VVZ API is not affiliated with ETH Zurich. Data might be outdated or incorrect. Please view the official ETHZ Vorlesungsverzeichnis for binding information.
Enacting the Soviet Utopia: Technology and Everyday Life in Ukraine, 1922–1991
Last Updated: 2026-06-03 00:42:43
Abstract
The course explores Ukrainian history during Soviet rule through everyday technological cultures. In the Soviet Union, production facilities were nationalized, technological development was centrally planned, and the pathways for the distribution of goods were predefined. Citizens practiced their own culture of technological use to adapt and at times resist the Soviet version of modernity.
Objective
Students will · Learn about key technological developments in Ukrainian/Soviet history. · Understand technology's role in the Soviet modernization project. · Interpret visual/documentary sources from the socialist past. · Debate daily life aspects of technological developments, particularly during wars and crises. · Discuss Ukraine's infrastructural heritage, particularly amid the war with Russia
Content
The course examines both well-known and lesser-known aspects of Ukraine's technological history. Alongside case studies like the Chornobyl catastrophe, Stalinist collectivization, and Dziga Vertov's documentary films, students will explore topics such as everyday life and work in the Donbas, architectural experiments around Kharkiv's Tractor Factory, infrastructure destruction and militarization during World War II, semi-legal music recording practices of the 1960–1980s, commuter culture and railway mobility in late socialism, life and consumption in Atomograd cities, and the Swiss-Ukrainian text and image recognition project at Kyiv's Institute of Cybernetics in 1992. These discussions will be supplemented with ample visual materials. Besides "The Man with a Movie Camera", the students will watch other video excerpts, produced in Ukraine. For a comparative perspective, the course will also present cases from other Soviet republics as well as other socialist states in the 20th century.
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- DS , MSC
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
Registration & Places
- Max Places
- 30
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture with exercise | Enacting the Soviet Utopia: Technology and Everyday Life in Ukraine, 1922–1991 |
|
2 h weekly |
Offered In
-
Science in Perspective (In “Science in Perspective”-courses students learn to reflect on ETH’s STEM subjects from the perspective of humanities, political and social sciences. Only the courses listed below will be recognized as "Science in Perspective" courses.)
-
Type A: Enhancement of Reflection Competence (SiP courses are recommended for bachelor students after their first-year examination and for all master- or doctoral students. All SiP courses are listed in Type A. Courses listed under Type B are only recommendations for enrollment for specific departments.)
-
-
-