Russian Area Studies Course Descriptions

RUS 101/102 Introductory Russian I/II [TOP]

An introduction to the Russian language designed particularly to develop listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students work with dialogues and grammatical patterns, using audio/ video tapes and computers.

RUS 105 Beginning Russian in Review [TOP]

This course offers qualified students the opportunity to complete the elementary sequence of language acquisition in one semester rather than two. Students learn the fundamentals of the Russian language (speaking, listening, writing, and reading). Instruction and practice rely heavily on technological tools such as CD-ROMs, computerized drilling exercises, and interactive Web activities. Weekly laboratory is mandatory.

RUS 201/202 Intermediate Russian I/II [TOP]

The aim of these courses is to develop further the basic language skills acquired in the introductory courses. An intensive study of grammatical structures with a continued emphasis on oral and written skills, they include supplementary reading with vocabulary useful for everyday situations and creative writing based on course material. Audio/ video tapes and computers are used.

RUS 301/302 Russian Language, Literature and Culture I and II [TOP]

These courses are intended to expand usage of Russian in oral and written forms. The main emphasis is on contemporary conversational Russian. Intensive and reading is accompanied by a review of grammar in context, and compositions on a variety of themes, based on reading original texts of Russian literature, poetry, and newspapers. Films and computers are used.

RUS 301/302 Russian Language, Literature and Culture I and II [TOP]

These courses in Russian emphasize using the language largely as a means of looking at Russian literature, culture, and contemporary life. The focus of attention is texts, such as poetry, short stories, and newspaper articles, as well as Russian painting, music, films, and videotapes. Readings, discussion, and written assignments in Russian are suited to students at the third or fourth year level of language study. Computers are used.

RUS 301/302 Selected Topics: Russian Literature and Culture [TOP]

Highly advanced Russian language and culture courses for students who have already achieved the fourth level of language study. These courses offer topics from a broad range of choices, including literary texts, poetry, film and avant-garde writers. Written and oral reports and weekly journals.

RUS 450 Independent Study (Language) [TOP]

Independent language study arranged with the instructor.

ART 256 Art of the Russian Revolution [TOP]

Art of Russian Revolution: One of the most exciting movements in 20th-century art, Russian art of the Revolution, radically reassessed the role of the artist and of his/her work in society and has had reverberations in Western art which continue today. This course begins with the Russian futurists and traces the manner in which new formal vocabularies and new attitudes towards materials were harnessed after the 1917 Revolution by artists like Popova, Goncharova, Rosanova, Tatlin, Rodchenko, Malevich, etc., to develop a full and multidimensional philosophy for the design of functional objects for the new socialist society. Typical readings: Lodder, Russian Constructivism; Milner. Vladimir Tatlin and the Russian Avant-Garde; Gray, The Russian Experiment in Art

BIDS 298 The Ballets Russes [TOP]

The Ballets Russes: Modernism and the Arts- In the history of 20th-century music and dance, no one company has had so profound and so far-reaching influence as The Ballets Russes. This course attempts to explore the artistic achievements of The Ballets Russes by studying the choreography, composition, and design of some of its major productions: L'Apres Midi d'un Faun, Petrushka, Firebird, Le Sacre du Printemps, and Les Noces. It investigates the languages of music, dance, and the visual art as separate but connected expressions of cultural aesthetics through their similarities and their differences. Questions raised include: What is the role and nature of the artist within his or her society- mirror of conscience or outcast rebel? What is the importance or function of art itself - a force for social change or an illustration of established values? What does modernism mean in music, dance and the visual arts?

ENG 360 20th-Century Central European Fiction [TOP]

This course explores the modernist reinvention of the novel that occurred in those countries of Europe that until recently were part of the Soviet Bloc: Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. The course begins with Franz Kafka and his harrowing dreams of the modern world, and the place of the individual in it, which anticipate many experiences of this century. The works read register the historical experiences of the first and second World Wars and of the totalitarian states that emerged after 1945. Typical readings: works of Franz Kafka, Bruno Schulz, I. Witkiewicz, Witold Gombrowicz, Robert Musil, Tadeusz Borowski, Milan Kundera

HIST 367 Women and the Russian State [TOP]

When we learn the history of a country we often actually learn the history of the State. This course attempts to undo that confusion by exploring the history of one European country (Russia) from the perspective of the majority of its population (women and the young). Students examine how the Russian state grew out of the ancient Russian family system; how most Russians assumed the juridical status of children within the system of serfdom; how these developments sharpened the authoritarianism of Russian patriarchy and politics; how Russian liberals have struggled for two centuries to cultivate the linked institutions of civil liberty and romantic love; and how the capitalism of today's Russia has produced contradictory consequences for the majority of the Russian people. Typical readings: Pouncy, The Domostroi; Stites, The Women's Movement in Russia; Tolstoi, Anna Karenina; Bridger, No More Heroines

