<>HIST 407/507:
Russian Political Culture:
A Research Group
Instructor Approval required

Professor Alan Kimball (EMAIL OR tel. x4813)
Office hours = TUE 11:30am-1:30pm in McK 367 or by appointment

Table of Contents =

Bibliographies

WEEKS ONE and TWO = General Reading and Search for Topics
*--Chronology of main phases in the history of late-tsarist political culture
*--Some hypertext linked suggestions about topics and readings
*--Some "big titles" individually assigned
  *--Individual Book Reports
WEEK THREE = Continue
WEEKS FOUR & FIVE = Individual Conferences
WEEKS SIX & SEVEN = Oral Reports
WEEKS EIGHT, NINE & TEN = Written Précis
THE FINAL BIG TASK = Formal Research Report

Bibliographic Table Arranged by Historical Topics or Eras
including =
Reference Division encyclopedias and monographs
Some anthologies of primary documents

"THE GREAT BONE YARD" BIBLIOGRAPHY

WEEKS ONE AND TWO
(WE WILL PLAN WEEK THREE TOGETHER AS WE GO) =

Each member of the Research Group will devote about eleven hours per week, outside of our meeting times, on our projects (and about twenty hours in the final week of the term as individual research reports are completed [ID]).

Here is a helpful discussion of reading in the academic setting.

The purpose of these first three weeks is to read about and to discuss a few general, theoretical perspectives and to discover and define individual research topics, all within the broad range of the Research Group's shared interests. In other words, each researcher should move quickly from a broad focus to a close-up focus on a specific topic.

Here at the beginning, each Researcher should take up the following five reading exercises. These exercises will spill over into week three =

Exercise One =

Kimball,"Ways of Seeing History" [TXT] with 3 sub-essays =
(1) Groups [TXT]
(2) perceived interests [TXT]
(3) historical taxonomy [TXT]

Kimball on "Dissent" [TXT] as example of the need for clear personal "Benchmarks" when we make historical judgments

Exercise Two =

Kimball, "Pre-Soviet Concepts of Civil Society and Their Legacy" [TXT] 
Kimball, "Madison in Russia" [TXT], especially Madison's "universal doctrine of factions" [TXT]

Exercise Three =

Kimball Files, SAC readings on forty years in the history of Russian political culture, 1881-1920.
For guidance, read this description of how to use SAC. Especially learn about hypertext LOOP.

AS A RULE, A WEBSITE LIKE OURS THAT GROWS AND CHANGES NEEDS TO BE "REFRESHED" EVERY TIME YOU OPEN IT ON Y0UR COMPUTER.
THIS MAKES SURE THAT THE LATEST VERSION OF THE WEBSITE IS WHAT YOU OPEN.
OTHERWISE YOUR COMPUTER MIGHT OPEN THE SITE BASED ON WHAT IT "MEMORIZED" LAST TIME YOU OPENED IT, BEFORE THE LATEST CHANGES.

Study Christopher Read's comprehensive historiographical essay [TXT] in preparation for the following =

0. *1814:1825; Vital early episode misleadingly packaged as "Decembrist Movement" [LOOP]
1.  *1850s:1880s; Background = "Era of Great Reforms" and two "Revolutionary Situations"
2.  *1880s:1904; Statist Reaction [LOOP on phrase "tsarist state" (about 15 hops up to the 1905 Revolution)]
3.  *1880s:1904; Public Political Mobilization [LOOP on phrase "political party" (about 7 hops)]
4.  *1905 Revolution ["1905 LOOP" with about 10 hops, many with several entries (definition of SAC entry = text between "<>" and "<>")]
5.  *1907:1912; Era of the Third State Duma [Ca.30 entries from 1907no01 to 1912ap| Brush over entries unrelated to Russia]
6.  *1914:1918; WW1 and Russian Politics [LOOP on "War-time origins of Russian revolutions"]
7.  *1917fe23:1917mr02; Collapse of the Imperial Regime [Six entries between 1917fe23 and 1917mr02]
8.  *1917mr02:1917oc25; Provisional Government [First entry summarizes this period and provides several "hops"]
9.  *1917oc25:1918mr03; The Soviet Revolution [First entry summarizes the period and provides several "hops"]
10. *1918mr03:1920no14; Consolidation of Power and Revolutionary Civil War [Take the "hops" indicated above]

