However, what appeared to at first be 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 – isolation or coming together?