SLAVIC 189: The Other Russia: Twenty-First Century Films, Fictions, States of Mind

Update, 4/23/24: Please note that this class will not have a regularly scheduled section meeting on top of the Wednesday 3-5 class. We will add in occasional additional meetings, including for our community engagement work, but they will be scheduled around students' other commitments.

 

 

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Course goals:

To acquaint students with contemporary Russian culture, with an emphasis on cultural expressions of freedom and dissent and on the legacies of unofficial Soviet culture.

Course format:

Two-hour seminar meeting, which mixes short lectures with open discussion; additional small group discussion sections weekly.

Typical enrollees:

This course is primarily designed for undergraduates with some knowledge of Russian literature or history, but it does not assume that knowledge. All material is in English translation, with excerpts in the original made available to students who have some knowledge of Russian. Graduate students may enroll, and I will work with you to determine appropriate assignments.

When is course typically offered?

Typically offered every other year.

What can students expect from you as an instructor?

Students can expect me to be fully engaged with their learning process, eager to share the material assembled for the course, and eager to learn from you about what we are reading, watching, and discussing in class.

Assignments and grading:

Writing assignments: one very short paper (1-2 pp.); two short papers (3-4 pp.) on assigned topics or texts; longer paper (6-8 pp.).  For all assignments, there will be several possible topics to choose among. Graduate students may choose to write a single long seminar paper; please define that topic relatively early in the term, meet with me to discuss it before the end of October, and hand in a proposal with bibliography by Thanksgiving.

In previous iterations of the course, we have had an interview project. Students worked in pairs or in groups to interview peers living in in a Russian-speaking region via Zoom. The goal would be to understand what poems, films, fictions, memoirs, and artwork have influenced their states of mind, and to learn first-hand what they read, see, think about, and hope for. It is not yet clear whether this will be possible for fall, 2024, and we are considering other kinds of partnerships for instance with writers and critics who are safely outside of Russia, and whose works we may be reading. If it is possible to do this, we will set up these partnerships for you, prepare you with questions to get the conversations started, and be on hand to make sure things take off. A write-up incorporating reflections, images, and lessons learned from those conversations, or some other kind of creative response to the interviews, will be due at the end of the semester.

Sample reading list and syllabus: 

Here is the syllabus from the last time the course was offered. Some things will change in fall, 2024, including the possibility that there will be no interview project. And the reading list and overall orientation of the course will adjust to the reality of Russian culture in diaspora since February 24, 2022, with some material produced since 2022 added. But the old syllabus will give you a good idea of how the course will be shaped.

Enrollment cap, selection process, notification:

No enrollment limit, course has been seminar size in the past.

 

Absence and late work policies:

Attendance and participation are expected and are part of the grading rubric. Students are encouraged to stay home when sick, and to provide a note from HUH or a dean in case of class absence or a need to submit work late. No penalties will attach in such cases, and the professor and TF will work with students to catch them up on whatever is missed