Topic 1: Chechnya: Politics, Power, and People. The history, culture, religions, and recent upheaval of Chechnya. Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies 385 (Topic: Chechnya: Politics, Power, and People) and 386 (Topic 1) may not both be counted.

Topic 2: Bulgakov's Master and Margarita. Only one of the following may be counted: Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies 385 (Topic: Bulgakov's Master and Margarita), 385 (Topic 2), 386 (Topic 2).

Topic 3: Russian Literature and the Devil. Examines Russian literature's extensive reflection on the nature and place of evil in human existence. Only one of the following may be counted: Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies 385 (Topic: Russian Literature and the Devil), 385 (Topic 3), 386 (Topic 3).

Topic 4: Madness and Madmen in Russian Literature. Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies 385 (Topic: Madness and Madmen in Russian Literature) and 386 (Topic 4) may not both be counted.

Topic 5: Stalinism: Ideology and Culture. Examine Stalinism as a complex historical, ideological, and cultural phenomenon that crucially shaped Russia's destiny from the twentieth century to the present moment. Consider this phenomenon beyond popular stereotypes (blood-thirsty tyrant; miserable and terrorized population; total propaganda; etc). Only one of the following may be counted: History 386S, Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies 386 (Topic: Stalinism: Ideology & Culture), 386 (Topic 5). Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Same as: HIS 386S Additional prerequisite: Graduate standing.

Topic 6: Memory and Archive in the European Novel. Examine 20th-century European novels that function as archives of cultural memory to retrieve individual and collective memories that lay hidden and forgotten by 20th-century history. Consider critically acclaimed writers, such as W. G. Sebald, Dubravka Ugresic, Danilo Kis, Witold Gombrowicz, and Dasa Drndic. Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies 386 (Topic: Memory/Archive in Europe) and 386 (Topic 6) may not both be counted.

Topic 7: Conspiracy Culture in the United States and Russia. Examine a wide spectrum of conspiracist expression, from such historical texts as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to the fictions of Don DeLillo, Thomas Pynchon, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Viktor Pelevin, and others. Consider a number of pop culture artifacts that thematize conspiracy and paranoia, as well as secondary works by contemporary scholars working in the field of conspiracy studies. Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies 386 (Topic: Consprcy Culture US/Russia) and 386 (Topic 7) may not both be counted.

Topic 8: Satire and Politics. Explore several contemporary novels, featuring comedy or satire, from different Eastern European regions (Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Dagestan, Slovenia, Romania) to consider how complex history and politics are often intertwined with fantastical, humorous, and grotesque elements. Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies 386 (Topic: Satire and Politics) and 386 (Topic 8) may not both be counted.

Topic 9: Post-Communist Protest in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Consider the range of protest movements and revolutions resulting from the collapse of communism in the former Soviet Union. Examine the dismantling of the "socialist realism" paradigm in literature and the arts, using a range of literary and non-fiction texts and films to explore these developments in Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, Russia, and other countries. Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies 386 (Topic: Postcom Protest Ukraine/E Eur) and 386 (Topic 9) may not both be counted.