Exercise Four =

As you work to define your own research topic, skim through some of these hypertext linked suggestions about topics and readings.
Suggestions are listed alphabetically here and
repeat certain points along the chronologies explored under exercise three =

Alexandra, Empress of Russia. (Do her early letters express a "political ideology"?)
Aristocratic political culture in the last half century of the Russian Empire
Aristocrats and peasants expressed themselves in petitions, etc., some translated in Freeze
"Asiatic Mode of Production" = Wittfogel
Aleksandr Blok (poet)
Childhood and political culture [Example]
Civil society = Alan Kimball
Culture and Revolution = Andrei Belyi, Aleksandr Blok, Revolution of the Spirit
Democracy = Jacob Walkin
Durnovo and Russian ministerial reaction [LOOP]
Economic history = "The Witte System"
Ethnic or National minority programs & policies of the imperial state & political opposition = Census |
Eyewitnesses =

Maurice Baring
Albert Beveridge
George Kennan
Henry Norman
Bernard Pares
Donald McKenzie Wallace
Leroy-Beaulieu
William English Walling

Exercise Five =

Here is a list of readings distributed among the members of the Research Group. At the third-week meeting of the Group, researchers should prepare to deliver ten-minute oral reports on their books. Here are three questions each researcher should ask of these readings (beyond those already suggested) =

(1) How do these readings help define Russian political culture?
(2) What are the most important insights, general or theoretical perspectives, and/or telling details?
(3) How do your book's main points relate to what you find in one or more of the reference monographs?

By the end of week three (see below)), these book reports will be written up and submitted to Senior Researcher Kimball. After receipt, Kimball will give each review a hypertext link which will allow each Researcher to study their own review and those submitted by fellow Researchers

Adrien on Shanin,Teodor. Roots of Otherness: Russia's Turn of Century| v1: “Russia as a 'Developing Society'”
Anderson on Saul and others
Cisakowski on Anweiler,Oskar. The Soviets: The Russian Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers Councils,1905-1921
Clayton on Shanin,Teodor. Roots of Otherness: Russia's Turn of Century| v2: “Russia,1905-1907: Revolution as a Moment of Truth”
Fisher on Robinson,GT. Rural Russia Under the Old Regime
Glaede on Riasanovsky,Nicholas. A Parting of Ways: Government and the Educated Public in Russia, 1801-1855
Hakanson on Eklof
Harvath on Riha,Thomas. A Russian European: Paul Miliukov...
Kielty on Kassow,Samuel. Students, Professors and the State
Lambert on Owen,Thomas. Capitalism and Politics in Russia
Lindquist on Pipes,Richard. Russian conservatism and its critics: A study in political culture
Morisaki on Mehlinger,Howard, and John M. Thompson. Count Witte and the Tsarist Government...
Newton on Daly,Jonathan. Autocracy Under Siege: Security Police
Sweeney on Pares,Bernard. The Fall of the Russian Monarchy: A Study of the Evidence
Tucker on Thaden,E. C. Conservative Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century Russia

Here are some readings reviewed by previous members of the Research Group =

Engelstein,Laura. Moscow,1905:Working-Class Organization and Political Conflict
Levin,Alfred. Third Duma, Election and Profile
Miliukov,Pavel. The Russian Revolution
Reed,Christopher. Religion, Revolution, and the Russian intelligentsia, 1900-1912
Rosenberg,William. Liberals in the Russian Revolution
Venturi,Franco. Roots of Revolution
Zuckerman,Frederic. The Tsarist Secret Police in Russian Society, 1880-1917

WEEK THREE

Complete discussions of KNIGHT LIBRARY and SAC readings and prepare for weeks four and five

1. Discuss individual readings (as outlined above)
2. Compose and email book reviews to Senior Researcher Kimball by Friday of this week
--| Here is an example of the sort of ca. 700-word essay that each researcher should write
---| Once Senior Researcher Kimball has received and hypertexted them, you may click on the list of readings and hop to where they are posted
3. Establish individual "short lists" of research topics prior to first individual meeting in week four

The purpose of these meetings is to (1) define individual research interests, (2) rank them according to significance, (3) after discussion, choose one, (4) boil it down to essential details, then (5) adjust focus in view of available primary documentation. Each researcher should come to consultations having made as much progress in these five areas as possible.