RUSE 137 Vampires: From Vlad to Buffy [TOP]

This course examines the vampire from its historical roots in the legend of Vlad Tepes to the American commercialization and popularization of the vampire in media such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Students discuss the qualities of the folkloric vampire and its role in traditional culture, how the folkloric vampire has evolved over time and across cultural borders, and why the vampire is such a pervasive cultural icon. The approach is interdisciplinary, using folktales, short stories, legends, novels, films, television shows, and analytical studies. All materials are read in English. (Galloway, offered annually)

RUSE 203 Russian Prison Literature [TOP]

The Soviet system of prisons and labor camps operated for much of the 20th century. Under dictator Josef Stalin, millions of the country’s own citizens were imprisoned on false charges for years, worked to death in Siberian mines, or executed outright. The perpetrators of these crimes have never been brought to justice. In this course students read from the literature that arose in response to this tragedy: works by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Varlam Shalamov, Lidia Ginzburg, and Georgii Vladimov. The course is open to all students regardless of level, and all readings will be in English translation. (Galloway, Spring)

RUSE 204 Russian Film [TOP]

This course is an introduction to the most important trends, directors, and films in Russian cinema from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. Students are exposed to a wide range of movies, including early silent films, experimental films of the 1920s and early 1930s, socialist realist films, films on World War II and Soviet life, and films from contemporary Russia. All readings are in English and all films shown with English subtitles. Due to the rich heritage of Russian cinema this course does not claim to be an exhaustive treatment of all the great Russian films, but rather aims to acquaint students with the overall contours of Russian filmmaking. (Welsh, Spring)

RUSE 230 Russian Culture [TOP]

Russia has stood at a crossroads in Eastern Europe between the influence of the Orient and Western Europe. As a consequence, the Russian identity is a curious mix of Eastern and Western influences. This course presents samplings from many aspects of Russian culture, including art, music, language, religious practice, film, cuisine, history, and the image of Russia in American culture. The goal is to comprehend how Russian culture has established itself between the two extremes of East and West. Open to all students. (Galloway, Spring)

RUSE 237 Russian Folklore [TOP]

In this course, students survey the wealth of Russian and Slavic folk tales, epic songs, legends, riddles and other elements of the oral tradition, as well as the later literatures these genres inspired. Students examine characters such as the Firebird, Baba-Yaga the witch, Koshchei the Deathless, and Ilya Muromets. Materials are not restricted to the printed word, and include art and music arising from the Russian folk tradition. There are no prerequisites and no knowledge of Russian language or culture is presumed. (Galloway, Spring, alternate years)

RUSE 238 Spies, Reds, and Poets [TOP]

Throughout their history, Russians have left their homeland because of war, political and religious persecution, and unbearable censorship. In the 20th century, this problem intensified to create three distinct “waves” of Russian émigrés, many of whom settled in the United States. Students will analyze stereotypes such as the gangster, the capitalist, the spy, and the femme fatale while considering the more subtle representations created by writers who have experienced the other culture first-hand. The course is open to all students regardless of level. (Welsh, Fall)

RUSE 350 Survey of 19th-Century Russian Literature [TOP]

Nineteenth-century Russian writers recorded “the ‘body and pressure of time’” and mapped the human heart, exploring relationships between men and women, sexuality, issues of good and evil, and the alienated individual’s search for meaning in the modern world. In brilliant, yet deliberately accessible work, prose writers recorded the conflict and struggle of their distinctively Russian cultural tradition, with its own understanding of ideas about religion, freedom, and the self, and its own attitudes toward culture, historical, and social order. Open to students of all levels. (Offered occasionally)

RUSE 351 20th-Century Russian Literature [TOP]

In the 20th century, Russia’s “other voices” continued to express the souls and spirit of individual men and women, but now under the profound impact of historical events from revolution and world wars through glasnost and perestroika. Witnessing and experiencing great suffering, these heroic writers could neither remain silent under censorship nor write the socialist-realist propaganda dictated by the Soviet government. Open to students of all levels. (Offered alternate years)

MUS 150 In a Russian Voice [TOP]

Perhaps no group of composers so consciously and so successfully incorporated folk and traditional elements into the traditional genres of art music as did the "Mighty Handful" of Russian composers--Borodin, Balakirev, Cui, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov--who inherited a passion for creating "Russian" works from Glinka and Dargomizhsky and who passed this passion on in elements of melody, harmony, and rhythm to Stravinsky in his early stage works. This course considers these composers and their so-called "Russianness" in an attempt to discover what is "Russian" about their music and what impact Russian Orthodox Church music and folk song and dance have had in the development of musical language that presents far-ranging implications for musical style developments in the 20th century.

