This morning we woke up early to attend our first class at
Lomonosov Moscow State University, specifically the Journalism School that was
established one year before Columbia in 1755. We woke up early to jump on the
Metro and trek on over to the class. Waiting at the turnstile was an old
Muscovite lady who looked as if she had been frozen in time from the Soviet
Era, wearing a Russian Transportation Uniform. The Russian subway cars also
seemed as if they had been frozen in time in comparison to the German subways that looked modern and even more technologically advanced then the U.S.
The Old Soviet Turnstile Guard - Frozen in Time
Belarusskaya
Our first lecture today was from a professor who specialized
in power dynamics in social spaces and symbols of power. Back during the days
of the Czar, in the Kremlin/meeting room the czar could sit in the
southeast corner. Behind the Czar were windows that would shine the light into
the room, symbolizing the connection between the Czar as the almighty ruler.
There was a pillar directly in the middle of the room and upon entering the room, the Czar would be hidden from view, but as you walked south he would become visible,
as if rising from beyond the pillar. Once he was in view you could walk east in his direction him. This same system was used to legitimize the Peter the Great during
the imperial period. Yet interestingly, once the imperial period was completed
and the Soviet Era began, the Soviet leaders decided not to sit in the same
seat as the Czars. Yeltsin and Putin have decided to move to different places
in the room and legitimized their history in a very different method.
One of the interesting methodologies that the Russian
leaders used to legitimize their power was by connecting themselves with the
discourse of war. In the period of Czardom and Russian imperialism that was a
driving ideology of the people and military might of Russia was strongly linked
with the identity of the people. If military might is linked with the Russian
sense of identity, it makes complete sense that Putin would invade Crimea to
foster nationalist pride to establish their identity after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the failure of the socialist system. Today we even saw a billboard in support of the acquisition of Ukraine, feeding into the Russian Propaganda regarding the issue.
"We Returned Crimea and We Will Return Moscow Without Traffic Jams"
Politician Running for Local Office
After hearing this exciting lecture on power the Dean came
in and gave us a lecture on the technological revolution in Russia. WIFI!!!!!
We spent an hour on wifi. Beat this dead wifi horse. Moscow has become a media
hub for Russia and wifi has become
largely available in the city and even on the metro. The metro is a great place
for this wifi because in people’s leisure time on their commute, they can
access the internet and read advertisements. In a socialist city it makes sense to focus the energies on a place like the Metro that connects all the people. Since this space is public, it is not possible for private enterprise to enter into that space. Interestingly, the first
private enterprise that gave out free wifi was McDonalds and set a precedent for Starbucks and KFC -
#goamerica.
Then we got to listen
to a pitch about the school from the manager of there international program.
She had studied in the US and was telling us to "please, please, please
do your study abroads at Moscow Journalism." She did not know her
audience because none of us were specifically
interested in the field of journalism and had no intention of doing our study abroad. Professor Nepomnaschy The funniest part of the presentation
was the brochure for the program that they gave us, which had a picture of a guy who was at a
conference and looked incredibly bored!!! HAHAH how do they expect us to buy
into their program when the poster boy looks as bored as he does!
Poster. Boy. Bored. As. Poop.
Faculty of Journalism Brochure
Why So Serious?
Russian Royal Guards at the Kremlin
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