Columbia-Barnard Slavic Dept Courses 2021-2022

RUSS UN1101 FIRST-YEAR RUSSIAN I. 5.00 points.

Grammar, reading, composition, and conversation

RUSS UN1102 FIRST-YEAR RUSSIAN II. 5.00 points.

Grammar, reading, composition, and conversation

RUSS UN2101 SECOND-YEAR RUSSIAN I. 5.00 points.

Prerequisites: RUSS UN1102 Prerequisites: For V1201: RUSS V1102 or the equivalent. For V1202: RUSS V1201 or the equivalent Drill practice in small groups.
Prerequisites: RUSS UN1102 or the equivalent. Drill practice in small groups. Reading, composition, and grammar review.Off-sequence

RUSS UN2102 SECOND-YEAR RUSSIAN II. 5.00 points.

Prerequisites: RUSS UN2101 RUSS V1102 or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: RUSS UN2101 or the equivalent. Drill practice in small groups. Reading, composition, and grammar review

RUSS UN3101 THIRD-YEAR RUSSIAN I. 4.00 points.

Limited enrollment.

Prerequisites: RUSS UN2102 RUSS 2102 or the equivalent, and the instructor's permission.
Prerequisites: RUSS UN2102 or the equivalent, and the instructor's permission. Recommended for students who wish to improve their active command of Russian. Emphasis on conversation and composition. Reading and discussion of selected texts and videotapes. Lectures. Papers and oral reports required. Conducted entirely in Russian

RUSS UN3102 THIRD-YEAR RUSSIAN II. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: RUSS UN2102 RUSS V3101 or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: RUSS UN2102 or the equivalent and the instructors permission. Enrollment limited. Recommended for students who wish to improve their active command of Russian. Emphasis on conversation and composition. Reading and discussion of selected texts and videotapes. Lectures. Papers and oral reports required. Conducted entirely in Russian

LING UN3101 INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS. 3.00 points.

An introduction to the study of language from a scientific perspective. The course is divided into three units: language as a system (sounds, morphology, syntax, and semantics), language in context (in space, time, and community), and language of the individual (psycholinguistics, errors, aphasia, neurology of language, and acquisition). Workload: lecture, weekly homework, and final examination

LING UN3102 Endangered Languages in the Global City: Lang, Culture, and Migration in Contempary NYC. 3.00 points.

Of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages – representing migrations and historical developments thousands of years old – the majority are oral, little-documented, and increasingly endangered under the onslaught of global languages like English. This course will take the unprecedented, paradoxical linguistic capital of New York City as a lens for examining how immigrants form communities in a new land, how those communities are integrated into the wider society, and how they grapple with linguistic and cultural loss. Interdisciplinary with an experiential learning component, the course will focus on texts, materials, encounters, and fieldwork with three of the city’s newest and least-studied indigenous immigrant communities (indigenous Latin Americans, Himalayans, and Central Asians).Indigeneity, though often invisible or perceived as marginal in global cities like New York, is in fact pervasive and fundamental. Cities now constitute a crucial site for understanding migration and cultural change, with language a vehicle for culture. Studying cultures only in situ (i.e. in their homelands) risks missing a crucial dimension. Students will be immersed in stateless, oral, immigrant cultures while also gaining a hands-on critical understanding of language endangerment and urban sociolinguistic research, first through field experiences and guest speakers (Endangered Language Alliance partners) and then by going out together into communities to work on projects in small teams. The Endangered Language Alliance (ELA), where the instructor is Co-Director, was formed as a non-profit research institute in 2010 as a forum for researchers, community members, activists, artists, and other New Yorkers to come together to support indigenous and minority languages. ELA’s video recordings provide first-hand testimony of endangered languages in the global city – in indigenous languages with English translation – available in few other places. Those texts will be central to this course, supplemented by the new,first-ever, detailed language map of New York City being produced by ELA

LING UN3103 Language, Brain and Mind. 3.00 points.

The ability to speak distinguishes humans from all other animals, including our closest relatives, the chimpanzees. Why is this so? What makes this possible? This course seeks to answer these questions. We will look at the neurological and psychological foundations of the human faculty of language. How did our brains change to allow language to evolve? Where in our brains are the components of language found? Are our minds specialized for learning language or is it part of our general cognitive abilities to learn? How are words and sentences produced and their meanings recognized? The structure of languages around the world varies greatly; does this have psychological effects for their speakers?

RUSS UN3105 Real World Russian. 3 points.

Prerequisites: (RUSS UN2102)

This content-based course has three focal points: 1) communicative skills 1) idiomatic language; 3) cross-cultural awareness.

The course is designed to help students further develop all of their language skills with particular focus on communicative and information processing skills, as well as natural student collaboration in the target language. The materials and assignments that will be used in class allow to explore a broad range of social, cultural, and behavioral contexts and familiarize students with idiomatic language, popular phrases and internet memes, developments of the colloquial language, and the use of slang in everyday life.

On each class students will be offered a variety of content-based activities and assignments, including, information gap filling, role-play and creative skits, internet search, making presentations, and problem-solving discussions. Listening comprehension assignments will help students expand their active and passive vocabulary and develop confidence using natural syntactic models and idiomatic structures.

Students will be exposed to cultural texts of different registers, which will help them enhance their stylistic competence. Students will learn appropriate ways to handle linguo-social situations, routines, and challenges similar to those they come across when traveling to Russia. They will explore various speech acts of daily communication, such as agreement/disagreement, getting and giving help, asking for a favor, expressing emotions, and so forth. Part of class time will be devoted to nonverbal communication, the language of gestures, emotional phonetics and intonation.

RUSS UN3333 VVEDENIE V RUSSKUIU LITERATURU. 3.00 points.

For non-native speakers of Russian.

Prerequisites: two years of college Russian or the instructor's permission.
Prerequisites: two years of college Russian or the instructor's permission. The course is devoted to the reading, analysis, and discussion of a number of Russian prose fiction works from the eighteenth to twentieth century. Its purpose is to give students an opportunity to apply their language skills to literature. It will teach students to read Russian literary texts as well as to talk and write about them. Its goal is, thus, twofold: to improve the students’ linguistic skills and to introduce them to Russian literature and literary history. In 2007-2008: A close study in the original of the “fallen woman” plot in Russian literature from the late eighteenth century. Conducted in Russian

RUSS UN3430 RUSSIAN FOR HERITAGE SPEAKERS. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: RUSS V3430 or the instructor's permission.
Prerequisites: RUSS V3430 or the instructor's permission. This course is designed to help students who speak Russian at home, but have no or limited reading and writing skills to develop literary skills in Russian. THIS COURSE, TAKEN WITH RUSS V3431, MEET A TWO YEAR FOREIGN LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT. Conducted in Russian

RUSS UN3431 RUSSIAN FOR HERITAGE SPKRS II. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: RUSS V3430 or the instructors permission. This course is designed to help students who speak Russian at home, but have no or limited reading and writing skills to develop literary skills in Russian. THIS COURSE, TAKEN WITH RUSS V3430, MEET A TWO YEAR FOREIGN LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT. Conducted in Russian

RUSS UN3595 SENIOR SEMINAR. 4.00 points.

