Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies

ENG 203/ WLT 203 Western Classics in Translation II: Renaissance to Modern (4 Credits)

Offered as WLT 203 and ENG 203. Considers works of literature from different linguistic and cultural traditions that have had a significant influence over time. May include Shakespeare, Cervantes, Goethe, Balzac, Tolstoy, Ibsen and others. Enrollment limited to 20. WI {L}

Spring

FYS 154 The World of Anna Karenina (4 Credits)

This course explores the social, cultural and political history of late imperial Russia through Leo Tolstoy's iconic novel Anna Karenina. Students will learn about the production of the novel but also focus on such themes as modernization and industrialization, gender and sexuality, social construction of family and marriage, empire and colonialism. They will also study the rise of realism in art and the ways in which the Russian educated classes used the new style as a form of social critique. Enrollment limited to 16 first-years. WI {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

GOV 221 European Politics (4 Credits)

This course focuses on the development of European democratic institutions in the context of military and economic conflict and cooperation. Includes an introduction to the process of European integration. Designation: Comparative. {S}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

GOV 223 The Politics of Russia and Post-Soviet Central Asia (4 Credits)

This course examines recurring issues facing the Russian state and its citizens focusing on the complex interplay between formal institutions and informal politics as well as patterns of cooperation and antagonism in relationships with other countries, in particular the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. Students will examine history to provide sufficient background information for the class, but will concentrate on the period between the end of the Soviet Union and the present day. Designation: Comparative. Enrollment limited to 40. {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

GOV 242 International Political Economy (4 Credits)

This course begins with an examination of the broad theoretical paradigms in international political economy (IPE), including the liberal, economic nationalist, structuralist and Marxist perspectives. The course analyzes critical debates in the post-World War II period, including the role of the Bretton Woods institutions (World Bank group and IMF), international trade and development, the debt question, poverty and global inequality, and the broad question of "globalization." Designation: International Relations. Prerequisite: GOV 241 or equivalent. First-year students may enroll only if they have completed GOV 241. Enrollment limited to 40. {S}

Fall, Spring, Annually

GOV 256 Colloquium: Corruption and Global Governance (4 Credits)

What can international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank do about corruption? This course explores the theoretical and practical dimensions of the problem of corruption and analyzes how states and international organizations have attempted to combat the problem. Designation: Comparative, International Relations. Enrollment limited to 20. {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

HST 201 The Silk Road and Premodern Eurasia (4 Credits)

An introduction to major developments and interactions among people in Europe and Asia before modernity. The Silk Roads, long distance networks that allowed people, goods, technology, religious beliefs and other ideas to travel between China, India and Rome/Mediterranean, and the many points in between, developed against the backdrop of the rise and fall of steppe nomadic empires in Inner Asia. We examine these as interrelated phenomena that shaped Eurasian encounters to the rise of the world-conquering Mongols and the journey of Marco Polo. Topics include: horses, Silk and Steppe routes, Scythians and Huns, Han China and Rome, Byzantium, Buddhism, Christianity and other universal religions, Arabs and the rise of Islam, Turks, Mongol Empire, and medieval European trade, geography and travel. {H}

Spring

HST 239 Imperial Russia, 1650–1917 (4 Credits)

The emergence, expansion and maintenance of the Russian Empire to 1929. The dynamics of pan-imperial institutions and processes (imperial dynasty, peasantry, nobility, intelligentsia, revolutionary movement), as well as the development of the multitude of nations and ethnic groups conquered by or included into the empire. Focus on how the multinational Russian empire dealt with pressures of modernization (nationalist challenges in particular), internal instability and external threats. {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

HST 240 Colloquium: Stalin and Stalinism (4 Credits)

Joseph Stalin created a particular type of society in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. Stalinism became a phenomenon that influenced the development of the former Soviet Union and the Communist movement worldwide. This course covers the period on the eve of and during the Russian Revolution, Stalinist transformation of the USSR in the 1930s, WWII and the onset of the Cold War. We consider several questions about Stalinism: Was it a result of Communist ideology or a deviation? Did it enjoy any social support? To what extent was it a product of larger social forces and in what degree was it shaped by Stalin’s own personality? Did it have total control over the people’s lives? Why hasn’t there been a de-Stalinization similar to de-Nazification? How is Stalinism remembered? Enrollment limited to 18. {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

