The Caucasus: Hist, Cult, Pol

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course examines the history, politics, and culture of the modern Caucasus as a discrete area – that is, including both North and South Caucasus in the current parlance – from approx. the 18th century to the present. We will explore how such concepts as religion, nation, ethnicity, territory, empire, and class have been employed to explain components of Caucasian history and the extent to which they succeed or fail to explain developments from the perspective of the Caucasus’ diverse populace. Moreover, we will explore how entanglements and tensions among actors in the Caucasus in the 18th-19th centuries evolved through the twentieth century and beyond, including examination of current political, social, and geopolitical dynamics in the Caucasus. In addition to history, we will incorporate perspectives from anthropology and ethnography, literature, and politics to broaden our conceptual and methodological toolkit for examining this region.