Visualizing the Past: Perestroika Documentary Memory Of
VISUALIZING THE PAST: PERESTROIKA DOCUMENTARY MEMORY OF STALIN-ERA TRAUMA by Erin Rebecca Alpert B.A. in Global Studies, College of William and Mary, 2007 M.A. in Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Pittsburgh, 2009 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2014 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences This dissertation was presented by Erin Alpert It was defended on May 12, 2014 and approved by Nancy Condee, Professor, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures David Birnbaum, Professor, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures Jeremy Hicks, Reader, Queen Mary University of London, Department of Russian Dissertation Advisor: Vladimir Padunov, Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures ii Copyright © by Erin Alpert 2014 iii VISUALIZING THE PAST: PERESTROIKA DOCUMENTARY MEMORY OF STALIN-ERA TRAUMA Erin Alpert, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2014 The main goal of this dissertation is to look at how, during perestroika, documentary breaks away from the traditional notions of the genre in order to reexamine and redefine traumatic events from the Stalinist period. The first chapter examines the nuances of three critical terms: “documentary,” “collective memory,” and “cultural trauma.” I then turn to a historical approach, exploring how political culture and technology affected the content, production, and screening of documentaries, first discussing the time leading up to perestroika and then the massive changes during the glasnost era. In the final chapters, I argue that there are three primary approaches the films examined in this project take to understanding the past.
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