Russia: From St. Vladimir to Vladimir Putin

Dates: September 9 - October 14, 2021
Meets: Th from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
 Location: Online
Cost:  $75.00

Sorry, the signup deadline has passed.

Date Day Time
09/09/2021Thursday2 PM to 4 PM
09/16/2021Thursday2 PM to 4 PM
09/23/2021Thursday2 PM to 4 PM
09/30/2021Thursday2 PM to 4 PM
10/07/2021Thursday2 PM to 4 PM
10/14/2021Thursday2 PM to 4 PM

Please note: This course program requires membership in a 2021 - 2022 OLLI at MSU Membership or 2021 - 2022 OLLI at MSU Membership

This course will cover some of the major issues that have occupied Russia's tsars, philosophers, politicians, writers, artists, composers and others. Topics include: 

  • The Orthodox Church's influence on the Russian worldview and its increasingly important role in post-Soviet Russia.
  • Russia's geographic position on the border of Europe and Asia, and the ongoing tug-of-war between Westernizers, who lean toward European models, and Slavophiles, who believe that Russia is to follow its own unique, more oriental path.
  • The influence that the concept of "Russians as the older brother" has had on recently-flared inter-ethnic tensions.
  • Russia's long history of authoritarian and patriarchal rulers and the negative impact on the development of democratic institutions.

Apply for a needs-based scholarship to take this offering.

Fee:  $75.00

Online

This is a real-time (live) online class that meets at the specified day(s)/time(s) listed.

We will send you a reminder email with login instructions one business day before the program start date. If there are additional sessions, we will send reminders the morning of those sessions.

Asya Pereltsvaig

Asya Pereltsvaig received a degree in English and history from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Ph.D. in linguistics from McGill University. She taught at Yale, Cornell, and Stanford universities and has taught in lifelong education programs since 2010. Her expertise is in language, culture and history, and their relationship. Asya has published five scholarly books with Cambridge University Press. Asya is a popular instructor for several Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes around the country and was the faculty host for the OLLI trip to the Baltic countries and St. Petersburg in July 2017.
Date Day Time Location
09/09/2021Thursday2 PM to 4 PM Online
09/16/2021Thursday2 PM to 4 PM Online
09/23/2021Thursday2 PM to 4 PM Online
09/30/2021Thursday2 PM to 4 PM Online
10/07/2021Thursday2 PM to 4 PM Online
10/14/2021Thursday2 PM to 4 PM Online

Participants will gain a better understanding of today's Russia and its role in the world stage by studying Russian cultural and ideological history.