Courses
2008- 2009
Spring
2009 Courses Taught In Russian
111s
Elementary Russian
Second semester of a yearlong introduction to Russian
language and culture. Classroom focus on speaking and reading is
supplemented by a video series set in Moscow, frequent written
assignments, and weekly conversation with native speakers. Completion
of the course will provide students with a strong speaking base
and the skills to undertake independent reading.
Does not meet a distribution requirement
E. Cruise
6 credits; enrollment limited to 15; 3 meetings (50 minutes),
2 meetings (75 minutes), and 1 lab
202
Intermediate Russian
Emphasis on command of grammar with attention to conversational
topics. Readings include poetry, short stories, and magazine and
newspaper articles. Classes are conducted mostly in Russian.
Meets Language requirement; does not meet a distribution requirement
P. Scotto
Prereq. Russian and Eurasian Studies 111 or permission of department;
4 credits; enrollment limited to 15; 3 meetings (75 minutes) plus
1 meeting (50 minutes) to be arranged
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Spring
2009 Courses
Taught in English
131
Introduction to the Peoples and Cultures of Eurasia
(Same as Politics 109s) Explores the past and present of the diverse
peoples and cultures inhabiting the territory once dominated by
the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. How has this region been
imagined and mapped? How useful are conventional defenitions of
the boundary between "Europe" and "Asia"? What is meant by "Eastern
Europe", "Central Europe", and "Eurasia"? Topics to be considered
will include the struggle for a usuable past and the emergance
of national identity; techniques of imperial rule and colonial
domination; formation and dissemination of knowledge about Eurasia;
cultural traditions of the region. Designed to help students navigate
the world of postsocialist Eurasia.
Meets Multicultural req; meets Social Sciences III-A req.
4 credits; 2 meetings (75 minutes)
S. Glebov
200
and 300 Level Courses
211s
Topics in 20th Century Russian Literature: Doctor Zhivago:
A Poet in History
Combining epic
sweep with lyrical intensity, Doctor Zhivago is a great writer's
look back at a turbulent epoch in his country's history. Set
in Russia's revolutionary years, Boris Pasternak's novel is a
testament to the survival of life, love, art and the possibility
of freedomeven under the most difficult conditions. This course
will situate a close reading of Pasternak's novel within the
various contexts (biographical, political, literary) relevant
to understanding this major, but sometimes mysterious, work of
Russian fiction.
Meets Humanities
i-A requirement; 2 meetings (75 minutes: meets RES twentieth
century literature requirement; r4 credits; enrollment limited
to 25)
212 Russia
( History-212s) This cultural history course
will examine pivotal archetypes of Russian civilization that reflect
Russia's past, demarcate its present and constrict its future.
We will achieve that by focusing on some canonic historical monuments
of Russia, such as the Kremlin of Moscow and the downtown of St.
Petersburg. Starting with the standard representation of these
landmarks by the international media, we will explore them in depth
by reading conflicting historical narratives and cultural histories
and eventually deconstruct their cultural message and value. By
the end of the course, students will be familiar with the Eastern
Orthodox
Meets Humanities I-B requirement
C. Pleshakov
Prereq. none; 4 credits; enrollment limited to 60
213
Tolstoy's War and Peace
To explain the fundamental conflict in Tolstoy's
art, Sir Isaiah Berlin advanced the now famous formula that Tolstoy
was a fox (pluralist) struggling to be a hedgehog (monist). Indeed,
throughout his life and in his art, Tolstoy sought to shape experience
into a single and all-embracing philosophical principle, but he
was never able to suppress his extravagant intuition that existence,
being contradictory, fragmentary, and ultimately subject to forces
beyond human control, defeated attempts at codification. We will
read War and Peace in an attempt to understand how that irresolvable
conflict fuels Tolstoy's intellectual pursuits and informs his
theories on art.
Meets Humanities I-A requirement
E. Cruise
4 credits; 2 meetings (75) minutes
242 Oil ans Water Don't Mix: Geopolitics, Energy and the Enviroment
( Politics 242s) Following the collapse of the
USSR and the Gulf War, Central Asia and the Caucasus became new
centers of geopolitical rivalry. The new states are a source of
energy (oil and gas) for Western powers and a vital transit corridor
between Eastern Europe and China. While a new "Great Game" is
being fought between Western, Far Eastern, and Middle Eastern powers
for control over energy pipelines, the region is threatened by
environmental catastrophe and water shortages. Is the new oil industry
a source of prosperity or an instrument for exploitation, corruption,
and instability? How important are the new states to the West's
strategic energy interests?
Meets Social Sciences III-A requirement
S. Jones
4 credits; 2 meetings (75 minutes)
295,
395 Independent Study
The
department
1 to 8 credits
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