Academics

Cultural History

Dana Howell (Cultural History and Eurasian Studies)

Human experience is expressed through cultural performances, such as rituals and tales, visual and performing arts, memoirs and historical accounts, tourist displays and public games. To understand any of these, we need to understand the sources (whether literary, visual, historical document, etc.) in the context of their creation and use. Claims of “tradition” are no different than claims of invention and innovation: they express views of human action that tell us where and how to look at a cultural performance. Cultural history involves discovering how people view their history and how history is part of identity.

Studying history is studying cross-culturally. Understanding contemporary society requires a reach into history. Imagination is essential, as is care with sources, which are other people’s voices. It is those voices that are compelling to a historian or student of culture and society.

Studying culture is inherently an interdisciplinary activity. Cultural history draws on methods and materials from various fields, such as history, anthropology, folklore studies, media and other visual and performing arts. Students can create Plans in cultural history with foundation work in other areas of the curriculum, supplemented by some introductory work in cultural history courses. Most cultural history Plans are interdisciplinary.

Eurasian Studies

“Eurasia” and “Eurasian studies” are the terms used today for the societies of the former Soviet Union and the former Soviet bloc (Eastern Europe). This is an enormous area with great diversity, from Slavic cultures of Eastern Europe to indigenous cultures of Siberia to the “Silk Road” cultures of Central Asia. With the collapse of the USSR, these societies gained political independence and international interest (not least for natural resources and strategic locations). Their cultures are not new, nor are they alike in this post-Soviet era. They do share a legacy of socialism and strong responses to their Soviet experience, including nationalism, Islamic revival, nostalgia for social order, even interest in a reconstituted USSR. It is now possible for students to study the languages of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and other post-Soviet areas, and it is also possible to do internships, field studies and study-abroad programs. Many of these areas were restricted for foreigners during Soviet rule, and new access is creating new opportunities, new scholarship and new cultural creations.

Starting Points (Basic and Introductory Courses)

Cultural History

Reporting From the Frontline (SSC420)
To know the wider world, we depend upon the “news.” Headlines, on-the-ground reports and visual images in the media shape our view of many societies. Reports from war zones are especially powerful, conveying urgency, danger and excitement, as war reporters take risks in foreign lands to “bring back the story.” We grant them authority as eyewitnesses and explorers, and we see their accounts as “the first draft of history.” How should we “read” the news? We’ll discuss news narratives, cultural images conveyed by news stories and the conditions and issues facing war reporters. We’ll focus particularly on reporting from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, with background material from World War II, the Vietnam War and the Balkan wars of the 1990s. We will also consider contemporary changes in reporting, particularly the new role of “citizen journalism” via the internet and cellphones. Readings, films, discussion and student research projects.

Political Rituals (SSC528)
Social life is structured by ritual, and never more so than in public politics. With an introduction to the core ideas of ritual studies, we will consider a cross-cultural selection of political rituals, mostly from the 20th century, and explore the rituals and spectacles of American political life, including a review of the Obama presidential campaign and contemporary observation and analysis of the fall electoral season in the U.S. Class discussion of readings and films, plus student research projects on a contemporary or historical topic in political ritual.

Travelers’ Tales & Tourism (SSC398)
“Comes over one an absolute necessity to move,” D.H. Lawrence wrote, “And what is more, to move in some particular direction.” Traveling has always been part of human life; how did it become a form of entertainment or leisure? Tourism today is one of the largest industries in the world; what is its impact on the way we organize societies, create and present our cultural identities and envision the world of others? In this course, we’ll explore the history of travel for pleasure, the nature of tourist experiences, the tales we tell of travel and the ways people are changing their lives in response to tourism—in cultural displays, social interactions and commercial ventures like theme parks, packaged tours, television contests and public stories of life as an accessible adventure.

Eurasian Studies

Soviet Era Through Film and Memoir (CDS434)
The Soviet era represents a great social experiment, only recently abandoned. This course is an introduction to Soviet society and post-Soviet reaction, using memoir, film, and current studies to discuss the passage from early revolutionary radicalism to Stalinism to the end of the Cold War and contemporary “normalcy” and nostalgia.

Russia and the Caucasus (SSC517)
“In Europe we are but parasites and slaves, but to Asia we shall come as masters,” Dostoevski wrote. The Russian empire (and the USSR) found its southern limits in the region of the Caucasus mountains, and the recent Russian-Georgian conflict is the latest in a 200-year history of Russian incursions. In the 19th century Russians were inspired by the fierce resistance of the mountain people, the beauty of the land and Orientalist fantasies of exotic cultures, creating a literary tradition from Pushkin to Tolstoi to Pasternak. By the 20th century, the Caucasus became the site of the first genocide of the 20th century against the Armenians, a focal point of Islamic revival and armed conflict, a region of separatist wars in Armenia, Azerbiajan, Georgia and Chechnia, and a center of oil politics (with the capital of Azerbiajan called “the new Dodge City” of “the wild east”). Considered the most culturally diverse area in the world, an ancient as well as modern crossroads, the Caucasus includes some of the oldest Christian nations, the traditional landing point of Noah’s Ark and the land of the Golden Fleece, the mountains which form the “wall” between Europe and Asia, the birthplace of Stalin, and—potentially—the furthest reach of NATO and the EU. This course is an introduction to the Caucasus region, with Russian involvement as the connecting thread through the past two centuries to the present day.

