Class Schedules

Continuation of RUSS 101; further development of the same skills. Russian language classes aim at perfecting all four linguistic skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. This course meets three times per week with two additional weekly sessions (labs) devoted specifically to oral proficiency. These conversation sessions are taught by Russian native speakers. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 101 with a grade of C- or better, or consent of instructor.

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Course Materials

Continuation of RUSS 101; further development of the same skills. Russian language classes aim at perfecting all four linguistic skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. This course meets three times per week with two additional weekly sessions (labs) devoted specifically to oral proficiency. These conversation sessions are taught by Russian native speakers. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 101 with a grade of C- or better, or consent of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of RUSS 101; further development of the same skills. Russian language classes aim at perfecting all four linguistic skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. This course meets three times per week with two additional weekly sessions (labs) devoted specifically to oral proficiency. These conversation sessions are taught by Russian native speakers. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 101 with a grade of C- or better, or consent of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of RUSS 203; further development of the same skills; added emphasis on reading and discussing simple texts. Conversational skills needed on the telephone, public transport and other daily situations, listening and reading skills such as television, newspapers, and movies, and various modes of writing are studied. Russian language classes aim at perfecting all four linguistic skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Intermediate and advanced courses are taught in Russian as much as possible. Students are usually prepared for study in Russia after they have completed Intermediate Russian II. This course meets three times per week with two additional weekly sessions (labs) devoted specifically to oral proficiency. These conversation sessions are taught by Russian native speakers. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 203 with a grade of C- or better, or consent of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of RUSS 203; further development of the same skills; added emphasis on reading and discussing simple texts. Conversational skills needed on the telephone, public transport and other daily situations, listening and reading skills such as television, newspapers, and movies, and various modes of writing are studied. Russian language classes aim at perfecting all four linguistic skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Intermediate and advanced courses are taught in Russian as much as possible. Students are usually prepared for study in Russia after they have completed Intermediate Russian II. This course meets three times per week with two additional weekly sessions (labs) devoted specifically to oral proficiency. These conversation sessions are taught by Russian native speakers. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 203 with a grade of C- or better, or consent of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of RUSS 203; further development of the same skills; added emphasis on reading and discussing simple texts. Conversational skills needed on the telephone, public transport and other daily situations, listening and reading skills such as television, newspapers, and movies, and various modes of writing are studied. Russian language classes aim at perfecting all four linguistic skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Intermediate and advanced courses are taught in Russian as much as possible. Students are usually prepared for study in Russia after they have completed Intermediate Russian II. This course meets three times per week with two additional weekly sessions (labs) devoted specifically to oral proficiency. These conversation sessions are taught by Russian native speakers. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 203 with a grade of C- or better, or consent of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

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Course Materials

A survey of Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet history from the Russian Revolution to the present. Topics include the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, Bolshevik rule and its tsarist heritage, Soviet "monocratic" society under Lenin and Stalin, dissent in the USSR, the "command economy" in the collapse of Communist political power, and national consciousness as an operative idea in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Can count toward History's "Europe" and "pre-1800" and "Colonization/Empire" fields.

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Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

When communication takes place across language barriers, it raises fundamental questions about meaning, style, power relationships, and traditions. This course treats literary translation as a particularly complex form of cross-cultural interaction. Students will work on their own translations of prose or poetry while considering broader questions of translation, through critiques of existing translations, close comparisons of variant translations, and readings on cultural and theoretical aspects of literary translation. Prerequisite(s): Advanced proficiency in a second language required.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

How did gender beliefs influence the development of modern science? How did science construct social conceptions of gender and sexuality? How did women shape modern science? This course explores the intersection of gender and science from the early modern period to the late twentieth century. It focuses on the Western scientific tradition, with special attention to Russian and Soviet experiences. In this course, we will examine the following topics: early modern beliefs about nature, science, and gender; women’s participation in early modern sciences; 18-20th-century scientific writings on the “nature” of men, women, and other genders; the development of modern scientific institutions; and biographies of women participating in the sciences.

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Humanities

Course Materials

Seminars on selected topics in Russian Studies. Open to all students with advanced proficiency in Russian, and serving as an integrative capstone experience for majors. The course will combine discussions of a central topic in the Russian Studies field with students' own scholarly exploration. Recent seminar topics have included Human Rights in the Post-Soviet Sphere, The Contemporary Short Story, and Forbidden Art and the Performance of Dissent. During the semester, seminar participants will pursue independent in-depth research that draws upon Russian sources; this research will serve as the basis of class workshops and discussions during the second half of the semester. The course is taught in Russian, but the final paper will be written in English. Workshops and discussions of the final paper in class and during consultations with the instructor will likewise be conducted in English. Since the topic changes from year to year, the course may be repeated for credit with permission of the instructor. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 305 or permission of instructor

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Humanities

Course Materials

A structured introduction to the basics of the Russian sound system and grammar, as well as speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension. Some exposure to Russian culture. For beginning students. No prerequisites. Russian language classes aim at perfecting all four linguistic skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. This course meets three times per week with two additional weekly sessions (labs) devoted specifically to oral proficiency. These conversation sessions are taught by Russian native speakers.

