Fall/Winter Timetable

POL415H1S L0101

Graduate Course Code: POL2801H1S L0101

Nations and Nationalisms in the former USSR

Course Description

The collapse of the USSR along national lines surprised most contemporary observers in 1991. Over the next twenty years, as cultural, political, and military conflicts shook Eastern Europe and Central Asia, they raised troubling questions about the reach and claims of national identities and nationalisms in the region. A historical and transnational approach is crucial for understanding these issues, for key associations and overlapping fault lines were established in the late Soviet period. By examining how the nominally socialist Soviet state dealt with its multi-ethnic population, this course illuminates key aspects of post-communist transformations in Ukraine and other countries of the former USSR: state building and modernisation; centre-periphery dynamics; and interethnic conflict and violence.

Themes

The role of nationalism, myths and identity in the transitions within post-communist states. Ukraine and other former Soviet states will be used as case studies to investigate the role of regionalism, nation-building, inter-ethnic relations, historical myths and language in their state building processes.

Texts

TBA

Format and Requirements

One two-hour seminar per week. Course requirements TBA.