A research and writing workshop designed to help students plan and execute a major research project, and communicate their ideas in a common scholarly language that crosses disciplinary boundaries. Content is determined by students thesis topics, and includes general sessions on how to formulate a proposal and how to generate a bibliography. Students present the fruits of their research in class discussions, culminating in a full-length seminar presentation and the submission of the written thesis

LING UN3993 SUPERVISED IND RES-LING THESIS. 1.00-4.00 points.

LING UN3994 SUPERVISED IND RES-LING THESIS. 1.00-4.00 points.

LING UN3997 Supervised Individual Research. 2-4 points.

RUSS UN3998 SUPERVISED INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH. 2.00-4.00 points.

Prerequisites: the department's permission.
Prerequisites: the department's permission. Supervised Individual Research

GEOR GU4042 Expressive Culture of Soviet and Independent Georgia. 3.00 points.

CC/GS/SEAS: Partial Fulfillment of Global Core Requirement

Expressive culture in the form of traditional and mediated performing and visual arts, film and literature has reflected and shaped modern Georgian social life in immeasurable ways. This seminar brings anthropological perspectives to bear on how expressive culture has served to articulate national and local senses of identity, grappled with collective trauma, and forged avant-garde creative networks within and beyond Georgia’s borders in the socialist and postsocialist periods. The course is organized in three units: it begins by interrogating the curatorial interventions of international organizations like UNESCO and their role in commodifying Georgian culture for global markets, proceeds by exploring powerful creative responses to colonial and totalitarian experience, and concludes by focusing on the capital city of Tbilisi–its built spaces, ever-changing social configurations, and shifting value systems–as a persistent muse in expressive cultural forms. There are no prerequisites and the course assumes no prior knowledge of Georgian history, language, or culture

LING GU4108 LANGUAGE HISTORY. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: LING UN3101 LING W3101.
Prerequisites: LING UN3101 Language, like all components of culture, is structured and conventional, yet can nevertheless change over time. This course examines how language changes, firstly as a self-contained system that changes organically and autonomously, and secondly as contextualized habits that change in time, in space, and in communities. Workload: readings ＆ discussion, weekly problems, and final examination

LING GU4120 LANG DOCUMENTATION/FIELD MTHDS. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: LING UN3101 LING W3101.
Prerequisites: LING UN3101 In light of the predicted loss of up to 90％ of the world languages by the end of this century, it has become urgent that linguists take a more active role in documenting and conserving endangered languages. In this course, we will learn the essential skills and technology of language documentation through work with speakers of an endangered language

LING GU4190 DISCOURSE ANALYSIS. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: LING UN3101 LING W3101.
Prerequisites: LING UN3101 How discourse works; how language is used: oral vs. written modes of language; the structure of discourse; speech acts and speech genres; the expression of power; authenticity; and solidarity in discourse, dialogicity, pragmatics, and mimesis

RUSS GU4342 FOURTH-YEAR RUSSIAN I. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: RUSS UN3101 and RUSS UN3102
Prerequisites: RUSS UN3101 and RUSS UN3102 Third-Year Russian I and II, or placement test. Systematic study of problems in Russian syntax; written exercises, translations into Russian, and compositions. Conducted entirely in Russian

RUSS GU4334 Fourth-year Russian II. 4 points.

Discussion of different styles and levels of language, including word usage and idiomatic expression; written exercises, analysis of texts, and compositions. Conducted entirely in Russian.

RUSS GU4344 ADV RUSSIAN THROUGH HISTORY. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: RUSS UN3101 and RUSS UN3102 three years of college Russian or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: RUSS UN3101 and RUSS UN3102 Third-Year Russian I and II, or placement test. A language course designed to meet the needs of those foreign learners of Russian as well as heritage speakers who want to develop further their reading, speaking, and writing skills and be introduced to the history of Russia

RUSS GU4345 ADV RUSSIAN THROUGH HISTORY. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: three years of Russian.
Prerequisites: three years of Russian. This is a language course designed to meet the needs of those foreign learners of Russian as well as heritage speakers who want to further develop their reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills and be introduced to the history of Russia

RUSS GU4350 Moving to Advanced-Plus: Language, Culture, Society in Russian Today. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Six semesters of college Russian and the instructor’s permission.

The course is designed to provide advanced and highly-motivated undergraduate and graduate students of various majors with an opportunity to develop professional vocabulary and discourse devices that will help them to discuss their professional fields in Russian with fluency and accuracy. The course targets all four language competencies: speaking, listening, reading and writing, as well as cultural understanding. Conducted in Russian.

LING GU4376 PHONETICS ＆ PHONOLOGY. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: LING UN3101 LING W3101.
Prerequisites: LING UN3101 An investigation of the sounds of human language, from the perspective of phonetics (articulation and acoustics, including computer-aided acoustic analysis) and phonology (the distribution and function of sounds in individual languages)

RUSS GU4434 PRACTICAL STYLISTICS-RUSS LANG. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: RUSS W4334 or the equivalent or the instructor's permission.
Prerequisites: RUSS W4334 or the equivalent or the instructor's permission. Prerequisite: four years of college Russian or instructor's permission. The course will focus on theoretical matters of language and style and on the practical aspect of improving students' writing skills. Theoretical aspects of Russian style and specific Russian stylistic conventions will be combined with the analysis of student papers and translation assignments, as well as exercises focusing on reviewing certain specific difficulties in mastering written Russian

LING GU4800 LANGUAGE ＆ SOCIETY. 3.00 points.

How language structure and usage varies according to societal factors such as social history and socioeconomic factors, illustrated with study modules on language contact, language standardization and literacy, quantitative sociolinguistic theory, language allegiance, language, and power

LING GU4903 SYNTAX. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: LING UN3101 LING W3101.
Prerequisites: LING UN3101 Syntax - the combination of words - has been at the center of the Chomskyan revolution in Linguistics. This is a technical course which examines modern formal theories of syntax, focusing on later versions of generative syntax (Government and Binding) with secondary attention to alternative models (HPSG, Categorial Grammar)

CLRS BC3000 Power, Truth, and Storytelling: Framing Russian, English, and American Literature. 3.00 points.

