HI2J8-30 Entangled History: Ukraine and her neighbours, from the Middle Ages to the Present
Introductory description
This module introduces students in the history of Ukraine and through this history in the history of its neighbours, in particular the history of Russia and Poland. It will introduce students also into theories of nation building and nationalism and emphasise the importance of symbols, history writing and culture for nation building.
Module aims
Until recently Western conceptions of Ukrainian history were shaped by frameworks provided by Russian historiography which saw Ukraine as part of the ‘Russian world’ – or between 1917 and 1991 as integral part of the Soviet Union. Alternative concepts of 19th and 20th century Ukrainian historiography were widely ignored. The module aims to decolonise Ukrainian history without replacing the dominant Russian narrative or older Polish narratives just with a Ukrainian narrative. The module will treat Ukrainian history as entangled with Russian and Polish history but will consider that the Ukrainians (or to use earlier ethnonyms: Rus’, Rusyny, Ruthenians) over much of their history found themselves in a colonial relationship with imperial centres. In Autumn term, we will be looking at medieval and early modern history and study how cultural and political developments in Ukraine, in Poland-Lithuania and Muscovy/the Russian Empire created the preconditions for the modern Ukrainian nation. We will end with the analysis of some key texts of Ukrainian, Polish, and Russian political thinkers reflecting about their nations. Spring Term begins with analysing processes of nationalisation before the First World War followed by a series of lectures and seminars dealing with the impact of wars and revolutions on Poland, Russia and Ukraine, and Ukrainian state building attempts between 1917 and 1921. The remaining weeks will cover the 20th century. Nationality policy in inter-war Poland and the Soviet Union is followed by weeks dedicated to the Second World War, the post-war period, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and independent Ukraine up to the present day.
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
Entangled or colonised? How to write a history of Ukraine?
Stories of origin: the Kyivan Rus
The ‘Mongol yoke’ and the rise of Muscovy
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The fight for the ‘land of the Rus’
Becoming an empire: Russia’s long 18th century
Russia’s mission
Poland’s struggle
Ukraine’s self-discovery
Peasants into …: How the national message was spread
National boundaries and hybrid identities
The Great War: Hopes, aims, and expectations
The Russian and the Ukrainian Revolution
Nation building Soviet style
Poland and her minorities
Bloodlands I: Soviet rule
Bloodlands II: German rule
From Soviet to independent Ukraine
Trials, tribulations, and choices: Ukraine and her neighbours after the fall of the Soviet Union
The Russian war against Ukraine
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the history of Ukraine and its entanglement with Polish and Russian history, and the importance of cultural factors, shared memories and shared forgetting, common suffering and cultural artefacts in nation building .
- Communicate ideas and findings, adapting to a range of situations, audiences and degrees of complexity.
- Generate ideas through the analysis of a broad range of primary source material connected with the processes of nation building in Eastern Europe, including visual sources.
- Analyse and evaluate the contributions made by existing scholarship.
- Act with limited supervision and direction within defined guidelines, accepting responsibility for achieving deadlines.
Indicative reading list
Reading lists can be found in Talis
Subject specific skills
See learning outcomes
Transferable skills
See learning outcomes
Study time
| Type | Required | Optional |
|---|---|---|
| Lectures | 20 sessions of 1 hour (7%) | |
| Seminars | 20 sessions of 1 hour (7%) | |
| Tutorials | 2 sessions of 1 hour (1%) | |
| External visits | (0%) | 1 session of 2 hours |
| Online learning (scheduled sessions) | (0%) | |
| Private study | 218 hours (73%) | |
| Assessment | 40 hours (13%) | |
| Total | 300 hours |
Private study description
Reading for seminars, organising lecture and seminar notes.
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group A
| Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment component |
|||
| 1500 word essay | 10% | Yes (extension) | |
Reassessment component is the same |
|||
Assessment component |
|||
| Seminar contribution | 10% | No | |
Reassessment component |
|||
| 1000 word reflective essay in lieu of Seminar Contribution | Yes (extension) | ||
Assessment component |
|||
| 3000 word essay | 40% | 20 hours | Yes (extension) |
Reassessment component is the same |
|||
Assessment component |
|||
| 7 day take-home essay with citations and a bibliography | 40% | 20 hours | No |
Reassessment component is the same |
|||
Feedback on assessment
written feedback on essays via tabula; student/tutor dialogues in one-to-one tutorials.
Courses
This module is Core optional for:
- Year 2 of UENA-VQ32 Undergraduate English and History
- Year 2 of UHIA-V1V5 Undergraduate History and Philosophy
This module is Optional for:
- Year 2 of UENA-VQ32 Undergraduate English and History
- Year 2 of UHIA-V102 Undergraduate History (Renaissance and Modern History Stream)
- Year 2 of UHIA-V1V5 Undergraduate History and Philosophy
- Year 2 of UHIA-VM11 Undergraduate History and Politics
- Year 2 of UHIA-VM13 Undergraduate History and Politics (with a term in Venice)
- Year 2 of UHIA-VL13 Undergraduate History and Sociology
- Year 2 of UHIA-VL15 Undergraduate History and Sociology (with a term in Venice)
This module is Option list A for:
- Year 2 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
- Year 2 of UHIA-V1V7 Undergraduate History and Philosophy (with a term in Venice)
- Year 2 of UHIA-VM11 Undergraduate History and Politics
- Year 2 of UHIA-VL13 Undergraduate History and Sociology
This module is Option list B for:
- Year 2 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History