Russian Colonial Expansion

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Toward the Rising Sun: Russian Colonial Expansion into Asia, 1550–1989 This seminar explores the colonial expansion of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union into Asia, from the conquest of Kazan in 1552 to the end of the Cold War era. Relying on history, literature, ethnography, and visual sources, this interdisciplinary course examines the colonization's political, social, environmental, and cultural aspects. We will discuss the literary legitimation of imperial ambitions in works by Mikhail Lermontov, Aleksandr Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, and other influential writers. Major topics include the colonization of Siberia, the conquest of Central Asia and the Russian Far East, and the state’s encounters with Indigenous populations. The course also addresses Soviet nationalities policy, as well as the ideological implications of international ventures and conflicts like the Soviet-Afghan War. We will discuss the complexities of Russia's eastward expansion and its engagement with the imagined Orient and Occident through various sources—ethnographic studies, personal accounts, and visual materials.