Special Seminar on Russophone Cultures
Course code
SKS6014.HT
old course code
Course title in Estonian
Eriseminar venekeelsetest kultuuriruumidest
Course title in English
Special Seminar on Russophone Cultures
ECTS credits
6.0
Assessment form
Examination
lecturer of 2026/2027 Autumn semester
Not opened for teaching. Click the study programme link below to see the nominal division schedule.
lecturer of 2026/2027 Spring semester
Not opened for teaching. Click the study programme link below to see the nominal division schedule.
Brief description of the course
This interdisciplinary course is based on the understanding that so-called “Russian culture” is not a single or homogeneous phenomenon, but encompasses diverse and often contradictory cultural practices both within and outside Russia. Rather than a strict chronology, the course is organized around the main cultural worldviews (religious, philosophical, artistic, and ideological) that have shaped these diverse cultural spaces and identities at different times. Topics such as East-West oppositions, notions of nation and empire, interpretations of freedom and its absence, and social “types” (e.g., intelligentsia) are addressed, emphasising their different meanings in different historical and geopolitical contexts. Seminars will analyse a variety of primary texts created both within Russia and in the wider Russian-speaking spaces, including the diaspora and borderlands. Special attention will be paid to how “Russianness” has been constructed, contested, and reinterpreted in different contexts, and how they can be critically examined today.
Learning outcomes in the course
Upon completing the course the student:
- understands the development of different Russian-speaking cultures in historical contexts;
- analyzes the role of religious, philosophical, artistic and ideological paradigms in the formation of Russian-speaking cultural spaces;
- interprets and compares Russian cultural texts;
- distinguishes and critically evaluates different approaches to “Russianness,” paying attention to its ideological and cultural assumptions;
- uses professional terminology and theoretical approaches when discussing course topics.
- understands the development of different Russian-speaking cultures in historical contexts;
- analyzes the role of religious, philosophical, artistic and ideological paradigms in the formation of Russian-speaking cultural spaces;
- interprets and compares Russian cultural texts;
- distinguishes and critically evaluates different approaches to “Russianness,” paying attention to its ideological and cultural assumptions;
- uses professional terminology and theoretical approaches when discussing course topics.
Teacher
Ksenia Shmydkaya
Study programmes containing that course