Module RUSS3411: Screening the Nation: Russian Cinema and the National Question

Department: Modern Languages 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). Other: see Chairman/Chairwoman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To examine the complexities of the “national question” in the Soviet Union and to elucidate the role that Russian and Soviet cinema played in the articulation of “national question” over the most of the twentieth century.

Content

• This module is conceived as an interdisciplinary investigation of the articulations of national question in Russia and the Soviet Union between early 1900s to the present day.
• Investigation of the national question in a multinational state is being carried out through the systematic and contextualised analysis of cinematic production in the period. The specificity of the Soviet politics towards nationalities will first be explored and the key concepts of “indigenisation” and ”assimilation” will be introduced.
• The changes in Soviet policies will also be explored and explained in relation to the shifting internal and external socio-political contexts. Transformations of on-screen representations of the “problem of nationalities”, as well as the evolution of national cinemas within the Soviet ethnic conglomerate, will be covered in detail. Similarly, consideration will be given to a range of understandings of the notion of national cinema, from a descriptive category denoting the cinema of a single unified republic, through a more complex idea of national cinema as the instrument of official Soviet politics, to the idea of national cinemas as vehicles of national revivals.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of this module, students will have:
• acquired thorough interdisciplinary knowledge, which will intertwine the socio-political history of Russia and the Soviet Union with the political aesthetic of Russian and Soviet cinema.

• By the end of this module, students will have:
• acquired the ability to analyse cinematic texts in a cross-disciplinary way, which will emerge from the intersection of cinema studies with cultural and political history.
• learned to identify the presence of ideas on the national question and they will utilise appropriate primary and secondary sources in support of this.

• By the end of this module, students will:
• have further developed their ability to work independently within a prescribed framework, with considerable emphasis being placed on research process.
• be able to present a cogent and structured argument in both oral and written form.

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

• This module is taught on a Short-Fat basis in either Term 1 or Term 2.
• The lectures deliver key information and concepts, acting as exegesis for the weekly set readings and allowing for discussion and clarification as necessary.
• The seminars are devoted to class discussion and/or presentation of results of independent study by students working individually or in pairs. They provide for the development of analytical and interpretative skills.
• Use is made of Blackboard Learn Ultra for students to further consolidate their learning independently.
• Summative assessment is in the form of one 1,000 word long film-discussion (to diversify students’ analytical skills and help them interrelate film narrative and social history), one 1,500 word summative essay (to hone research skills and prepare for the final essay) and a 2,500 word long final summative essay (to synthesize all learning outcomes).

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