“A Riddle, Wrapped in a Mystery, inside an Enigma”: Teaching Post-Socialist Transformation to UK Students in Moscow

Abstract

In the 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, teaching post-socialist transition to undergraduate students has become increasingly challenging. This paper relates the development, planning and operation of a fieldwork module in Moscow, for Year Three geography undergraduates. It argues that ‘on-street’ teaching and imaginative use of visual sources can partially overcome the linguistic drawbacks of fieldwork in this context. It supports the utility of fieldwork for teaching post-socialist transformation, but stresses the need for local knowledge and contacts, linguistic ability on the part of module staff, and careful planning, to overcome anticipated and unexpected challenges.

Keywords:

• Fieldwork, experiential learning, post-socialist transformation, linking research and teaching, reflection

Notes

¹ Undergraduate factfile, Geography, University of Exeter. Available at http://www.admin.exeter.ac.uk/cap/publications/pdf/geography.pdf (accessed July 2008).

² GEES is also part of the CEELBAS (Central and East European Language-Based Area Studies) partnership, funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council.

³ In a sense this was correct—of the eight First Class BA degrees awarded at GEES in 2008, four went to students who had taken the Moscow module.