The last three decades of the Soviet Union prior to perestroika have been labelled the time of “thaw” and “stagnation” but also “mature” or “late” socialism. The controversies and legacy of that period have not rendered a simple overarching theory. The Tallinn Summer School in Social and Cultural Studies will bring together leading scholars and PhD students who are interested in discussing the Soviet Union from late 1950s to early 1980s.
The students of the previous epoch of Stalinism have moved on from totalitarian and revisionist paradigms towards more complex analytical approaches; this includes ideological identification, discursive realities, socio-demographic processes, everyday life, and comparative modernization paradigms, to name a few. The scholars of the “thaw” and “stagnation” have followed similar trends. However, inclusive and encompassing theories have often been missing from the conceptualizations of that period when the pillar of state coercion was removed and only the two other pillars of party dictatorship and planned economy remained.
Moreover, late socialism is often squeezed between Stalinism and perestroika both in popular discourses and in many historical research projects. The period is essentially seen as a milder continuation of Stalinism (e.g. in discussions of the nature of regime) or as a prelude to perestroika (e.g. in discussions of consumerism). The political climate in Eastern Europe and the opportunities of archival access have both favoured the study of the first half of the Soviet Union’s existence over its second half. It is time to change that trend. The recent interest in the post war processes of modernization in the West, the preoccupation with the prehistories of deregulation and globalisation, but also with the recent events in Ukraine (Moldova, Georgia), call for revisiting and studying diverse histories of Soviet Union in comparative contexts.
The course addresses, but is not limited to the following questions:
The course provides the students methodological and practical knowledge on most relevant theories and approaches to the period of late socialism. It is designed to build up both analytical and practical skills, consisting of an intense series of plenary lectures and seminars and combining macro-level discussions with case studies and student workshops.
Faculty
Faculty includes Juliane Fürst (University of Bristol and Harvard University Davies Center), Polly Jones (University of Oxford), Catriona Kelly (University of Oxford, President of ASEEES) and Alexei Yurchak (University of California, Berkeley) as key-note speakers. The rest of faculty combines local and foreign researchers from the fields of art history, post-colonial studies, history of Soviet ethnicity and identity, science, urbanity, media consumption, and local elites, among the other themes.
For more informations please visit the website.
