Courses

RUSS 101. Elementary Russian I.An introduction to Russian language and culture with an emphasis on communicative skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students also experience the variety and richness of modern Russia through authentic texts including music, film and television excerpts, and selected items from recent newspapers. Conducted in Russian. Normally offered every year. D. Browne.Concentrations.

RUSS 101-102. Elementary Russian I and II.An introduction to Russian language and culture with an emphasis on communicative skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students also experience the variety and richness of modern Russia through authentic texts including music, film and television excerpts, and selected items from recent newspapers. Conducted in Russian. Normally offered every year. D. Browne.Concentrations.

RUSS 102. Elementary Russian II.An introduction to Russian language and culture with an emphasis on communicative skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students also experience the variety and richness of modern Russia through authentic texts including music, film and television excerpts, and selected items from recent newspapers. Conducted in Russian. Normally offered every year. D. Browne.Concentrations.

RUSS 120. Kusturica: Gentle Barbarian or Barbaric Gentleman?.Emir Nemanja Kusturica is one of the most celebrated contemporary filmmakers in Europe; he is also one of the most controversial. His films have brought him numerous festival awards including two Golden Palms at Cannes and a Cesar, the French Oscar. But they have also brought severe criticism from some of Europe's intellectual celebrities such as Alain Finkielkraut and Slavoj Zizek. In this course, students examine all of Kusturica's feature films, and look at the social and political furor his work has generated since the mid 1990s. Conducted in English; all films are subtitlted in English. Enrollment limited to 60. D. Browne.Concentrations.

RUSS 201. Intermediate Russian I.A continuation of RUSS 101-102, focusing on vocabulary acquisition and greater control of more complex and extended forms of discourse. Greater emphasis is placed on students' creative use of Russian to express themselves orally and in writing. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 102. Conducted in Russian. Open to first-year students. Normally offered every year. M. Loginova.Concentrations.

RUSS 201-202. Intermediate Russian I and II.A continuation of RUSS 101-102, focusing on vocabulary acquisition and greater control of more complex and extended forms of discourse. Greater emphasis is placed on students' creative use of Russian to express themselves orally and in writing. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 102. Conducted in Russian. Open to first-year students. Normally offered every year. M. Loginova.Concentrations.

RUSS 202. Intermediate Russian II.A continuation of RUSS 201 focusing on vocabulary acquisition and greater control of more complex and extended forms of discourse. Greater emphasis is placed on students' creative use of Russian to express themselves orally and in writing. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 102. Conducted in Russian. Open to first-year students. Normally offered every year. M. Loginova.Concentrations.

ES/RU 216. Nature in Russian Culture.How does a given culture understand and represent its relationship to the specific geography of its place in the world? This course explores the cultural landscape of Russia through a broad range of literary works, visual images, and ethnographic studies. Students examine some of the following issues: the relationship between geography and national identity; the political uses of cultural landscape; the interaction of agriculture, official religion, and traditional belief in peasant culture; and the role of class and revolutionary reimaginings of nature in the Soviet era. Conducted in English. Open to first-year students. [W2] J. Costlow.Concentrations.

GR/RU 248. Narratives of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.Created by the Compromise of 1867 as a dual monarchy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire comprised more than a dozen linguistic and many more ethnic and religious groups. While Vienna was the undisputed cultural capital of the Empire, local urban centers produced a remarkably diverse cultural landscape. Through readings, films, and art by Austrian, Polish, Czech, Romanian, Hungarian, and Jewish artists, students explore this multicultural periphery and consider national, ethnic, class, religious, and gender identities; conflict and cooperation in an age of nationalism; the relationship between center and margins; colonial and postcolonial attitudes; and the legacies of the Empire in today's Central and Eastern Europe. Conducted in English. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. [W2] R. Cernahoschi.Concentrations.

INDS 256. Rites of Spring.Le Sacre du printemps—The Rite of Spring— began as a ballet, with music by Igor Stravinsky, choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky, and sets and costumes by Nicholas Roerich. Premiered in 1913 to riots in Paris, The Rite of Spring has lived on to become one of the most important pieces of music in the Western canon and the zenith of stature and daring for choreographers. This course examines where it came from and how it has evolved over time through dance works, music, and cultural context. Cross-listed in dance, music, and Russian. [W2] C. Dilley.Concentrations.

RUSS 261. Russian Culture.A topical survey of Russian culture as realized in a number of social institutions including the family, the church, the popular media, and the arts. Particular attention is given to texts emphasizing both the real and imagined role the urban environment plays in shaping Russian identity. Conducted in English. Open to first-year students. [W2] D. Browne.Concentrations.

