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History of Russia to 1855 Monday / Wednesday / Friday 3:30-4:30 Old Main 002 Instructor: Dr HIST 294-04 Fall 2015 History of Russia to 1855 Monday / Wednesday / Friday 3:30-4:30 Old Main 002 Instructor: Dr. Julia Fein E-mail: j [email protected] Office: Old Main 300, x6665 Office hours: Open drop-in on Thursdays, 1-3, and by appointment COURSE DESCRIPTION Dear historians, Welcome to the first millennium of Russian history! We have a lively semester in front of us, full of famous, infamous, and utterly unknown people: from Ivan the Terrible, to Catherine the Great, to the serfs of Petrovskoe estate in the 19th century. Most of our readings will be primary documents from medieval, early modern, and 19th-century Russian history, supplemented with scholarly articles and book sections to provoke discussion about the diversity of possible narratives to be told about Russian history—or any history. We will also examine accounts of archaeological digs, historical maps, visual portrayals of Russia’s non-Slavic populations, coins from the 16th and 17th centuries, and lots of painting and music. As you can tell from our Moodle site, we will be encountering a lot of Russian art that was made after the period with which this course concludes. Isn’t this anachronistic? One of our course objectives deals with constructions of Russian history within R ussian history. We will discuss this issue most explicitly when reading Vasily Kliuchevsky on Peter the Great’s early life, and the first 1 HIST 294-04 Fall 2015 part of Nikolai Karamzin’s M emoir , but looking at 19th- and 20th-century artistic portrayals of medieval and early modern Russian history throughout also allows us to conclude the course with the question: why are painters and composers between 1856 and 1917 so intensely interested in particular moments of Russia’s past? What are the meanings of medieval and early modern Russian history to Russians in the 19th and 20th centuries? The second part of this course sequence—Revolutionary Russia and the Soviet Union—picks up this thread in spring semester. I look forward to sharing Russian history and culture with you in the months to come! Julia F. SELECTED TOPICS AND THEMES ● Russia as Europe/Asia/Eurasia ● The Orthodox Church and sectarianism, religiosity, & the state ● Empire and military-economic expansion ● Empire and the management of ethnic and religious diversity to the west, south, and east ● Meanings and technologies of “the West” in Russian military, cultural, & intellectual history ● The nature and significance of Russian serfdom in agriculture, popular culture, & high culture ● Women’s lives and gender relations in a broader society ● Social estate groups, the autocracy, & the economy ● The environment’s impact on Russia’s history / Russian history’s impact on the environment COURSE OBJECTIVES At the end of this course, you will be able to: 1. Give an informed overview of narratives, developments, and key questions in the social, political, cultural, economic, intellectual, and environmental history of Russian civilization in Kievan Rus’, Mongol rule, Muscovy, and the Russian Empire through the mid-19th century. 2. Interrogate diverse primary sources and cultural artifacts from different periods. What kinds of questions do we as historians pose to different kinds of texts and objects? What can (and can’t) we learn about how people in Russian history lived, from the sources available? How do we analyze the language in which people wrote about the world around them in order to understand the values of an unfamiliar civilization? Three informal response papers on texts of your choice will allow you to practice this questioning approach to source analysis. 3. Approach historical narratives critically, with an appreciation of the political and cultural stakes in telling a story one way and not another. Why does it matter whether or not the rulers who made the Kievan Rus’ polity were Scandinavian? What does it mean to understand Ivan the Terrible as a paranoid Asiatic despot versus a centralizing autocrat in precarious times in Europe? 2 HIST 294-04 Fall 2015 4. Utilize analytical and argumentative skills to posit conclusions about connections between texts and historical context and defend these conclusions with evidence. These skills will be modeled during class discussion, which is why class preparation and participation are so important. Two analytical papers will require you to demonstrate these skills through a synthesis of two or more texts to make an argument about the nature and significance of change over time in a particular area of Russian history (e.g. gender; law; imperial governance). REQUIREMENTS AND ASSESSMENT COMPONENTS 1. Attendance and participation: 225 points Close to half of class time will be spent in intensive discussion. It is therefore essential to complete the reading, underlining important passages and jotting