Tag: Soviet History

Season 8 Episode 1- “Written by Heart’s Blood: Mapping the Kantsedikas Family Letters from the Blavatnik Archive”with Amber Nickell, Chelsea Kiefer, Sarah Keiss, and David Solis

Sheva, Soloman, and Basenka Kantsedikas

In the first episode of season 8, Hollie visits with some familiar friends of the podcast: Dr. Amber Nickell, Sarah Keiss, Chelsea Kiefer, and David Solis. They discuss their digital humanities project, “Written by Heart’s Blood: Mapping the Kantsedikas Family Letters from the Blavatnik Archive.” This project, available here, involved collecting data from a collection of letters between a Soviet Jewish couple during World War II. The Kantsedikas Family Letters Collection at Blavatnik provides a window into the experience of this couple as they navigated the war, love, parenthood, seperation, and various struggles.

You can find this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or any of the major podcast platforms. Make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. While you’re there, give us a review. Let us know what you like and share widely!

S2, Episode 5- “Communism and Cartoons” with Shelby Oshel

“Communism and Cartoons: Understanding Themes of Gender and Nationalism in Soviet Animations”

“Cheburashka” by pop★ is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

In this episode, Hollie Marquess is joined by senior history major Shelby Oshel to discuss Soviet animation through the lens of gender and nationalism. Shelby traces Soviet animated cartoons and films from their infancy through the collapse of the Soviet Union.

You can find this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or any of the major podcast platforms. Make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

A selection of Soviet animation:

Almalrik, Leonid. Black and White. Soyuzmultfilm Services, 1932.

https://youtu.be/Fm5MvnX4i4s.

Kossovsky, M. War Chronicles. Soyuzmultfilm, 1939. https://youtu.be/5lCfRGJWo8U.

Uspensky, Eduard. “Gena the Crocodile.” Cheburashka, January 1, 1969.

https://youtu.be/C5EoeTOEkYY.

———. “Cheburashka.” Cheburashka, January 1, 1971.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxW_jD9YbPk.

———. “Shapoklyak.” Cheburashka, January 1, 1974.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nqgggx3GW4.

———. “Cheburashka Goes to School.” Cheburashka, October 8, 1983.

https://youtu.be/BivippNJYf4.

In addition to her research on Soviet animation, Shelby briefly mentions her current research project, which is to locate the unmarked graves of two sex workers from Hays City’s Wild West days. For more on Hays City prostitution and mentions of these two particular women, see:

“The Frontier Demimonde: Prostitution in Early Hays City, 1867-1883”

Are you interested in a history degree? We have online and on campus B.A. programs and we also have online and on campus M.A. programs in history or public history. Learn more at https://www.fhsu.edu/history/academic-programs/