Module RUSS3411: SCREENING THE NATION: RUSSIAN CINEMA AND THE NATIONAL QUESTION

Department: Modern Language and Cultures (Russian)

RUSS3411: SCREENING THE NATION: RUSSIAN CINEMA AND THE NATIONAL QUESTION

Prerequisites

• Russian Lanage 2A (RUSS 2191) OR Russian Language 2B (RUSS 2012) OR an equivalent qualification to the satisfaction of the Chairman/Chairwoman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative.

Corequisites

• Modern Languages, Combined Honours and all Joint and 'with' programmes: Russian Language 4 (RUSS3031) or Russian Language 4 following Year Abroad (RUSS3211). Other: see Chairman/Chairwoman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To introduce and impart a thorough understanding of the national question in Russia and the Soviet Union and to elucidate the role that Russian and Soviet cinema played in the articulation of the “national question”;
• To introduce and impart critical concepts, such as nation state, nationalism, transnationalism, minority studies, etc., which bear upon our understanding of Russian and Soviet History;
• To foster interdisciplinary research by linking Russian/Soviet cinema studies with Russian/Soviet social and cultural history;

Content

• The module Cinema and the Nation: Russian Cinema and the National Question is conceived as an interdisciplinary study of the relationship between Russian/Soviet cinema and the variegating articulations of the national question in Russia and the Soviet Union in the period between early 1900s to the present day.
• The module will begin with the high-Imperial conceptualisation of the national question in film productions of the early 1900s (Sten´ka Razin [1908], Ukhod velikogo startsa/Departure of a Great Old Man [1912]) and will then move on to an examination of the role of the cinema in the dramatically new circumstances which were brought about by the Revolution of 1917. Investigation of the national question in a new, multinational state will be carried out through the systematic and contextualised analysis of cinematic production in the period.
• From the role of cinema as a facilitator of the greater Russian identity, which was typical of the pre-revolutionary cinema, emphasis will shift to the newly established Soviet policy towards nationalities. To this end, the strategies of “indigenisation” [korenizatsiia] and trans-national “amalgamation”/”assimilation” [sliianie] will be introduced and the ways in which these practices manifested themselves in the cinematic texts from the 1920s (Evreiskoe schast´e/Jewish Luck [1925], Eliso [1928]) will be explored. The subsequent changes in the Soviet policy towards the issue, which include the revitalisation of the patriotic ideal (1930s, 1940s), the Jewish question (late 1940s, early 1950s, late 1960s), as well as the nationalist revivals of the 1960s and beyond will be introduced and examined in relation to a number of appropriate cinematic texts (Andrei Rublev [1966]; Komissar/The Commissar [1967]; Pirosmani [1969]).
• Particular attention will be paid to the reframing of the national question in the late Soviet years and during Glasnost and Perestroika; reflections that the crisis of the trans-national Soviet identity and emergence of new national identities found in the cinema of the late Soviet era will be identified.
• The module will conclude with an examination of the recent articulations of the national question in the national cinemas of Russia and some other former Soviet republics, now young nation states.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will acquire a thorough interdisciplinary knowledge in which issues from the social history of the Soviet Union intertwine with Cinema studies and Cultural history.

• The module will enhance the students’ ability to analyse complex cinematic texts by using their knowledge from cinema studies but it will also enable them to read these texts in their immediate social contexts.

• Students will further develop their ability to work independently in an interdisciplinary framework. On completion of this module, students will be able to present a cogent and structured argument on a cross-disciplinary topic located in the interstice of cinematic art, cultural and social history.rch.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The teaching will take the form of a weekly 1-hour lecture (odd weeks), which will alternate with a weekly seminar (even weeks) and a fortnightly tutorial (even weeks).
• Lectures will set out the socio-political context, which will provide the framework for discussing the articulation of the national question in the seminar.
• Each seminar will be dedicated to discussion of the articulation of the national question in a specific film.
• Fortnightly tutorials will be dedicated to student’s presentations on a film from the period in question (from recommended viewing reading or of their choice, but in agreement with the lecturer).
• Presentations will not be assessed but students will be obliged to give one in each term.
• Assessment for the module will comprise two summative essays (one at the end of 1st term and one at the end of 2nd term) and the end-of-the-year examination (which takes the form of a single essay, written under exam conditions).

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

None

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University