Raquel Greene, Open Seminar 2022

Discussing Africa as the Other in Russian Literature and Culture: Lessons for Instructors
Raquel Greene, Grinnell College

Recently the field of Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies has turned to discussing the issues of race, ethnicity, and intersectional identity in the undergraduate curriculum. While students are increasingly drawn to the question of race and identity, few departments regularly offer courses that provide an overview of how to critically address these topics in the Russian language and literature classroom. In this seminar, Dr. Raquel Greene will share her experiences teaching her course "The Theme of the African in Russian Literature and Culture," which centers the representation of race in Russian cultural production. Discussion will focus on how to integrate texts and media that center African and African American perspectives into traditional courses on Russian literature. Seminar attendees will be introduced to nineteenth- and twentieth-century texts in addition to contemporary media representations. Participants will come away with useful resources and ideas to begin introducing a topic that has been under-examined in Russian language and literature courses.