HST 241 Soviet Union in the Cold War (4 Credits)

Focuses on the history of the Soviet Union during the "greater Cold War," that is, between World War II and the disintegration of the USSR. Touches on foreign policy developments, but the main focus is on the social, political and economic processes, and cultural developments inside the USSR itself. Explores Soviet history in the second half of the 20th century through historical works and a range of primary sources. Topics include the post-war reconstruction, rise of the military-industrial complex, education, popular culture and dissent. Enrollment limited to 40. {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

HST 300 Public Writing about Nationalism - A Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing (4 Credits)

Because of its claims to define culture, economy, and politics in the modern age, nationalism has become the subject of a multidisciplinary field which offers advanced students in an array of majors a capstone opportunity to consolidate and express what they've learned. How does nationalism today continue to underwrite political projects across the world? We will take this question as a point of departure and explore how to translate complex scholarly conversations about nationalism into public discourse interventions. The work in class will focus on writing, work-shopping, and revising the assignments designed in different formats of public discourse. WI {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

JUD 260 Colloquium: Yiddish Literature and Culture (4 Credits)

Why did Yiddish, the everyday language of Jews in east Europe and beyond, so often find itself at the bloody crossroads of art and politics? From dybbuks and shlemiels to radicals and revolutionaries, the course explores Yiddish stories, drama, and film as sites for social activism, ethnic and gender performance, and artistic experimentation in Europe, the Soviet Union, and the Americas. How did post-Holocaust engagements with Yiddish memorialize a lost civilization and forge an imagined homeland defined by language and culture rather than borders? All texts in translation. No prerequisites. Enrollment limited to 18. {L}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

JUD 284 Colloquium: The Lost World of East European Jewry, 1750-1945 (4 Credits)

The modern history of the largest Jewish community in the world, from life under the Russian tsars until its extermination in World War II. Topics include Jewish political autonomy under the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; the shifting effects on Jews in Russian, Soviet and Polish society of Partition, tsarist legislation, Revolution, Sovietization and the emergence of the modern nation-state; the folkways and domestic culture of Ashkenaz; competition between new forms of ecstatic religious expression and Jewish Enlightenment thought; the rise of mass politics (Zionism, Socialism, Diaspora Nationalism, Yiddishism) and the role of language (Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, Polish) in the creation of secular Jewish identity; and the tension between memory and nostalgia in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Concludes with an analysis of the recently opened Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw. Enrollment limited to 18. {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

JUD 287 The Holocaust (4 Credits)

The history of the Final Solution, from the role of European antisemitism and the origins of Nazi ideology to the implementation of a systematic program to annihilate European Jewry. How did Hitler establish a genocidal regime? How did Jews physically, culturally and theologically respond to this persecution?. {H}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

JUD 362yl Seminar: Topics in Jewish Studies-Yiddishland (4 Credits)

Explores the relationship between East European Jewish history and post-Holocaust and post-Communist memory through the prism of Yiddishland, the dream of a transnational homeland defined by language and culture rather than borders. The seminar includes a course field trip to Poland over March break. Enrollment limited to 15. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {H}{L}

Spring, Variable

REL 140/ RES 140 Putin's Russia: After Communism, After Atheism (4 Credits)

Same as REL 140. Often portrayed as hostile to the West, Vladimir Putin and the Russia he rules remain little known. Going beyond the headlines, this course examines contemporary Russia, and historical events and figures that have shaped Putin-era Russia. We will trace the culture wars that have ensued in this post-communist and post-atheist state, across historical documents, art, film, literature, and journalism. Topics include state power and political opposition; the resurgence of religion, and tensions between religion and the secular in the public sphere; debates over the Soviet past, including revolution, war and political terror; human rights and "traditional values. {H}{L}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

REL 238 Mary: Images and Cults (4 Credits)

Whether revered as the Mother of God or remembered as a single Jewish mother of an activist, Mary has both inspired and challenged generations of Christian women and men worldwide. This course focuses on key developments in the "history of Mary" since early Christian times to the present. How has her image shaped global Christianities? What does her perceived image in any given age tell us about personal and collective identities? Topics include Mary’s "life"; rise of the Marian cult; Marian apparitions (e.g., Guadalupe and Lourdes) and miracle-working images, especially in Byzantium and Russia; liberation and feminism; politics, activism, mysticism and prayer. Devotional, polemical and literary texts, art and film. Enrollment limited to 35. {H}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

