RUS 295-01 - Special Topic: Comrades in the Kitchen: Russian Food and Culture in the Soviet Century

4 credits (Spring)

Cross-listed as: GLS 295-01 or HUM 295-01. This course will explore Russian food culture through the lens of literature, art, poetry, film, and popular culture. Drawing from Russian literature, cookbooks, cultural histories, art, film, folklore, and memoirs, we will use the methodologies of textural analysis and food history to research, write, and speak about how food and food culture reflects the human experience in Russia, with particular focus on the Soviet twentieth century: from the Russian Revolution of 1917 to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. We will also consider critical writing about the relationship between food and culture, and create a food blog to present our own critical views about Russian cooking and culture. A part of our course will involve hands-on practice of the preparation and consumption of Russian (and Soviet) food.

Prerequisite: None.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Foreign language option available in Russian for course and +2.
Instructor: Armstrong