Spring 2021 Select Courses in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies

Note: The courses listed below are not an exhaustive list of courses being offered on the REEE region. Please see course explorer for additional classes.

 

Area Studies Courses

 

GER 575/GER 473: Protest Memory: Post-1989 Literature, Film, and Theory

Anke Pinkert

R 3:00 - 4:40 pm, online

In this seminar we discuss a diverse archive of post-1989 literature, film, and memorials in order to reexamine the so-called Peaceful Revolution and the interval year of ’89-90. More specifically, we ask what kind of cultural memories of street activism, resistance, and alternative social vision were left behind by the uprising in the GDR. Most scholarship in the last two decades has associated the legacies of 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and Germany’s reunification, viewing this historical break in terms of trauma, defeat, and takeover. Instead, we take our cue from memory studies which is currently shifting from a focus on violence and trauma to more hopeful legacies of social justice and political responsibility. Accordingly, in this course, we will explore how cultural archives (attuned to language, images and so forth) render the protest memory of 1989. Reading post-1989 literature and film, alongside theory, we also move further back into the 20th century to trace how specters of earlier progressive movements and utopian ideas impacted the unrest in ‘89-90. We conclude with the novel Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck, which deals with the long aftermath of 1989 through the lens of memory and the protests during the so-called refugee crisis in 2015.

 

HIST 259: Global History of the Cold War

Felix Cowan

MWF 9:00 - 9:50 am, 112 Gregory Hall

This course examines the Cold War (ca. 1945-91) from a global perspective. We will look at the political, social, cultural, and environmental history of superpower conflict between the United States of America and the Soviet Union in the twentieth century, focusing not just on events in Washington and Moscow but also the importance of developments around the world. This course will discuss major events in Cold War political history, but will also look at how the Cold War world affected everyday lives, social movements, cultural developments, and environmental changes in the USA, the USSR, and countries around the world.

 

HIST 354: Cultural History of Eastern Europe: The Best Novels and Films

Maria Todorova

TR 9:30-10:50 am, online

This course aims at introducing students to the political and cultural history of Eastern Europe during the 20th century through the most important films and novels produced in the region. Major topics will include war and revolution, with special attention to the revolutions of 1989 and the color revolutions that issued the current Ukrainian conflict, memory and identity, especially the Holocaust in Eastern Europe, the position of Islam, and ethnic diversity; economic and political relations with the West and Russia, and European Union accession; everyday life during communism and post-communism.

 

HIST 356: The Making of The Balkans: The Modern Balkans Through Film and Literature (19th-20th centuries)

Maria Todorova

TR 2:00-3:30 pm, online

History of the creation and development of the independent Balkan states during the 19th and 20th centuries. Special attention is given to Balkan nationalism, its roots, evolution and various manifestations. Other topics cover the modernization of the rural societies, ethnic conflict and/or accommodation, inter-Balkan relations, and the role of the great powers. Finally, a close look will be taken on contemporary developments in the Balkans, especially the Yugoslav crisis, the fall of communism and post-communist development. By discussing fictional work and films by Balkan authors, students will be introduced to the intellectual production of the region.

 

HIST 400: Catastrophe in Modern Times*

Peter Fritzsche

M/W 1:00-2:20 pm, online

This course takes an interdisciplinary look at the idea and reality of "catastrophe", beginning in the 18th century with the French Revolution and culminating in the COVID-19 pandemic (a daily catastrophe for many of us). It is a seminar style course and many of the assigned texts come from novels, plays, and films. The central questions the class seeks to answer is how and why is it that the Modern Age - seemingly defined by progress and confidence - has been so fascinated with the themes of catastrophe and destruction and how this "catastrophic thinking" has shaped political institutions and every-day life alike. Eastern European history is closely examined in the course: The Russian Revolution, the Gulag Archipelago, the World Wars, the collapse of the Soviet system, and the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s are all discussed. 

