Core Course Purpose and Objectives:

UTA students who successfully complete RUSS 2310 will possess a better understanding of the unique and influential contributions made by Russian culture to the human experience. Through the investigation of literary and artistic works (including epic tales and fables, poetry and prose, along with music, painting, film, and architecture) we will examine the manner in which the creative products of Russia’s past have pointed the way towards its future while embodying the fundamental striving of individuals and nation to establish identity and meaning both within and beyond history.

RUSS 2310 satisfies the UTA core curriculum requirement in Language, Philosophy, & Culture by including coverage of the following four (4) “Foundational Component Areas” identified by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board:

• Critical Thinking Skills: to include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis, evaluation and synthesis of information.

• Communication Skills: to include effective development, interpretation and expression of ideas through written, oral and visual communication.

• Personal Responsibility: to include the ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision-making.

• Social Responsibility: to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national and global communities.

Students who successfully complete this course will:

• demonstrate knowledge of the history of the Russian-speaking world

• demonstrate awareness of the diversity of Russian-speaking cultures

• discuss and compare various forms of expression

• converse about topics related to culture and identity

• discuss cultures not one’s own in a culturally appropriate way

• demonstrate an understanding of concepts related to agency in social and personal affairs

• demonstrate an understanding of concepts related to the politics of aesthetic representation and its role in shaping individuals and society

Signature Assignment: the Curatorial Project

An original research and writing assignment enabling you to explore in-depth a product of Russian culture. Students may either select one (1) object from – or add one (1) object to – the Repository and, on the basis of no fewer than (3) pre-approved scholarly sources, draft a 4-6 ppgh. expository narrative describing the nature, origins, historical development, and broader significance of the object followed by a 1-2 ppgh. statement describing and analyzing ethical issues or considerations related to (or arising from) the historical origins, contemporary appearance, and/or subsequent uses or interpretation(s) of the object in question.

Students are required to consult with (and receive approval from) the instructor prior to beginning their curatorial project. Already widely known and recognized products of Russian culture (such as Andrei Rublev’s Trinity, Étienne Falconet’s Equestrian Statue of Tsar Peter the Great, the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, etc.) will not be approved. Conversely, students may select as their “object” a supplemental literary work (novel, short story, play, poem, etc.) not assigned for the course (subject to the aforementioned restriction) as the basis for their curatorial project.