Tulane students may major in Russian Language and Literature or in Russian Studies.

The Russian Languages and Literatures Major:

Lang. and Lit. is a regular major housed in our Department. It requires 27 credits, or nine full classes, above Russian 203. Courses in English in our Department, such as Tolstoy and Dostoevsky and Russian Art and Architecture, count toward the major, and students may petition for permission to use one course outside the department -- e.g. Russian History or Russian Politics -- toward the major. In addition, the Department looks with favor on transfer credit toward the major from summer and semester study at accredited U.S. and Russian universities. Please click here for the recommended course sequence.

The Russian Studies Major:

The Russian Studies major is an interdisciplinary program combining Russian language, history, political science, economics, art, and music. It requires a minimum of two years of Russian language plus 27 credits, or nine full classes, from a list of courses drawn from several departments. At least two courses have to be above the 300 level, and two courses must be drawn from each of three separate disciplines.

Qualified students may undertake independent studies projects and Honors Theses. In recent years students have written theses on Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and the absurdist literature of Daniil Kharms. A student is currently writing on Czech-Russian relations.

Students may minor in Lang and Lit. There is no minor in Russian Studies. Please click here for the recommended course sequence.

A second Slavic language — Czech, Polish, Ukrainian, or Serbo-Croatian — is offered on an occasional basis. These courses do not count toward the Russian lang and lit major.

Study Abroad

The Department does not have a formal connection with any Russian university or study program, but it maintains close contact with a number of American programs, such as those at Middlebury, Boston University, ACTR, and Arizona and is eager to help qualified students work out a summer or a semester study program in the Russian Federation. Earned credit from any program may be submitted for review to the Department. Our students frequently summer in Saint Petersburg or Moscow, and in 2001-2002 one student will spend the year studying literature at Moscow University. The experience of living and studying in Russia, immersed in the genuine communicative medium — the Russian language! — of this vast and paradoxical nation, is one that all of our students treasure for the rest of their lives. If at all possible, we recommend our concentrators go to Russia to study.