General Education Requirements:

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Course Materials

A structured introduction to the basics of the Russian sound system and grammar, as well as speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension. Some exposure to Russian culture. For beginning students. No prerequisites. Russian language classes aim at perfecting all four linguistic skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. This course meets three times per week with two additional weekly sessions (labs) devoted specifically to oral proficiency. These conversation sessions are taught by Russian native speakers.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

A structured introduction to the basics of the Russian sound system and grammar, as well as speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension. Some exposure to Russian culture. For beginning students. No prerequisites. Russian language classes aim at perfecting all four linguistic skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. This course meets three times per week with two additional weekly sessions (labs) devoted specifically to oral proficiency. These conversation sessions are taught by Russian native speakers.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

In the second year of Russian, students learn to operate in basic social and cultural environments. Conversational skills needed on the telephone, public transport and other daily situations, listening and reading skills such as television, newspapers, and movies, and various modes of writing are studied. Russian language classes aim at perfecting all four linguistic skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Intermediate and advanced courses are taught in Russian as much as possible. This course meets three times per week with two additional weekly sessions (labs) devoted specifically to oral proficiency. These conversation sessions are taught by Russian native speakers. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 102 with a grade of C- or better, or consent of the instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

In the second year of Russian, students learn to operate in basic social and cultural environments. Conversational skills needed on the telephone, public transport and other daily situations, listening and reading skills such as television, newspapers, and movies, and various modes of writing are studied. Russian language classes aim at perfecting all four linguistic skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Intermediate and advanced courses are taught in Russian as much as possible. This course meets three times per week with two additional weekly sessions (labs) devoted specifically to oral proficiency. These conversation sessions are taught by Russian native speakers. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 102 with a grade of C- or better, or consent of the instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

In the second year of Russian, students learn to operate in basic social and cultural environments. Conversational skills needed on the telephone, public transport and other daily situations, listening and reading skills such as television, newspapers, and movies, and various modes of writing are studied. Russian language classes aim at perfecting all four linguistic skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Intermediate and advanced courses are taught in Russian as much as possible. This course meets three times per week with two additional weekly sessions (labs) devoted specifically to oral proficiency. These conversation sessions are taught by Russian native speakers. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 102 with a grade of C- or better, or consent of the instructor.

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Course Materials

Russia presents an excellent case study for the topic of political violence. Terrorism as a means of political persuasion originated in the land of the tsars; Russian history features an incendiary cycle of repressions, revolts, and reprisals. Studying the origins and depictions of these events in works of art reveals how culture mediates between the world of ideas and the sphere of action. We will consider the tactics and motives of revolutionary conspirators as well as the role that gender and religion played in specific acts of terror. We will explore the ways in which Russian revolutionary thought and action served as a model for radicals around the world. The Russian case will provide a framework for in-depth study of examples of terrorism from Algeria, Ireland, Germany, the U.S., and the Middle East. Texts will include novels, poems, manifestos, letters, journalistic accounts, and films, as well as readings in cultural history and political theory. Taught in English.

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Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course seeks to explore and examine the Caucasus (both North and South), from the historical origins of the peoples and states that comprise it, to its contestation and conquering by various empires that abutted it, to its modern restive ethno-political climate since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Special emphasis will be placed on the Russian and Soviet experiences of the region due to the vast social, political, and cultural imprint left by the domination of the region by its northern neighbor. Additionally, the course seeks to introduce students to the rich cultural tapestry that makes up the region, drawing on scholarship from a variety of disciplines and contemporary works of literature and motion pictures.

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Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

What does it mean to be “between Europe and Asia?” How have people who have inhabited the territory of present-day Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Baltic states for centuries dealt with finding themselves in between the two worlds? How did these groups of diverse ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds interact with one another? The course explores these questions and the history of peoples and spaces in Northern Eurasia from the medieval period to the fall of the Soviet Union. Stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean, Northern Eurasia has been a place of intensive cultural, economic, and political exchange for many centuries. This exchange resulted in trade, wars, imperial rule, and revolutions, as well as socialist experiments. This course will examine these contacts and consider the following topics: the historical geography of Northern Eurasia; Eurasian identities and indigeneity; ideas of Russianness, imperialism, and Orientalism; nation-building and the Soviet empire. This course will be an excellent introduction to Eurasian and Russian Studies, as well as an introduction to the issues of imperialism, colonialism, and nationalism in a global context.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course presents an overview of world language pedagogical methods and provides a forum for discussion on current trends and thinking in second language acquisition. Students who are curious about teaching a world language are given opportunities to observe educators at various levels in the Twin Cities as well as teach mini-lessons at Macalester College. Course taught in English and open to world language students having attained an intermediate level in the target language

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Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials