{"id":113,"date":"2012-03-19T16:40:55","date_gmt":"2012-03-19T20:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/teachinghistory\/?p=113"},"modified":"2012-03-20T14:25:53","modified_gmt":"2012-03-20T18:25:53","slug":"wilson-bell-the-gulag-seminar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/teachinghistory\/2012\/03\/19\/wilson-bell-the-gulag-seminar\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilson Bell: The Gulag Seminar"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cGulag Studies\u201d has progressed enough, at this point, that it is possible to teach a
\nseminar course on the Gulag. Steve\u2019s excellent posts on\u00a0images<\/a> and primary sources<\/a> show some of the amazing resources out there. In terms of historiography, we now have a developed (or developing) literature on memoir analysis, oral history, forced labor and economics, official camp culture, resistance, release, women in the camps, sexuality, local studies, special settlements, the post-Stalin era, and life for prisoners after the camps, and more. There is even an annual, peer-reviewed journal titled Gulag Studies<\/em>, published by the small publishing firm of Charles Schlacks Jr<\/a>. Indeed, the problem for the instructor, at this point, is not one of finding and locating enough material for a course, but making difficult decisions about what to exclude. In this post, I\u2019d like to suggest possible topics and (taking up Steve\u2019s challenge) secondary sources for a Gulag seminar course.<\/p>\n

Steve has already pointed to two of the best on-line resources for students and instructors, his own http:\/\/gulaghistory.org<\/a> and the excellent \u201cMapping the Gulag\u201d (http:\/\/gulagmaps.org<\/a>). There are other amazing English-language electronic resources, too, including the sound archive, \u201cEuropean Memories of the Gulag\u201d (http:\/\/museum.gulagmemories.eu<\/a> – in multiple languages).<\/p>\n

The Gulag as a seminar topic lends itself well to the use of Web 2.0 technologies in the classroom. The use of wikis and blogs can be an especially powerful way to reach students, who are comfortable with the on-line format and with expressing opinions \u201celectronically.\u201d If public, moreover, blogs are a way to break down the ivory tower. My 2011 course blog, \u201cCommunism and the Environment,\u201d<\/a> for example, had over 1200 unique visitors during the semester, from all over the world. The blog has continued to generate hits, with over 3000 unique visitors since it went live. But even a private wiki or blog would work well for a Gulag course. Students would have the opportunity to discuss issues and problems before coming to class; the class would thus be an in-person extension of what is already an active discussion. Because the Gulag is a topic that deals with issues of trauma and intense suffering and a topic that raises theoretical questions pertaining to state power and the nature of totalitarianism, an on-line discussion forum\u2014whether private or public\u2014could be extremely beneficial.<\/p>\n

Structurally, I believe that a thematic approach would work best. If one wishes to assign a general overview of the camps, the abridged version of Solzhenitsyn\u2019s Gulag Archipelago<\/em><\/a> could work. Applebaum\u2019s Gulag: A History<\/em><\/a> basically follows Solzhenitsyn\u2019s general argument and structure, and is more accessible. We now also have Steve Barnes\u2019 Death and Redemption<\/em><\/a>, which offers a scholarly analysis and, crucially, integrates the history of the Gulag with the history of Soviet state building and the Soviet ideological project. Both Gulag: A History<\/em> and Death and Redemption<\/em> contain chapters dealing with many of the main thematic topics for a Gulag history course.<\/p>\n

Below I\u2019ve outlined a possible 14-week seminar course on the Gulag, with some suggested readings (by no means an exhaustive list). The suggested readings will mostly be familiar to specialists, but hopefully readers find my arrangement and suggestions helpful. The order of these topics could easily be shuffled around. For more sources, see the two-part bibliography that I compiled with Marc Elie: \u201cSelected Bibliography of Historical Works on the Gulag,\u201d Gulag Studies<\/em> 1 (2008); and \u201cA Supplement to the Selected Bibliography of Historical Works on the Gulag,\u201d Gulag Studies<\/em> 4 (2011).<\/p>\n

