Course Descriptions
Almaty
In addition to Russian language, examples of courses organized for our students include:
- Russian and/or Kazakh literature
- History of Kazakhstan
- Geography of the modern world
- Cultural studies
- Translation & interpretation
- International relations
Below are descriptions for the courses that are usually offered in any given semester in Almaty*:
Russian and Kazakh Literature
The course in literature will introduce students to the fundamental concepts of literary criticism and, through practical exercises, explore the concepts of Author, Addressee, and Archetype. Students will learn to comprehend the material of text: the poetics of subject (thing), time, space, and sign. They will also explore the poetics of concept, character, and narrative. Students will become familiar with the generic and genre-specific divisions of fiction. They will discuss the aesthetic paradigms of literature and understand the problems of fiction, truth, and censorship. All of this will be explored through specific texts from Russian literature, including works by Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Gorky, Zoshchenko, Andreyev, Tsvetaeva, Bunin, Sholokhov, Akunin, Pelevin, and others. Students will also become familiar with contemporary Kazakhstani Russian-language literature.
After completing this course, students will be able to navigate not only Russian literature but also, thanks to universal methods for mastering literary text, gain a deeper understanding of the literature of other nations around the world.
International Competitive Advantages of States
Understanding the current world is impossible without mastering this course. It aims to develop students’ understanding of the key international competitive advantages of countries in the 21st century through an analysis of contemporary international relations. The potential of states, their ability to influence and shape the dynamics of global politics, and the shaping of the future of peace on our planet—all these issues will be explored in this course.
The course will cover topics such as: the concept of competitive advantages and other forms of exercising power and their influence on the position of states in global politics; an analysis of the advantages of leading states in international relations theory; an analysis of the set of unique characteristics that enable a country to occupy a leading position in international relations; the United States as a leader with competitive advantages; the EU and its competitive potential; the Chinese factor in world politics; Russia in international relations; the Indian factor in world politics; and Kazakhstan and its potential as a regional power.
By the end of the course, students will be able to summarize theoretical and methodological approaches to the study and analysis of key concepts related to the competitive advantages of countries in international relations in Russian; identify the criteria by which leading countries in global politics are determined in the modern world; and possess the skills to systematically analyze the competitive potential of countries and collective players in international relations at the global and regional levels in the late 20th and early 21st centuries (using the US, EU, China, India, Russia, and Kazakhstan as examples).
Tradition, Customs, and Culture of the Kazakh People
In this course, students will become familiar with the ethnogenesis of the Kazakh people and discuss concepts of national spirituality, identity, and national values. Through the prism of social and cultural anthropology, they will explore the development of national consciousness, the traditions and customs, rituals of the Kazakh people, Kazakh beliefs, and the significance of superstitions and taboos in the national worldview. Visits to museums and historical sites in Almaty and the surrounding area will allow students to observe examples of Kazakh culture and art firsthand. Discussions will also touch on concepts such as national code, issues of upbringing, national sentiment, intuition, national honor, and national spirit. Students will also become familiar with Kazakh national games.
Russian Language Through Art
This course is designed to develop students’ linguistic, communicative, and linguacultural competencies in the sociocultural sphere of communication. The curriculum is organized thematically, presenting information through the lens of the cultural heritage of the peoples living in Kazakhstan. Cinema, painting, music—and other forms of art—bear the imprint of the philosophy, psychology, and aesthetic foundations of the peoples living in Kazakhstan. Studying contemporary works of art will allow students not only to gain a deeper understanding of the country’s national characteristics but also to more fully master the Russian language, the lingua franca of Kazakhstan.This approach is transformed into a principle of modeling and understanding the world through the means of the language being studied. Students will learn to speak and write about this in Russian and discuss aesthetic and ethical issues embodied in contemporary art, music, and cinema.
