RUSS 112F Beginning Russian II
5 hours
Zaharkov, Lila
Prerequisites: 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 Real to Reel: Russian War in Film
4 credits
Zaharkov, Lila
Pre-requisites: None. Taught in English.
Conflict is the foundation of drama. War, with all its horrors and triumphs, provides an effective setting for conflicts internal as well as external. The unfortunate impact of war throughout Russia’s history has permeated its collective consciousness and created a culture that both grieves and celebrates simultaneously, accepting loss and finding hope and small victories in the midst of destruction. The Russian films in this course deal frankly with the anguish of war yet manage to hearten the viewer by the resiliency of the human spirit. All films have English subtitles and all coursework and discussion is in English. Due to the explicit depiction of war atrocities, students sensitive to violent imagery are cautioned in their choice of this class.
MUSIC 212A/C Russian Music, from Glinka to Shostakovich
4 hours
Siek, Stephen
Pre-requisites: None
An introductory survey of the major composers and musical trends in nineteenth-century Russia, with a significant portion of its content devoted to composers, performers, and the musical politics of the U. S. S. R. in the twentieth century. No prior musical knowledge is assumed, and the course is designed to be accessible to the general student. Composers discussed in detail will include Glinka, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Stravinsky, Prokofieff, Khachaturian, and Shostakovich. Conditions under which Soviet musicians have lived and worked in the twentieth century will also be examined. In addition to a midterm and a final, the course will include two oral presentations—one larger and one smaller. The two required texts are A History of Russian Music from Karminskaya to Babi Yar by Francis Maes (University of California Press), and Stormy Applause: Making Music in a Worker’s State by Rostislav Dubinsky (Northeastern University Press). This course has been approved for either “A” or “C” credit.
RUSS 262/1.2 Art of Translation
2 hours
Zaharkov, Lila
Prerequisites: Russian 263
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.
RUSS 264/1.1 Voices from the Past
2 hours
Zaharkov, Lila
Prerequisites: Russian 260
Students will study the main currents of Russian history through readings, biographies, and films. Additional grammatical topics for reading Russian will be included.
ECON 275 Economies in Transition
4 hours
Frost, Marcia
Prerequisites: Econ 190
Transition economics, a new field since the early 1990s, explores the process and results of the decisions of the nation states of the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and East Asia to move from centrally-planned toward market and from socialist toward capitalist economies. A central focus of the course will be the examination of the strategies pursued and progress of transition in these countries at the macro and sectoral levels, the institutions that have evolved, and the human welfare consequences of the transition process. This course meets the non-Western goal (C) and is cross-listed with East Asian, Russian, and Central Eurasian Area Studies; offered every 3rd semester. Writing Intensive.
Students may register for a cultures and languages across the curriculum module. See the language descriptions for details about the CLAC Program.
SOCI 390C 1W Russian and Central Eurasian Societies and Cultures
4 hours
Pankhurst, Jerry
Pre-requisites: 3 hours in Soci or RCEP major or minor
Course focus: Religion and Politics in the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet states from the Baltics through Russia to the Muslim-dominated Central Asian societies. Special attention will be given to the relationship between the state institutions, Russian Orthodoxy and Islam. (Brief introductions to the general characteristics of Orthodoxy and Islam will be part of the course. Students with special interests in other faiths in post-Soviet Eurasia [Catholicism, Lutheranism, Protestantism, Buddhism, etc.] will have the option to investigate their situations in the term project.)
RCEP 495
2 credirs
Pre-requisites: senior standing or permission of instructor
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.
Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum: CLAC
Interested in using your foreign language skills to earn extra credit connected to this course and to learn more about the subject matter of this course at the same time? If so, register for the CLAC components offered here. You don’t need to be fluent in the language to exercise this option. In fact, you need only to have completed two credits beyond 112 or to be currently enrolled in a course beyond 112. Your work will be guided by your professor and by faculty from the Languages Department. The CLAC module is designed for intermediate level language learners.
This course offers a foreign language component or CLAC component in the following languages: Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, French, German
Students who select the CLAC option will complete work in a foreign language that will supplement the work in this course. Students who complete the CLAC assignments successfully will earn 1 credit for the CLAC component.
To register for the CLAC component, you must also register for a one-credit LANG 230 CLAC module listed among the Language Department’s offerings. Meeting times and location will be arranged at the beginning of the semester. Credit for CLAC modules may be counted toward the requirements for International Studies and as elective credit in the Language department.