down thoughts or questions, and to come to class and participate productively. Productive participation means not just answering my questions, but also: posing your own questions; listening to your fellow students and responding to their comments and questions; and having specific passages in the assigned reading underlined or highlighted in order to illustrate your points when you speak in large- and small-group discussions. Bringing the assigned reading with you to class is essential to all of the above . There will be opportunities for students with different personalities to participate in different ways. One absence during the semester is excused, no questions asked, but you may have no more than three unexplained absences in order to pass the class. I ask that you arrive on time to each class and refrain from consuming food or gum (beverages are welcome). It is also expected that each student will learn and use the preferred names and gender pronouns of everybody in the class. This is essential for creating the community of civility that is part of a liberal arts learning environment. Finally, your mobile phone should be on silent (not vibrate) or switched off and out of sight during class. You are welcome to bring a computer or tablet for notes and readings, but it is very obvious if you are using it for something other than class purposes, and this also keeps you from participating productively. 2. Two five-page papers: 200 points each You will have a choice of two or three paper topics that will require you to analyze two or more texts, and to use that analysis to make a historical argument. These are due on October 21 and December 11. Paper question options and further instructions and tips for the papers will be provided no later than ten days before papers are due. You are encouraged to discuss these papers with classmates, but all written work must be your own. I am happy to meet with you in office hours before these deadlines, and to give feedback on outlines and/or introductory paragraphs (not complete drafts) up to 24 hours before the due date. 3 HIST 294-04 Fall 2015 3. Three informal response essays: 50 points each Over the course of the semester you must write two-page (double-spaced) thought pieces focusing on one or two readings for that day. You are free to choose when in the semester to do these. Response papers may include general reactions, address any confusion about the reading, and offer thoughts about how the text connects to other readings, discussions, and themes in the course. You should also offer one or two discussion questions for class. Papers should be posted to Moodle no later than noon on the day the text will be discussed in class, and everybody should check the discussion board and read fellow-students’ responses before coming to class. These will not be graded for composition or organization, but must be written in complete sentences and paragraphs. 4. Final exam (take home): 225 points The final exam, on December 18, will consist of: ten directed, topical questions of which you should answer eight of your choice in a short paragraph, and a short essay. The exam will be distributed digitally at 10 a.m. and due digitally by 5 p.m. You may use all readings and notes when doing the exam, and you are encouraged to study together beforehand, but the exam itself must be exclusively your own work. 950-1000 points = A. 900-949 points = A-. 870-899 points = B+. 830-869 points= B. 800-829 points= B-. etc. POLICIES AND SUPPORT If you are struggling in the class, you should first consult me and/or one of your classmates. While it is important that you let me know if you feel you are struggling, you may wish to go directly to the Macalester Academic Excellence (MAX) Center , located in Kagin Commons. The MAX Center has peer tutors available for students in all stages of their writing. Hours are 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Sunday through Thursday. You may drop in or call 651-696-6121 during the day or 651-696-6193 in the evening to schedule an appointment. Students with disabilities are accommodated and protected from discrimination at Macalester College. Please coordinate communication about any problems with me and with the D isability Services o ffice. Maintaining academic integrity and abiding by the rules of scholarly inquiry are central to the college experience. This class will follow M acalester’s policies and procedures for dealing with plagiarism or other breaches in academic integrity. BOOKS FOR PURCHASE ➢ The Memoirs of Princess Dashkova: Russia in the Time of Catherine the Great (Duke University Press) ➢ Karamzin’s Memoir on Ancient and Modern Russia (University of Michigan Press) ➢ Aleksandr Nikitenko, Up from Serfdom: My Childhood and Youth in Russia, 1804-1824 (Yale University Press) 4 HIST 294-04 Fall 2015 SCHEDULE AND ASSIGNMENTS Week 1, September 2-4 Wednesday.
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