Along the Silk Road: An Introduction to Central Asia (CDS524)
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, five new states appeared on the map in Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Created as Soviet socialist republics, they are now pulled between East and West, as Muslim countries hosting western oil companies and U.S. troops for the conflict in Afghanistan and, possibly, Iraq. Some say the Americans represent the latest of a long series of great empires built on the sands of Central Asia, like those of Alexander the Great, the Mongols, Tamerlane, the Russians and the Soviets. In the midst of these empires lay the ancient Silk Road between China and the West, with the great oasis cities of Bukhara and Samarkand, surrounded by the largest nomadic societies in the world. This course is an introduction to the history and cultures of Central Asia, from ancient to contemporary times, with special attention to the cultural influences of the Silk Road, the impact of great nomadic conquests, and the questions of nationalism and identity in Central Asian societies today.

Pursuing Interests (Intermediate and Thematic Courses)

Cultural History

Living with War (SSC527)
Though war seems extraordinary, it is an ordinary presence in our world. Whether distant or close at hand, war is part of how we understand the world. It creates social change and cultural reflection. How are the ruptures of war absorbed into society and culture? We will examine direct experiences of war, the struggles to recover cultural identity after a war, the celebration and memorializing of war as generations pass and the pervasiveness of war imagery in popular culture.

Telling the Tale (SSC449)
An exploration of tales in tradition and in social performance, with discussion of the elements of successful performances, enduring narratives and their sources, the significance of transformational figures and uses of traditional tales in contemporary society.

Romanticism, Nationalism, Nativism (SSC280)
Why are we fascinated by fairy tales? Why do we see some cultures as more “natural” than others? How do we make a “common culture” across lines of social difference? Why (and how) do we escape two of our most valued creations, individualism and technology? Why do we prefer a theme park to a city, a miniature to “the real thing?” What do these questions have in common? This course will explore 19th and 20th century ideas and practices related to tradition and cultural identity, including Romantic views of nature and society, the search for cultural roots and the idea of “folklore,” political uses of traditional culture and the persistence of Romanticism in contemporary cultures. A pre-Plan/early Plan seminar, with substantial student projects.

Modernism (CDS532)
A seminar exploring some of the major works and directions of “modernism,” focusing on the visual and performing arts in Europe and Russia during the decades before and after World War I. We will consider the proposition that modernism is a “hybrid of irrationalism and technicism” which lent itself, even contributed, to the rise of fascism.

Research Seminar in Cultural History (CDS533)
A seminar for students doing research projects in cultural history; the semester’s work will include discussion of research design and the creation of substantial papers, with individual conferences and presentations to the seminar group. (Advanced)

Eurasian Studies

East-West Thinking
An exploration of ideas of “East” and “West” in Eurasian cultures that see themselves as standing between, or belonging to, both worlds. “Orientalist” approaches will be countered with regional voices. The focus may be Russian, Balkan or Caucasian. The material will include history, literature, film and visual arts.

Cultural Politics of Socialism and Post-Socialism (SSC488)
An exploration of the dynamics of culture in socialist and post-socialist societies, with a focus on public culture and constructions of cultural identity. Topics will include: utopian ideas and revolutionary time; uses and abuses of public space in mass rituals, visual propaganda, monuments and other cultural re-landscaping; cultural nationalism and internationalism; the roles of intellectuals and artists (visual, performing and literary) in creating and disputing socialist identity; and post-socialist views of the legacy of the socialist era. Core readings on Soviet/post-Soviet (USSR and Eastern European) societies will be integrated with readings on individual student projects, which may focus on these or other socialist/post-socialists societies. Individual projects may include an art component along with an analysis. Prerequisite: Some coursework in history, politics, culture or arts.

Literary Voices of the Soviet Era (HUM1145)
Though the arts of the Soviet era are often equated with “socialist realism,” independent voices survived through the creation of lasting works of literature. Writers responded to the historical events of their time—from revolution to Stalinist terror, to the siege of Leningrad in World War II, to the “sovietization” of the countryside—with satiric, poetic and nationalist narratives. We will read stories by Babel, Solzhenitsyn and Chukovskaia, a memoir by Lydia Ginzburg, a nostalgic novel of Siberia by Valentin Rasputin and one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita. Our focus will be on literary art as an expression of historical experience and cultural tradition.

Good Foundation for Plan

Cultural history is a varied field, and Plans could be rooted in different areas. The key to doing history is “considering the source,” i.e., understanding the nature of the source and its context. The skills that are needed are strong reading, clear writing and critical thinking. (Other analytic skills may be needed for Plans involving the visual or performing arts, and these Plans are usually co-sponsored.) With these foundational skills, a Plan can be “started” in the Junior year. In Eurasian studies, some area-studies foundation is needed, though co-sponsored Plans (in literature, visual arts) can build on foundation in that field.

Research Interests