This discussion course will help students to understand the
ever-changing political, social and economic events of today's Russia
through the prism of cultural factors that have shaped Russian
civilization over the centuries. To connect historical perspectives,
the course will be taught backwards, beginning with the present and
moving back to the Revolutions of 1917. Various video
presentations will be employed as a vehicle for understanding Russia
and its peoples. This is a writing
intensive, discussion intensive, collaborative learning intensive
course.
Students will subscribe to the New York Times at
a special reduced rate. Newspapers are delivered to campus
residence halls daily. Additionally, the class will occasionally
be assigned news updates from Prof. Nalibow's web site LINKS page in
order to search out and analyze recent news from Russia and Eastern
Europe. The Web Sites for this specific assignment represent
primary informational
materials in English, although sources in Russian are also available.