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This program offers an interdisciplinary approach to Russian and Eurasian history, literature, culture, geography, and film. Our journey will take us across the territories that once comprised the Russian and Soviet empires—territories that today make up more than 15 independent states. In lectures, seminars, and film analyses and discussions, we will travel from the fjords of Norway to the cities of Constantinople and Baghdad; from the grasslands of Mongolia to the Moscow cathedrals; from the Arctic Ocean to the marketplaces of Central Asia; from the peaks of the Caucasus Mountains to the deserts of Uzbekistan.

Our focus is the rise and fall of empires in this region, beginning with the Mongol and Russian empires. We will investigate the development of the Russians through history, starting with Viking invasions of Slavic territories in the 800s and progressing to the thriving imperial era in the 1800s. This latter period witnessed not only Napoleon's invasion, but the initial emergence of the great culture for which Russia is well known. This included the literature of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, and Turgenev, the beginnings of the Russian national school of art, the start of Russian nationalist music, and the first collections of Russian folklore.This latter period witnessed not only Napoleon's invasion, but the emergence of great literature (including Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, and Turgenev). The diverse ethnicities that had cultural, political, social, economic, and religious contact with the Russians—the Vikings, Mongols, Greeks, Tatars and Turkic peoples, among others—will all play key roles in our examinations.

Faculty will provide lectures and students will read and discuss a diverse selection of historical and literary texts in seminars, view and discuss documentaries and films, and write three major essays. We will also undertake a field trip to the Maryhill Museum to view their icon collection and other Russian- and east European-related items and to a Greek Orthodox women’s monastery in Goldendale, Washington, for a tour of the grounds and the icon studio, all geared to expanding our understanding of the spiritual roots of the evolving early Russian culture.

Students are strongly urged to take the Beginning Russian Language segment within the full-time program. Those who opt out of language should register for only 12 credits.

Quarters

Fall Open

Location and Schedule

Campus Location

Olympia

Time Offered

Day

Advertised Schedule