IICM holds Spring 2018 Graduate Symposium

The Institute for International Communication (IICM) at CPS invited distinguished Soviet dissident and journalist, Prof. Leonid Goldin to speak at IICM on Monday April 9th. The purpose of the seminar, ostensibly about Russian propaganda, was to contextualize for students the methods and underlying models of power practiced by contemporary Russian media.

However, what appeared to be at first a discussion about propaganda, ended up being a much more personal journey and reflection by Prof. Leonid Goldin into the nature of Soviet society – and the ways in which he had witnessed, as part of the intelligentsia class, the collapse of that society into its current post-communist form. The discussion ultimately was about placing the particular within the broader landscape of history and looking beyond any singular individual, no matter how powerful or seemingly indestructible. Given Prof. Leonid Goldin’s own brush with death at an early age, as he escaped to Siberia during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union during WWII, it can certainly be said that the evening was more profound in its context and narrative than a simple review of Russian media policy.

Godfred Osei, graduate student in the M.S. International Communication program, presented his paper on “Economic Nationalism in the Hyperhistoric Era: Protectionism vs. ICT”. He inquired to what extent protectionist policies by world powers can and will survive in the age of information and communication technologies that increasingly connect all regions of the world.

See more photos of the event on the Institute for International Communication's blog.