Dickinson College - Fall 2008
History 253

Russia: From Clans to Empires

TF 1:30-2:45 in Denny 311

Prof. Karl D. Qualls   -   Denny 307  -  (717) 245-1774 - Email: quallsk@dickinson.edu   Office hours: TF 2:45-4:30

I reserve the right to adjust any part of this syllabus, with reasonable prior notice, in order to accommodate the needs of students.

Objectives 

Any history class should serve at least three purposes: 1) to create a more informed human being who can speak intelligently on a wide range of topics, 2) to provide a lens through which to observe and interpret our current condition in the United States and within a larger global community, 3) to teach the life skills of thinking, writing, and communicating.

Our content objectives can be summarized and generalized as: 
1) to gain a basic familiarity with the major events and people that shaped Russia up to the twentieth century 
2) to understand what life was like for the average "Russian" in this period 
3) to understand how various themes change over time

Our skill objectives are: 
1) to practice deep thought 
2) to learn how to write and communicate more effectively (see my grading criteria for writing) 

We’ll begin our look at the East Slavs (today Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus) in the tenth century and end at the closing of the nineteenth century. The course is designed to provide a cursory understanding of political, social, and cultural history to students with no knowledge of Russia. If taken in combination with my course on twentieth century Russia next semester, the student should be able to understand why Russia is in the dire position it is today and how Russians feel about it. You will quickly realize that Russian history is punctuated with times of glory and times of crushing defeat and humiliation. In both good times and bad the people and institutions of Russia have changed (sometimes for better or worse) based on contact with “foreigners” or internal divisions and collapse. We will look at these periods, the people who lived through them, the culture that Russians produced and consumed, and the problems inherent in adapting to change.

Requirements

The course will be designed around lectures/presentations and discussions. You MUST, however, have all readings completed for a given class. Some discussions will be more natural in the midst of lecture; thus, you must be prepared to ask and answer questions on the documents each and every day. Likewise, if someone raises a question during lecture that pertains to a reading (and I encourage you to interrupt me whenever you choose to), we will stop lecture at that moment and begin a discussion of the pertinent document(s). I have a certain amount of information that I want to cover each week; in which order it is done is up to you and your questions. Our main text is the Kaiser/Marker book listed below. It is a reader that includes translated primary sources as well as scholarly articles on various themes. This text must be read carefully and in tandem with the study questions I will provide. The Stites/Goldfrank/Evtuhov book is abnormally readable textbook and will fill in the gaps that I cannot cover during lecture. It is imperative that you read (even if quickly) this text because I will lecture on themes and “snapshots” in history; Stites et al. will provide a greater context than I can ever hope to do in a 75-minute lecture. I will provide page numbers and study questions each week. There are also hyperlinks to some texts on the web.

Active attendance and participation and communication (both written and oral) will be essential for you to prosper in this course. You may not merely sit in class and listen. A portion of your grade depends on you being an active member of the class. This means both speaking and listening. Your participation will be evaluated based on quality rather than quantity. Note-taking is essential preparation for each class discussion. You should be able to summarize the main points of each reading, discuss the questions or problems it raised in your mind, and place it in context with other readings. I expect the discussions to be open, honest, and civil. I expect and hope for disagreements. You will defend your positions and challenge others with reason and logic. The anti-intellectual bashing of journalists, talking heads, politicians, and average citizens will not be tolerated.

You must also practice civil discourse in communication with me and peers. Thus, the email beginning, "Yo, Prof." will be ignored. If you email me you should begin with a proper salutation,write in complete and grammatically correct sentences, and conclude with an appropriate sign-off. I will neither read nor respond to sloppy discourse. I prefer face-to-face conversations or phone calls. We can accomplish much more in direct communication. If I am unavailable, you may email. But plan ahead because I only check email once or twice a day at most.

Out of respect for me and your peers, please turn off cell phones. I will answer the calls and ask you to leave the classroom for the rest of the period.