 

 

IS 461: Russian, East European, and Eurasian Bibliography and Research Methods

Kit Condill

F 1:00 - 2:50 pm, online

This course is intended to provide all necessary tools for the conduct of effective research in the field of Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies for both scholars and librarians. Relying on the rich bibliographic tradition of Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe, the latest techniques, strategies, databases and full-text options will be explored and explained. Topics include national bibliography, archival materials, émigré publications, rare books, open-Web resources, citation management tools, and web archiving, with particular emphasis on the transliteration systems, abbreviations, bibliographic and cataloging conventions, and constant troubleshooting that are essential to efficient REEES research. Attention is also paid to information architecture in general and the ways that historical, political, intellectual and technological phenomena affect access to published and unpublished research materials.

 

LAW 657: International Human Rights Law

Francis Boyle

MT 3:00 - 4:30 pm, online

Based primarily on a series of contemporary “real world” problems, the course introduces the student to the established and developing legal rules and procedures governing the protection of international human rights. Its thesis is that there exists a substantial body of substantive and procedural International Human Rights Law, and that lawyers, government officials, and concerned citizens should be familiar with the policies underlying this law and its enforcement, as well as with the potential it offers for improving the basic lot of human beings everywhere. Additionally, the course presupposes that the meaning of “human rights” is undergoing fundamental expansion, and therefore explores Marxist and Third World conceptions of human rights as well as those derived from the liberal West. Sequence and Prerequisites: None. Evaluation: Paper.

 

MUS 523A: Seminar in Musicology: Music and Cosmology

Donna Buchanan

R 1:00 - 3:50 pm, online

This course explores the position, function, and significance of music in culture-specific perceptions of the mystical, cosmological, and divine ordering of the universe in diverse locales and time periods. As such, it examines the place of sound, musical and otherwise, within large-scale epistemological systems variously embracing spirituality, religion, philosophy, ecology, mythology, (ethno-)astronomy, and morality. It addresses how music facilitates, maintains, enacts, or otherwise contributes to the belief constructs of various communities, often through sacred and secular rites, festivals, or celebrations; its symbolic play within such contexts; and its role in triggering the altered states of consciousness (such as dreaming, meditation, or trance) associated with healing, divination, and spiritual ecstasy. While readings will focus largely on genres and traditions outside the sphere of Euro-American classical music and its legacies, students are encouraged to pursue research projects dealing with any pertinent musical practice, genre, style, period, or composition. Meets the seminar requirement for MM/PhD Musicology students, and the advanced musicology requirement for the DMA.

 

REES 201: Introduction to Eastern Europe

Peter Wright

TR 1:30 - 2:50 pm, online

Interdisciplinary survey of Eastern Europe focusing mostly on the 20th century to the present, exploring issues of nationalism, socialism, post socialism and EU accession. Focuses on Central Europe and the Balkans, but also references the Baltic States, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. Students will learn about the region using perspectives and methodology from historical, economic, political, sociological and anthropological texts.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for: Social & Beh Sci - Soc Sci

 

RUSS 122/CWL 122: Russia and Black America

Richard Tempest

MW 3:00 - 3:50 pm, F 3:00 – 3:50, online

A survey of the interactions and intersections between key African American figures and cultural practices, and Russian imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet culture, in a historical, social, and political context, with emphasis on Russian-sourced cultural transfers that influenced and sometimes shaped the Black American experience and which functioned as the currency and medium of the African American–Russian connection.

 

RUSS 220: Golden Age of Russian Literature

David Cooper

TR 2:00 - 3:20 pm, online

Survey of Russian literature in the long 19th century; romanticism, realism, nationalism, orientalism, empire; writers may include Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Pavlova, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and others; reading and discussion in English.

 

RUSS 512: Russian Literature 1855-1905

Richard Tempest

MW 1:00 - 2:20, online

Graduate-level survey of Russian literature of the second half of the nineteenth century, tracing the emergence, blossom, and decline of the great Russian realist novel, as well as the social and ideological debates of the 1850s and 1860s that were that form's most significant context. Explores the emergence and varied meanings of the term "realism" in Russian literature and criticism of the nineteenth century and will cover the rise of the short form in the 1880s and then, of Russian Decadence/Symbolism in the 1890s. Key developments in Russian drama will also be covered: Ostrovskii, Sukhovo-Kobylin, Chekhov and the Moscow Art Theater.

