Results for REES

Enrollment limited to REEES students. Scholars present analyses of methodologies, challenges, and current issues in the study of Russia, E. Europe, and Eurasia.

Fiction of Jewish-American writers across the 20th and into the 21st centuries, both immigrants and subsequent generations of native-born Jews, to show how the topic of assimilation is thematized in the literature and to evaluate the distinctiveness of Jewish-American literature as a minority literature.

A preparatory course, for field trip to Moscow and Warsaw, that would cover Russian and Polish History, former Soviet Jewry, international relations, and current social realities

Enrollment limited to REEES students. Scholars present analyses of methodologies, challenges, and current issues in the study of Russia, E. Europe, and Eurasia.

Onassis Seminar "Icons of Sound: Architecture, Acoustics and Ritual in Byzantium". This year-long seminar explores the creation and operations of sacred space in Byzantium by focusing on the intersection of architecture, acoustics, music, and ritual. Through the support of the Onassis Foundation (USA), nine leading scholars in the field share their research and conduct the discussion of their pre-circulated papers. The goal is to develop a new interpretive framework for the study of religious experience and assemble the research tools needed for work in this interdisciplinary field.

Activity course features Stanford faculty and researchers who lecture weekly on their experiences working international health issues. Focus this year will be on the global region including Russia, and East Europe.

Focus on understanding the diversity of political, social, and economic outcomes in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Exploration of questions, including: Is Russia still a global power? Where does it have influence internationally, how much, and why? Developmentally, what is the relevant comparison set of countries? Is Russia's economic growth over the last decade truly similar to Brazil, China, and India or is it more comparable to Kazakhstan, Nigeria, and Kenya? How has Russia's domestic political trajectory from liberalizing country to increasingly autocratic affected its foreign policy toward Ukraine, Georgia, and other formerly Soviet states? Finally, is Russia's reemergence as an important global actor more apparent than real?

Central Asian cults, myths, and beliefs from ancient time to modernity. Life crisis rites, magic ceremonies, songs, tales, narratives, taboos associated with childbirth, marriage, folk medicine, and calendrical transitions. The nature and the place of the shaman in the region. Sources include music from the fieldwork of the instructor and the Kyrgyz epoch Manas. The cultural universe of Central Asian peoples as a symbol of their modern outlook.

From 1945 to the mid-80s, emphasizing Polish, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and Yugoslav contexts. The relationship between art and politics; postwar establishment of film industries; and emergence of national film movements such as the Polish school, Czech new wave, and new Yugoslav film. Thematic and aesthetic preoccupations of filmmakers such as Wajda, Jancso, Forman, and Kusturica.

Course focus on the political dynamics of market liberalization and response to economic crisis in these emerging markets, including the sources of support and opposition to reform, the interplay between international organizations and domestic politics, and the challenges of protecting the losers of economic liberalization.

Issues of identity, development, and security following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the emergence of independent states in Central Asia and the Southern Caucasus. Topics include the impact of 9/11, the spread of radical Islamist movements in the region, its growing role as a transit route for drugs, weapons, and possibly nuclear materials, the impact of the Soviet legacy, the nature of political and economic transformations, relations with neighboring countries, security challenges, and options facing U.S. policy makers.

Films with English subtitles from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan. May be repeated once for credit. (AU)

Onassis Seminar "Icons of Sound: Architecture, Acoustics and Ritual in Byzantium". This year-long seminar explores the creation and operations of sacred space in Byzantium by focusing on the intersection of architecture, acoustics, music, and ritual. Through the support of the Onassis Foundation (USA), nine leading scholars in the field share their research and conduct the discussion of their pre-circulated papers. The goal is to develop a new interpretive framework for the study of religious experience and assemble the research tools needed for work in this interdisciplinary field.

Through films this course explores major issues of contemporary peoples of Central Asia while learning fundamental concepts in cultural anthropology. In this seminar we will consider a wide range of examples, including first of all the new feature films, which will be used as a window into the modern reality and therefore could be served in a certain sense as anthropological fieldwork data. Films are prearranged by the instructor according to certain thematic subjects for in-class discussions.

Focus is on how the states of Central and East Europe, including the Baltic states, have moved from communism and the Soviet Bloc to democracy, NATO and the EU. Topics include the communist legacy, transitions and their legacies, ethnic issues, and the evolution of economic and social policies, and the comparison of democratization processes in these countries to democracies in other regions, such as Latin America and southern Europe.

The experience of religion, particularly Orthodoxy, under tsars and commissars. Religion as a lived experience; practice and belief in the provinces and villages, intertwining of religion and folk customs (the so-called double faith); condition of the Church before and after the Revolutions of 1917; religion under Soviet control; and liberation of the Church since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Focus is on how the states of Central and East Europe, including the Baltic states, have moved from communism and the Soviet Bloc to democracy, NATO and the EU. Topics include the communist legacy, transitions and their legacies, ethnic issues, and the evolution of economic and social policies, and the comparison of democratization processes in these countries to democracies in other regions, such as Latin America and southern Europe.

Brief introduction to the economic history of Russia, general overview of the modern Russian economy with analysis of its macroeconomic features and dynamics, industrial structure, and the major institutional features that are important for understanding Russian economic development. The period of transition from Soviet-type planned economy to a market economy and market reforms (1991-1998), the period of economic growth (1999-2007), and the economic development of Russia during the current global crisis of 2008-2010. Analysis of Russia¹s social structure and social policy, labor markets, the regional structure of the economy, the role of the state, and major Russian industries (oil, metals, machinery). Emphasis on the specific institutional aspects that have shaped Russia's economic development.

An interdisciplinary introduction to the historically nomadic land of Kazakhstan, its peoples and their lifestyles ¿ the practice of everyday life. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, Kazakhstan is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory is greater than Western Europe: it stretches from the fringes of Europe to the borders of Mongolia and China. The seminar surveys language and society, traditional economics and customary law, rituals and folk customs, local dwelling, craft and art, the cultural panorama, the historical relationship between sedentary and nomadic peoples as well as new approaches to the study of nomads in modernity. Speaking of the present time, we will follow the changing nomads in a changing world. The instructor is going to base, to the extent possible, on the extremely rich fieldwork data recently discovered in Kazakhstan -- the data is yet little known in the West. The seminar will make extensive use of audio-visual materials and films.

Introduction to women's culture and art in Muslim countries of Central Asia. Women, bearers of family rites and folklore, are the key figures in transmission of traditional culture and guardians of folk Islam. Women helped to keep the continuity of Islamic education in Central Asia during the harsh times of Communist dominance. The whole wealth of women's oral tradition will be demonstrated and examined to the extent possible. The course will make broad use of audio-visual materials.

This seminar investigates the origins and evolution of the field and exposes students to major debates about the history, geography, politics, societies, economies, cultures, and languages of the region.

The experience of religion, particularly Orthodoxy, under tsars and commissars. Religion as a lived experience; practice and belief in the provinces and villages, intertwining of religion and folk customs (the so-called double faith); condition of the Church before and after the Revolutions of 1917; religion under Soviet control; and liberation of the Church since the collapse of the Soviet Union.