Universität Wien
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070290 UE Reading Course Global History and Global Studies (2024W)

Workers, Refugees, Citizens: The People's Cold War in the Making

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 7 - Geschichte
Continuous assessment of course work
Mo 07.10. 14:45-16:15 Seminarraum des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2Q-EG-27

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Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 14.10. 14:45 - 16:15 Seminarraum des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2Q-EG-27
  • Monday 21.10. 14:45 - 16:15 Seminarraum des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2Q-EG-27
  • Monday 28.10. 14:45 - 16:15 Seminarraum des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2Q-EG-27
  • Monday 04.11. 14:45 - 16:15 Seminarraum des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2Q-EG-27
  • Monday 11.11. 14:45 - 16:15 Seminarraum des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2Q-EG-27
  • Monday 18.11. 14:45 - 16:15 Seminarraum des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2Q-EG-27
  • Monday 25.11. 14:45 - 16:15 Seminarraum des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2Q-EG-27
  • Monday 02.12. 14:45 - 16:15 Seminarraum des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2Q-EG-27
  • Monday 09.12. 14:45 - 16:15 Seminarraum des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2Q-EG-27
  • Monday 16.12. 14:45 - 16:15 Seminarraum des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2Q-EG-27
  • Monday 13.01. 14:45 - 16:15 Seminarraum des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2Q-EG-27
  • Monday 20.01. 14:45 - 16:15 Seminarraum des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2Q-EG-27
  • Monday 27.01. 14:45 - 16:15 Seminarraum des Instituts für Osteuropäische Geschichte UniCampus Hof 3 2Q-EG-27

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This course explores the cultural and social histories of the post-1945 period, focusing on the experiences of ordinary people. It guides students on how local and global factors intersected to shape individual lives, emphasizing transnational movements and networks. Two competing visions of reconstruction and development - state socialism as an alternative modernization project and the Western model of corporate capitalism - defined the postwar years world-wide. Looking at the tensions of the Cold War through the lens of people’s history offers an opportunity to analyze cultural transformations and lived realities at local levels.

Students are encouraged to think critically, interrogate dominant narratives, uncover silences and erasures, and challenge preconceptions about historical events and processes by drawing on a range of primary sources, including letters, postcards, memoirs, official documents, videos, and visuals. By analyzing such sources alongside recent secondary literature, the course engages with the narratives of workers, refugees, and citizens as they navigated and shaped postwar societies. Students will be invited to interrogate power structures and analyze how ordinary people maneuvered social realities, with a focus on the intersectionality of class, race, gender, and nationality. By the end of this course, students will be equipped with critical analytical skills and a nuanced perspective on global history.

The language of the course is English. According to students language skills and interests, some primary sources discussed during the course will be in Polish, German, Russian, Italian, and other languages. There is no foreign language requirement to attend the course, which will be fully inclusive and tailored to students' needs.

Assessment and permitted materials

• Class Participation (40%): regular attendance and active involvement in class discussions
• Final Essay (60%): close analysis of a selected primary source, demonstrating critical engagement and understanding of the course material

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Students will be evaluated based on their critical engagement with the concepts presented in the course readings and lectures, as well as their ability to effectively articulate this knowledge both in writing and orally.

Examination topics

Reading list

Conrad, Sebastian, What Is Global History? Princeton Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2016.

Gatrell, Peter, The Unsettling of Europe : the Great Migration, 1945 to the Present, London: Allen Lane, 2019.

Gienow-Hecht J. Culture and the Cold War in Europe, in: Leffler MP, Westad Odd Arne, eds. The Cambridge History of the Cold War, Cambridge University Press, 2010: 398-419.

Judt, Tony, Postwar : a History of Europe Since 1945, London: Vintage, 2010.

Westad, Odd Arne, The Cold War : a World History, New York: Basic Books, 2017.

Zahra, Tara, The Great Departure: Mass Migration from Eastern Europe and the Making of the Free World, New York London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2016.

Association in the course directory

SP Globalgeschichte

MA Geschichte (V2019): PM1 - Lektürekurs Schwerpunkteinführung Globalgeschichte (5 ECTS)
MA Globalgeschichte & Global Studies (V2019): PM1 - Lektürekurs Globalgeschichte / Global Studies (5 ECTS)
MA Interdisz. Osteuropastudien (V2019): M3.1 - Weitere Lehrveranstaltung (PI) (5 ECTS) / M4 - Weitere Lehrveranstaltung (PI) (5 ECTS)

Last modified: Su 15.09.2024 19:25