RUSS B001  ELEMENTARY RUSSIAN INTENSIVE  (1.5 Credits)

Jane Shaw, Marina Rojavin

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

Study of basic grammar and syntax. Fundamental skills in speaking, reading, writing, and oral comprehension are developed. Eight hours a week including conversation sections and language laboratory work.

(Offered: Fall 2024)

RUSS B002  ELEMENTARY RUSSIAN INTENSIVE  (1.5 Credits)

Irina Walsh, Jane Shaw

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

Study of basic grammar and syntax. Fundamental skills in speaking, reading, writing, and oral comprehension are developed. Eight hours a week including conversation sections and language laboratory work.

(Offered: Spring 2025)

RUSS B101  INTERMEDIATE RUSSIAN  (1.0 Credit)

Brian Kilgour

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

Continuing development of fundamental skills with emphasis on vocabulary expansion in speaking and writing. Readings in Russian classics and contemporary works. Five hours a week

(Offered: Fall 2024)

RUSS B102  INTERMEDIATE RUSSIAN  (1.0 Credit)

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

Continuing development of fundamental skills with emphasis on vocabulary expansion in speaking and writing. Readings in Russian classics and contemporary works. Five hours a week.

(Offered: Spring 2025)

RUSS B201  ADVANCED RUSSIAN  (1.0 Credit)

Irina Walsh

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

Intensive practice in speaking and writing skills using a variety of modern texts and contemporary films and television. Emphasis on self-expression and a deeper understanding of grammar and syntax. Five hours a week.

(Offered: Fall 2024)

RUSS B202  ADVANCED RUSSIAN  (1.0 Credit)

Irina Walsh

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

Intensive practice in speaking and writing skills using a variety of modern texts and contemporary films and television. Emphasis on self-expression and a deeper understanding of grammar and syntax. Five hours a week.

(Offered: Spring 2025)

RUSS B216  THE SOVIET THAW AND ITS CULTURE  (1.0 Credit)

Irina Walsh

Named by famed Soviet writer Ilya Ehrenburg, the Thaw (Ottepel) was a brief period in Soviet history spanning the late 1950s and early 1960s, when social, political and cultural changes led to more openness and freedom in Soviet society. This course focuses on this brief, yet consequential time in Soviet history. The main text for the course will be the 2013 TV series The Thaw (dir. Valery Todorovsky). As we watch this show, we will discuss its major conflicts and the characters’ lives, and we will look into all the allusions to various Soviet texts and realia. As such, we will explore Stalin’s repressions, de-Stalinization, the rehabilitation of Stalin’s political prisoners, Gagarin’s orbiting of the Earth, the Cold War, Khrushchev’s policies during the Thaw, artistic movements, government censorship, and fashion. Through articles, literary and non-literary texts, documentaries and feature films, in addition to the TV series, participants in this course will expand their understanding of this time period in Soviet history and Russian culture in general. Participants will also compare and contrast culturally-accepted norms, behaviors, and taboos in Soviet Russia to those characteristic of contemporary Russian society. All texts and class interaction will be in Russian.

(Offered: Fall 2024)

RUSS B220  CHORNOBYL  (1.0 Credit)

Jose Vergara

This course introduces students to the Chornobyl nuclear disaster, its consequences, and its representations across a range of cultures and media through a comparative lens and as a global phenomenon. Culture meets ecology, science, history, and politics. Students will contribute to a digital exhibition and physical installation. Taught in translation. No knowledge of Russian required.

RUSS B222  LANGUAGE POLICY ISSUES AND THE RUSSOPHONE WORLD  (1.0 Credit)

Irina Walsh

This course provides an introduction to the study of language policy and language planning in the countries where Russian is or has once been used. The course will offer a survey of current theoretical approaches to language maintenance, bilingualism and language shift, as well as language spread and language death. Having a rich history of language interaction, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and post-Soviet Russia will be the major foci in this course. We will explore how Russian was often used as a tool for colonization. We will follow the development of various writing systems by Soviet linguists, mostly in the 1920s and 1930s. We will also look at the interactions between Russian and languages currently used in Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Baltic states, and in parts of the Russian Federation. All texts and class interactions will be in Russian.

RUSS B224  THE MEANING OF LIFE AND THE RUSSIAN NOVEL  (1.0 Credit)

Jose Vergara

This course examines profound questions about the nature and purpose of human existence raised by preeminent 19th-century Russian authors such as Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol, Mikhail Lermontov, Karolina Pavlova, Ivan Turgenev, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Lev Tolstoy, and Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. (Content varies somewhat each time the course is offered.) Topics include the definition of good and evil, the meaning of freedom, the role of rationality and the irrational in human behavior, power dynamics between individuals and in relation to the state, and the relationship of art to life. In reading and closely analyzing texts that became the foundation for the Russian novelistic tradition, we explore how these works and their contexts speak to contemporary issues, our lives, and eternal, accursed questions. No knowledge of Russian required. Open to all.

