GEOG 308 - Authoritarian Capital Cities of Eurasia (Extended Study)

Certain spatial and temporal patterns of urban growth characterize post-socialist Eurasia, due to the distinct mark that authoritarianism has left on past and present capital cities throughout this region. This course focuses on understanding authoritarianism in the past and present capital cities of Russia (St. Petersburg and Moscow) and Kazakhstan (Almaty and Astana). While remnants of the Tsarist and Soviet built environments still strongly shape urban character, new urban development and demographic change, alongside other economic and geopolitical transformations, have transformed them since 1991. Rapid and changing patterns and styles of urbanization create a multitude of perspectives and experiences within post-socialist cities as our globalizing world blurs the boundaries between urban spaces, individual lives, and abstract conceptualizations of the East, West, or even “post-” socialist places. This course uses a phenomenological methodology to examine post-socialist cities as sites of socio-cultural and political-economic transformations. Using this framework, students analyze their experiences in photographs, videos, and journals/blogs related to the encounters with spaces and places in post-socialist cities.

Credits: 1.00
Crosslisted: REST 308
Corequisite: None
Prerequisites: None
Major/Minor Restrictions: None
Class Restriction: No First-year
Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents
Liberal Arts CORE: None

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