RUSS 270. Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature.Russia's great prose writers raise "accursed questions" about social justice, religious truth, and the meanings of life. Their critiques of modernity and vividly imagined and often unorthodox characters continue to resonate and challenge. Readings are drawn from such writers as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Gogol, Pushkin, and Chekhov. Conducted in English. Open to first-year students. Staff.Concentrations.

RUSS 301. Advanced Russian I.This sequence completes the essentials of contemporary colloquial Russian. Students read short unabridged texts in both literary and journalistic styles, and write one- and two-page papers on a variety of topics. Conducted in Russian. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 202. Open to first-year students. Normally offered every year. D. Browne.Concentrations.

RUSS 301-302. Advanced Russian I and II.This sequence completes the essentials of contemporary colloquial Russian. Students read short unabridged texts in both literary and journalistic styles, and write one- and two-page papers on a variety of topics. Conducted in Russian. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 202. Open to first-year students. Normally offered every year. D. Browne.Concentrations.

RUSS 302. Advanced Russian II.This sequence completes the essentials of contemporary colloquial Russian. Students read short unabridged texts in both literary and journalistic styles, and write one- and two-page papers on a variety of topics. Conducted in Russian. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 202. Normally offered every year. D. Browne.Concentrations.

RUSS 306. Advanced Russian Culture and Language.This course develops oral fluency and aural acuity as well as reading and writing skills through directed and spontaneous classroom activities and individual and collaborative written assignments. Conversations and compositions are based on literary and nonliterary texts, feature films, and documentary films. Conducted in Russian. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 202. Open to first-year students. Staff.Concentrations.

RUSS 360. Independent Study.Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study per semester. Normally offered every semester. Staff.Concentrations.

RUSS 365. Special Topics.Designed for the small seminar group of students who may have particular interests in areas of study that go beyond the regular course offerings. Periodic conferences and papers are required. Conducted in Russian. Instructor permission is required. Staff.Concentrations.

RUSS 457. Senior Thesis.Open only to senior majors, with departmental permission. Students register for RUSS 457 in the fall semester and for RUSS 458 in the winter semester. Before registering for 457 or 458 a student must present to the department an acceptable plan, including an outline and a tentative bibliography, after discussion with a department member. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both RUSS 457 and 458. [W3] Normally offered every year. Staff.Concentrations.

RUSS 457, 458. Senior Thesis.Open only to senior majors, with departmental permission. Students register for RUSS 457 in the fall semester and for RUSS 458 in the winter semester. Before registering for 457 or 458 a student must present to the department an acceptable plan, including an outline and a tentative bibliography, after discussion with a department member. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both RUSS 457 and 458. [W3] Normally offered every year. Staff.Concentrations.

RUSS 458. Senior Thesis.Open only to senior majors, with departmental permission. Students register for RUSS 458 in the winter semester. Before registering for 457 or 458 a student must present to the department an acceptable plan, including an outline and a tentative bibliography, after discussion with a department member. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both RUSS 457 and 458. Department chair permission is required. [W3] Normally offered every year. Staff.Concentrations.

INDS s13. Daily Life under Hitler and Stalin.In this course, students examine everyday life in two of the twentieth century's most brutal political systems: Hitler's Nazi Germany and Stalin's USSR. They pay particular attention to how these two totalitarian regimes dominated the public sphere from the late 1920s to the end of World War II, and examine the question of agency: To what extent were the citizens of the Third Reich and the USSR manipulated, willing participants, or sympathetic fellow travelers? Cross-listed in German, history, and Russian. Enrollment limited to 30. (European.) D. Browne.Concentrations.

ES/RU s20. Environment and Culture in Russia.This course introduces a broad range of environmental issues in contemporary Russia and invites students to consider those issues in cultural and historical context. A period of intensive preparation at Bates is followed by visits and conversations in Russia that acquaint students with ecologists, activists, governmental officials, and ordinary Russian citizens. Students spend three and one-half weeks at different locations in European Russia and the Urals, visiting sites ranging from privatized farms and peasant markets to industrial centers and conservation areas. Recommended background: one course in Russian studies or environmental studies. Course reinstated beginning Short Term 2014. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission is required. J. Costlow.Concentrations.

RUSS s26. Russian and Soviet Film.From the early years of the Soviet avant-garde to the post-Stalinist era of covert critique, Russian film of the twentieth century offers an intriguing and important perspective on Soviet and post-Soviet life. This course explores the avant-garde cinema of Eisenstein and Pudovkin, the propaganda films of the 1930s, the representation of World War II in Soviet film, the aesthetic and moral quests of post-Stalinist filmmakers, and new directions in filmmaking of the last decade. Films are in Russian and other Soviet languages, with subtitles. All reading and writing is in English. M. Loginova.Concentrations.

RUSS s50. Independent Study.Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study during a Short Term. Normally offered every semester. Staff.Concentrations.