In many ways, women's issues are, and have always been, at the heart of the political and social culture of Russia. A focus on the status of contemporary Russian women can lead to a more profound understanding of not only women in the post-Soviet era of chaotic and cataclysmic change, but also of Russian society in the pre-Soviet and Soviet periods. The Russian example also provides fascinating insights applicable to problems faced by women in other parts of the world.

The first part of the course focuses on selected epic songs and folk tales in an effort to show how present Russian beliefs about women are influenced by its folk tradition, which contains unique remnants of goddess worship, preserved in ambiguous female figures like the witch Baba-Yaga, the rusalka, or mermaid, and amazons who frequently out-match their male counterparts in strength and deed. These and other distinctive features of Russian folklore are inextricably linked with the conflicts and paradoxes confronting the modern Russian woman.

The second part of the course will examine the current situation through a close study of life-histories of contemporary Russian women, collected recently in Moscow by the instructor. The third part, an analysis of short stories written by major women writers like Baranskaya, Tolstaya, Petrushevskaya, will provide further information about the issues Russian women presently face and about their perceptions of the world.

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