HISTORY OF THE RUSSIAN CULTURE

The course is part of the EAPLL Master's Degree Programme and it aims to provide knowledge and critical skills in relation to the history of Russian philosophy. We will consider texts of the "high" civilisation usually dealt with in brief in the courses in literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but which had - and continue to have - great relevance in the question of Russian national identity. As an integrative activity of the CIR Master's Degree Programme, the course contributes to the achievement of formative objectives of historical education in the section "Eastern Europe", as well as providing some considerations on today's reception of the history of ideas in Putin's political language.

1. Knowledge and understanding
● Acquisition of the terminology (in Russian and Italian) to express the philosophical concepts encountered in different types of argumentative texts.
● The learning of the main currents of thought in Russia in the 19th and 20th centuries according to a historical and conceptual perspective.

2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
● Proper use of linguistic terminology in all processes of analysis and communication of acquired knowledge.
● Knowledge of how to relate ideas found in argumentative texts from different eras based on the principle of similarity or opposition.

3. Judgment capacity
● Knowledge of how to assess the correctness and adequacy with which journalists and politicians cite ideas from argumentative texts examined in the course.

4. Communication skills
● Knowledge of how to explain the specificities of different types of argumentative texts, using appropriate terminology.
● Knowledge of how to interact with peers and with the teacher in a critical and respectful way.

5. Learning skills
● Knowledge of how to consult critically the reference texts and the bibliography contained in them by applying the concepts and concepts to the individual research work.

Basic knowledge of the development of Russian culture from Peter the Great to the Revolution of 1917. It is necessary to have a comprehension of Russian language at least at the level B2.

There will be an analysis of various texts (written, oral, multimedia) that will help to reflect on fundamental aspects of the identity formation in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia according to a historic and cultural perspective.
The following topics will be tackled: the cultural values in Soviet Russia, the cultural shock in the 90s and the recovery of traditional values. Pop culture (jokes, music, entertainment literature, television); the relationship State-religion and State-science in Modern Russia; ideocracy and pr

For all students who don't understand Italian:
- N. Berdyaev, "The Philosophy of Inequality: Letters to my Contemners, Concerning Social Philosophy", frsj Publications, Mohrsville (PA) 2015;
- N. Berdjaev, "Filosofija neravenstva", Institut russkoj civilizacii, Moskva, 2012, pp. 19-303 (available on the Moodle page of the course: <https://moodle.unive.it/course/view.php?id=3045> ;; the lecturer will give the key to access it);
- A. Walicki, "A History of Russian Thought: From the Enlightenment to Marxism", Stanford University Press, 1979.
- Backup material uploaded on Moodle by the lecturer.

Non-attending students will have to add:
- M. Eltchaninoff, "Inside the Mind of Vladimir Putin", Hurst & Co Ltd, London 2018.

The oral exam will last approximately half an hour for each student.
Starting from some quotations of texts dealt with in the classroom (or other similar ones), students will be asked to contextualize and comment with an adequate language the ideas he recognizes. The evaluation depends for 60% on the correctness of the contents, 20% on the ability to argue and make connections, and 20% on linguistic accuracy.

Lectures in Russian and in Italian with multimedia backup material.

Students will be invited to contribute to the lessons actively, also through periodic exercises, individual and in pairs, proposed by the teacher.

Italian

Non-attending students can sit for the exam, provided that they have studied the additional literature.

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