ART 240H 1W Early Christian and Byzantine Art
4 credits
Gimenez-Berger, Alejandra – Koch Hall
Prerequisites: Art 110H or Art 120H or permission of instructor.
Explores the foundations of the Christian tradition in the visual arts in Late Antiquity (ca. 200-565 AD) and traces its development through the early, middle and late periods of Byzantine art. Emphasis will be placed on an examination of traditions that informed the art of the period.
POLI 204H 01 Russian Politics
4 credits
Hudson, George
The purpose of this class is to give the student an introduction to the politics of Russia. There are five general goals: (1) to enable the student to write and talk about the area in a well-informed manner; (2) to enable the student to read intelligently about Russia; (3) to aid the student's understanding of the forces which have shaped Soviet and Russian politics; (4) to enable the student to understand Russian and Soviet domestic policies; and (5) to help the student become a better analyst of American press and scholarly treatment of Russian-related issues. A mid-term and final exam plus a ten-page paper are required. Nrv 10/09
POLI 208S 01 Moscow: Politics & Planning
4 credits
Hudson, George
This interdisciplinary course intends to introduce the student to the processes of governing and conducting urban planning in one of the largest and most complex cities in the world--Moscow. A special addition to this class includes material comparing Moscow with Tbilisi, Georgia. By the end of the semester, students will be able to analyze a range of issues, including Moscow’s and Tbilisi’s history, contemporary planning, environmental control, social issues, architecture, and governance. The consideration of these and other issues will help the student to understand how Moscow and Tbilisi are facing the difficulties of the transition from the old, communist system to a new one, based upon principles of democracy and a market economy. Time will be spent learning and applying social science methods such as mapping techniques (using Geographical Information Systems), voting behavior analysis, and the preparation for field research in Tbilisi. Following the conclusion of the class, students will have the opportunity to participate in field research in Tbilisi, Georgia, for three weeks in June 2009. Students may receive credit for the class in either Political Science or Geography. There are no prerequisites.
NOTE: The course is also cross-listed with GEOG 232S. The class may be used to fulfill major or minor requirements in Political Science, Geography, Russian Area Studies, or Urban Studies. Students will be prepared to pursue an optional, follow-up field research experience to take place in Tbilisi, Georgia for three weeks in June, 2009. Rev 10/09
RCEP 495 01 Capstone Seminar Russian/Central Eurasian Studies
2 credits
Hudson, George
This course is intended to be among the final classes that RCEP majors take. It is thus reserved for senior majors, in most cases. The class objective is intentionally to draw the linkages among the various disciplines taught in RCEP by having the student read a key book from each of them and then composing a final 15-page paper on a theme that links the readings. If a student is able to do this successfully, then he/she will have fulfilled the requirement of passing the senior assessment. The course will be taught as a seminar, with sessions being led by different faculty from RCEP. It will meet seven times during the semester, roughly on an every-other-week basis, with time reserved at the end for the presentation and discussion of papers.
RUSS 112F 01 Beginning Russian II
5 credits
Zaharkov, Lila
Prerequisite: Russian 111 or placement.
Continuation of 111, practice with conversation and grammatical patterns. Ninety minutes per week of independent lab time required.
RUSS 130A/C 01 The Modern Hero
4 credits
Zaharkov, Lila
Taught in English. No prerequisites.
The “Modern Hero” in Russian culture begins with the fairy tale! What traits distinguish them from our concept of the heroic or anti-heroic? We’ll then proceed to the development of the Revolutionary hero who wants to singlehandedly change Russian society. Join us in this course as we encounter the representation of the hero/ine to the present day and perhaps 600 years into the future! While examining the “Modern Hero”, readers will be introduced to the best writers of 19th and 20th century Russian literature such as Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Zamjatin, Bulgakov, and others. No Russian is required! All readings, lectures, and discussion in English. Fulfills either the “A” Fine, Performing, and Literary Arts or “C” Non-Western Cultures General Education requirement.
RUSS 262/1.2 Introduction to Translation
2 credits
Zaharkov, Lila
Prerequisites: Russian 112 or 200 level placement
Introduction to the practice of good translation including more advanced topics in Russian grammar such as verbs of motion, verbal aspect and verb. Special attention to idiomatic expressions and formulaic speech patterns.
SOCI 301 01 Anthropology in East Europe
4 credits
Vodopivic, Nina
Wittenberg Fulbright Scholar in Residence, Slovenia
Pre-requisites: None
This course will explore societies and social changes in Central and South Eastern Europe. Guided by anthropological theory, ethnographic case studies, and interdisciplinary studies of transformations, the course will analyze socio cultural continuities and changes, similarities and differences of experiences and practices across the region. By identifying institutional and political changes, the emphasis will be on how these changes are understood, perceived, and lived by individuals in their everyday lives. We will explore parallels, interactions, and contrasts with other regions in the world. A focus on the way individuals contest, contradict, follow, oppose, and negotiate institutional changes points to people’s perspectives, understandings and points of views, questioning predominant imaginaries and singular political “truths” while also revealing the gap between the declared politics and practices of everyday life. Questions about how changes have affected social lives and shaped individual and group survival strategies will be organized around the important concept of identity. After introducing the region and contemporary trends in studying Central and South Eastern Europe topics discussed will include: memory and nostalgia, transformations of socialist factories into modern capitalist enterprises through listening to voices from production halls (From superheroes to tired bodies: voices from production halls), holidays and calendars (“Dedek Mraz or Santa Claus”) to see how political regimes mark time and space. We will explore how Eastern Europe survived without Coca Cola and MTV dealing with issues of consumption, tourism, shopping and smuggling, art and culture (movies and music), looking into issues of migrations (“Others” in Europe , What is the right color of passport?), nationalism, and applied issues of civil society, and NGOs exploring notions such as democracy, civil society and human rights.
SOCI 245C 01 Gender and Society
4 Credits
Vodopivic, Nina
Wittenberg Fulbright Scholar in Residence, Slovenia
Pre-requisites: None
The course will explore how gender structures societies and social changes, and what forms of gender relations and ideas about gender are shaped through and in these changes. The focus will be on women and men’s experiences in Central and South Eastern Europe. We will not look at present hierarchies, power relations and inequalities as “natural” and given but explore the ways in which they are constructed and reproduced. We will explore how gender ideologies and roles were (re)defined, perceived, and experienced through women and men’s experiences and perspectives and from their points of views. Attention will be paid to the gap between the proclaimed politics (“what is said”) and lived realities (“what is experienced and done”).Through case studies from across Central and East European region we will study gender and society from the perspective of the anthropology and sociology of gender and feminist studies.
After an overview of the most salient debates about gender issues in Central and South Eastern Europe, we will explore women and men's experiences focusing on State-gender relation, address women's movements and the rise of feminism in “East” and “West.” The following topics will be discussed: equality and difference, social construction of gender, gender roles and identities (Superheroes: workers, mothers and housewives), state-gender relations including state policies towards female sexuality and reproduction (“This is my body!”) including issues of abortion (legislation and practices - Slovenia, Poland), rape (as a weapon in a Yugoslav war), a private adoption market in babies (Ukraine, Romania), gender in relation to class and ethnicity, gender divisions of labor at work detecting how notions of “natural differences” are used for defining division of labor at work and at home, gender and migrations including gender and trafficking addressing also issues of human rights, slavery, labor and globalization.