Week One: Precedents<\/em><\/p>\n

This week one could examine the fascinating work by Andrew Gentes<\/a> and\/or Abby Schrader<\/a> on the Tsarist-era penal and exile systems. Gentes is particularly sensitive to some of the similarities and differences between the Tsarist and Soviet systems, and thus provides a nice balance to Solzhenitsyn, who dismisses any comparison.<\/p>\n

Another option would be to examine the origins of the concentration camp as precedent for the Gulag. There are some fascinating avenues for exploration with the Spanish reconcentrado<\/em> camps set up in Cuba; the British-run camps in South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War; and the German-run internment camps<\/a> in South-West Africa during the war with the Herero. That all three of these early examples appeared in colonial contexts is not coincidental, and, for an advanced seminar course, it may be worth examining the extent to which the Gulag itself was part of a Soviet \u201ccolonization\u201d process, as scholars such as Lynne Viola<\/a> have begun to do.<\/p>\n

Week Two: Understanding Soviet Criminal Justice<\/em><\/p>\n

On the other hand, the Gulag was also the Soviet Union\u2019s penal<\/em> system, and thus some understanding of Soviet criminal justice is necessary for a full analysis of the camp system. Peter Solomon\u2019s Soviet Criminal Justice Under Stalin<\/em><\/a> remains the key monograph for this topic, but I also highly recommend work by Kragh (\u201cStalinist Labour Coercion During World War II<\/a>\u201d) and Kowalsky (Deviant Women<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n

One could focus on the Soviet police, and recent works by David Shearer (Policing Stalin\u2019s Socialism<\/em><\/a>) and\/or Paul Hagenloh (Stalin\u2019s Police<\/em><\/a>) are quite useful. Shearer\u2019s article<\/a> in the Journal of Modern History<\/em>, for example, raises a number of key questions about the growth of repression via the state\u2019s desire to keep track of its citizens\/subjects.<\/p>\n

Week Three: Explanations<\/em><\/p>\n

The historiography has developed to the point where there are now a variety of explanations for the Gulag. The main area of contention is whether or not the Gulag was primarily<\/em> an economic institution of forced labor, or a political institution of repression. For a nice contrast that should raise considerable discussion, I highly recommend assigning the introduction to Paul Gregory\u2019s The Economics of Forced Labor<\/em><\/a>, the introduction to Barnes\u2019 Death and Redemption<\/em>, and the introduction to Applebaum\u2019s Gulag: A History<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Week Four: The Peasant Archipelago<\/em><\/p>\n

Stalinist repression of the peasants was key to the expansion of the Gulag camps and the \u201cother archipelago<\/a>\u201d of the special settlements. Indeed, it is impossible to understand the Gulag through a focus solely on the intellectuals in the camps, incarcerated under Article 58 of the criminal code (counter-revolutionary crimes). The state\u2019s antagonistic relationship to the peasants was a crucial factor for the Gulag\u2019s growth. I recommend Scherer and Jakobson\u2019s article<\/a>, \u201cThe Collectivisation of Agriculture and the Soviet Prison Camp System,\u201d as well as the many articles by Lynne Viola on the special settlements, or her excellent book, The Unknown Gulag<\/em><\/a>, which adroitly places the history of the settlements within the history of the camp system. Nicholas Werth\u2019s Cannibal Island<\/em><\/a>, while not directly about peasant<\/em> exile, is a fascinating narrative account of an exile settlement in Western Siberia that is highly readable for an undergraduate audience, and also provides considerable information about the inefficiencies of the Gulag and center-periphery relations.<\/p>\n

