Russia Language and Culture Minor
2021 - 2022 Catalog
Russian Language and Culture minor
A minor in Russian language and culture requires at least eight courses. A student may not complete both a major in Russian area studies and a minor in Russian language and culture. In meeting the requirements of this interdisciplinary minor, a student must use at least nine credits that are not also used to meet the requirements of any other major or minor.
- Language: RUSS 111, 112, 261, 262, 301, 302
- Literature: Either 315 or 316.
- Culture Component: Two courses chosen from the following:
ARTH 380, when the topic is appropriate
HIST 220, 221, 222, 228, 322
LIT 215, 263, 264
RUSS 315, 316, 395
RAS 403, when the topic is appropriate
SOAN 245, 246, 260
- Language:
- RUSS 111 - Elementary Russian I
Credits 4 Faculty Rubina A basic course in Russian which includes the spoken language, fundamental grammar and reading.
- RUSS 112 - Elementary Russian II
Credits 4 Prerequisite RUSS 111 or its equivalent Faculty Rubina A basic course in Russian which includes the spoken language, fundamental grammar and reading.
- RUSS 261 - Intermediate Russian I
Credits 4 Prerequisite RUSS 112 or its equivalent Faculty Rubina Continuation of RUSS 112 with some attention to Russian literature and culture.
- RUSS 262 - Intermediate Russian II
FDR FL Credits 4 Prerequisite RUSS 261 or its equivalent Faculty Rubina Continuation of RUSS 261 with some attention to Russian literature and culture.
- RUSS 301 - Advanced Russian I
Credits 3 Prerequisite RUSS 262 or equivalent Faculty Rubina Speaking, reading and writing of Russian with increased attention to Russian literature and advanced grammar.
- RUSS 302 - Advanced Russian II
Credits 3 Prerequisite RUSS 301 Faculty Rubina A continuation of RUSS 301.
- Literature:
- RUSS 315 - 19th-Century Russian Literature
FDR HL Credits 3 Prerequisite RUSS 262 or equivalent Faculty Brodsky The novels, plays, poetry, and literary movements of the 19th century. Authors examined include Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, and Chekhov. Conducted in Russian.
- RUSS 316 - 20th-Century Russian Literature
FDR HL Credits 3 Prerequisite RUSS 262 or equivalent Faculty Brodsky The novels, plays, poetry, and literary movements of the 20th century. Solzhenitsyn, Babel, Platonov, Mandelshtam, and Tsvetaeva are examples of authors examined. Conducted in Russian.
- Culture Component:
- ARTH 394 - Seminar in Art History
when the topic is appropriate
FDR HA Credits 3-4 Research in selected topics in art history with written and oral reports. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.
- HIST 220 - Imperial Russia, 1682 to 1917
FDR HU Credits 3 Faculty Bidlack From the rise to power of Peter the Great, Russia's first emperor, through the fall of the Romanov dynasty.
- HIST 221 - Soviet Russia, 1917 to 1991
FDR HU Credits 3 Prerequisite Open to sophomores, juniors and seniors.
Faculty Bidlack The revolutions of 1917, the emergence of the Soviet system, the Stalinist period, Stalin's successors, and the eventual collapse of the USSR.
- HIST 222 - Decline and Fall of the Soviet Union and the Resurgence of Russia
FDR HU Credits 3 Prerequisite Note: Completion of HIST 102 is recommended but not required Faculty Bidlack This course analyzes the reasons for the decline of the Soviet Union commencing in the latter part of the Brezhnev era and its collapse under the weight of the failed reforms of Gorbachev. It further traces the fragmentation of the USSR into 15 republics and the simultaneous devolution of authority within the Russian Republic under Yeltsin. The course concludes with the remarkable reassertion of state power under Putin up to the present. Students write an essay assessing the Yeltsin transition and engage in a class debate at the end of the term on the prospects for Russia's future.
- HIST 228 - Women in Russian History
FDR HU Credits 3 Faculty Bidlack Students read many accounts by and about Russian women to gain an understanding of how Russian women have been affected by wars, revolutions, and other major events and, simultaneously, how they have been agents of change from the beginnings Russian history up to the present.
- HIST 322 - Seminar in Russian History
Credits 3-4 Prerequisite Junior or senior standing. Note: Completion of HIST 102 or 221 is recommended but not required prior to taking HIST 322 Selected topics in Russian history, including but not limited to heroes and villains, Soviet biography, Stalin and Stalinism, the USSR in the Second World War and origins of the Cold War, the KGB, and the decline and fall of the Soviet Union and the re-emergence of Russia. May be repeated for degree and major credit if the topics are different.
- LIT 215 - 20th-Century Russian Literature in Translation
FDR HL Credits 3 Prerequisite Completion of FW FDR requirement Faculty Brodsky Selected Russian literary masterpieces (short stories, plays and novels). Authors include Olesha, Babel, Nabokov, and Solzhenitsyn.
- LIT 263 - 19th-Century Russian Literature in Translation
FDR HL Credits 3 Prerequisite Completion of FW requirement Faculty Brodsky A study of major works by Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov.
- LIT 264 - Russian Short Fiction
FDR HL Credits 3 Prerequisite Completion of FW requirement Faculty Brodsky A survey in translation of Russian short fiction from the 17th century into the 21st century, concentrating on short fiction from the 19th and 20th centuries. Students explore major themes such as conformity and resistance to power.
- RUSS 315 - 19th-Century Russian Literature
FDR HL Credits 3 Prerequisite RUSS 262 or equivalent Faculty Brodsky The novels, plays, poetry, and literary movements of the 19th century. Authors examined include Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, and Chekhov. Conducted in Russian.
- RUSS 316 - 20th-Century Russian Literature
FDR HL Credits 3 Prerequisite RUSS 262 or equivalent Faculty Brodsky The novels, plays, poetry, and literary movements of the 20th century. Solzhenitsyn, Babel, Platonov, Mandelshtam, and Tsvetaeva are examples of authors examined. Conducted in Russian.
- RUSS 395 - Topics in Russian Literature
FDR HL Credits 3 Prerequisite RUSS 262 or equivalent A seminar on a particular author, period, or genre. Recent topics have included Russian War Stories, Russian Childhood, The Art and Craft of Propaganda, and The Caucasus. The subject changes annually. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different. Conducted in Russian.
- RAS 403 - Directed Individual Study
when the topic is appropriate
Credits 3 Prerequisite Permission of the Russian Area Studies Committee Faculty Staff Directed Individual Study.
- SOAN 245 - European Politics and Society
FDR SS4 Credits 3 Faculty Jasiewicz A comparative analysis of European political systems and social institutions. The course covers the established democracies of western and northern Europe, the new democracies of southern and east-central Europe, and the post-Communist regimes in eastern and southeastern Europe. Mechanisms of European integration are also discussed with attention focused on institutions such as European Union, NATO, OSCE, and Council of Europe.
- SOAN 246 - Post-Communism and New Democracies
FDR SS4 Credits 3 Faculty Jasiewicz A comparative analysis of transition from Communism in the countries of the former Soviet bloc. Cases of successful and unsuccessful transitions to civil society, pluralist democracy, and market economy are examined. The comparative framework includes analysis of transition from non-Communist authoritarianism and democratic consolidation in selected countries of Latin America, the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and South Africa.
Take either
Two courses chosen from the following: