Global Communism: Russian Soviet Culture and its Influence

After WW2 people across the globe struggling for liberation met with two voices vying for power: the capitalist West and communist Russia. International organizations supported by the Soviet Union such as, for example, the Afro-Asia Writers Association (1958-1991) show how the Soviet project was influential in cultures of liberation, but the Stalinist regime was equally involved in domination of other countries and at home. Students engage with short fiction, film, art, and archival materials as we ask what is modern oppression and how is it resisted? We tackle issues of identity, trauma, and art's relationship to politics while also looking at Soviet influence on other cultures, including African, Asian, Latin American and the US.