An examination of the transformation of the Russian Empire into the Soviet Empire. Topics include: the invention and unfolding of single-party revolutionary politics, the expansion of the machinery of state, the onset and development of Stalin's personal despotism, the violent attempt to create a noncapitalist society, the experiences and consequences of the monumental war with Nazi Germany, and the various postwar reforms. Special attention paid to the dynamics of the new socialist society, the connection between the power of the state and everyday life, global communism, and the 1991 collapse.

This course explores the history of political dissent in Russia from the 1860s to 2023. We will discuss the emergence of revolutionary populism and terrorism, the specificity of Russian Marxism and the role of the worker and peasant movement in the revolutions of 1917. The class also includes discussion of Soviet dissident movement and the forms of protest and non-conformism in contemporary Russia.

An examination of significant trends in Russian literature from the 2nd half of the 19th century to the Russian Revolution and a bit beyond. The course focuses on many masterpieces of 19th & 20th-century Russian literature. The works (mostly novels) are considered from a stylistic point of view and in the context of Russian historical and cultural developments. The course also focuses on questions of values and on the eternal "big questions" of life that are raised in the literature. Authors read include Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Bely, Nabokov, and Kharms.

This interdisciplinary survey explores Soviet literature, art, theater, and film after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. We will explore the works of avant-garde authors and artists, official writers and painters, authors who wrote "for the desk drawer", and those whose creative works were circulated in the underground. In our analysis of Soviet artistic production, we will focus on major cultural topics in and around the increasing pressure of shifting political landscapes, ideology, propaganda, the publishing market, and the role of the writer in society.

"Roma (Gypsies) in Eastern Europe" treats Romani history, cultural identity, folklore, music, religion, and representations in literature and film. Roma have been enslaved, targeted for annihilation, and persecuted for centuries. Yet they have repeatedly adapted and adjusted to the circumstances surrounding them, persisting as distinctive ethnic communities while simultaneously contributing to and forming part of the dominant worlds in which they live. This course offers novel perspectives on ethnic minorities and the dynamics of culture in Slavic and East European society.

For centuries, Siberia was a transitory space for Eastern nomads and Western adventures. Colonized by the Russian empire in the 16-17th centuries, Siberia became a land of valuable commodities. Traders and hunters were followed by political dissidents, religious radicals, and criminals. Siberia became the ultimate place of exile. And yet it is much more than prison-writ-large. Using diverse sources, the course presents multiple Siberias: from the Siberia of reindeer people, indigenous storytellers, and shamans to the Siberia of the empire's Cossacks and nobility; from the Siberia of labor camps to the Siberia of today's oil and gas giants.

This seminar will examine 20th-century Eastern European history through literary works from a number of countries in the region, from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to present-day Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Belarus, and the Balkans. Readings will generally consist of one novel per week, but we will also look at a number of other genres, including the short story, poetry, drama, the journal, and reportage. While discussing the historical and political dimensions of this period, we will consider the limits of what literature can depict, and a range of possible ethical and aesthetic responses to authoritarianism.

We start with Tolstoy's artistic stimuli and narrative strategies, exploring the author's provocative visions of war, gender, sex, art, social institutions, death, and religion. The emphasis is placed here on the role of the written word in Tolstoy's search for truth and power. The main part is a close reading of his masterwork "The War and Peace" (1863-68) - a quintessence of both his artistic method and philosophical insights. Each student will be assigned to keep a "hero's diary" and speak on behalf of one or two major heroes of the epic (including the Spirit of History).The roles will be distributed in accordance with the will of fate.