How does a story’s frame affect how we read it? What power does a storyteller have over how we interpret narratives and create meaning? How do we understand “truth” in the context of fictional stories? In this course, we will explore the power dynamics of frame narratives, or stories within stories. We will consider how multiple storytellers and levels of narration affect our understanding of “truth” in fiction, as well as our own role and responsibility as readers to uncover narrative truth. Our readings will include story cycles, standalone stories with competing narrators, stories that include “found” manuscripts, and narratives with temporal frames. We will also consider how authors and critics attempted to frame literary works and control how they were interpreted or read. In all of our works, we will pay particular attention to the power dynamics and ethics of framing. Our close readings of literary works will be informed by theoretical texts on framing and discussions of framing in works of art

SLCL UN3001 SLAVIC CULTURES. 3.00 points.

CC/GS/SEAS: Partial Fulfillment of Global Core Requirement

The history of Slavic peoples - Russians, Czechs, Poles, Serbs, Croats, Ukrainians, Bulgarians - is rife with transformations, some voluntary, some imposed. Against the background of a schematic external history, this course examines how Slavic peoples have responded to and have represented these transformations in various modes: historical writing, hagiography, polemics, drama and fiction, folk poetry, music, visual art, and film. Activity ranges over lecture (for historical background) and discussion (of primary sources)

SLCL UN3100 FOLKLORE PAST ＆ PRESENT. 3.00 points.

An introduction to the concept of folklore as an evolving, historical concept, and to primary source materials which have been framed as such. These are translated from Bosnian, Chukchi, Czech, Finnish, German, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Tuvan, Ukrainian, Yiddish, Yupik languages, and others. Geographical range is from South-Eastern Europe to the Russian Far East. We learn about particular oral traditions, their social mechanisms of transmission and performance, their central themes and poetics. Attention is paid to the broader sociopolitical factors (Romantic nationalism, colonization) which have informed the transcription, collection and publication of these traditions. For the final project, students learn how to conduct an ethnographic interview, and to analyze the folklore of a contemporary social group. Our goal is to experientially understand—as folklorists and as members of folk groups ourselves—the choices entailed in transcribing and analyzing folklore

RUSS UN3105 Real World Russian. 3 points.

Prerequisites: (RUSS UN2102)

This content-based course has three focal points: 1) communicative skills 1) idiomatic language; 3) cross-cultural awareness.

The course is designed to help students further develop all of their language skills with particular focus on communicative and information processing skills, as well as natural student collaboration in the target language. The materials and assignments that will be used in class allow to explore a broad range of social, cultural, and behavioral contexts and familiarize students with idiomatic language, popular phrases and internet memes, developments of the colloquial language, and the use of slang in everyday life.

On each class students will be offered a variety of content-based activities and assignments, including, information gap filling, role-play and creative skits, internet search, making presentations, and problem-solving discussions. Listening comprehension assignments will help students expand their active and passive vocabulary and develop confidence using natural syntactic models and idiomatic structures.

Students will be exposed to cultural texts of different registers, which will help them enhance their stylistic competence. Students will learn appropriate ways to handle linguo-social situations, routines, and challenges similar to those they come across when traveling to Russia. They will explore various speech acts of daily communication, such as agreement/disagreement, getting and giving help, asking for a favor, expressing emotions, and so forth. Part of class time will be devoted to nonverbal communication, the language of gestures, emotional phonetics and intonation.

RUSS UN3220 LITERATURE ＆ EMPIRE (19C LIT). 3.00 points.

Explores the aesthetic and formal developments in Russian prose, especially the rise of the monumental 19th-century novel, as one manifestation of a complex array of national and cultural aspirations, humanistic and imperialist ones alike. Works by Pushkin, Lermonotov, Gogol, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov. Knowledge of Russian not required

RUSS UN3221 LIT ＆ REVOLUTION (20TH C LIT). 3.00 points.

The revolutionary period (1905-1938) in Russia was not only one of extreme social upheaval but also of exceptional creativity. Established ideas about individuality and collectivity, about how to depict reality, about language, gender, authority, and violence, were all thrown open to radical questioning. Out of this chaos came ideas about literature and film (just for example) which have shaped Western thought on these subjects to this day. In this course we will study a variety of media and genres (poetry, manifestos, film, painting, photomontage, the novel, theoretical essays) in an effort to gain a deep understanding of this complex and fascinating period in Russian cultural history

RUSS UN3222 TOLSTOY AND DOSTOEVSKY. 3.00 points.

Two epic novels, Tolstoys War and Peace and Dostoevskys The Brothers Karamazov, will be read along with selected shorter works. Other works by Tolstoy include his early Sebastopol Sketches, which changed the way war is represented in literature; Confession, which describes his spiritual crisis; the late stories Kreutzer Sonata and Hadji Murad; and essays on capital punishment and a visit to a slaughterhouse. Other works by Dostoevsky include his fictionalized account of life in Siberian prison camp, The House of the Dead; Notes from the Underground, his philosophical novella on free will, determinism, and love; A Gentle Creature, a short story on the same themes; and selected essays from Diary of a Writer. The focus will be on close reading of the texts. Our aim will be to develop strategies for appreciating the structure and form, the powerful ideas, the engaging storylines, and the human interest in the writings of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. No knowledge of Russian is required

RUSS UN3230 Tricksters in World Culture: Mockery, Subversion, Rebellion. 3.00 points.

Tricksters constitute one of the universal themes or tropes in mythology and folklore of many cultures. Through the discussions of ancient Greek, Native-American, African, Paleo-Asiatic, Scandinavian, African-American, Muslim and Jewish myths and folklore about tricksters, the course will telescope the cultural functions of the comedic transgression as a form of social critique; it will also highlight cynicism, its productive and dangerous aspects. Then we’ll introduce different historical subtypes of tricksters, such as a fool, jester, holy fool, kynik, picaro, con artist, female and queer tricksters, thus moving through premodern and early modern periods. Each type of the trickster is illustrated by literary examples from different world cultures (European and non-European alike) as well as theoretical works of Mikhail Bakhtin, Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, and Peter Sloterdijk. Finally, the role of the trickster in modernity will be discussed through the case of Soviet tricksters, who had become true superstars manifesting the resistance to repressive political ideology by the means of “cynical reason”. FORMAT The class consists of lectures and group discussions. On a typical week, the first class will be a lecture for all students; for the second class of the week, you will be divided into 3 sections and have separate sessions (all three at the same time in different rooms) led by Teaching Assistants. Assignments for group discussions are listed on the syllabus along with others. We will not break the class in discussion sections before Week 3. The distribution of students between discussion sections will be announced in class after the beginning of the semester. This course is a co-requisite of RUSS UN3232

CLRS UN3313 Resistant Mind: Colonial Power, Optics, Narrative. 3.00 points.

