COMP 215
Cults of Personality
Last Offered n/a
Division I Writing Skills
This course is not offered in the current catalog

First uttered by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1956, the phrase “cult of personality” was formulated to discredit the hero-worship that accompanied Joseph Stalin’s iron-fisted rule of the Soviet Union. Since then, the phrase has gained currency as a condemnation of a variety of seemingly all-powerful leaders in oppressive political regimes, including China’s Mao Zedong, Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini, and the ruling Kim family in North Korea. In this course, we will examine the phenomenon of the cult of personality from a variety of perspectives, beginning with the cult surrounding Stalin and ending with that of Vladimir Putin. Our course material will encompass scholarship from multiple disciplines, including history, sociology, political science, cultural and media studies, as well as artistic expression typically labeled propaganda in literature, the visual arts, and film. Although our course will begin in the Soviet Union and end in contemporary Russia, we will explore how the cult of personality has been adapted and updated for different cultural and political purposes by including fascist Germany, Italy, and Spain, China, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba in our discussions. [All readings will be in English, and all films will have English subtitles.]