The course examines the role of language, religion, art, and geopolitics – from Classical Antiquity to the present – in shaping the cultural identities of national communities in the Caucasus region which has long been the site of struggle between ancient and modern empires. Examining the cultural, linguistic, confessional, and social diversity of the Caucasus, this interdisciplinary course provides foundations for engaging with the region’s cultural history, the evolving self-conception of its peoples, and the historical place of the Caucasus in the imagination of European and Asian outsiders. We will study a broad variety of documentary and fictional sources including folklore, political and religious thought, literary fiction, autobiography, film, painting, architecture. Taught in English, all readings in English, no preparation is required.
The course examines the role of language, religion, art, and geopolitics – from Classical Antiquity to the present – in shaping the cultural identities of national communities in the Caucasus region which has long been the site of struggle between ancient and modern empires. Examining the cultural, linguistic, confessional, and social diversity of the Caucasus, this interdisciplinary course provides foundations for engaging with the region’s cultural history, the evolving self-conception of its peoples, and the historical place of the Caucasus in the imagination of European and Asian outsiders. We will study a broad variety of documentary and fictional sources including folklore, political and religious thought, literary fiction, autobiography, film, painting, architecture. Taught in English, all readings in English, no preparation is required.
