Faculty of History and Cultural Studies

Course Description

This course explores the lived experiences of individuals in Eastern Bloc countries during the Cold War era, with a primary focus on the citizens of the Soviet Union. It delves into the social, cultural, and economic aspects of life under socialist regimes, examining how ideology and collective economy shaped daily routines, work, leisure, and family life. Students will work with a variety of sources, including newspapers, personal narratives like diaries and memoirs, films, literature and objects of material life, to gain insights into the challenges and adaptations of ordinary people.
Key topics include material wealth, consumer culture, gender roles, housing, and the impact of political events on everyday activities. The course also addresses the role of propaganda, the education system, and the influence of Western culture. By comparing different primary sources from different periods, students will explore the diversity of experiences within the socialist bloc and the varying degrees of state control and personal freedom.
The course provides a nuanced understanding of the complexities and contradictions of socialist life, highlighting both the hardships and moments of resilience and creativity. Students will engage both with English academic texts and texts of primary sources in Russian, which they will learn to read and analyze by using instruments of machine translation. Through class discussions, readings, and work with multimedia platforms available online, students will develop a comprehensive understanding of everyday life under socialism.

Course Description

The course is devoted to the so-called Crusader Art in the Eastern Mediterranean. Since the First Crusade called for by Pope Urban II in 1095, relations between Central Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean intensified, but became violent and colonialist. Primarily with the aim of regaining the holy places of Christianity after the Islamic conquest, but also to acquire land and wealth, the Crusades became a symbol of Christian aggression. After Jerusalem was conquered in 1099, numerous cities on the Mediterranean coast were taken over. The pattern of political power changed considerably: Crusader states were established in the Holy Land, Greece and the islands of Crete, Rhodes, Cyprus etc., and even the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, fell to the Crusaders in 1204, who established a so-called Latin Empire (1204-1261). This period also saw the emergence of the orders of knights (Knights of Malta and of St. John), around which numerous legends have grown (e.g. the Knights Templar), as have around famous people, such as Richard the Lionhart and Sultan Saladin.

Under Latin rulers, nobility and bishops, Western-influenced art was created, including Gothic cathedrals and conversions of older churches (e.g. the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem), sculptures, fortresses, manuscripts, goldsmiths' work, etc. The art of the Crusader period often takes inspiration from Islamic and Christian aesthetics in a complex entanglement and points to the different religious affiliations of the artists, craftsmen and patrons, who also had works of art made especially for export to their homelands. The term "Crusader Art" is debated, especially with regard to the clearly European colonialist narrative that it expresses, which will be discussed in the course. 
The course will take place online via Zoom and will have the character of a lecture series, but will also include phases of active student teamwork, as well as text and source readings.