Course Catalogue

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This course is designed to give a broad range of students with different specialisms a grounding in the culture of Ukraine, combining a chronological overview with a selective focus on indicative historical moments and phenomena. It emphasises the cultural diversity of the territories of contemporary Ukraine and the connections between culture, politics and identity. All materials are provided in English.

2x1hr seminars per week over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into one of the SMLC Honours programmes, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

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The standard assessments for this course are:

■ Oral examination in English - 15minutes - 50%

■ Essay - 2,000 words - 50%

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:

■ An invigilated online oral examination as an alternative to the oral examination in English.

■ There is no alternative to the essay, but an extension to the deadline can be offered as reasonable adjustment (students should follow the usual process for extensions).

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor. 

This course aims to:

■ Provide students with a thorough understanding of crucial moments and key tendencies in the development of a unique and diverse Ukrainian culture and of the historical, social, and political developments that have shaped it.

■ Critically engage with and analyse texts (literary, visual, cinematic and other) and cultural narratives from key periods in Ukrainian history, using approaches from cultural studies and other disciplines, to explore their ideas, formal features, and broader social, political and historical significance.

■ Help students to contextualise the cultures and identities of contemporary Ukraine and Ukrainians historically and geographically and to understand better Ukraine's interactions, past and present, with both its immediate neighbours and European and global systems of cultural exchange and political power.

■ Foster skills of critical thinking and analysis and to build capacity for independent research regarding questions of both culture and identity with reference to Ukraine and its wider region.

■ Equip students with the research tools, conceptual frameworks and culture-specific understandings necessary to engage further with Ukraine both in academic research and in a diverse range of professional settings.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Critically analyse key texts and cultural narratives from Ukraine, articulating their ideas, formal features, and broader significance within historical and contemporary contexts.

■ Demonstrate an understanding of how the complexities of Ukrainian culture can be illuminated using the toolkits of different academic fields, including cultural studies, history and political science

■ Illustrate the relationship between phenomena of Ukrainian culture and wider regional, European and global tendencies.

■ Develop independent research skills by formulating research questions and employing appropriate methodologies to investigate specific aspects of Ukrainian culture.

■ Apply critical frameworks to engage thoughtfully with Ukrainian cultural materials, facilitating deeper insights into how cultural identities shape and are shaped by political dynamics.