Understanding Russia through Everyday Life
SCHEDULE

Download the detailed seminar itinerary (pdf format) *This is the final schedule.

The intensive four-week seminar in Russia on Understanding Russia through Everyday Life will have a full schedule of lectures, language instruction, field trips, and other activities. 

Sites: Vladimir, Murom, St. Petersburg, and Moscow

Vladimir
The participants will spend the first 2-½ weeks in Vladimir and attend lectures by Russian scholars on various topics from history and religion to politics, law and order, education, the economy, women and family, and the media. These lectures will be followed by fieldtrips to historic sites: Russian Orthodox churches (many recently restored from museums to churches after the Soviet era), city hall, a prison, schools, a factory, an orphanage, a women and children's NGO, etc. Day trips are planned to other locations. Participants will also receive ten Russian language and culture lessons not just for their survival in Russia but to enhance their understanding of Russian society and culture. For participating teachers of Russian, separate instruction on Russian language and pedagogy will be provided by language teachers at the American Home, under the supervision of in-country director Alexei Altonen (associate professor of language methodology, Vladimir State Pedagogical University). 

Murom
After Vladimir, the participants will spend three days in Murom, the oldest city in the Vladimir Region. While in Murom the seminar will focus on Russian folk art and literature, history, and the issue of youth culture and services in the provinces. The seminar participants will stay with host families.

St. Petersburg and Moscow
The seminar's last week of will be held in St. Petersburg and Moscow and provide a useful comparison to life in Vladimir and Murom. In these two cities, lectures include tentatively such topics as "St. Petersburg during the 1917 Revolutions," "Everyday Life Under Stalinism," and "Media and Society in Russia Today: A Perspective from Moscow" by leading scholars in Russia with ties to REEEC. Even the museum tours of the Hermitage, the Russian Museum, and others will focus on the topic of understanding everyday life and be presented by museum scholars with ties to REEEC.  Participants will stay in hotels.  Participants will fly out of Moscow back to Chicago.