Each member of the Research Group should indicate which of the sixteen time slots identified in the table below work for them. Email Senior Researcher Kimball <kimball@uoregon.edu> by Thursday noon of the third week with a ranked list of the four best time slots for you (identifying them by the numbers below). Senior Researcher Kimball will work with individual ranked lists to distribute each Researcher into the best possible time slot for each of the two consultation meetings, one in week 4 and the other in week 5. The distribution of names will be posted in the table below by Thursday evening. After names are posted in the time slots, each Researcher should check for errors or problems and bring them to the attention of Senior Researcher Kimball.

WEEKS SIX & SEVEN =
Brief oral presentations with group discussion

In the table below, the first column lists presenters. By the end of week five, the second column will also identify individual research topics, with hypertext link to SAC (when possible).  The 3rd column indicates who will serve as "interlocutor" or master of ceremonies for each oral report.

Before the meetings in which these topics will be presented and discussed, every member of the research group (especially the interlocutors) should prepare participate in group discussions. One good way to prepare is to hop off the topical links to SAC [ID] and other hypertext sites below. Here is a reminder of what is meant by SAC "LOOP". Interlocutors should also look up their presenter's topic in MERSH or one of the reference monographs before the meeting, better to carry out their leadership role in discussion. Remember, when we discuss the work of fellow researchers, we can use the same set of critical questions we used for the early monograph reports. Our purpose is to learn from the presenter and to help the presenter as work progresses toward the final research paper [ID].

WEEK SIX =

WEEK SEVEN =

WEEKS EIGHT, NINE AND TEN =
Brief written précis [ID]

WEEK EIGHT = On Friday of the previous week, before the final three designated Group meetings in the eighth, ninth and tenth weeks, each presenter in the lists below will send Senior Researcher Kimball <kimball@uoregon.edu> an electronic copy of their précis ("cut" and "paste" the reports into the email text; avoid sending reports as attachments). Here is a definition of the précis. Kimball will distribute these as group emails to all members of the Research Group. Each member of the Research Group should print out the copies they receive for careful reading and annotation. At the following Group meeting, we will all discuss the submitted texts. The "interlocutor" is the Research Group member most responsible to keep the discussion of the text moving along, but everyone is expected to participate, just as in the earlier discussions of oral reports. At the end of each of these meetings, members of the Research Group will hand their annotated copies of the précis to Senior Researcher Kimball who will then distribute them to those who have made the reports, for their use and benefit.

WEEK EIGHT =

WEEK NINE = The Research Group will proceed as in the previous week=

WEEK TEN = The Research Group will proceed as in the previous week =

FINALS WEEK =
Submit individual, original, formal research report

The research report should be an appropriately expanded full narrative account, based on the brief written précis [ID]. The research report should grow naturally from the précis but be about twice or three times longer, once you have inserted further detail and narrative interpretation, and attached a final bibliography.

Submit the final research report as a Microsoft-compatible formatted text attached to an email sent to Senior Researcher Kimball <kimball@uoregon.edu>.

Submit the final research report on the first day of finals week, Monday afternoon, 5pm (early submissions welcome).

Senior Researcher Kimball at this time will have been transformed, like Gandalf, into Editor Kimball. Editor Kimball is not the evil twin of Senior Researcher Kimball, but he does perform a different role. Thus transformed, Editor Kimball will judge each project as would a fellowship foundation committee, a press editor, or a personnel manager of a firm you would like to join. Kimball will judge the report as if it were an application for a research grant, a monetary advance on a manuscript for publication, or a job. You want to present your report in the finest way you can. Your goal should be technical perfection and the highest level of persuasive clarity you can achieve. Don't let anyone tell you the university is not "the real world". It is both the real and the actual world. For the most part, only those who have been to the university know there is a distinction.

For those who would like to explore the possibility of publishing their research report, one option would be the journal The Historian, published on behalf of Phi Alpha Theta History Honors Society. They have a good record of publishing quality work by undergraduates and graduate students, as well as seasoned scholars.

ARE YOU LOOKING AHEAD to SPRING TERM 2010?

The seminar research group will next explore the political-cultural concepts of "democracy" in Russia. This will be a study in the "history of meaning" (Begriffsgeschichte [ID]) in four phases =
(1) tsarist/imperialist,
(2) late 20th-century oppositionalist,
(3) Soviet, and
(4) contemporary Russian federalist

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE 10-WEEK STRUCTURE OF THE TERM RETURN TO TOP

Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin (1876-1942), illustrator
A visual idealization of tsarist authority
based on the lines

"Our Tsarevich, much amazed,
At a spacious city gazed...."

from
Skazki by Alexander Pushkin

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