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.

None

None

Oral examination in English. - 15minutes - 50%

Essay - 2,000 words - 50%

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

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.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.