Pop Music in Russia: Gender, Sexuality and Media, 5 cr

The course will consist of 8 seminars. During Seminar 1 the students will be introduced to the general theories and methodological approaches from the field of feminist and queer pop culture studies; peculiarities and significance of the pop scene in Russia will be also discussed. Seminar 2 focuses on the pop scene of the late Soviet Union and its politics of gender and sexuality. Seminar 3 focuses on the figure of Alla Pugacheva who influenced the ways in which gender, sexuality, and politics were represented in Soviet and post-Soviet pop scenes. Seminar 4 considers Soviet/post-Soviet rock scene as a space of production and subversion of gendered and sexual norms. Seminar 5 discusses the representation of sexualized Russian national identity at the Eurovision international song contest. Seminar 6 devoted to the new wave of queer and camp aesthetic, developing in Russian pop scene despite the consurvative turn in official politics. Seminar 7 discusses the convergence between feminism and pop culture in Russia. Seminar 8 considers alternative scenes of punk and hip-hop.

The goals of the course are: to introduce students to Russian pop culture of the Soviet and post-Soviet period; to analyze the cultural and political impact of pop music on Russian society as a whole; and to consider pop music as an important factor in the production and transformation of modes of representation of gender and sexuality. Specific attention would be paid to the role of different media and communicative technologies in the historical transformations of the pop scene. During the course, students will be introduced to both original pop productions (songs, clips, films) and critical literature from the academic fields of pop culture studies, gender studies, queer and feminist cultural analysis.