RUSS 1100a, First-Year Russian I  Julia Titus

An introductory Russian language course designed to develop all four language skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening comprehension. Use of dialogues, games, and role playing. In addition to readings in the textbook, students read original short stories and learn Russian songs and poems. Oral and written examinations.  L1  0 Course cr
HTBA

RUSS 1220a, Russian for Heritage Learners I  Julia Titus

A comprehensive Russian course for native speakers of Russian or other Slavic languages whose formal education has been in English. Overview of Russian grammar, focusing on the writing system, cases, conjunction, and syntax. Readings from Russian prose, film screenings, discussion, and regular practice in translation and composition.  L1, L2  0 Course cr
MW 11:35am-12:50pm

RUSS 1250a, Intensive Elementary Russian  Constantine Muravnik

An intensive course that covers in one term the material taught in RUSS 110 and 120. For motivated students. Study of Russian grammar; practice in conversation, reading, and composition. Recommended for prospective seekers of the Advanced Language Certificate and prospective majors in Russian and in Russian and East European Studies.  L1, L2  0 Course cr
HTBA

RUSS 1500a, Third-Year Russian I  Constantine Muravnik

Intensive practice in reading, conversation, and composition accompanied by in-depth review and refinement of grammar. Readings from nineteenth-century history and current events are used as the basis of structured conversation, composition, and grammatical practice. Oral examinations and individual and group projects.  After RUSS 140 or 145 or equivalent.  L5  1½ Course cr
MWF 11:35am-12:50pm

RUSS 1600a, Fourth-Year Russian I  Anastasia Selemeneva

The goal of this course is to enable students to discuss a variety of concrete and abstract topics such as personal and academic life, social and cultural issues relevant for contemporary Russia in their historical perspective. You will be viewing and discussing fragments of documentaries and feature films, using authentic mass media and fragments from modern Russian literature. All materials for this course have been designed to improve functional competence in speaking, listening, reading and writing by providing culturally-enriched context. After RUSS 151 or equivalent.  L5
MWF 11:35am-12:25pm

* RUSS 1750a / HUMS 1750a, Reading the Russian Revolution  Constantine Muravnik

The course explores the complex political and social landscape of the Russian Revolution of 1917 through the multiple and shifting perspectives of its main participants from Nicholas II to Lenin. All of the participants of the Revolution understood the immense significance of the changes taking place in front of them in 1917; many took detailed notes of conversations, actions, and events in which they participated or which they witnessed. Later, many reworked these notes into meticulous memoirs and histories. The expected subjectivity of these documents, as well as the contradictory nature of the opinions expressed in them—but generally, not the facts—highlight the complexity of the situation they describe. The readings chosen for the course represent the entire political spectrum of the Russian Revolution from the extreme right to extreme left. They chronologically document the precipitous progression of the events starting with the murder of Rasputin, carried out by the Monarchists and one member of the royal family on the eve of 1917, and ending with the Bolshevik coup d’état in October 1917. They trace the gradual shift of the epicenter of the Revolution from right to left until the Revolution ends or succeeds (it depends on the point of view) in Lenin’s gaining full control over the country on the brink of the Civil War. Prerequisites: Six semesters of Russian or permission of the instructor.  L5, HU  RP
MW 4pm-5:15pm

RUSS 2312a / CPLT 2530a / HIST 1260a / HUMS 2550a / RSEE 2312a, Tolstoy's War and Peace TR  Staff

This course is a semester-long study of the quintessential big Russian novel, Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace (1869).  Set against the backdrop of Napoleon’s failed 1812 Russian campaign, the novel is a sweeping panorama of nineteenth-century Russian society and an unforgettable gallery of artfully drawn characters.  It also poses profound philosophical and moral questions.  What are the limits of individual agency, both in private life and in grand political arenas?  Do historical events have identifying causes?  What is a meaningful, well-lived life?  We also explore Tolstoy’s strategies for fictionalizing history.  What myths does he destroy and construct?  And how is this patriotic war epic also an imperial novel?  Reading the novel closely, we situate it both in its historical context and in our contemporary world.  Secondary materials include readings in history, political theory, philosophy, international relations, and literary criticism. All readings and class discussions in English.  No prerequisites required.   HU  0 Course cr
HTBA

* RUSS 3316a / CPLT 3003a / EALL 2880a / EAST 3250a / RSEE 316 / RSEE 3316a, Socialist '80s: Aesthetics of Reform in China and the Soviet Union  Jinyi Chu

This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to the study of the complex cultural and political paradigms of late socialism from a transnational perspective by focusing on the literature, cinema, and popular culture of the Soviet Union and China in 1980s. How were intellectual and everyday life in the Soviet Union and China distinct from and similar to that of the West of the same era? How do we parse “the cultural logic of late socialism?” What can today’s America learn from it? Examining two major socialist cultures together in a global context, this course queries the ethnographic, ideological, and socio-economic constituents of late socialism. Students analyze cultural materials in the context of Soviet and Chinese history. Along the way, we explore themes of identity, nationalism, globalization, capitalism, and the Cold War. Students with knowledge of Russian and Chinese are encouraged to read in original languages. All readings are available in English.   WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:25pm

* RUSS 3329a / HIST 3498a / MMES 3300a / RSEE 3329a, Introduction to Modern Central Asia  Claire Roosien

An overview of the history of modern Central Asia—modern-day Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. This course shows Central Asia to be a pivotal participant in some of the major global issues of the 20th and 21st centuries, from environmental degradation and Cold War, to women’s emancipation and postcolonial nation-building, to religion and the rise of mass society. It also includes an overview of the region’s longer history, of the conquests by the Russian and Chinese empires, the rise of Islamic modernist reform movements, the Bolshevik victory, World War II, the perestroika, and the projects of post-Soviet nation-building. Readings in history are supplemented by such primary sources as novels and poetry, films and songs, government decrees, travelogues, courtly chronicles, and the periodical press. All readings and discussions in English.  HU
TTh 1:05pm-2:20pm