Global and
Regional Studies
91 -
Today's
Russia: 92 Years in the
Making
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS - Fall 2009
First
Week
Aug
31 - Sept. 4
Monday
Introduction to course.
As you use this site, please note that the day you see an
assignment is the day it is due!
Study
skills.
Wednesday
Read
Kort,
The Soviet Colossus,
History and
Aftermath. Read and be
prepared to discuss Prologue,
pp. 3-7.
Start
watching VIDEO- Siege
at Beslan (Wide Angle - Bill
Moyers). Begin reading the article handed out
Monday
from The
Economist on Putin's Russia.
Friday
Finish watching VIDEO- Siege
at Beslan (Wide Angle - Bill
Moyers). Discuss
the video and disucss some of
the material
from The Economist.
Second Week
Sept 7 - 11
Monday
NO
CLASS - Laor Day recess.
Wednesday
Read
and be
prepared to discuss the second half of Chpt. 19, The Russian
Devolution, pp. 4431-452. Finish reading the article handed
out last week from The Economist on Putin's Russia. Discuss both
in class.
Friday
Class
Discussion in
preparation for upcoming writing assignments. See the link on the
writing of PAPERS.
Today marks the
beginning of your computer
log of New York Times
articles. For each
entry: list the name of the
article, its date and only TWO
sentences maximum to
describe the article.
Third Week Sept
14 - 18
Monday
VIDEO "The
Kursk" (nuclear submarine, which exploded and sank on
exercises in the Baltic).
Pass in FIRST PAPER, The Russian Devolution. Your paper synopsis
MUST include BOTH the chapter on Devolusiton
AND the article from The Economist.
Wednesday
Return
first paper. Discuss
the correction
process and student needs. Read Kort, Chpt.
18,
Gorbachev: From
Restructuring to
Reconstruction, first
half of chapter, pp. 355-381. Discuss first
half of chapter.
VIDEO- Chernobyl
- Update - "60 Minutes."
Friday
Read
second half of Chpt. 18, Gorbachev,
pp. 382-407. Discuss last half of
the chapter
on Mikhail Gorbachev
assigned for today.
VIDEO- second Chernobyl
- Update "Vice." Translation of War
in the Gulf, Speech by Gorbachev to the Soviet people.
Fourth
Week
Sept
21 - 25
Monday
Read Gogol, St.
Petersburg Tales - The Overcoat. Be prepared to discuss
this literary work in class.
Wednesday
VIDEO-- Secret
Lies; Atomic Spies. Video takes the
entire class period.
Pass in second paper on Gorbachev (from the chapter in Kort
and our discussions in class).
Friday
VIDEO
- Finish viewing Secret
Lies; Atomic Spies.
Arms Production and Sales from
Bulgaria,"Vice." Composer: Tchaikovsky, excerpt
from
Sym. #6 (Pathetique).
Read
Kort,
first half of Chpt. 17, Brezhnev, pp. 311-333. Be
prepared to discuss in class
Fifth
Week
Sept
28 - Oct. 2
Monday
Read Kort,
second half of Chpt. 17, Brezhnev, pp.
334-351. We shall discuss the unit in its entirety in
class.
Wednesday
Submit
third paper,
Gogol, St. Petersburg Tales - The Overcoat. Literary
analysis of the literary piece. This is NOT
a book recport.
DO NOT
simply retell the plot.
VIDEO - Russian Maffia - Togliati (from
the program "Wide Angle")
Friday VIDEO - Astrospies (Nova)
Sixth Week
Oct
5 - 9
Monday Using my web site
LINKS for
this course, look up (and print) at
least two articles on which you will report orally concerning news of
Russia or
Eastern Europe. Composer: Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade.
Submit fourth
paper, Brezhnev. Please
DO NOT forget to include a little on Andropov and Chernenko.
Wednesday
Read the
first half of
Dostoevsky's Notes from Undereground,
pp. 3-41. The
Pevear/Volokhonsky translation
you purchased contains a fabulous Introduction.
Reading it will help you to comprehend the work.
Friday
-
Finish
reading Dostoevsky's Notes from
Underground.
Twelvth Week
Nov
16 - 20
Monday
NO CLASS - free time
to work on semester project
Wednesday
TERM
RESEARCH PROJECTS DUE
In class, we
shall also set up the times for the term project presentations.
If you
are
not in class to do this yourself,
I shall place
you on the list where
there are openings. The schedule will appear on this web
page. After we have
preset
the
presentation time schedule,
changes may only be made by exchanging with another presentor.
Friday
Send NY Times file electronically (as an MS WORD
attached document). This counts as one paper grade.
VIDEO screen video: Youth
Against Lukoshenko - A Lesson
on Byelorussian Independence.
Read Kort, The
First Years and Last Stand, pp.
74-88
Fifteenth Week (December 7 - 9) Attendance absolutely required
Monday (December 7)