Disability Statement

Requests for academic accommodations are to be made during the first three weeks of the semester (except for unusual circumstances) so that appropriate arrangements can be made.  Students are required to register with Academic Resource Services in the Advising Office located on the first floor of Biddle House (contact ext. 1080 or waybranj@dickinson.edu)to verify their eligibility for appropriate accommodations. Likewise, any conflicts with religious holidays must be pointed out to me by the end of the second week.

Reading list

Required (Core) Reading

• Daniel H. Kaiser and Gary Marker, Reinterpreting Russian History: Readings, 860-1860s (Oxford University Press, 1994) ISBN 0195078578
• Richard Stites, et al. A History of Russia: Peoples, Legends, Events, Forces (Houghton Mifflin, 2004) ISBN 0395660726
• Carolyn Pouncy, Domostroi (Cornell) ISBN 0801496896
• David Ransel, ed. (Tian-Shanskaia) Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia (Indiana) ISBN 0253207843

Participation and short exercises, quizzes, etc.	20
Document Analyses	15*2=30
Midterm Exam	25
Final Exam	25
Total	100

Late work is simply unacceptable because it unfairly penalizes students who have submitted the work on time. Most of our work will be peer reviewed, so late submission will directly affect at least one other member in the course. Thus, any deadline missed (even by a minute) will result in a 50 percent reduction in the grade for the assignment for each day it is late. If any assignment is not submitted it will result in a failing grade for the course.

Unless otherwise noted in class, all written work, except the final paper, must be rewritten within one week after I return them. Rewrites will continue until the papers represent "C" quality work.  The final grade for each task will be an average of all attempts, but not higher than a "C".  This, hopefully, will encourage the best possible work on the first attempt and reward students accordingly.  It should also ensure that by the end of the class each student should be well on her/his way to becoming a successful and effective writer.

You must keep all assignments and my comments and be prepared to send them to me at any time.

Important Dates

• Fall Pause: October 13-14
• Roll Call Grades Due: October 15
• Last Day to Withdraw: October 29
• Pflaum Lecture: November 13
• Classes End: December 5
• Final Exam: December 13, 2:00

Week of August 25: Textbook chapters 1-2. Each week I will also give you the readings and study questions for our primary sources in Reinterpreting Russian History (KM=Kaiser/Marker)

T: Introduction to the Course and Geography

F: Prehistory and the State (KM, 3-13)

Week of September 1: Textbook chapters 2-3

T: The Kievan State and Economy (KM21-29; skim 38-48)

F: Guest Lecturer Dean Neil Weissman: Kievan Economy (KM 38-48) and Kievan Society (KM 49-59)

Week of September 8: Textbook chapters 4-5

T: Guest Lecturer Dean Neil Weissman: Kievan Culture/Religion and Law (KM 60-72); Decline of Kiev (KM pp. 83-99)

F: Watch "Mongol" at the Carlisle Theatre (7:30 PM)

Week of September 15: Textbook chapters 5-6

T: Mongol Impact (KM pp. 99-107) and the Rise of Muscovy Appanage and Feudalism (KM pp. 108-126 and 1497 Sudebnik)

F: Muscovite Culture (KM pp. 127-146, Filofei's Third Rome)

Week of September 22: Textbook chapter 7

T: Ivan the Good (KM pp. 150, 158-164) Document Analysis #1 Due

F: Ivan the Bad (KM pp. 151-157)

Week of September 29: Textbook chapter 8

T: Discussion of Domostroi

F: Time of Troubles and The First Romanovs (read excerpts of the Ulozhenie of 1649)

Week of October 6: Textbook chapters 9-10

T: The Family and Family Connections (KM pp. 172-192) and Women and Slaves and Everyday Life

F :Midterm Exam

Week October 13: Textbook chapters 11-12

T: Fall Pause

F: Schism of 1666

Week October 20: Textbook chapter 13-15