REL 240 Religious Thought and Spirituality in Revolutionary Russia (4 Credits)

The 19th and early 20th centuries marked one of the most brilliant yet destructive periods in Russia's history. This course explores the spiritual and religious-philosophical ideas that fueled a renaissance in the arts as well as a political revolution, both of which had enormous impact worldwide. Based on works of art and literature, religious-philosophical and political writings, and film, it introduces students to some of the best-known radical thinkers and cultural innovators in Russia’s late imperial and Soviet past, and in its post-Soviet present. Topics include: religious faith, materialism and science; the meaning of history; “new religious consciousness”; theosophy and the occult; art, beauty and the Absolute; human creativity and god- building; divine wisdom and “all-unity”; the body, sex and spirituality. (E) {H}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

REL 242/ RES 242 The Politics and Culture of Russian Sacred Art (4 Credits)

Offered as REL 242 and RES 242. As devotional objects, political symbols, and art commodities, Russia’s sacred art--the icon--has been revered as sacred, vilified as reactionary, embraced in rebellion, destroyed as dangerous, and sold as masterpieces. Engaging the fields of religion, material and visual culture, and ritual studies, this course examines the life and language of this art form, and its role in shaping Russia’s turbulent history. Topics include the production and reception of images; diverse meanings and functions of sacred imagery; visuality and spirituality; secularization and commodification; history, memory, and collective identities; the icon, avant-garde art, and film; controversial images and protest culture. No prerequisites. Open to first-year students. {A}{H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

REL 305ec Seminar: Advanced Topics in Religion-Eastern Christian Worlds: Prayer and Politics (4 Credits)

From Putin’s Russia to Assad’s Syria, Eastern Christianity has seen increasing media attention over the past two decades. But what is Christianity like outside “the West?” This course explores: the beliefs, spirituality and practices that link these “other” Christians—who have historically lived in such diverse regions as Armenia, Bulgaria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Greece, Romania, Russia, Syria and Ukraine; the historical memories and political power struggles that have divided them; the geopolitical implications of Eastern Orthodoxy’s unexpected comeback in post-Soviet Russia; and the complex relationship between Eastern Christianity and its western Roman Catholic and Protestant counterparts. The course considers mystical, philosophical, theological and political sources, both ancient and contemporary, as well as art, literature and film. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {A}{H}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

RES 264/ WLT 264 Dostoevsky (4 Credits)

Offered as RES 264 and WLT 264. Focuses on close reading of the major novels, short fiction, and journalism of Dostoevsky, one of the greatest writers in modern literature. Combining penetrating psychological insight with the excitement of crime fiction, Dostoevsky’s works explore profound political, philosophical, and religious issues, in a Russia populated by students and civil servants, saints and revolutionaries, writers and madmen. In our close reading of his fiction and nonfiction, we’ll trace the development of Dostoevsky’s style and ideas, considering how these texts engage with issues specific to nineteenth-century Russia, as well as the broader traditions of European literature and intellectual history. In translation. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

RES 273/ WLT 273 Cosmic Cold War: Russian and Western Science Fiction in Political Context (4 Credits)

Offered as RES 273 and WLT 273. How did the "final frontier" of space become a "front" in the Cold War? As the US and USSR competed in the Space Race, science fiction reflected political discourses in literature, film, visual art and popular culture. This course explores Russian and Western science fiction in the contexts of twentieth-century geopolitics and artistic modernism (and postmodernism), examining works by Bogdanov, Kubrick, Tarkovsky, Butler, Haraway, Pelevin and others. The survey considers science fiction’s utopian content and political function, as well as critical and dystopian modes of the genre. No prerequisites or knowledge of Russian required; first-year students are welcome to enroll. Enrollment limited to 40. {A}{H}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

WLT 218 Holocaust Literature (4 Credits)

What is a Holocaust story? How does literature written in extremis in ghettos, death camps or in hiding differ from the vast post-war literature about the Holocaust? How to balance competing claims of individual and collective experience, the rights of the imagination and the pressures for historical accuracy? Selections from a variety of genres (diary, reportage, poetry, novel, graphic novel, memoir, film, monuments, museums) and critical theories of representation. All readings in translation. No prerequisites. {H}{L}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years