The third reading is in the Box (“on the prison highway”).  I’ve also added a set of questions that will structure our discussion of the three readings on Tuesday Gulagdiscussionclass I would suggest skimming the discussion sheet first, as it contains explanations of the “gang slang” that Dolgun uses throughout his account. Continue reading Readings and discussion sheet for tuesday

Hi Everyone, Please go to the box (https://richmond.app.box.com/folder/37172849813) to find the readings for tuesday: Chapter 15 of Alexander Dolgun’s book, and and excerpt from Catherine Merridale’s book Night of Stone.  The first is a memoir and speaks for itself;, the second asks us to think about memory and representation — how does societies heal from trauma (if at all)? I’m going to post one more … Continue reading gulag reading for tuesday

Here are the notes to the mini-lecture on “shockworkers” and “Stakhanovites” and “speaking Bolshevik” shockworkers#7 Continue reading powerpoint notes 19.09.2017

I will collect the hard copies of your Republic reports tomorrow, even if we don’t quite get through all of the presentations. I have rearranged the syllabus (class-by-class schedule) to accommodate one of our future guest speakers (on Oct 5), and also to give us more time before the first (and only) exam.  No exam this month.   Continue reading Republic papers and updated syllabus

Hello All! I just realize the story pdf I put in Box is missing a page and doesn’t make sense. Go back to Box and download “Platonov_draft 3” instead. You’ll get to see our editorial marks on one of the final copies of the English translation – yellow highlights words where we considered alternative translations. In any case,  you’ll need the Worksheet (#3),  also in … Continue reading Platonov worksheet and corrected copy

Begin with a general search to get a sense of your Republic/topic.  The Graded Paper #1 guidelines provide basic questions.  After talking with several of you, I would strongly suggest the following to add some necessary “depth” to your papers:  add at least one peer-reviewed article as a source of information on any aspect (historical or contemporary) of your republic. Go to the library catalog, … Continue reading Soviet Republics Additional Info

The reading for Thursday is a short story by Andrei Platonov. (If your first language is Chinese or other non-English, Platonov is widely translated into world languages and you are encouraged to find and read a copy of the story in whatever language is easiest for you).  You can find the English language pdf in the Box that you now have access to. For tomorrow: … Continue reading For Thursday 09/07

If you log into your Box account,  you’ll find a box that will hold all the course readings. You can download pdf files of assigned texts from this Box.  It’s called “BBB Course Readings.” Continue reading Box contained course pdfs

Read “Imagining the Cosmos” and do worksheet #2. Read the next section of Ingram, i.e.  the sections on Revolution, Civil War, and War Communism (this was originally listed as reading for Thursday). The story “Lunar Bomb” (originally listed for Tuesday) will be moved to Thursday!   Continue reading Homework for Tues 09/05

To prepare for class discussion on Thursday, read Ingram’s historical outline of the events 1905-1917 here: Ingram_1-16 Then read two essays by influential Russian thinkers of the era, and try to formulate a “theory” or conceptual hypothesis about the relationship between what was happening “in the streets” (Ingram),  and how intellectuals, in particular, were thinking about revolution and change. Be sure to print out the Zamiatin … Continue reading Reading for Thursday, Aug 31