Fachbereich 04: Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften - Durchführung der Veranstaltung: fremde Unterrichtssprache - Englisch

The advent of the internet and digitalization in Eastern Europe unfolded concurrently with its post-socialist transformation. Following the 1989 “Fall of Nations” in East Central Europe, the political and economic crises in the Soviet Union, and its eventual dissolution in 1991, new independent states emerged across the region. This massive restructuring of political and economic life coincided with the advent, dissemination, and simultaneous segmentation of the internet.
Scholars usually associate the internet's early history with “freedom, decentralized control, the claim of the universality of technological development” (Gritsenko et al. 2021: 3 – 4). In the post-socialist space, the link between the liberating force of technology and the end of the Soviet restrictive state and its censorship of freedom of expression was, for many, perhaps even more obvious and straightforward. Yet, similarly to political and economic transformation, the effects of the internet introduction were manifold and, already, in its early years, they included the spread of misinformation, xenophobia, and the consolidation of anti-democratic sentiments and movements.
During this course, we will look for the responses to the question of how the rise and development of the internet were built into the history of post-socialist transformation in Eastern Europe, paying attention to different local histories and cultures of the internet, in all their multimodality and multivocality, The zoom link to the remote participation is as follows: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87093779342

In dieser Quellenübung beschäftigen wir uns mit der Geschichte der Türkei/der türkischen Republik von 1908 bis 1955, eine Ära, die den Niedergang des späten Osmanischen Reiches und
die Konsolidierung der frühen Republik Türkei erlebte. Gekennzeichnet durch bedeutende politische,
soziale und territoriale Verwerfungen, einschließlich dem 1. Weltkrieg und seinen Folgen dem griechisch-türkischen Bevölkerungsaustausch sowie internen Konflikten, sah dieser Zeitraum eine Reihe kollektiver Traumata, die die türkische Gesellschaft und Identität tiefgreifend beeinflussten. Diesen wollen wir uns über Einblicke in unterschiedliche Quellentypen kritisch nähern. Neben Quellen zur offiziellen Erinnerungspolitik betrachten wir auch private Erinnerungen wie z.B. Tagebücher, Briefe, Memoiren,
Überlebendenberichte, mündliche Überlieferungen, Familiengeschichten, Fotografien oder aber auch
Zeitungen und Postkarten. Wir wollen versuchen, die Perspektiven der Autoren zu identifizieren, Sprache und Ton zu analysieren, Auslassungen zu erkennen, um so die Erfahrung und
Weitergabe von Traumata zu verstehen. Ziel ist es zu verstehen, wie historische Narrative konstruiert werden und worin der Unterschied zwischen Geschichte und Erinnerung besteht.

This course investigates the critical and foundational period of modern Turkish history from
1908 to 1955, an era witnessing the decline of the late Ottoman Empire and the
consolidation of the early Republic of Turkey. Characterized by significant political, social,
and territorial shifts, including wars, population exchanges, and internal conflicts, this time
frame saw a series of collective traumas that profoundly impacted Turkish society and
identity.
The central aim is to equip students with the essential historical skill of primary source
analysis, moving beyond a simple recounting of events. We will directly engage with
historical materials, learning to critically interpret and contextualize diverse source types.
Crucially, we will also examine private memories preserved in diaries, letters, memoirs,
survivor testimonies, oral histories, family stories, photographs, and newspapers, postcards.
Through careful source analysis, students will learn to identify authorial perspectives and
biases, analyze language and tone, recognize omissions, cross-reference sources, understand
the experience and transmission of trauma, and evaluate the unique aspects of different
source types.
By placing state and private sources in dialogue and conflict, students will develop a diverse
understanding of how historical narratives are constructed and the difference between
history and memory. Case studies on the Armenian Genocide, World War I, the Greco-
Turkish population exchange, the Dersim Rebellion, and the Istanbul Pogrom will provide
focal points for applying these analytical skills. While building a solid understanding of this
chaotic period, the course primarily functions as a hands-on workshop for developing critical
thinking and historical analysis methodologies.