Fall 2025

TANYA EFREMOVA
OFFICE HOURS
PHIL 509D
Wed 03:45 pm – 05: 45 pm (or by appointment) 
EMAIL tatiana.efremova@gwu.edu

Signaling the end of the Cold War confrontation, the fall of the Soviet Union prompted discussions of “the end of history,” the end which ultimately did not arrive. The renewed political and cultural opposition between post-Soviet Russia and the West is currently fueling Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine. What happened in Russia after the fall that prompted an unfortunate return of this opposition? How did recent Russian culture try to understand, process, and mediate the fall in ways that reflected and shaped its post-Soviet condition? This course follows the ideological shifts and cultural currents from the Perestroika era to the contemporary moment paying special attention to contemporary Russian media cultures. Looking at a range of sources from literature and film to journalism, music, and Russian digital space, we will explore how post-Soviet culture mediated “shock therapy” and privatization, Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, the Chechen military campaigns, post-Soviet nostalgia, political activism, and the war in Ukraine. In class, we will analyze texts and images, music and film, TV commercials and fashion look-books, as well as new media sources such as YouTube channels and Telegram.

Reading List