“Narrative fiction provides a controlled wilderness, an opportunity to be and to become the Other,” writes Toni Morrison. The immersion in the Other’s inner self is one of the most valuable experiences we derive from reading fiction, but how, exactly, is this immersion effect created? What makes it possible for us to know fictional characters more intimately than we know our closest friends? Is it not slightly disturbing and even unethical to expose a subject, albeit fictional, as radically as the fiction writer exposes and studies the hero? This course surveys a variety of ways in which the private life and the consciousness of the Other can be represented through discursive practices of literature, film, and photography. Drawing its perspective from postcolonial studies, formal narratology, and poststructuralist criticism, this course examines how different methods of narrating the Other participate in constructing an ethics of power and resistance within a work of art. We read and view a diverse selection of works ranging from the classics of Russian and American fiction to postcolonial photography and documentary productions which experiment with perspective and power dynamic. No prerequisites

RUSS UN3595 SENIOR SEMINAR. 4.00 points.

A research and writing workshop designed to help students plan and execute a major research project, and communicate their ideas in a common scholarly language that crosses disciplinary boundaries. Content is determined by students thesis topics, and includes general sessions on how to formulate a proposal and how to generate a bibliography. Students present the fruits of their research in class discussions, culminating in a full-length seminar presentation and the submission of the written thesis

CLSL GU4000 Hebrew: History, Politics, Culture, Literature. 3.00 points.

This class offers an introduction to Hebrew culture from a historical and literary perspective, focusing on the intersection of linguistic ideology, and literary and cultural creativity. What, we will ask, is the relationship between what people think about Hebrew and what they write in Hebrew? We will investigate the manners in which Hebrew was imagined – as the language of God, the language of the Jews, the language of the patriarchy, the language of secularism, the language of Messianism, the language of nationalism, a dead language, a diasporic Eastern European language, a local Middle Eastern Language, ext., and how these conflicting imaginaries informed Hebrew creativity. This class does not require prior knowledge of Hebrew. Students proficient in Hebrew, Yiddish, Arabic, Ladino, and/or European languages are encouraged to contact the instructor in advance for supplementary material in these languages

CLRS GU4011 DOSTOEVSKY,TOLSTOY ＆ ENG NOVEL. 3.00 points.

A close reading of works by Dostoevsky (Netochka Nezvanova; The Idiot; A Gentle Creature) and Tolstoy (Childhood, Boyhood, Youth; Family Happiness; Anna Karenina; The Kreutzer Sonata) in conjunction with related English novels (Bronte's Jane Eyre, Eliot's Middlemarch, Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway). No knowledge of Russian is required

RUSS GU4013 Late Tolstoy (Beyond Anna Karenina): Thinker, Writer, Activist, Pacifist, Humanitarian, and Mortal. 4 points.

The focus of the course is Tolstoy's work in the last 35 years of his life. On finishing War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Tolstoy swore off the kind of literature and decided to devote himself to what he believed would be more meaningful work. This work included confessions, letters, tracts, critiques, proclamations, invectives, exposes, meditations, and gospel, and as more fiction, some of which is overly didactic and some which is, like his earlier fiction, more covertly so. 

CLRS GU4037 Poets, Rebels, Exiles: 100 Years of Russians and Rusian Jews in America. 3.00 points.

Poets, Rebels, Exiles examines the successive generations of the most provocative and influential Russian and Russian Jewish writers and artists who brought the cataclysm of the Soviet and post-Soviet century to North America. From Joseph Brodsky—the bad boy bard of Soviet Russia and a protégé of Anna Akhmatova, who served 18 months of hard labor near the North Pole for social parasitism before being exiled—to the most recent artistic descendants, this course will interrogate diaspora, memory, and nostalgia in the cultural production of immigrants and exiles

CLRS GU4038 DOSTOEVSKY,DEMONS,DICKENS. 3.00 points.

A study of Dostoevsky and Dickens as two writers whose engagement in the here and now was vital to their work and to their practice of the novel. Readings from Dostoevsky cluster in the 1870s and include two novels, Demons (1872) and The Adolescent (1876), and selections from his Diary of a Writer. Readings from Dickens span his career and include, in addition to David Copperfield (1850), sketches and later essays.

RUSS GU4046 The Trickster in the Modern Russian Lit. 3.00 points.

“Trickster” does not simply mean “deceiver” or “rogue” (the definition of trickster according to the Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary), but rather “creative idiot”, to use Lewis Hyde’s expression. This hero unites the qualities of characters who at first sight have little in common — the “selfish buffoon” and the “culture hero”; someone whose subversions and transgressions paradoxically amplify the culture-constructing effects of his (and most often it is a “he”) tricks. The trickster is a typical comic protagonist – it is enough to recollect Renard the Fox from the medieval Roman de Renard, Panurge from François Rabelais’ The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel, Cervantes’ Sanchо Panza, Beaumarchais’s Figaro, Gogol’s Khlestakov, Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Yaroslav Hašek’s Švejk, Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp, Max Bialystock in Mel Brooks’ Producers, Bart Simpson and Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen), as well as Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert along with many other comical characters of the same genre – to confirm this self-evident thesis

CLSL GU4075 POST COLONIAL/POST SOV CINEMA. 3.00 points.

The course will discuss how filmmaking has been used as an instrument of power and imperial domination in the Soviet Union as well as on post-Soviet space since 1991. A body of selected films by Soviet and post-Soviet directors which exemplify the function of filmmaking as a tool of appropriation of the colonized, their cultural and political subordination by the Soviet center will be examined in terms of postcolonial theories. The course will focus both on Russian cinema and often overlooked work of Ukrainian, Georgian, Belarusian, Armenian, etc. national film schools and how they participated in the communist project of fostering a «new historic community of the Soviet people» as well as resisted it by generating, in hidden and, since 1991, overt and increasingly assertive ways their own counter-narratives. Close attention will be paid to the new Russian film as it re-invents itself within the post-Soviet imperial momentum projected on the former Soviet colonies

RUSS GU4107 RUSS LIT/CULTR-NEW MILLENNIUM. 3.00 points.

Thе course examines most representative works of Russian literature and culture since the 1990s and until the present moment. While discussing recent novels, short stories, dramas, poems, and films, we will address the issues of politics, re-assessment of history, gender, family, national identity, violence and terrorism. No knowledge of Russian is expected

CLRS GU4111 Narrative and Repetition: Circling in Time and Space. 3.00 points.