Week Five: Gulag Official Culture<\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps surprisingly, each camp within the Gulag maintained a Cultural-Educational Department, nominally in charge of re-educating criminals into productive Soviet citizens. There is a growing body of literature on the subject of official culture in the camps, although mostly still in article format. Yet the topic of re-education is a thread that runs through Barnes\u2019 book, and is also dealt with in some depth in Ruder\u2019s Making History for Stalin<\/em><\/a>. For article-length studies, see my own<\/a> \u201cOne Day in the Life of Educator Khrushchev,\u201d Barnes\u2019<\/a> \u201c\u2018All for the Front, All for Victory!\u2019,\u201d and Drasckozy\u2019s<\/a> (hyperlink is a .pdf) \u201cThe Put\u2019<\/em> of Perekovka<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Week Six: Unofficial Gulag Culture<\/em><\/p>\n

The best resource for this topic remains the memoir literature. Steve made some good suggestions in his post. I\u2019d also recommend Margarete Buber-Nuemann\u2019s Under Two Dictators<\/em><\/a>, as she has great descriptions of life in the camps and also provides fascinating points for comparison between the Gulag camps and the Nazi camp of Ravensbr\u00fcck. Steve\u2019s website, http:\/\/gulaghistory.org<\/a> has excellent resources on this topic, too. Major research libraries may carry the Memorial Society\u2019s Museum Catalogue, Art and Life in the Gulag<\/em>. Some of this material is available on-line in English at http:\/\/www.memo.ru\/museum\/endex.htm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Week Seven: The Gulag Memoir<\/em><\/p>\n

I recommend at least one or two full weeks devoted to Gulag memoirs. Again, Steve has suggested some of the more accessible and interesting first-hand accounts. For a short but powerful memoir, I highly recommend Hava Volovich\u2019s \u201cMy Past,\u201d in the memoir collection, Till My Tale Is Told<\/em><\/a>. Unlike most memoirists, Volovich was not in the camps under Article 58. Other memoir collections in translation include Remembering the Darkness<\/em><\/a> and Gulag Voices: An Anthology<\/em><\/a>. There is a growing body of scholarship that analyzes memoirs from the perspective of literary criticism, and Leona Toker\u2019s pioneering work<\/a> on this subject is an excellent choice.<\/p>\n

Week Eight: The Gulag in Fiction<\/em><\/p>\n

As Steve suggested, Solzhenitsyn\u2019s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich <\/em>and Shalamov\u2019s Kolyma Tales<\/em> are both excellent, and raise many issues for discussion. Russian television has also made mini-series versions of Solzhenitsyn\u2019s First Circle<\/em> and Shalamov\u2019s Kolyma Tales<\/em>. I\u2019m not sure when or if these will be available with English subtitles, but they are both high quality productions, and one can find clips on YouTube (here<\/a> and here<\/a>, for example). Although I have not yet watched the television version of Kolyma Tales<\/em>, the version of First Circle<\/em> is quite well done.<\/p>\n

Week Nine: Oral History and the Gulag<\/em><\/p>\n

Continuing with several weeks focused on the prisoner experience, Jehanne Gheith\u2019s Gulag Voices: Oral Histories of Soviet Incarceration and Exile<\/em><\/a> provides considerable material for class discussion, not only for what the ex-prisoners say, but how they say it, and what they leave out or do not discuss. Indeed, issues of memory and trauma can be discussed in some depth in relation to this text. Another possibility is Stephen Cohen\u2019s oral history, The Victims Return<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Week Ten: Local Studies<\/em><\/p>\n

Recent scholarship on specific camps is, I think, especially strong at pointing out the economic aspects of the Stalinist camp system. Articles on Norilsk in the aforementioned The Economics of Forced Labor, <\/em>for example, show that central authorities could focus considerable resources and effort on camps that were viewed as high priorities, economically. Judith Pallot\u2019s remarkable \u201cForced Labour for Forestry<\/a>\u201d examines the interaction between free and forced labor in Perm\u2019 province. Alan Barenberg\u2019s work on Vorkuta<\/a>, Nick Baron\u2019s on Karelia<\/a>, David Nordlander\u2019s on Kolyma<\/a>, and others also provide students with an interesting picture of how the Gulag functioned in various locales.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Week Eleven: Women in the Camps<\/em><\/p>\n

Cathy Frierson\u2019s English adaptation and re-working of Simeon Vilensky\u2019s Deti GULAGa<\/em> (published in English as Children of the Gulag<\/em><\/a>) contains information and primary material about issues specific to women and children in the camps. The memoir literature is, of course, rich with material from women memoirists. There are two anthologies specifically devoted to women\u2019s experiences (Till My Tale Is Told<\/em> and Remembering the Darkness<\/em>, mentioned above), as well as Ginzburg\u2019s key two-volume Journey Into the Whirlwind<\/em><\/a> <\/em>and Within the Whirlwind<\/em><\/a>, and more. Golfo Alexopoulos\u2019<\/a> work on release from the camps sheds light on how the administration viewed women prisoners.<\/p>\n

It may soon be possible to conduct a separate class session on sexuality and gender in the camps, as Adi Kuntsman has begun to examine<\/a> this topic.<\/p>\n

Week Twelve: Camp Personnel<\/em><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, we still have little scholarly analysis of camp personnel. Mochulsky\u2019s memoir, Gulag Boss<\/em><\/a>, provides considerable room for analysis, and could be excellent for undergraduates, as the book raises interesting questions about what Mochulsky chose to include and what he chose to omit. There is a lengthy section on the guards in Galina Ivanova\u2019s Labor Camp Socialism<\/em><\/a>, and Nordlander has published an article-length analysis of the Dalstroi bosses<\/a>, but much more work remains to be done. Recent conference papers<\/a> (link is a .pdf) related to the topic show that more studies are likely forthcoming.<\/p>\n

Week Thirteen: Resistance<\/em><\/p>\n

Resistance is one of the few topics that has garnered considerable scholarly attention, mostly focused on the strikes and rebellions of the post-Stalin period. During the Stalin era there were also strikes and other acts of resistance (including everyday forms of resistance such as foot-dragging, data falsification, and other informal practices), but these have received less attention. Steve\u2019s article on the Kengir uprising<\/a> is very well done, and one can also look to earlier work of Graziosi (\u201cThe Great Strikes of 1953<\/a>\u201d) or Craveri (in the book, Free and Unfree Labour<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n

Week Fourteen: The Gulag after Stalin<\/em><\/p>\n

Finally, several scholars have focused on the issue of what happens to the Gulag and its prisoners after Stalin. Miriam Dobson\u2019s Khrushchev\u2019s Cold Summer<\/em><\/a> is the place to start, but articles by Jeff Hardy in the Russian Review<\/em><\/a> and Kritika<\/em><\/a> also point to new developments in this field. Both Dobson and Hardy\u2019s work highlight some of the ambivalence surrounding the camps and Khrushchev\u2019s \u201cthaw,\u201d but with a different focus and a somewhat different take. Alan Barenberg\u2019s forthcoming monograph on Vorkuta, which traces Vorkuta\u2019s development from prison camp to mining town, sheds light on the transition between the Stalin and post-Stalin era camps. Nanci Adler continues to research<\/a> the ways in which ex-prisoners adapted to life after the camps, and work by Kathleen Smith looks at the issue of the memory of the Gulag<\/a> and the collapse of the Soviet system. Some of the electronic resources, such as http:\/\/gulagmaps.org<\/a>, cover the entire post-Stalin period, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cGulag Studies\u201d has progressed enough, at this point, that it is possible to teach a seminar course on the Gulag. Steve\u2019s excellent posts on\u00a0images and primary sources show some of the amazing resources out there. In terms of historiography, we now have a developed (or developing) literature on memoir analysis, oral history, forced labor and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22261,22265,22264],"tags":[46209,20692],"class_list":["post-113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-methods","category-soviet-history","tag-gulag","tag-wilson-bell","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/teachinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/teachinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/teachinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/teachinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/teachinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/teachinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/teachinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/teachinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/teachinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}