Astana
In addition to Russian language, examples of courses organized for our students include:
- International Relations of Eurasia
- Social Problems and Issues of Eurasia
- Orientalism and Soviet Culture
- History and Culture of Kazakhstan
- Russian Literature in the Context of Eurasia
- History of Kazakh Music
- Introduction to the Politics of Central Asia
- Russian Intellectual History from the Enlightenment to Eurasianism
Below are descriptions for the courses that are usually offered in any given semester in Astana*:
International Relations of Eurasia
This course investigates the international politics of the wider Eurasia, characterized by great power pluralism, and foreign policy adaptation, in what is often described in terms of a New Great Game. The first half of the course will lay down a conceptual framework to understand the region, mixing regional and theoretical literatures. We begin by examining the efforts of the great powers to integrate the region into the emerging multipolar system according to their respective regional objectives and competitive governance structures. Subsequently, we examine how great power patronage facilitates the intersection between external behavior, state building, and regime survival. From this perspective, we relate the approaches developed to analyze the foreign policy of Eurasian states -from multivector diplomacy to “local rules”- to IR literature. The remainder of the course will assess in what ways specific issues shape Eurasian regional dynamics following an “issue” approach to stimulate students’ curiosity. Security issues like radical Islam, drug trafficking, organized crime, and the war in Afghanistan will be considered in their multiple facets, as their ramifications reverberate regionally and globally. Natural resources from hydrocarbons, to uranium and gold play a large role in the geopolitics of this region: particular attention will be dedicated to issues like the politics of Caspian oil and gas and pipeline routes.
History & Culture of Kazakhstan
Students will get themselves familiar with Kazakhstan as a country with a distinctive culture, rich history, unique traditions and national values. Students will learn about the intersection points of Russian and Kazakh history. The main content of the course is aimed at studying the formation and development of Kazakhstani identity, the revival of historical and cultural values, the transformation of national traditions, the modernization of political, economic and environmental life in modern Kazakhstani society. As part of the course, students will read stories by young Kazakhstani writers, perform Kazakh folk and modern songs, learn how to play folk musical instruments, visit cultural attractions - museums, theaters, exhibitions. There will be some speakers invited to class - Kazakhstani scientists and cultural figures. This course will help students quickly adapt to the surrounding society. Students will learn new terminology, improve their academic skills in writing, reading, listening and speaking in Russian. The content of the course is closely related to the courses on Kazakh and world history, cultural studies, Kazakh language, literature, Russian language, anthropology, art studies. Students must be present at every class as learning will take place through vigorous group conversation and interaction in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. In all classes, the basic concepts on the topic under study and key phrases in the Kazakh language for communication will be learned - “Good afternoon”, “thank you”, “please”, “be healthy”, “how are you”, etc.
Watch a video of Spring 2024 students in their Kazakh course!
Soviet Everyday Life in Soviet Cinema
This course will focus on the history of Soviet cinema and the representation of Soviet everyday life in films made between the 1920s and the early 1990s. We will watch and study classic movies of many different types and genres, from feature films to cartoons, from dramas to musical comedies. Cinematic images immersed in a broad historical context will be our primary tool for defining and understanding the specifics of the Soviet way of life. Drawing on various historical sources and critical analysis of films, we will discuss how cinema helps us to reconstruct the worldview of Soviet people and explain the causes of dramatic tension between the personal and the public in the Soviet discourse. In addition, we will debate why Soviet cinema is still so popular among Russian-speaking viewers even more than 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Orientalism and Soviet Culture
In this survey course of Soviet literature and culture, the students will read texts and watch films to understand the features of Soviet Russian culture. You will make acquaintance with a wide variety of texts and films that became living classics and discover concepts and phrases that – without exaggeration – almost every person in the post-Soviet spacе knows and uses. The main theme of this course will be the clash of the East and the West in Soviet Russian culture. You will study a variety of texts and films to explore how Soviet culture created its own image of the Orient. You will learn a lot about the history of the Soviet Union and the specifics of the attitude of the USSR’s Center toward the Soviet East. We will discuss whether the (post-) colonial approach is applicable to the study of the phenomenon of Soviet literature and debate how Soviet culture influenced the relations between Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Russia.
Terror and Perfection - Soviet Female Writers & Poets
This course consists of texts by Soviet female writers and poetesses written in Russian. The goal of the course is to expand the framework of the 20th century literary canon. We will not discuss “female images” in literature, but will talk about texts created by female writers and the writing strategies they chose. Often, female writers defined themselves as translators (the case of M. Petrovykh) or as researchers (L. Chukovskaya), without hoping, and sometimes not even trying, to publish their texts. Some of them chose a different strategy, creating texts only on a certain topic (A. Barto, for example, positioned herself as a children’s poet, often entering into a rather tough fight with other children’s poets). During the course we will refer to a variety of texts, but we will always discuss them taking into account the cultural and historical context, and we will also talk about the status of their creators. The course features an analysis of several cases illustrating the various literary strategies of women writers. Each case will be accompanied by historical and cultural commentary. The main method of studying the texts will be the method of slow reading.
*Subject to change. Year-long students will be offered different elective options in their second semester to avoid duplicating coursework.