This class examines classic and current scholarship and literature on gender and sexuality in contemporary Eastern Europe, and examines the dialogue and interchange of ideas between East and West. Although the scholarly and creative works will primarily investigate the changing status of women during the last three decades, the course will also look at changing constructions of masculinity and LGBT movements and communities in the former communist bloc. Topics will include: the woman question before 1989; gender and emerging nationalisms; visual representations in television and film; social movements; work; romance and intimacy; spirituality; and investigations into the constructed concepts of "freedom" and "human rights."

Eastern and Central Europe was the site of monumental political changes in the twentieth century, including the disillusion of monarchical empires in the First World War and the expansion of Soviet-style communism. At every point, artists have taken part in political debates, sometimes advancing radical agendas, sometimes galvanizing movements, sometimes simply "shouting into the void" to register their own dissatisfaction. In this course, we will consider texts - including literature, political philosophy and film - that pushed back against the dominant political norms. In so doing, we will investigate Aesopian language, the mechanics of censorship, the repercussions of dissent, performativity, samizdat and the rise of an alternative culture. We will contextualize our readings of literature with the sociological and historical work of Benedict Anderson, Tony Judt, Jonathan Bolton, Shana Penn, Alexei Yurchak and the series Discourses of Collective Identity in Central and Southeast Europe. As well as becoming familiar with major thinkers and movements in Eastern and Central Europe, students will develop a sense of art as a tool of political protest.

This course presents the Russian contribution to world cinema before WWII - nationalization of the film industry in post revolutionary Russia, the creation of institutions of higher education in filmmaking, film theory, experimentation with the cinematic language, and the social and political reflex of cinema. Major themes and issues involve: the invention of montage, Kuleshov effect, the means of visual propaganda and the cinematic component to the communist cultural revolutions, party ideology and practices of social-engineering, cinematic response to the emergence of the totalitarian state. Great filmmaker and theorist in discussion include Vertov, Kuleshov, Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Medvedkin and others.

This seminar examines classic and current scholarship and literature on gender and sexuality in contemporary Eastern Europe, and examines the dialogue and interchange of ideas between East and West. Although the scholarly and creative works will primarily investigate the changing status of women during the last three decades, the course will also look at changing constructions of masculinity and LGBT movements and communities in the former communist bloc. Topics will include: the woman question before 1989; gender and emerging nationalisms; visual representations in television and film; social movements; work; romance and intimacy; spirituality; and investigations into the constructed concepts of "freedom" and "human rights."

Russia and the European Union (EU) are engaged in a battle for influence in Eastern Europe. EU foreign policy towards its Eastern neighbors is based on economic integration and the carrot of membership. With the application of this powerful incentive, Central and Southeastern European countries such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Croatia have progressed rapidly towards integration with the EU (and NATO). Yet, given Russias opposition to the further enlargement, membership is off the table for the large semi-Western powers such as Russia itself and Turkey and the smaller countries inhabiting an emerging buffer zone between Russia and the EU, such as Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova, and Belarus. These in-between countries find themselves subject to intense competition for influence between Eastern and Western powers. In this context, EU countries must balance their energy dependence on Russia and need for new markets and geopolitical stability with concern for human rights, democratic governance, and self-determination. What are the trade-offs implicit in the foreign policies of Russia, EU member states, and Eastern Europe? What are the best policy approaches? What are the main opportunities and obstacles?

The Cold War was more than simply a military confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union; it was the frame within which the entire world developed (for better or worse) for nearly five decades. This course will examine the cold War as a global phenomenon, covering not only the military and diplomatic history of the period, but also examining the social and cultural impact of the superpower confrontation. We will cover the origins of the conflict, the interplay between periods of tension and detente, the relative significance of disagreements within the opposing blocs, and the relationship between the "center" of the conflict in the North Atlantic/European area and the global "periphery".

The Intermediate Hungarian I course builds on and continues the course material in Elementary Hungarian I-II. Course activities, authentic audio and video material along with Hungarian online resources will enable students to further develop their reading, writing, listening comprehension and conversational skills. Students will practice their skills by discussing and writing about their interests, student lives, travel and cultural experiences, life on campus as well as learning about Hungarian seasonal traditions, cultural events, and Hungarian student life. Offered through the Penn Language Center.

The Intermediate Hungarian I course builds on and continues the course material in Elementary Hungarian I-II. Course activities, authentic audio and video material along with Hungarian online resources will enable students to further develop their reading, writing, listening comprehension and conversational skills. Students will practice their skills by discussing and writing about their interests, student lives, travel and cultural experiences, life on campus as well as learning about Hungarian seasonal traditions, cultural events, and Hungarian student life. Offered through the Penn Language Center.

The elementary Hungarian I course focuses on providing reading, writing, listening and reading-comprehension skills on basic level Hungarian. Interactive class activities and authentic Hungarian material will enable students to develop language skills so they could talk about themselves and their families, discuss every day and weekend routines, express likes and dislikes, converse about school and family activities, and get acquainted with Hungarian holidays and cultural traditions. Offered through Penn Language Center.

This course has two separate but related components: a series of Czech films, shown with subtitles and open to the entire University of Pennsylvania community, and a Czech language class which relies on the films for content. Each film screening will be preceded by introductory remarks and followed by a discussion, with optional reading material made available in advance. In this way, the film series can but need not also be offered as a for-credit course, cross-listed through REES and Cinema and Media Studies. The films will be sequenced chronologically through Czech history, as opposed to film history, so that the series will double as a survey of Czech history. For example, we will begin with films set in the medieval period, such as Marketa Lazarova (dir. Frantisek Vlacil, 1967) and Cisaruv pekar-Pekaruv cisar (Emperor's Baker-Baker's Emperor, dir. Martin Fric, 1955). Eventually we will progress to recent films that deal with the current moment. Classic and contemporary films will be intermingled to simultaneously present a variety of important historical eras and cinematic techniques. Concurrently, students enrolled in the language course will learn basic Czech using custom-made materials drawn from the films. As their vocabulary and grasp of grammatical concepts increases, we will be able to work with longer and more complex sections of the film-texts. The films will provide the material for listening and reading exercises, and the students' oral and written work will be anchored by their responses to the films. We will advance from picking out simple statements to analyzing dialogue and identifying irony in film and composition, developing skills of intercultural communication and competence. By the end of the course, students will be able to read about Czech cinema using authentic materials, and discuss the films' aesthetic, historical and political importance.