RUSS B226  PERESTROIKA AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION  (1.0 Credit)

Irina Walsh

RUSS226 examines the last decade of the Soviet Union and its political, social, and cultural issues. You will learn about Brezhnev’s last years in the Politburo, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the summer 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Perestroika, or “rebuilding,” which began with Mikhail Gorbachev’s rise to power in 1985, shifted every aspect of living in the Soviet Union, including the economic situation, censorship, and ethnic tensions in the Soviet republics, and eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Empire. Through prominent films and writing of the 1980s, you will gain an understanding of the Soviet system in its final stage. All texts and class interaction will be in Russian. Prerequisite: RUSS B201 or permission of instructor.

RUSS B232  COAL, OIL, NUCLEAR: NARRATIVE AFTERLIVES  (1.0 Credit)

Jose Vergara

Coal. Oil. Nuclear energy. These items give shape to our everyday lives in countless ways. They impact our health, our politics, and our very survival on earth.. Nevertheless, because these resources permeate nearly every aspect of our existence, the human mind can struggle to comprehend them in their totality. In this course, we’ll explore texts that engage with our environment to help us bring humans’ relationship to these materials into focus. Scientific, historical, and economic studies tend to focus on their scale and widespread impact. Reading stories, watching

RUSS B235  THE SOCIAL DYNAMICS OF RUSSIAN  (1.0 Credit)

Irina Walsh

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World

An examination of the social factors that influence the language of Russian conversational speech, including contemporary Russian media (films, television, and the Internet). Basic social strategies that structure a conversation are studied, as well as the implications of gender and education on the form and style of discourse. Prerequisite: RUSS B201, RUSS 102 also required if taken concurrently with RUSS 201.

RUSS B240  RUSSIAN THROUGH ART  (1.0 Credit)

Irina Walsh

Course examines visual art in the Russian Empire of the 19th and early 20th century, in the Soviet Union, and in the Post-Soviet space. You will learn about major Russian-speaking painters and their work, as well as about important museums, collectors, and exhibits, both in and outside of Russia. You will learn about peredvizhniki, Mir iskusstva, avantgarde artists, socialist realism in art, Sots-Art, the Lianozovskaya group, and other important movements in the history of art in the last two hundred years. All texts and class interaction will be in Russian.

RUSS B252  LOVE, DEATH, JUSTICE, & RUSSIAN LITERATURE  (1.0 Credit)

Jose Vergara

Division: Humanities

This Inside-Out course will be conducted inside a correctional institution and will bring inside (SCI Chester) and outside students (BMC) into dialogue. Can Russian novels and short stories help us understand our lives? We’ll closely read and analyze works by several Russian authors and discuss how they each treat themes including life, death, family, love, the individual and society, generational conflicts, crime and punishment, and power dynamics. Finally, our broad goal will be to explore how these texts speak to contemporary issues, our lives, and eternal problems that all of humanity faces—what Russians call the “accursed questions.”

RUSS B258  SOVIET AND EASTERN EUROPEAN CINEMA OF THE 1960S  (1.0 Credit)

Timothy Harte

This course examines 1960s Soviet and Eastern European “New Wave” cinema, which won worldwide acclaim through its treatment of war, gender, and aesthetics. Films from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Yugoslavia will be viewed and analyzed, accompanied by readings on film history and theory. All films shown with subtitles; no knowledge of Russian or previous study of film required.

RUSS B271  CHEKHOV: HIS SHORT STORIES AND PLAYS IN TRANSLATION  (1.0 Credit)

Timothy Harte

Division: Humanities

A study of the themes, structure and style of Chekhov’s major short stories and plays. The course will also explore the significance of Chekhov’s prose and drama in the English-speaking world, where this masterful Russian writer is the most staged playwright after Shakespeare. All readings and lectures in English.

RUSS B316  RUSSIAN AND SOVIET SHORT STORY  (1.0 Credit)

Marina Rojavin

This new Russian language course will explore the nature and evolution of the Russian short story from the beginning of the 19th century through the beginning of the 21st century. We will begin with the stories of Pushkin and Gogol and continue with Garshin who proved instrumental in developing the genre to its modern form. Students will then read stories by Chekhov, Bunin, Nabokov, Babel, Shukshin, Tolstaya, Pelevin — writers with distinguished voices who introduced a variety of groundbreaking themes, characters, and plots and whose art reveals the possibilities of the genre. All the readings and discussion will be in Russian.

