Special attention is paid to the origins of ethnic challenges to existing state structures, as well as to subsequent state efforts to contain ethnic strife. We also explore the myths and realities of group identification and solidarity, and how tensions between the multiple loyalties required in the modern state system have exacerbated ethnic tension in some states and ameliorated it in others. Examples are drawn from both the industrialized and developing worlds. This seminar explores the social and cultural ramifications associated with the end of Communist rule in Russia and the emergence of a reformist Communist regime in China. Utilizing recent ethnographic, literary, sociological, economic, and political analysis, we consider the degree to which the experiences of reform in these different societies have any commonality and whether or not these societies have entered a new phase of development.
Special attention is given to West and East Germany, France, and Japan in the postwar period.
The course begins with a study of the theoretical literature on the construction of collective memory and then examines the diverse ways in which societies have faced and reconciled themselves to, as well as constructed interpretations and representation of, their wartime past. Formal musical training is not a prerequisite. Those with expertise in the social sciences are asked to consider the historical function of opera and other musical theatre in geographic areas they have studied or visited. The conference papers focused on the British Indian Empire in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.