Empire's children: Soviet childhood in the age of revolution

Ideas of childhood and citizenship stood at the center of the Soviet Union's empire-building project during the 1920s and 1930s. After the 1917 Revolution the Bolsheviks were faced with the challenge of establishing a new state structure and governing a vast territory inherited from its tsarist predecessor. In the early years of the Soviet project, new leaders enlisted a cadre of professionals tasked with not only creating the norms of childhood and the everyday, but also implementing policies to modernize habits and values of the empire's younger citizens. ^ To understand how children became a prime focus of Soviet imperial and ethno-cultural politics, my dissertation employs discourse analysis and compares the ways in which Soviet imperial policies were implemented in two ethnically different regions: the Buddhist Republic of Kalmykia as the colonial case study and Moscow as the Metropole. The current project examines newspapers, treatises, and inspectors' reports over the span of twenty years. It finds that the Bolsheviks' initial values and discourses in the realm of children's education, health, leisure and nutrition, all which were scientifically designed to transform children into ideal Soviet and modern citizens, changed over time as a result of the competing ideologies among local elites and the challenges they faced while intervening in children's everyday lives. ^ The most significant conclusion in this dissertation reveals that, contrary to previous scholarly arguments, the modernization projects that took place in Moscow and Kalmykia were more similar in the challenges and outcomes that local officials faced when implementing state policies.^

A New History of the Cuban Revolution: An Independent Interpretation , Lecture by Luis Martínez-Fernández

This flyer promotes the event "A New History of the Cuban Revolution: An Independent Interpretation : Lecture by Luis Martínez-Fernández" cosponsored by the FlU Department of History and the Department of History Graduate Student Association.

Between the Colony and the Revolution: The Formation of the Cuban Nation through Children's Literature of the Republic (1902-1958}), Lecture by Zeila Frade

This flyer promotes the event "Between the Colony and the Revolution: The Formation of the Cuban Nation through Children's Literature of the Republic (1902-1958} Lecture by Zeila Frade".

Czechs Look Back on 1989, a Revolution Betrayed: A Reflection on the Mythology of the Velvet Revolution

Twenty-five years ago today the Velvet Revolution kicked off in what was then Czechoslovakia to bring an end to the one-party government of the Communist Party. This exclusive translation of a feature from the Czech journal A2 Cultural Bi-Weekly explains that the events of 1989 were about more than just Václav Havel, a playwright and leader in the revolution who was elected president in 1990. A generation of unfulfilled promises later, Czechs are struggling to revive the spirit of not only democracy and humanism, but also socialism. This article originally appeared in Ricochet, November 17, 2014.

Revolution in Translation- The Plays of Augusto Boal in a Post 9-11 World Pt.1

Dr. Robert Moser, Associate Professor of Portuguese, Brazilian and Lusophone African Literature and Culture at the University of Georgia, lectures on the late Brazilian playwright Augusto Boal, who was known for developing the Theater of the Oppressed. Lecture held at Green Library, Modesto Maidique Campus, Florida International University.

Revolution in Translation- The Plays of Augusto Boal in a Post 9-11 World Pt.2

Dr. Robert Moser, Associate Professor of Portuguese, Brazilian and Lusophone African Literature and Culture at the University of Georgia, lectures on the late Brazilian playwright Augusto Boal, who was known for developing the Theater of the Oppressed. Lecture held at Green Library, Modesto Maidique Campus, Florida International University.

A Minimal History of the Cuban Revolution (Historia mínima de Ia Revolución Cubana), Book Presentation by Author Rafael Rojas

This flyer promotes the event "A Minimal History of the Cuban Revolution (Historia mínima de Ia Revolución Cubana), Book Presentation by Author Rafael Rojas", part at the SIPA at Books & Books series. This event held at Books & Books in Coral Gables.

Between the Colony and the Revolution: The Formation of the Cuban Nation through Children's Literature of the Republic (1902-1958), Lecture by Zeila Frade

Literary researcher and professor Zeila Frade gives a lecture analyzing the relationship among children's literature, ideology, and cultural identity in Cuba.

An analysis of the impact of the Islamic revolution in Iran on Iranian women

This study compares the status of women under the secular government of the Pahlavi Dynasty with the Islamic Republic of Iran. It relies on Hisham Sharabi's theory of neopatriarchal society and Fatima Mernissi's psychological analysis of the dynamics of gender relations in Islam. Both the Pahlavi dynasty and the Islamic regime promoted a perception of women's rights which were conducive to the ideologies of secularism and Islamism. Both regimes, however, worked within the framework of a patriarchal society by instituting policies that were misogynous in nature. This study found that the majority of Iran's female population was not greatly affected by the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty and the subsequent implementation of the Islamic regime. The basis of this argument lies in the fact that despite the contrasting ideologies of both governments, where women's issues are concerned, the patriarchal social structure remained virtually intact.

Empire's Children: Soviet Childhood in the Age of Revolution

Ideas of childhood and citizenship stood at the center of the Soviet Union’s empire-building project during the 1920s and 1930s. After the 1917 Revolution the Bolsheviks were faced with the challenge of establishing a new state structure and governing a vast territory inherited from its tsarist predecessor. In the early years of the Soviet project, new leaders enlisted a cadre of professionals tasked with not only creating the norms of childhood and the everyday, but also implementing policies to modernize habits and values of the empire’s younger citizens. To understand how children became a prime focus of Soviet imperial and ethno-cultural politics, my dissertation employs discourse analysis and compares the ways in which Soviet imperial policies were implemented in two ethnically different regions: the Buddhist Republic of Kalmykia as the colonial case study and Moscow as the Metropole. The current project examines newspapers, treatises, and inspectors’ reports over the span of twenty years. It finds that the Bolsheviks’ initial values and discourses in the realm of children’s education, health, leisure and nutrition, all which were scientifically designed to transform children into ideal Soviet and modern citizens, changed over time as a result of the competing ideologies among local elites and the challenges they faced while intervening in children’s everyday lives. The most significant conclusion in this dissertation reveals that, contrary to previous scholarly arguments, the modernization projects that took place in Moscow and Kalmykia were more similar in the challenges and outcomes that local officials faced when implementing state policies.