BIDS 120 Russia and the Environment [TOP]

RUSSIA AND THE ENVIRONMENT The Soviet Union left a devastating legacy of environmental miuse that Russia still grapples with today. We will consider whether the Soviet model of environmental change is distinctive by looking at the roles played by geography, history, Russian culture, and the Soviet economic and political system. We will also consider how the attempted transition to a market-based democratic sytem has affected the Russian approach to environmental issues. We will look at such cases as the Chernobyl disaster, the desertification of the Aral Sea, the destruction of the Caspian caviar trade, and the threat to Lake Baikal.

ECON 146 The Russian Economy [TOP]

With the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union in December, 1991, many people hailed the triumph of capitalism and democracy over central planning and single-party control. With the perspective provided by a few more years, one can see that Russia's economic and social problems were not solved by the decision to make this transition. In fact many in Russia would argue that these problems have intensified dramatically and that the country should reverse course before it is too late. This course explores the strengths and weaknesses of these two kinds of economic stystems, the difficulties of making the transition from one systems, to the other, and the prospects for the future. (

HIST 260 19th Century Russia through Literature [TOP]

This course attempts a balanced survey of the century leading to the Russian Revolution. Russia is both a participant in European civilization and one of the first countries to respond intentionally to the challenge of Western European modernity. In 19th century Russia, policy makers, social critics, and artists explored brilliantly many problems and dilemmas that still preoccupy thoughtful world citizens: the problem of economic development, the relation between individuals and groups, and the role of culture in human communities. Typical readings: Westwood, Endurance and Endeavor; Eklof and Frank, The World of the Russian Peasant; Tolstoi, What People Live By

HIST 261 20th-Century Eurasia [TOP]

This course examines the 20th-century history of Russia, the Soviet Union, and the Commonwealth of Independent States as developments profoundly shaped by Russia's Eurasian character. Problems of cultural diversity, of economic prosperity, and of political integration are seen as leading to the collapse of both the Tsarist Empire in 1917 and the Soviet Union in 1991. The course also examines Russia's relations with East Asia and the new states of Central Asia. Typical readings: Lewin, The Gorbachev Phenomenon: Current Digest of the Soviet Press; Von Laue, Why Lenin, Why Stalin?; Pipes, The Formation of the Soviet Union; Mandelbaum, Central Asia and the World; Colton and Legvald, After the Soviet Union

HIST 394 Russia and Central Asia [TOP]

Interactions with Asia have shaped Russian self identity, political structure, and economic development, and have been equally consequential for Russia's Asian neighbors. Students examine the venerable controversy concerning the "Asiatic or "European" character of Russian culture. The course traces the expansion of Russia into a multi-national empire in the tsarist and Soviet eras, interacting with Asian nations along the Southern and Eastern borders. Students then attempt to "get a fix" on Russia's complex and dynamic contemporary relations with the new states of Central Asia. Typical readings: Wesson, The Russian Dilemma; Halperin, Russia and the Golden Horde; Cherniavsky, "Khan or Basileus"; Kotkin and Wolff, Rediscovering Russia in Asia; d'Encausse, Islam and the Russian Empire; Lentzeff, Eastward to Empire

HIST 396 History and the Fate of Socialism [TOP]

This course studies Marxian Socialism as a product of history, as a lens through which to view past, present and future history and as a shaper of history. After introduction to the fundamentals (only) of Marx's thought, we will examine how those ideas played out during the great 20th century revolutions in Russia and China. Finally, we will spend a few weeks thinking about uses of socialism today in a possibly Post Marxian world. Typical readings: Wilson, To The Finland Station; Graham, Ghost of the Executed Engineer; Meisner, Marxism, Maoism and Utopianism; Tucker, The Marxian Revolutionary Idea; Marx & Engels, Marx and Engels Reader; Harrington, Socialism

POL 257 Russia and China Unraveled [TOP]

This course explores the evolution and transformation of these two great powers over the last century. Students begin with trying to understand communism, through a close look at Soviet practices for building the "new society." Students follow Russia's trajectory from superpower to beleaguered nation, then turn to parallel developments in China and the reverse evolution from struggling nation to potential world power today. Why has China evolved so differently than Russia? What do the differences mean for the people who live there? What do these experiences tell about the nature of communism? What do they tell about America with its historic fears of communism?