An introduction to central concepts in narrative theory: plot, archetype, myth, story vs. discourse, Freudian analysis, history and narrative, chronotype and personal narrative. These are explored in the context of sustained investigation of a particular plot device: the time loop. Examples come from Russian modernist fiction, Soviet and American science fiction, and film. We compare being stuck in a time loop with being lost in space - a theme found in personal narratives shared orally and online, as well as in literary fiction. Students develop a final paper topic on time loop narrative of their choice

CLRS GU4112 Decadent Desires and the Russian Silver Age. 3.00 points.

The late nineteenth-century culture of “decadence” marks the moment when European literature and art decisively turn to the dark side. Decadence loves to depict depravity and deviant behavior; it revels in sensuality, eroticism, libertinism, and immoralism; the aesthetics of madness and intoxication abound. In this course we will explore how these decadent tendencies shaped the elegant and transgressive literary culture of Russia’s pre-revolutionary Silver Age. The decadent predilection for self-destructive behavior and the pervasive sense of impending doom took on new meaning within the Russian cultural context, on the eve of the communist revolution. We will first survey the defining figures of European decadence: from Baudelaire’s Flowers of Evil and the “accursed” French poets, to the radical lifestyle experiments of Huysmans and the bondage games of Sacher-Masoch. Considerable attention will also be devoted to the enormous influence of Nietzsche’s philosophy—his iconic conceptions of Dionysian ecstasy, the Übermensch, and “beyond good and evil.” In turn, our study of decadence in Russia will range from symbolist poets, chasing their ethereal “mysterious woman,” to major modernist novels: murder and madness in Sologub’s The Little Demon; Artsybashev’s sexually scandalous Sanin; Andrei Bely’s revolutionary masterpiece, Petersburg. Along the way, we will also focus on issues such as: symbolist theories of art and a new flowering of metaphysical philosophy in Russia new attitudes toward sexuality, new theories of desire and the unconscious the intellectual collaboration between literature and visual art the coming of revolution and terrorist violence, as seen through the prism of decadence

CLRS GU4213 Cold War Reason: Cybernetics and the Systems Sciences. 3.00 points.

The Cold War epoch saw broad transformations in science, technology, and politics. At their nexus a new knowledge was proclaimed, cybernetics, a putative universal science of communication and control. It has disappeared so completely that most have forgotten that it ever existed. Its failure seems complete and final. Yet in another sense, cybernetics was so powerful and successful that the concepts, habits, and institutions born with it have become intrinsic parts of our world and how we make sense of it. Key cybernetic concepts of information, system, and feedback are now fundamental to our basic ways of understanding the mind, brain and computer, of grasping the economy and ecology, and finally of imagining the nature of human life itself. This course will trace the echoes of the cybernetic explosion from the wake of World War II to the onset of Silicon Valley euphoria

CLRS GU4214 The Road to Power: Marxism in Germany and Russia. 3.00 points.

Before Marxism was an academic theory, it was a political movement, but it was not led by Marx. This course examines the years in between, when a new generation began the task of building the organizations, practices, and animating theories that came to define “Marxism” for the twentieth century. Two of the most important such organizations were the German and Russian Social Democratic Parties. Responding to dramatically different contexts, and coming to equally different ends, they nevertheless developed organically interconnected. This course selects key episodes from the road to power of both parties, from their founding to the Russian Revolution— what might be called the “Golden Age” of Marxism. This course is open to all undergraduates who have completed Contemporary Civilization

RUSS GU4342 FOURTH-YEAR RUSSIAN I. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: RUSS UN3101 and RUSS UN3102
Prerequisites: RUSS UN3101 and RUSS UN3102 Third-Year Russian I and II, or placement test. Systematic study of problems in Russian syntax; written exercises, translations into Russian, and compositions. Conducted entirely in Russian

CPLS GU4740 The Narratology of “Modernity”. 3.00 points.

We have a consciousness of ourselves as placed specially in history, in an epoch which is essentially different from all that has come before: the modern. In respect of having such a discourse about ourselves, minimally, it may be true. Since at least the seventeenth century, intellectuals have been elaborating histories of modernity’s origin and theories of its distinction. This course does not attempt to adjudicate what is the true or best theory of the modern, but rather inquires into the discursive and historical conditions for telling narratives about modernity’s advent and constructing theories of its nature, and their aporiai. Topics will vary but may include the advent of “history” as a genre and non-Western “historical” genres; providential time, the saeculum, and prophecy; the dialectic of break and period; the delimiting of non-modernities, such as the primitive/traditional, the feudal, and the postmodern; the search for narrative agents, such as the nation, the state, and the class; schemes of the ontological disunity of modernity; modernism, the avant-garde, and the aesthetic forms of historicity; capitalism, socialism, and revolution; philosophy’s claim to historical diagnosis and the therapeutic refusal thereof; the desire for and attempts to construct anti-historical forms of narration and their limits

RUSS GU4910 LITERARY TRANSLATION. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: four years of college Russian or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: four years of college Russian or the equivalent. Workshop in literary translation from Russian into English focusing on the practical problems of the craft. Each student submits a translation of a literary text for group study and criticism. The aim is to produce translations of publishable quality

RUSS UN3332 Vvedenie v russkuiu literaturu: Scary Stories. 3 points.

For non-native speakers of Russian.

Prerequisites: two years of college Russian or the instructor's permission.

The course is devoted to the reading, analysis, and discussion of a number of Russian prose fiction works from the eighteenth to twentieth century. Its purpose is to give students an opportunity to apply their language skills to literature. It will teach students to read Russian literary texts as well as to talk and write about them. Its goal is, thus, twofold: to improve the students' linguistic skills and to introduce them to Russian literature and literary history. A close study in the original of the "scary stories" in Russian literature from the late eighteenth century. Conducted in Russian.

RUSS UN3333 VVEDENIE V RUSSKUIU LITERATURU. 3.00 points.

For non-native speakers of Russian.

Prerequisites: two years of college Russian or the instructor's permission.
Prerequisites: two years of college Russian or the instructor's permission. The course is devoted to the reading, analysis, and discussion of a number of Russian prose fiction works from the eighteenth to twentieth century. Its purpose is to give students an opportunity to apply their language skills to literature. It will teach students to read Russian literary texts as well as to talk and write about them. Its goal is, thus, twofold: to improve the students’ linguistic skills and to introduce them to Russian literature and literary history. In 2007-2008: A close study in the original of the “fallen woman” plot in Russian literature from the late eighteenth century. Conducted in Russian

RUSS GU4127 Music in Time and Time in Music. 3.00 points.

If you have a passion for music, like listening to music, or simply want to explore the realm of Russian melodies, this course is made for you. In the class, we'll focus on the development and strengthening of “four language skills”: speaking, listening, reading, and writing in Russian. You will learn to analyze and interpret lyrics, compare and contrast music across generations, discuss the values of a certain generation of people, and argue the popularity of music genres in specific time periods. Beyond linguistic proficiency, the course will immerse you in a comprehensive exploration of common knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, cultural traditions, and behavioral patterns unique to the people of Russia

CLRS GU4213 Cold War Reason: Cybernetics and the Systems Sciences. 3.00 points.

