IP33120 - COLD WAR CULTURE

Module Identifier	IP33120
Module Title	COLD WAR CULTURE
Academic Year	2001/2002
Co-ordinator	Dr Susan Carruthers
Semester	Semester 2
Course delivery	Lecture	14 Hours (14 x 1 hour)
	Seminars / Tutorials	8 Hours (8 x 1 hour)
	Practical	NB The module will involve a number of feature film screenings
Assessment	Individual firm report	1 x 3,000 word film review	50%
	Essay	1 x 3,000 words	50%

Objectives

By the end of the module you will be able to:

Assess the importance of the cultural dimension of international politics

Locate continuities and discontinuities in 'Cold War culture' in specific countries studied (especially the US, USSR, the UK, Germany and Japan)

Be able to assess critically different types of primary sources (such as film, as well as diplomatic documents etc.)

Have an informed understanding of the international dimensions of the cultural Cold War

Be able to assess the significance of 'cultural propaganda' during the Cold War, and its role in the events of 1989-91 in the eastern bloc.

NB: the module will include a number of feature film screenings.

10 ECTS Credits

Brief description

This module will begin by assessing the concept of 'culture' and will seek to identify specific dimensions of Cold War culture, in both eastern and western blocs. Using both documentary sources and film, particular themes will be highlighted, including: nuclear fear; political paranoia (including the phenomenon of 'red hunts', and McCarthyism in the USA); espionage; 'brainwashing'; cultural infiltration; and other forms of propaganda (including the use of 'agents of influence' and of international broadcasting).

Aims

The aim of this module is to locate and elucidate cultural dimensions of the Cold War, both as it was fought between the blocs, and as these dimensions were manifest at the domestic level. It will thus look at the way in which East-West rivalry and suspicion premeated specific national cultures, while also examining the mobilisation (on both sides) of culture as a propaganda tool with which to prosecute the Cold War.

Reading Lists

Books
** Recommended Text
S Whitfield. The Culture of the Cold War.
A Gleason. Totalitarianism. The Inner History of the Cold War.