 

SLAV 505: Old Church Slavonic

Laura Davies Brenier

TR 1:00 - 1:50, online

This course will be taught via Compass. This class is designed to give you a foundation in the development of Russian from its genesis in Proto-Slavic up to the modern-day language. The focus of the developmental period will be the 9th to 11th centuries, though the course touches on aspects of Slavic grammar and stylistics that occurred after this time, most notably from the 11-17th centuries and through to modern-day Russian. This course seeks to empower you in your knowledge of modern Russian by giving you the tools to discover how and why Russian is the way it is today. We will practice going through the development of Russian by examining texts in Old Church Slavonic and Old Russian. In doing so, we will see what the older reflexes of the language can tell us about modern usages. In addition, we will address the literary and historical importance of various genres of literature written during this time period.

 

SLAV 525: Problems in Slavic Literature: Slavic Folklore

David Cooper

W 3:00 - 4:50, online

This course covers major genres of folk songs and prose connected to calendar and life rituals, folk beliefs, and entertainment in Slavic cultures, along with significant analytical and theoretical approaches to their study. Students will read folkloric texts in the original for Slavic languages they know and in translation for others.

 

THEA 562: Chekhov in Translation and Adaptation

Valleri Robinson

TR 10:00 – 11:30, online

This course focuses on the dramaturgical analysis, performances, and adaptations of Chekhov's short stories and major plays in English translation. Students will read and analyze translations and adaptations of Chekhov's work for stage and film performance, study various approaches to Chekhov in performance, and develop their own adaptations of Chekhov's short stories. Through this course, students will be introduced to adaptations of Chekhov by Tanya Saracho, Inua Ellams, Maria Irene Fornes, Wendy Wasserstein, Annie Baker, Aaron Posner, and others.

 

TURK 272/ANTH 272/GLBL 272/SAME 272: Language and Culture in Turkey

Ayse Ozcan

R 12:00 - 1:20 pm, online

We will examine the complexities of Turkish modernity from a holistic perspective to better comprehend how European, Central Asian and Middle Eastern cultural influences, continuities, and transformations have impacted modern Turkish language and culture through the legacy of the Turkish-Islamic cosmology.

 

WGGP 581/GWS 512/SOCW 581: Gender Relations & Intl Dev*

Charles Fogelman

R 2:00 - 4:50 pm, online

Interdisciplinary seminar examining theoretical and empirical research on gender and the transformation of social and economic structures. Students will develop a comparative perspective on issues of women and public policy by contrasting and comparing such policies in North and South America, Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, and Africa.

* course may include REEES content; check with your advisor or FLAS coordinator on whether this course meets necessary requirements for degrees or fellowships.

 

Language Courses

 

Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian

BCS 102: First Year Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian II

MTWR 10:00 – 10:50 am, online

 

BCS 202: Second Year Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian II

MTWR 11:00 – 11:50 am, online

 

Czech

CZCH 202: Second-year Czech II

MWF 11:30 am – 12:20 pm, online

 

Polish

POL 102: Elementary Polish II

MTWR 10:00 – 10:50 am, online

 

POL 202: Second Yr Polish II

MTWR 12:00 – 12:50 pm, online

 

Russian

RUSS 102: First-Year Russian II

MTWR 11:00 – 11:50 am, online

MTWR 1:00 – 1:50 pm, online

 

RUSS 202: Second-Year Russian II

MTWR 10:00 – 10:50 am, online

 

RUSS 302: Third-Year Russian II

MTWR 11:00 – 11:50 am, online

 

RUSS 402: Fourth-Year Russian II

MTWR 11:00 – 11:50 am, online

 

RUSS 502: Russian for Grad Students II

TR 11:00 am – 12:20 pm, online

 

Turkish

TURK 202: Elementary Turkish II

MTWR 10:00-10:50 am, online

 

TURK 404: Intermediate Turkish II

MTWR 11:00 – 11:50 am, online

 

TURK 406: Advanced Turkish III

MW 1:00 – 2:20 pm, online

 

Ukrainian

UKR 102: Basic Ukrainian II

MTWR 10:00 – 10:50 am, online

 

UKR 202: Second-Year Ukrainian II

MTWR 10:00 – 10:50 am, online

 

Yiddish

YDSH 104: Intermediate Yiddish II

Arranged time, online