21 - 30 of 50 results for: REES

19th and early 20th centuries. Peasants, parish priests, witches, possessed persons, cults and sects, old believers, saints, and women's religious communities. Nominally Christian, and members of the Orthodox Church, Russians embraced beliefs and customs that combined teaching from Church and folk traditions.

Socialist visions and practices of the organization of society and messianic politics; the Soviet understanding of mass violence, political and ethnic; and living space. Primary and secondary sources. Research paper or historiographical essay.

Until recently history has been comparatively quiet about the experience of World War I in the east. Far from being a peripheral theater of war, however, the experiences of war on the Eastern Front were central to shaping the 20th century. Not only was the first shot of the war fired in the east, it was also the site of the most dramatic political revolution. Using scholarly texts, literature and film, this course combines political, military, cultural and social approaches to introduce the causes, conduct and consequences of World War I with a focus on the experiences of soldiers and civilians on the Eastern Front. Topics include: the war of movement, occupation, extreme violence against civilians, the Armenian genocide, population exchanges, the Russian Revolution and civil war, and the disintegration of empires and rise of nation-states.

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?

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.

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.

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.

How did standard Russian develop? Who determines how the language is spoken and written? How does Russian interact with other languages of the region (such as Ukrainian and Yiddish)? This class examines the development of the standard literary Russian language, focusing on the 19th century, the Soviet period, and post-Soviet language politics. Taught in English, reading in Russian.