-10 points = excellent ("1"), 9-7 points = very good ("2"), 6-5 points = good "3", less than 5 points = fail ("neprospěl/a")
Grade composition
attendance 10%
written semestral test 90%
Poslední úprava: Kučabová Veronika, Bc. (14.06.2024)
Requirements to pass the course:
at least 75% attendance
written semestral test with four open questions, covering the topics discussed. Each answer can be awarded 0-3 points.
Test grading: 12-10 points = excellent ("1"), 9-7 points = very good ("2"), 6-5 points = good "3", less than 5 points = fail ("neprospěl/a")
Grade composition
attendance 10%
written semestral test 90%
Poslední úprava: Kučabová Veronika, Bc. (14.06.2024)
Sylabus -
THE COURSE OF LECTURES
1) INTRODUCTION: ORAL HISTORY OF THE COLD WAR - Alistair Thompson, „Four Paradigm Transformations in Oral History,“ The Oral History Review 34/1 (2006): 49-70.
2) USSR - GULAG: SURVIVAL AND EXILE - Gheith, Gulag Voices, Chapter 8 - Enumerated Units, p. 133-150.
3) USSR - SOVIET COMMUNAL LIVING - Messana, Soviet Communal Living, Introduction, p. 1-5. Chapters 1, 10, 14, 23, 25.- - Steven E. Harris, "I know all the Secrets of my Neighbors: The Quest for Privacy in the Era of the Separate Apartment,", in Lewis H. Siegelbaum, Borders of Socialism. Private Spheres of Soviet Russia, p. 171-190.
4) THE CULTURE OF SOCIALIST COSMISM - Svetlana Boym, "Cosmos in the Girl´s Washroom," in Svetlana Boym and Ron Roberts, ed., The Origins of Nostalgia. Memories and Reflections (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022), 5–15. - Asif Siddiqi, "Tsiolkivskii and the Invention of ´Russian Cosmism´: Science, Mysticism, and the Conquest of Nature at the Birth of Soviet Space Exploration," in Paul Betts, Stephen A. Smith, edd., Science, Religion and Communism in Cold War Europe (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), 127–156.
5) USSR - SOVIET BABY BOOMERS GENERATION - Raleigh, Soviet Baby Boomers, Introduction, p. 3-15, Chapter 3 - Unconscious agents of change - Soviet Childhood Creates the Cynical Generation, p. 120-168.
6) USSR - NOTEBOOKS OF EVGENIIA KISELEVA - Irina Paperno, "The Notebooks of the Peasant Evgeniia Kiseleva: The War Separated Us Forever", in Irina Paperno, Stories of the Soviet Experience - Memories, Diaries, Dreams (Cornell UP: Ithaca and London, 2009): II/2, p. 118-158.
7) ITALY: UCHRONIC DREAMS - Alessandro Portelli, The Death of Luigi Trastulliand Other Stories, chapter 6, "Uchronic Dreams: Working-Class Memory and Possible Worlds."
8) Czechoslovakia I - PRAGUE SPRING THROUGH THE LENS OF TEACHERS - Zounek et al. “You have betrayed us for a little dirty money!” The Prague Spring as seen by primary school teachers
9) Czechoslovakia II - THE BIRTH OF "NORMALIZATION" - Kevin McDermott, Matthew Stibbe, edd., Czechoslovakia and Eastern Europe in the Era of Normalisation 1969-1989 (Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, 2022) - Chapter 2 (Building the Normalisation Panorama 1968-1969), Chapter 3 (The Ideological Face of Normalisation: Socialist Modernity and the 'Quiet Life').
10) Czechoslovakia III - THE METHODS OF SOCIAL CONTROL - Kevin McDermott, Matthew Stibbe, edd., Czechoslovakia and Eastern Europe in the Era of Normalisation 1969-1989 (Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, 2022) - Chapter 6 (Czechoslovak Security Service During Normalisation: The Appearance of Success), Chapter 9 (Shaping 'Real Socialism': The Normalised Conception of Culture).
11) Czechoslovakia IV - EVERYDAY LIFE UNDER THE "NORMALIZATION" DICTATORSHIP - Miroslav Vaněk, Pavel Mücke, Velvet Revolutions. An Oral History of Czech Society (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2016). Introduction, and Chapters 2 (Transforming the Family in Socialism) and 6 (The Meaning of Free Time: Work, Family, and Leisure).