RUSS B319  ADVANCED RUSSIAN THROUGH CURRENT EVENTS  (0.5 Credit)

Irina Walsh

This course offers an exploration of contemporary social, political, ecological, and cultural issues in Russia and on the territories of former Soviet Republics. By working with authentic materials, including articles and video clips, students will solidify Advanced-level reading, listening, writing and speaking skills (ACTFL 2012). All texts and class interactions will be in Russian.

RUSS B365  RUSSIAN AND SOVIET FILM CULTURE  (1.0 Credit)

Marina Rojavin

Division: Humanities

This seminar explores the cultural and theoretical trends that have shaped Russian and Soviet cinema from the silent era to the present day. The focus will be on Russia’s films and film theory, with discussion of the aesthetic, ideological, and historical issues underscoring Russia’s cinematic culture. Taught in Russian. No previous study of cinema required, although RUSS 201 or the equivalent is required.

(Offered: Spring 2025)

RUSS B380  SEMINAR IN RUSSIAN STUDIES  (1.0 Credit)

Irina Walsh

Division: Humanities

An examination of a focused topic in Russian literature such as a particular author, genre, theme, or decade. Introduces students to close reading and detailed critical analysis of Russian literature in the original language. Readings in Russian. Some discussions and lectures in Russian. Prerequisites: RUSS 102 and one 200-level Russian literature course.

RUSS B390  RUSSIAN FOR PRE-PROFESSIONALS I  (1.0 Credit)

Marina Rojavin

Division: Humanities

This capstone to the overall language course sequence is designed to develop linguistic and cultural proficiency in Russian to the advanced level or higher, preparing students to carry out academic study or research in Russian in a professional field. Suggested Preparation: study abroad in Russia for at least one summer, preferably one semester; and/or certified proficiency levels of 'advanced-low' or 'advanced-mid' in two skills, one of which must be oral proficiency.

(Offered: Fall 2024)

RUSS B391  RUSSIAN FOR PRE-PROFESSIONALS II  (1.0 Credit)

Marina Rojavin

Division: Humanities

Second part of year long capstone language sequence designed to develop linguistic and cultural proficiency to the “advanced level,” preparing students to carry out advanced academic study or research in Russian in a professional field. Prerequisite: RUSS 390 or equivalent.

(Offered: Spring 2025)

RUSS B398  SENIOR ESSAY  (1.0 Credit)

Jane Shaw

Independent research project designed and conducted under the supervision of a departmental faculty member. May be undertaken in either fall or spring semester of senior year.

RUSS B399  SENIOR CONFERENCE  (1.0 Credit)

Jane Shaw

Division: Humanities

Exploration of an interdisciplinary topic in Russian culture. Topic varies from year to year. Requirements may include short papers, oral presentations, and examinations.

(Offered: Spring 2025)

RUSS B403  SUPERVISED WORK  (1.0 Credit)

Irina Walsh, Marina Rojavin

Division: Humanities

(Offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2025)

RUSS H001  ELEMENTARY RUSSIAN INTENSIVE  (1.5 Credits)

Jane Shaw, Marina Rojavin

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

Study of basic grammar and syntax. Fundamental skills in speaking, reading, writing, and oral comprehension are developed. Seven hours a week including conversation sections and language laboratory work.

RUSS H002  ELEMENTARY RUSSIAN INTENSIVE  (1.5 Credits)

Jane Shaw, Marina Rojavin

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

Study of basic grammar and syntax. Fundamental skills in speaking, reading, writing, and oral comprehension are developed. Eight hours a week including conversation sections and language laboratory work.

RUSS H245  RUSSIA IN THE 20TH CENTURY  (1.0 Credit)

Linda Gerstein

Division: Humanities

Continuity and change in Russian and Soviet society since the 1890s. Major topics: the revolutionary period, the cultural ferment of the 1920s, Stalinism, the Thaw, the culture of dissent, and the collapse of the system.

(Offered: Spring 2025)

RUSS H249  THE SOVIET SYSTEM AND ITS DEMISE  (1.0 Credit)

Vladimir Kontorovich

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World

The Soviet system was inspired by some of the loftiest ideals of humanity. The entire society was redesigned so as to pursue common goals, rather than conflicting private objectives. The economy was run for people, not profits. The Soviet system is no more, but the ideas on which it was founded will probably always be with us. What does the largest social and economic experiment in history teach us? The course is 1/3 political science and 2/3 economics. Crosslisted: Economics, Russian Prerequisite(s): ECON 104, 105, or 106, or two one-semester courses in political science or history, or instructor consent

RUSS H356  TOPICS EUROPEAN HISTORY: THE RUSSIAN NOVEL  (1.0 Credit)

Linda Gerstein

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

(Offered: Fall 2024)