ECON 233 Comparative Economic Systems and Institutions [TOP]

This course explores the ways in which different contemporary economics are organized, and their primary institutions. Their regulation of markets, their incentive systems, their regulation of markets, their incentive systems, their performance, and their political and social settings are investigated. More and less industrialized countries are studied, including the recent successes and problems of several Pacific Rim economies. )

ECON 236 Introduction to Radical Political Economy [TOP]

This course provides an introduction to the economic thought of Karl Marx, to contemporary radical political economy, and to current debates in radical political economy. Topics include the theory of value, surplus value and exploitation, capital and its accumulation, and capital and crisis. Recent debates in socialist-feminist thought, the political economy of race, and ecofeminism are addressed.

ECON 240 International Trade [TOP]

This course provides an introduction to the theory of gains from trade, comparative advantage and international monetary relations. It uses this theory to examine such issues as protectionism,economic integration (e.g., NAFTA and the European Community), and international investment, with an emphasis on how economic and financial relations among countries have very different consequences for different groups of people. Prerequisites: ECON 160.

ECON 344 Economic Development and Planning [TOP]

This course examines both the theory and practice of Third World countries in their attempts to modernize and industrialize. Some topics that are discussed include: the roles of agricultural and industrial development, investment, urbanization, infrastructure, foreign trade, foreign aid and debt, and government planning. The course evaluates the importance of the distribution of income, education, the transfer of technology, population control, and neo- colonialism. Countries from Africa, Asia, and Latin America are used frequently and extensively as examples. Prerequisite: ECON 300.

HIST 276 The Age of Dictators [TOP]

European one-party dictatorships that used state organs to mobilize mass support and unleash unprecedented levels of coercion and terror directed at their own populations still haunt our memory and understanding of the 20th century. This course will examine and compare the origins and dynamics of Stalin's Soviet Union, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, and their ways of securing popular support and eliminating opposition. The class critically explores theories and concepts used to classify and categorize these regimes: 'totalitarianism,' 'fascism,' 'bonapartist dictatorships.' (Linton, offered alternate years) Typical readings: Palla, Mussolini and Fascism; Kershaw, Hitler; Johnson, Nazi Terror; Ward, Stalin's Russia; Fitzpatrick, Everyday Stalinism; Payne, A History of Fascism

POL 140 Introduction to Comparative Politics [TOP]

An ambitious introductory course, aimed at teaching students both basic political concepts--such as, individualism and communitarianism, tradition and modernity, right and left, fascism, and communism, democracy and capitalism--as well as the fundamentals of various political systems throughout the world. Students look at the impact of westernization, industrialization, nationalism, racism, class conflicts, and foreign intervention, as they try to figure out just why it is that the world's political systems are organized the way they are.(Ost, offered each semester; subfield: COMP) Typical readings: Kesselman, et. al., Comparative Politics at the Crossroads; The Comparative Politics Reader; Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld

POL 245 Europe East and West [TOP]

This course studies the evolution of postwar Europe--from radicalism to globalism, the welfare state to Blairist Thatcherism, Stalinism to the fall of the Berlin wall, American domination to the rise of the European Union. The focus of the course is the rise and fall of class politics. It explores what capitalism and socialism have meant to Europe, and contrasts, European with U.S. politics. Topics include the crisis of prewar Europe, Keynesianism and communism, the meaning of 1968, radicalism, populism, the right, and the New Europe.(Ost, offered alternate years; subfield: COMP) Typical readings: Spiegelman, Maus; Kesselman & Krieger, European Politics in Transition; Betz, Radical Right-Wing Populism; Pells, The Americanization of Europe

POL 379 Radical Thought [TOP]

This course explores the sources of, and the transformation in, European radical political thought since the time of Marx. But it is not just a course on Marxism. Students also look closely at the critique of the anarchists, the challenge of the Frankfurt School, the New Left critique of Herbert Marcuse, the non-Marxist contributions of Freud, Sartre, and Foucault. They discuss Eastern European anticommunist radicalism, reading works of Vaclav Havel and Adam Michnik. The course concludes with a discussion of American and European radicalism in the new globalized world. (Ost, offered alternate years; subfield: AMER, TH) Typical readings: The Marx-Engels Reader; The Anarchist Reader; selections from Lenin; Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents; Sartre, Existentialism and Human Emotions; Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man; Telos, The French New Right; Wainwright, Arguments for a New Left

SOC 300 Classical Sociological Theory [TOP]

Classical Sociological Theory: The founders of sociology were deeply concerned about problems that continue to be of vital importance for contemporary sociology inquiry. Questions such as the nature of society and its relationship to individuals, the relation between sociological theory and social practice, whether sociology is a science and, if not, what it is, and so on, are all absolutely central to the sociological enterprise, and yet often become lost. This course returns to the classics in an effort to uncover the questions sociologists need constantly to ask themselves if they wish to reflect cogently upon their role in the contemporary world. Required of all sociology majors. Prerequisite: SOC 100.