The Other Europe

The Other Europe

Teacher-created lessons about Eastern Europe and Russia.

World History textbooks and courses often focus on Western European events and perspectives in historical narratives about Europe. This hinders student understanding of major historical processes: the end of the Roman Empire, the Protestant Reformation, the rise of liberalism, imperialism, and the Cold War, just to name a few. And, as we see now, it means students are missing necessary background to contextualize and make sense of current developments like Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Readings & Meetings

The Other Europe re-examined a number of core topics in World History from a Russian/Eastern European perspective. ORIAS convened a team of 6 middle and high school teachers, plus scholar-experts, to form a learning community. Participants met 8 times between November 2022 and September 2023.

Meeting 1

December 17, 12:30 - 2:30 PM

Presenter: Elizabeth McGuire

Preparation

Reading:

  • "Alexander Radishchev Excoriates Russia's Social System, 1790" pp 213-215

  • "Childbirth, Christening, and Wife Beating," Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia, pp 6-22

  • Isaac Babel, "The Life of Matvey," pp 253-258

  • "Arina's Children" (In the Shadow of Revolution) pp 219-234

Meeting 2

When: January 21, 2023, 12:30 - 2:30 PM

Presenter: Blaze Joel

Preparation

Reading:

  •  “The Expulsion of the Ottoman Empire from Europe” from The Establishment of the Balkan National States, 1804-1920, by Barbara and Charles Jelavich
  • "Survival and Autonomy: Lessons of the Balkan Wars and the First World War" from Muslims and the Making of Modern Europe by Emily Greble
  • "The Failure of National Self-Determination" from From Peoples into Nations by John Connelly

Meeting 3

When: February 17, 2023

Presenter: Elizabeth McGuire

Preparation

Reading:

  • "Why I Do Not Belong in the Party" by Paraskeva Ivanova
  • "A Crush on Russia" from Red at Heart by Elizabeth McGuire
  • "I don't want to remember" from The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich
  • "Cavalry Boy" from In the Shadow of Revolution by Zinaida Patrikeeva
  • "The Marriage Bond" and "A Modern Dowry" from The Wonderful Dog and Other Tales by Michael Zoshchenko

Website:

Explore the "gender" theme from Seventeen Moments in Soviet History(link is external)

Film: 

Watch Bed and Sofa(link is external) (Tretya Meshchanskaya)

Meeting 4

When: March 11, 2023

Presenter: Blaze Joel

Preparation

Reading:

  • "Understanding Ustasa Violence," by Alexander Korb
  • "No Bargaining Chips, No Spheres of Interest: The Yugoslav Origins of Cold War Non-Alignment," by Svetozar Rajak
  • "The Tito-Stalin Split: A Reassessment in Light of New Evidence," by Jeronim Perovic

Document Exploration:

Meeting 5

When: March 25, 2023

Presenter: Elizabeth McGuire

Preparation

Reading:

Select and read all documents from one dossier from the Wilson Center's Cold War International History Project e-Dossier(link is external) series

Meeting 6

When: April 22, 2023

Presenter: Blaze Joel

Preparation

Reading:

  • "Economic Reasons for the break-up of Yugoslavia" by Viachaslau Yarashevich & Yuliya Karneyeva from Communist and Post-Communist Studies
  • "Rape Camps as a Means of Ethnic Cleansing: Religious, Cultural, and Ethical Responses to
  • Rape Victims in the Former Yugoslavia" by Todd Salzman from Human Rights Quarterly
  • "Imagined Communities and Real Victims: Self-Determination and Ethnic Cleansing in
  • Yugoslavia" by Robert Hayden from American Ethnologist

Viewing:

Additional Documents to Explore:

Meeting 7

When: May 20, 2023

Presenter: Lynn Lubamersky

Reading:

Viewing:

  • "Mr. Jones" (2019), film about about Gareth Jones, the Welsh journalist who exposed the Holodomor, the Ukrainian famine.

Meeting 8

When: September 30, 2023

Presenter: Teacher Participants

Topics