HISTORY OF EASTERN EUROPE

The course is foreseen for students at the 1st year of the MA Degree Programmes “Comparative International Relations” (curriculum "Eastern Europe"; type of educational activity: core educational activity) and “European, American and Postcolonial Language and Literature” (curriculum "literature and culture" - Slavic and Balkan Studies; type of educational activity: core educational activity). The course will deal with the issue of demographic and family policies in Eastern Europe during the 20th century, with particular attention to the issue of birth control and abortion. The historical nature of the course contributes to the multidisciplinary goals of the two MA Degree Programmes. Furthermore, its geographical focus on Eastern Europe constributes to the teaching programmes specifically conceived for MA students interested in deepening their knowledge about that area.

The course deals with the demographic policies theorized and put in practice in Eastern Europe during the 20th century. The expected learning results are the following:

- to familiarize with and to be able to understand the main historical events and issues linked with the historical period under examination: which were the different demographic regimes which can be identified in 20th-century Eastern Europe; which were their cultural-political contexts; and which were their concrete implications for the everyday-life of the citizens
- to be able to apply this knowledge to a critical understanding of the present time in terms of continuities/changes and public use of history
- to become acquainted with the most recent historiographical debate around notions like "demographic policies", "pronatalist policies", and "abortion"
- to refine your communication skills, both oral and written

A basic knowledge of modern and contemporary history.

The course deals with the demographic policies put in practice in Eastern Europe during the 20th century, focusing on the variegated forms of birth control. The sub-topics are the following:
- eugenic theories and practices in the Soviet Unione, and in Central-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe between the two world wars
- pronatalist policies in Eastern Europe during the 20th century
- criminalization/legalization of abortion in the USSR and in the other East-European socialist countries
- comparison among East-European socialist experiences

Compulsory readings:

Karl Brown, “‘For Girls it is an Honor …’: Women, Work, and Abortion in Communist Hungary, 1948–56”, Journal of Contemporary History, published online: March 25, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1177/0022009418824390
Rada Drezgić, "The Politics of Abortion and Contraception", in: Sociologija, 46 (2004), 2, pp. 97-114.
Ann-Katrin Gembries, Theresia Theuke, Isabel Heinemann (eds), Children by Choice? Changing Values, Reproduction, and Family Planning in the 20th Century, Berlin, De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2018 (the introduction and the chapters by: Hilevych-Sato, Ignaciuk, Dudová, Heinemann).
Wendy Goldman, "Women, Abortion, and the State, 1917-36", in in Barbara E. Clements, Barbara A. Engel, Christine D. Worobec (a cura di), Russia’s Women: Accommodation, Resistance, Transformation, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1991, pp. 243-266.
Gail Kligman, “Abortion and International Adoption in Post-Ceausescu Romania”, Feminist Studies, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Summer, 1992), pp. 405-419.
Gail Kligman, The Politics of Duplicity: Controlling Reproduction in Ceausescu's Romania. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1998, ch. 2; for those who don't attend classes, also ch. 6. For all: Introduction and ch. 1 are optional readings.
Christian Promitzer, Sevasti Trubeta, Marius Turda, “Framing Issues of Health, Hygiene and Eugenics in Southeastern Europe”, in Id. (eds), Health, Hygiene and Eugenics in Southeastern Europe to 1945, Budapest-New York, Central European University Press, 2011, pp. 1-25 (particularly pp. 10-20).
Marius Turda, Paul J. Weindling, “Eugenics, Race and Nation in Central and Southeast Europe, 1900–1940: A Historiographic Overview”, in Id. (eds), Blood and homeland: eugenics and racial nationalism in Central and Southeast Europe, 1900–1940, Budapest-New York, Central European University Press, 2007, pp. 1-20.
Eszter Varsa: “The Gypsy Population Is Constantly Growing”: Roma and the Politics of Reproduction in Cold War Hungary”, in: Sara Bernasconi, Heike Karge and Friederike Kind-Kovács (eds), From the Midwife’s Bag to the Patient’s File: Public Health in Eastern Europe, Budapest, New York, Central European University Press, 2017, pp. 263-291.

NB: Texts which are not available in the libraries of Ca’ Foscari will be put at disposal by the teacher.

1. Group presentations (30 minutes max.) on a text in the syllabus.
It is mandatory for students who attend classes. The aim is to evaluate the oral communication skills, as well as the ability to work synergically with other students (10% of the final grade); the students who do not attend classes will have to answer to an extra-question in the written test;

2. Written test (90% of the final grade)
The examination has three main goals:
1) to verifying the knowledge of the main historical facts and processes, as well as the most relevant personalities, with relation to the treated topics
2) to verify the analytical skills and the ability of the student to formulate critical reflections about the historiographical issues emerged during the lessons
3) to verify the knowledge of some elements of historical comparison in the framework of the East-Central and South-East European space.
The written examination (duration: 1½ hours) also aims at verifying the written communicative skills of the student. Due to the COVID-19 emergency, the test could take place on-line, through the Moodle platform. Please, check the communications about this regard on the Moodle-section dedicated to this course.

The course includes both lectures and short oral presentations by the students.

Italian

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development