Courses ofInstruction
Russian Area Studies
Program Faculty
James Capreedy, Chair, Greek and Roman Studies
David Galloway, Russian
Charity Lofthouse, Music
Kristen Welsh, Russian
The Russian Area Studies program curriculum allows students to combine courses in the humanities and the social sciences. Students learn not only about the culture, history, and society of Russia, but also about the geopolitically related regions in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. This contextualization of Russia allows students to understand better the current events involving the Russian Federation. Such knowledge is especially valuable given the critical role this region plays in the world and its importance to U.S. foreign policy. Russian Area Studies students go on to careers in a wide variety of fields. Recent graduates are working in such areas as international development, finance, public health, and law, at both U.S. and international organizations.
Russia’s past includes incredible struggles for social justice, economic equity, and civil liberties, sometimes against unbelievable odds. In Russian culture, the country’s writers and artists are considered political and ethical spokespersons just as much as are politicians or philosophers. Because of this, Russian Area Studies lends itself naturally to a wide range of interdisciplinary approaches.
Mission Statement
The Russian Area Studies Program’s mission is provide students a comprehensive understanding of the cultural history of Russia, as well as of the impact of its colonialism in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and to help them develop the analytical and logical reasoning skills necessary to assess cultural artifacts and movements in their historical context, thus preparing them for employment in a variety of areas, both within the field of Russian Area Studies and beyond it.
Offerings
The Russian Area Studies program offers one minor. The minor in Russian Area Studies is interdisciplinary, drawing on courses from history and politics.
Only courses for which the student has received a grade of C- or better will be counted toward the minor.
Russian Area Studies Minor
interdisciplinary, 6 courses
Requirements:
- RUSE 101 Blood and Ice: Russian Empires or GLS 101 Introduction to Global Studies
- GLS 203 Eat Like a Slav
- Four courses from the Russian Area Studies or Global Studies electives selected in consultation with an advisor. GLS courses must be dominantly on Eurasia, Russian, or East European topics.
Cross-Listed Courses
Humanities Electives
GLS 201 Global Cultural Literacies
HIST 276 The Age of Dictators
Social Sciences Electives
ECON 233 Comparative Economics
ECON 236 Introduction to Radical Political Economy
ECON 344 Economic Development
GLS 101 Introduction to Global Studies
INRL 140 Introduction to Comparative Politics
SOC 300 Classical Sociological Theory
Courses Taught in English (RUSE)
For courses with a RUSE designation, all readings and discussion are conducted in English. There are no prerequisites for courses at the 100 or 200 level.
RUSE 101 Blood and Ice: Russian Empires The largest country in both Europe and Asia, Russia has dominated Eastern Europe and north Asia for over a thousand years. Through an examination of its long, varied, and frequently bloody history, we will investigate the nature of "empire" as defined and interpreted by the various political entities, which have ruled the Russian land. P3
RUSE 203 Surviving Russian Prisons 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. There are no prerequisites. P3
RUSE 204 Russian Film 1917-2001 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. Because of 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 and with the fundamentals of reading film. Required film screenings TBD. P3
RUSE 206 America through Russian Eyes How do you define America? Does your definition mesh with what the rest of the world might think? This course explores American culture and identify through readings and films by American and Russian poets, novelists, and directors. From Red scares through the Cold War and Evil Empire all the way to the New Russians, twentieth-and twenty-first-century Americans and Russians have shared a deep mutual fascination, and have often defined themselves via contrast with the forbidding, alluring Other. We will study travelogues, memoirs, novels, stories, and films by artists as diverse as John Steinbeck, Langston Hughes, Gary Shteyngart, Ellen Litman, and Aleksei Balabanov, using these works to refine our own understanding of American culture. All readings and discussions will be in English. P3 [Prerequisite: RUSE 112, HIST 263, AMST 100, or AMST 101, or permission of the instructor.]
RUSE 251 Sexuality, Power and Creativity in Russian Literature 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, perestroika, and the post-Soviet transition. 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. Topics include Russian perceptions of male/female, masculinity/femininity; the female voice; the tension between poet and muse; gender bending; understandings of sexuality in the early Soviet period; the breaking of sexual mores during Glasnost; and how current Russian debates on gender and sexuality cite and relate to this cultural heritage. Open to students of all levels. There are no prerequisites. P3
RUSE 351 Sexuality, Power and Creativity in Russian Literature 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, perestroika, and the post-Soviet transition. 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. Topics include Russian perceptions of male/female, masculinity/femininity; the female voice; the tension between poet and muse; gender bending; understandings of sexuality in the early Soviet period; the breaking of sexual mores during Glasnost; and how current Russian debates on gender and sexuality cite and relate to this cultural heritage. [Prerequisite: Open to RAS majors and minors, or permission of instructor.]
RUSE 495 Honors