HIS 439:  Russia’s Empire

Course Description:

For centuries, the Russian capital, whether Moscow or St. Petersburg, has served not only as the center of the Russian nation, but also as the center of a large, multi-ethnic, contiguous empire.  In this course, students will examine various issues facing the rulers of this unusual empire, focusing on two regions: the “old” empire of the west, and the “new” empire of Central Asia. 

Marking Scheme:

1. class participation (15%)
2. service as discussion leader for one class (10 %)
3. one 4-5 page book review (15 %)
4. weekly reaction papers (1 page each week) (15 %)
5. one 12-15 page term-long research paper (see here for more details) (45 %)

Marking of written assignments is based on accuracy and use of historical evidence, statement and development of a strong thesis, style, and grammar.  I will often use a marking form to simplify and organize my comments and rationale.  Know, too, that although the form suggests I mark mathematically, I don’t; it’s just a tool to simplify mark.

Be warned that plagiarism is a serious offense.  Read the university’s policies on academic dishonesty, located at http://www.utoronto.ca/govcncl/pap/policies/behaveac.html.  In this course, plagiarism (ask if you’re confused about what that means) can lead to failure, not on a single paper, but for the class as a whole.

Furthermore, students agree that by taking this course all required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. The terms that apply to the University’s use of the Turnitin.com service are described on the Turnitin.com website.

Unexcused late papers or missed exams are also not acceptable.  If you find yourself in dire straits, or anticipate a conflict, discuss the matter with me ahead of time.  The night before something is due is not ahead of time.  Do not simply fail to turn in a paper and assume I’ll accept something late.  At a minimum, the penalty for late work is three percentage points per day.

Additional information available on my website (see above) or on the online syllabus, available through the University of Toronto’s Blackboard service.

Texts  (available at the University Bookstore):
Dominic Lieven, Empire:  The Russian Empire and Its Rivals
Nikolai Gogol’, Taras Bulba
Frederick Burnaby, A Ride to Khiva
Additional materials are available online (the online syllabus has direct links to all articles)

Schedule of assignments/topics:

January 9:      Empires and Nations

January 16:    Russia and nationalism

• Alexei Miller, “The Empire and the Nation in the Imagination of Russian Nationalism,” in Imperial Rule, A. I. Miller and Alfred J. Rieber, eds.
• Ronald Grigor Suny, “The Empire Strikes Out: Imperial Russia, ‘National’ Identity, and Theories of Empire,” in A State of Nations: Empire and Nation-Making in the Age of Lenin and Stalin, 23-67 (available through portal)

January 23:    Dominic Lieven, Empire, Parts One and Two

January 30:    Dominic Lieven, Empire, Chapters 6-8

Week 5:          Background:  Travel Narratives

February 6:    Travel Narratives as Historical Sources

• Irena Gurdzinska Gross, “The Tangled Tradition:  Custine, Herberstein, Karamzin, and the Critique of Reason,” Slavic Review 50, no. 4 (Winter 1991): 989-998
• Edward G. Gray, “Visions of Another Empire:  John Ledyard, an American Traveler across the Russian Empire, 1787-1788,” Journal of the Early Republic 24, no. 3 (Autumn 2004): 347-380
• Katya Hokanson, “Russian Women Travelers in Central Asia and India,” Russian Review 70, no. 1 (January 2011): 1-19
• book reviews due electronically by 5pm, Friday, February 8

February 13:  THIS WEEK:  INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS TO DISCUSS TERM PROJECTS

February 27:  The literary Ukraine

• Nikolai Gogol’, Taras Bulba

March 6:         Memory and the Empire

• Taras Koznarsky, “Izmail Sreznevsky’s Zaporozhian Antiquity as a Memory Project,” Eighteenth-Century Studies 35, no. 1 (Fall 2001): 92-100
• Mark von Hagen, “Does Ukraine Have a History?” Slavic Review 54, no. 3 (Autumn 1995): 658-673

March 13:       The Crimea:  Old and New

• Sara Dickinson, “Russia’s First ‘Orient’: Characterizing the Crimea in 1787,” Kritika 3, no. 1 (Winter 2002): 3-25
• Andreas Schonle, “Garden of the Empire:  Catherine’s Appropriation of the Crimea,” Slavic Review 60, no. 1 (Spring 2001): 1-23

Weeks 10-11:       The Farther Empire:  Siberia, Central Asia and the Caucasus

March 20:       Siberia in the Russian Imagination

• Mark Bassin, “Inventing Siberia: Vissions of the Russian East in the Early Nineteenth Century,” American Historical Review 96, no. 3 (June 1991): 763-94
• Claudia Weiss, “Representing the Empire: The Meaning of Siberia for Russian Imperial Identity,” Nationalities Papers 35, no. 3 (July 2007): 439-56

March 27:       Travels in the new Russia

• Frederick Burnaby, A Ride to Khiva

April 3:            Administering the Empire

• Timothy K. Blauvelt, “Military-Civil Administration and Islam in the North Caucasus, 1858-83,” Kritika 11, no. 2 (Spring 2010): 221-255
• Jeff Sahadeo, “Epidemic and Empire:  Ethnicity, Class, and ‘Civilization’ in the 1892 Tashkent Cholera Riot,” Slavic Review 64, no. 1 (Spring 2005): 117-139

FINAL PROJECTS DUE FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 5:00 PM, ELECTRONICALLY