The Cold War epoch saw broad transformations in science, technology, and politics. At their nexus a new knowledge was proclaimed, cybernetics, a putative universal science of communication and control. It has disappeared so completely that most have forgotten that it ever existed. Its failure seems complete and final. Yet in another sense, cybernetics was so powerful and successful that the concepts, habits, and institutions born with it have become intrinsic parts of our world and how we make sense of it. Key cybernetic concepts of information, system, and feedback are now fundamental to our basic ways of understanding the mind, brain and computer, of grasping the economy and ecology, and finally of imagining the nature of human life itself. This course will trace the echoes of the cybernetic explosion from the wake of World War II to the onset of Silicon Valley euphoria

RUSS GU4340 Chteniia po russkoi literature: Bulgakov. 3.00 points.

The course is devoted to reading and discussing of Mikhail Bulgakov’s masterpiece Master i Margarita. Classes are conducted entirely in Russian

RUSS GU4344 ADV RUSSIAN THROUGH HISTORY. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: RUSS UN3101 and RUSS UN3102 three years of college Russian or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: RUSS UN3101 and RUSS UN3102 Third-Year Russian I and II, or placement test. A language course designed to meet the needs of those foreign learners of Russian as well as heritage speakers who want to develop further their reading, speaking, and writing skills and be introduced to the history of Russia

RUSS GU4345 ADV RUSSIAN THROUGH HISTORY. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: three years of Russian.
Prerequisites: three years of Russian. This is a language course designed to meet the needs of those foreign learners of Russian as well as heritage speakers who want to further develop their reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills and be introduced to the history of Russia

SLCL UN3001 SLAVIC CULTURES. 3.00 points.

CC/GS/SEAS: Partial Fulfillment of Global Core Requirement

The history of Slavic peoples - Russians, Czechs, Poles, Serbs, Croats, Ukrainians, Bulgarians - is rife with transformations, some voluntary, some imposed. Against the background of a schematic external history, this course examines how Slavic peoples have responded to and have represented these transformations in various modes: historical writing, hagiography, polemics, drama and fiction, folk poetry, music, visual art, and film. Activity ranges over lecture (for historical background) and discussion (of primary sources)

RMAN GU4002 Romanian Culture, Identity and Complexes. 3 points.

This course addresses the main problems that contribute to the making of Romanian identity, as fragmented or as controversial as it may seem to those who study it. The aim is to become familiar with the deepest patterns of Romanian identity, as we encounter it today, either in history, political studies, fieldwork in sociology or, simply, when we interact with Romanians. By using readings and presentations produced by Romanian specialists, we aim to be able to see the culture with an "insider's eye", as much as we can. This perspective will enable us to develop mechanisms of understanding the Romanian culture and mentality independently, at a more profound level and to reason upon them.

CLSL GU4011 Experimental Cultures. 3.00 points.

This seminar course will provide a punctual survey of trends and figures in the experimental cultures of East Central Europe. Formations include the avant-gardes (first, postwar, and postcommunist); experimental Modernisms and Postmodernisms; alternative film, media, and visual culture; and formally inventive responses to exceptional historical circumstances. Proceeding roughly chronologically from early twentieth to early twenty-first centuries, we will examine expressionist/surrealistic painting and drama; zenithist hybrid genres such as cinépoetry and proto-conceptualist writing; mixed-media relief sculpture; post-conceptual art; experimental and animated film; and avant-garde classical music. In terms of theory, we will draw on regional and global approaches to artistic experimentation ranging from Marxist and other theories of value through discourses of the body and sexuality in culture to contemporary affect theory. The course will be taught in English with material drawn primarily from Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. Each session will include a lecture followed by discussion

CLSL GU4012 Holocaust Literature: Critical Thinking in Dark Times. 3.00 points.

How do you write literature in the midst of catastrophe? To whom do you write if you don’t know whether your readership will survive? Or that you yourself will survive? How do you theorize society when the social fabric is tearing apart? How do you develop a concept of human rights at a time when mass extermination is deemed legal? How do you write Jewish history when Jewish future seems uncertain? This course offers a survey of the literature and intellectual history written during World War II (1939-1945) both in Nazi occupied Europe and in the free world, written primarily, but not exclusively, by Jews. We will read novels, poems, science fiction, historical fiction, legal theory and social theory and explore how intellectuals around the world responded to the extermination of European Jewry as it happened and how they changed their understanding of what it means to be a public intellectual, what it means to be Jewish, and what it means to be human. The aim of the course is threefold. First, it offers a survey of the Jewish experience during WWII, in France, Russia, Poland, Latvia, Romania, Greece, Palestine, Morocco, Iraq, the USSR, Argentina, and the United States. Second, it introduces some of the major contemporary debates in holocaust studies. Finally, it provides a space for a methodological reflection on how literary analysis, cultural studies, and historical research intersect

CLSL GU4016 Socialist World Literature. 3.00 points.

This course researches the potentiality and development of a Socialist World Literature. Students will learn about the more contemporary constructions of World Literature in the West, and then look at how the Soviet Union and its satellites potentially crafted an alternative to the contemporary construction. The class will then examine whether the Soviet version addressed some of the criticism of the contemporary definitions of World Literature, particularly through addressing the colonialism and nationalism. Students will learn about the complex history of World Literature and its definitions, reading the major theorists of the concept as well as the major critics. They will also create their own arguments about World Literature in a highly-scaffolded major project due at the end of the term. All readings will be provided online

CLSL GU4017 The Central European Grotesque. 3.00 points.

Central Europe is home to large number of authors, artists, and directors who made use of the critical power of the grotesque. Beginning from the fin-de-siecle and moving to the contemporary moment, students will get to know a wide range of grotesque art from Central Europe as well as several of the critical approaches to the subject. The course should be of interest to anyone studying Central European culture, as well as students interested in cultural studies more generally. Students will learn to identify and analyze examples of the grotesque through a variety of theoretical lenses. They will also enrich their knowledge of Central European literature and culture

CLRS GU4037 Poets, Rebels, Exiles: 100 Years of Russians and Rusian Jews in America. 3.00 points.

Poets, Rebels, Exiles examines the successive generations of the most provocative and influential Russian and Russian Jewish writers and artists who brought the cataclysm of the Soviet and post-Soviet century to North America. From Joseph Brodsky—the bad boy bard of Soviet Russia and a protégé of Anna Akhmatova, who served 18 months of hard labor near the North Pole for social parasitism before being exiled—to the most recent artistic descendants, this course will interrogate diaspora, memory, and nostalgia in the cultural production of immigrants and exiles

CLSL GU4075 POST COLONIAL/POST SOV CINEMA. 3.00 points.

