Index # 08767
Will Count Towards History MAJOR
Will Count Towards History MINOR
At different moments in the last two centuries many nations around the world – from Britain and Germany to the United States and even New Zealand -- have been gripped by great fears of Russia. The alleged threats from Russia have varied from military aggression to revolutionary subversion, racial contamination, spy penetration, election interference, and cyber infiltration. The phases of intense and widespread fear of Russia have often come to be seen later as exaggerated or even completely unfounded. Yet the bouts of Russophobia – in some cases called “Red Scares” or “McCarthyism” -- have left deep and lasting scars on the societies that have been afflicted by them. Russophobic writers, politicians, filmmakers, and others have attacked racial or ethnic groups, political parties, and ideologies associated with Russia. Through books, pamphlets, speeches, investigations, and movies Russophobes have also defined and affirmed specific national identities and ideologies in contrast to the traits associated with Russia. Russophobes have thus often sought to justify their nations’ policies while discrediting or delegitimizing Russian policies.
In this interdisciplinary honors seminar students will develop critical perspectives on Russophobias around the world, particularly in Europe and North America. During the first weeks of the semester students will read and discuss articles and book chapters by historians and social scientists that present theoretical and comparative approaches to political demonology, the formation of images of enemies, the uses of “the Other,” and the role of mass media in the propagation of negative stereotypes about foreign nations. During the remainder of the semester the assigned reading will examine specific episodes of Russophobia such as: (1) French Russophobia as reflected in an infamous book by the Marquis de Custine; (2) British fears of Russian expansionism in the nineteenth century; (3) American alarm at Russian expansionism in Manchuria early in the twentieth century; (4) the first great Red Scare in the United States after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917; (5) the widespread alarm about Communist subversion and espionage in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s; and (6) contemporary American alarm at Russian interference in US elections. Students also will watch and analyze Russophobic films. Among the questions we will consider are: How did Russophobia take different forms in France, Great Britain, the United States, and other nations? How did anxieties about gender, feminism, and sexuality figure in Red Scares? How did nativist worries about immigrants and ethnic groups inflame fears of Bolshevism? How much foundation was there for accusations about Communist subversion and espionage? How has recent alarm about alleged Russian aggression and conspiracies resembled and differed from earlier fears of Russian actions and influence? Have the great fears been spontaneous popular outbursts or have they been orchestrated by media and political elites? What have been the effects of Russophobia and Red Scares on movements for social change in Western countries?
About Professor Foglesong
[faculty bio]