12) Written semestral test - first term More terms for the written semestral test will be provided during January and February 2025
Poslední úprava: Wohlmuth Petr, PhDr. Mgr., Ph.D. (28.01.2025)
THE COURSE OF LECTURES
1) INTRODUCTION: ORAL HISTORY OF THE COLD WAR - Alistair Thompson, „Four Paradigm Transformations in Oral History,“ The Oral History Review 34/1 (2006): 49-70.
2) USSR - GULAG: SURVIVAL AND EXILE - Gheith, Gulag Voices, Chapter 8 - Enumerated Units, p. 133-150.
3) USSR - SOVIET COMMUNAL LIVING - Messana, Soviet Communal Living, Introduction, p. 1-5. Chapters 1, 10, 14, 23, 25.- - Steven E. Harris, "I know all the Secrets of my Neighbors: The Quest for Privacy in the Era of the Separate Apartment,", in Lewis H. Siegelbaum, Borders of Socialism. Private Spheres of Soviet Russia, p. 171-190.
4) THE CULTURE OF SOCIALIST COSMISM - Svetlana Boym, "Cosmos in the Girl´s Washroom," in Svetlana Boym and Ron Roberts, ed., The Origins of Nostalgia. Memories and Reflections (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022), 5–15. - Asif Siddiqi, "Tsiolkivskii and the Invention of ´Russian Cosmism´: Science, Mysticism, and the Conquest of Nature at the Birth of Soviet Space Exploration," in Paul Betts, Stephen A. Smith, edd., Science, Religion and Communism in Cold War Europe (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), 127–156.
5) USSR - SOVIET BABY BOOMERS GENERATION - Raleigh, Soviet Baby Boomers, Introduction, p. 3-15, Chapter 3 - Unconscious agents of change - Soviet Childhood Creates the Cynical Generation, p. 120-168.
6) USSR - NOTEBOOKS OF EVGENIIA KISELEVA - Irina Paperno, "The Notebooks of the Peasant Evgeniia Kiseleva: The War Separated Us Forever", in Irina Paperno, Stories of the Soviet Experience - Memories, Diaries, Dreams (Cornell UP: Ithaca and London, 2009): II/2, p. 118-158.
7) ITALY: UCHRONIC DREAMS - Alessandro Portelli, The Death of Luigi Trastulliand Other Stories, chapter 6, "Uchronic Dreams: Working-Class Memory and Possible Worlds."
8) Czechoslovakia I - PRAGUE SPRING THROUGH THE LENS OF TEACHERS - Zounek et al. “You have betrayed us for a little dirty money!” The Prague Spring as seen by primary school teachers
9) Czechoslovakia II - THE BIRTH OF "NORMALIZATION" - Kevin McDermott, Matthew Stibbe, edd., Czechoslovakia and Eastern Europe in the Era of Normalisation 1969-1989 (Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, 2022) - Chapter 2 (Building the Normalisation Panorama 1968-1969), Chapter 3 (The Ideological Face of Normalisation: Socialist Modernity and the 'Quiet Life').
10) Czechoslovakia III - THE METHODS OF SOCIAL CONTROL - Kevin McDermott, Matthew Stibbe, edd., Czechoslovakia and Eastern Europe in the Era of Normalisation 1969-1989 (Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, 2022) - Chapter 6 (Czechoslovak Security Service During Normalisation: The Appearance of Success), Chapter 9 (Shaping 'Real Socialism': The Normalised Conception of Culture).
11) Czechoslovakia IV - EVERYDAY LIFE UNDER THE "NORMALIZATION" DICTATORSHIP - Miroslav Vaněk, Pavel Mücke, Velvet Revolutions. An Oral History of Czech Society (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2016). Introduction, and Chapters 2 (Transforming the Family in Socialism) and 6 (The Meaning of Free Time: Work, Family, and Leisure).
12) Written semestral test - first term More terms for the written semestral test will be provided during January and February 2025
Poslední úprava: Wohlmuth Petr, PhDr. Mgr., Ph.D. (28.01.2025)