The course will discuss how filmmaking has been used as an instrument of power and imperial domination in the Soviet Union as well as on post-Soviet space since 1991. A body of selected films by Soviet and post-Soviet directors which exemplify the function of filmmaking as a tool of appropriation of the colonized, their cultural and political subordination by the Soviet center will be examined in terms of postcolonial theories. The course will focus both on Russian cinema and often overlooked work of Ukrainian, Georgian, Belarusian, Armenian, etc. national film schools and how they participated in the communist project of fostering a «new historic community of the Soviet people» as well as resisted it by generating, in hidden and, since 1991, overt and increasingly assertive ways their own counter-narratives. Close attention will be paid to the new Russian film as it re-invents itself within the post-Soviet imperial momentum projected on the former Soviet colonies

BCRS UN1101 ELEM BOSNIAN/CROATIAN/SERBIAN. 4.00 points.

Essentials of the spoken and written language. Prepares students to read texts of moderate difficulty by the end of the first year

BCRS UN1102 ELEM BOSNIAN/CROATIAN/SERBIAN. 4.00 points.

Essentials of the spoken and written language. Prepares students to read texts of moderate difficulty by the end of the first year

BCRS UN2101 INTER BOSNIAN/CROATIAN/SERBIAN. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: BCRS UN1102 BCRS W1102 or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: BCRS UN1102 or the equivalent. Readings in Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian literature in the original, with emphasis depending upon the needs of individual students

BCRS UN2102 INTER BOSNIAN/CROATIAN/SERBIAN. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: BCRS UN1102 BCRS W1102 or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: BCRS UN1102 or the equivalent. Readings in Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian literature in the original, with emphasis depending upon the needs of individual students. This course number has been changed to BCRS 2102

BCRS GU4331 ADV BOSNIAN/CROATIAN/SERBIAN. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: BCRS UN2102 BCRS W2102.
Prerequisites: BCRS UN2102 Further develops skills in speaking, reading, and writing, using essays, short stories, films, and fragments of larger works. Reinforces basic grammar and introduces more complete structures

BCRS GU4332 ADV BOSNIAN/CROATIAN/SERBIAN. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: BCRS UN2102 BCRS W2102.
Prerequisites: BCRS UN2102 Further develops skills in speaking, reading, and writing, using essays, short stories, films, and fragments of larger works. Reinforces basic grammar and introduces more complete structures

CZCH UN1101 ELEMENTARY CZECH I. 4.00 points.

Essentials of the spoken and written language. Prepare students to read texts of moderate difficulty by the end of the first year

CZCH UN1102 ELEMENTARY CZECH II. 4.00 points.

Essentials of the spoken and written language. Prepare students to read texts of moderate difficulty by the end of the first year

CZCH UN2101 INTERMEDIATE CZECH I. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: CZCH UN1102 CZCH W1102 or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: CZCH UN1102 or the equivalent Rapid review of grammar. Readings in contemporary fiction and nonfiction, depending upon the interests of individual students

CZCH UN2102 INTERMEDIATE CZECH II. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: CZCH UN1102
Prerequisites: CZCH UN1102 or the equivalent. Rapid review of grammar. Readings in contemporary fiction and nonfiction, depending upon the interests of individual students

CLCZ GU4030 POSTWAR CZECH LITERATURE. 3.00 points.

A survey of postwar Czech fiction and drama. Knowledge of Czech not necessary. Parallel reading lists available in translation and in the original

CLCZ GU4038 PRAGUE-SPRING 1968-FILM ＆ LIT. 3.00 points.

The course explores the unique period in Czech film and literature during the 1960s that emerged as a reaction to the imposed socialist realism. The new generation of writers (Kundera, Skvorecky, Havel, Hrabal) in turn had an influence on young emerging film makers, all of whom were part of the Czech new wave

CZCH GU4333 READINGS IN CZECH LITERATURE I. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: two years of college Czech or the equivalent. A close study in the original of representative works of Czech literature. Discussion and writing assignments in Czech aimed at developing advanced language proficiency

CZCH GU4334 READINGS IN CZECH LITERATURE II. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: two years of college Czech or the equivalent. A close study in the original of representative works of Czech literature. Discussion and writing assignments in Czech aimed at developing advanced language proficiency

POLI UN1101 ELEMENTARY POLISH I. 4.00 points.

Essentials of the spoken and written language. Prepares students to read texts of moderate difficulty by the end of the first year

POLI UN1102 ELEMENTARY POLISH II. 4.00 points.

Essentials of the spoken and written language. Prepares students to read texts of moderate difficulty by the end of the first year

POLI UN2101 INTERMEDIATE POLISH I. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: POLI UN1102 POLI W1102 or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: POLI UN1102 or the equivalent. Rapid review of grammar; readings in contemporary nonfiction or fiction, depending on the interests of individual students

POLI UN2102 INTERMEDIATE POLISH II. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: POLI UN1102
Prerequisites: POLI UN1102 or the equivalent. Rapid review of grammar; readings in contemporary nonfiction or fiction, depending on the interests of individual students

POLI GU4101 ADVANCED POLISH. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: two years of college Polish or the instructor's permission. Extensive readings from 19th- and 20th-century texts in the original. Both fiction and nonfiction, with emphasis depending on the interests and needs of individual students

POLI GU4102 ADVANCED POLISH II. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: two years of college Polish or the instructors permission. Extensive readings from 19th- and 20th-century texts in the original. Both fiction and nonfiction, with emphasis depending on the interests and needs of individual students

UKRN UN1101 ELEMENTARY UKRAINIAN I. 4.00 points.

Designed for students with little or no knowledge of Ukrainian. Basic grammar structures are introduced and reinforced, with equal emphasis on developing oral and written communication skills. Specific attention to acquisition of high-frequency vocabulary and its optimal use in real-life settings

UKRN UN1102 ELEMENTARY UKRAINIAN II. 4.00 points.

Designed for students with little or no knowledge of Ukrainian. Basic grammar structures are introduced and reinforced, with equal emphasis on developing oral and written communication skills. Specific attention to acquisition of high-frequency vocabulary and its optimal use in real-life settings

UKRN UN2101 INTERMEDIATE UKRAINIAN I. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: UKRN UN1102 UKRN W1102 or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: UKRN UN1102 or the equivalent. Reviews and reinforces the fundamentals of grammar and a core vocabulary from daily life. Principal emphasis is placed on further development of communicative skills (oral and written). Verbal aspect and verbs of motion receive special attention

UKRN UN2102 INTERMEDIATE UKRAINIAN II. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: UKRN UN1102 UKRN W1102 or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: UKRN UN1102 or the equivalent. Reviews and reinforces the fundamentals of grammar and a core vocabulary from daily life. Principal emphasis is placed on further development of communicative skills (oral and written). Verbal aspect and verbs of motion receive special attention

UKRN UN3997 SUPERVISED INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH. 2.00-4.00 points.

UKRN GU4001 Advanced Ukrainian I. 3 points.

The course is for students who wish to develop their mastery of Ukrainian. Further study of grammar includes patterns of word formation, participles, gerunds, declension of numerals, and a more in-depth study of difficult subjects, such as verbal aspect and verbs of motion. The material is drawn from classical and contemporary Ukrainian literature, press, electronic media, and film. Taught almost exclusively in Ukrainian.

UKRN GU4002 Advanced Ukrainian II. 3 points.

The course is for students who wish to develop their mastery of Ukrainian. Further study of grammar includes patterns of word formation, participles, gerunds, declension of numerals, and a more in-depth study of difficult subjects, such as verbal aspect and verbs of motion. The material is drawn from classical and contemporary Ukrainian literature, press, electronic media, and film. Taught almost exclusively in Ukrainian.

UKRN GU4006 Advanced Ukrainian Through Literature, Media, and Politics. 3.00 points.

This course is organized around a number of thematic centers or modules. Each is focused on stylistic peculiarities typical of a given functional style of the Ukrainian language. Each is designed to assist the student in acquiring an active command of lexical, grammatical, discourse, and stylistic traits that distinguish one style from the others and actively using them in real-life communicative settings in contemporary Ukraine. The styles include literary fiction, scholarly prose, and journalism, both printed and broadcast

UKRN GU4007 Advanced Ukrainian Through Literature, Media and Politics II. 3.00 points.

This course is organized around a number of thematic centers or modules. Each is focused on stylistic peculiarities typical of a given functional style of the Ukrainian language. Each is designed to assist the student in acquiring an active command of lexical, grammatical, discourse, and stylistic traits that distinguish one style from the others and actively using them in real-life communicative settings in contemporary Ukraine. The styles include literary fiction, scholarly prose, and journalism, both printed and broadcast

UKRN GU4054 CREATING ID-CONTEMP UKRN CULTR. 3.00 points.

This course presents and examines post-Soviet Ukrainian literature. Students will learn about the significant achievements, names, events, scandals and polemics in contemporary Ukrainian literature and will see how they have contributed to Ukraine’s post-Soviet identity. Students will examine how Ukrainian literature became an important site for experimentation with language, for providing feminist perspectives, for engaging previously-banned taboos and for deconstructing Soviet and Ukrainian national myths. Among the writers to be focused on in the course are Serhiy Zhadan, Yuri Andrukhovych, Oksana Zabuzhko and Taras Prokhasko. Centered on the most important successes in literature, the course will also explore key developments in music and visual art of this period. Special focus will be given to how the 2013/2014 Euromaidan revolution and war are treated in today’s literature. By also studying Ukrainian literature with regards to its relationship with Ukraine’s changing political life, students will obtain a good understanding of the dynamics of today’s Ukraine and the development of Ukrainians as a nation in the 21st century. The course will be complemented by audio and video presentations. Entirely in English with a parallel reading list for those who read Ukrainian

UKRN GU4121 Agent of Change: Ukrainian Art Between Revolutions. 3.00 points.

The course will trace the appearance of the avant-garde on the territory of the Russian Empire with a focus on Ukrainian art as compared to Russian. Examining the art aspiring not only to reflect but to alter the reality originating both in the center and the periphery, the class will explore the array of strategies employed by art for that end. The foundational theories of avant-garde, non-conformism, and dissident art will be studied alongside the most celebrated and influential examples of innovative and radical art from the region. Beginning with socially minded realist practices, the class will consider the impact of the collapse of the Russian and then Soviet Empires on art and reflect on how the societal upheavals affect the understanding of the function and the definition of art. The appearance of Socialist Realism and the versions of opposition to it will be studied, from dissident undermining to neglect and escapism of the second avant-gardes. Ukrainian art of recent decades will be studied in the context of several revolutions (Granite, Orange, Euromaidan) that defined its contemporary history. The class is offered for graduate and advanced undergraduate students. Knowledge of Russian or Ukrainian is not required

HNGR UN1101 ELEMENTARY HUNGARIAN I. 4.00 points.

Introduction to the basic structures of the Hungarian language. Students with a schedule conflict should consult the instructor about the possibility of adjusting hours

HNGR UN1102 ELEMENTARY HUNGARIAN II. 4.00 points.

Introduction to the basic structures of the Hungarian language. With the instructors permission the second term of this course may be taken without the first. Students with a schedule conflict should consult the instructor about the possibility of adjusting hours

HNGR UN2101 INTERMEDIATE HUNGARIAN I. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: HNGR UN1101-UN1102 or the equivalent. Further develops a student's knowledge of the Hungarian language. With the instructor's permission the second term of this course may be taken without the first. Students with a schedule conflict should consult the instructor about the possibility of adjusting hours

HNGR UN2102 INTERMEDIATE COURSE II. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: HNGR W1101-W1102 or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: HNGR UN1101-UN1102 or the equivalent. Further develops a students knowledge of the Hungarian language. With the instructors permission the second term of this course may be taken without the first. Students with a schedule conflict should consult the instructor about the possibility of adjusting hours

HNGR UN3341 ADVANCED READINGS IN HUNGARIAN. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: HNGR W1201-W1202 and HNGR W3340, or the equivalent.

This course has an emphasis on rapid and comprehensive reading of academic materials. In addition to weekly readings, oral presentations and written essays serve to improve fluency in all aspects of Hungarian.

HNGR UN3343 DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR-HUNGARIAN. 3.00 points.

This course is designed for those curious about the structure of Hungarian - an unusual language with a complex grammar quite different from English, or, indeed, any Indo -European language. The study of Hungarian, a language of the Finno-Ugric family, offers the opportunity to learn about the phonology of vowel harmony, the syntax of topic-comment discourse, verb agreement with subjects and objects, highly developed case systems and possessive nominal paradigms. In addition to its inflectional profile, Hungarian derivation possibilities are vast, combinatory, and playful. During the semester we will touch upon all the important grammatical aspects of Hungarian and discuss them in relation to general linguistic principles and discourse, and finally, through some text analysis, see them in action. Although the primary discussion will center on Hungarian, we will draw on comparisons to other Finno-Ugric languages, most notably Finnish and Komi; students are encouraged to draw on comparisons with their own languages of interest. No prerequisite. Counts as Core Linguistics