Course Schedule and Catalog
Course Schedule - Spring Semester 2025
Meeting location information can now be found on student schedules in ESTHER (for students) or on the Course Roster in ESTHER (for faculty and instructors).Additional information available here.
Meeting location information can now be found on student schedules in ESTHER (for students) or on the Course Roster in ESTHER (for faculty and instructors).Additional information available here.
HIST 349 001 (CRN: 26756)
BLK LIFE BHND THE IRON CURTAIN
Long Title: BLACK LIFE BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN
Department: History
Instructor: Osei-Opare, Nana
Meeting: 2:30PM - 3:45PM TR (13-JAN-2025 - 25-APR-2025)
Part of Term: Full Term
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Language of Instruction: Taught in English
Method of Instruction: Face to Face
Credit Hours: 3
Course Syllabus:
Course Materials: Rice Campus Store
Restrictions:
Must be enrolled in one of the following Level(s):
Undergraduate Professional
Visiting Undergraduate
Undergraduate
Section Max Enrollment: 15
Section Enrolled: 0
Total Cross-list Max Enrollment: 15
Total Cross-list Enrolled: 0
Enrollment data as of: 14-NOV-2024 11:17AM
Final Exam: No Final Exam
Description: Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 sparked an exodus in Ukraine. However, Black and Asian students seeking refuge onto exiting trains or buses were denied entry or kicked off. Many were shocked to learn that Black people lived in Ukraine. However, Black people have made Central and Eastern European societies their home for centuries. For instance, Alexander Pushkin, one of the most celebrated figures in Russian literature, has African roots. This course explores the experiences and lives of Black people behind what was known as the “Iron Curtain”—representing the present-day countries of Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, East Germany, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. We will learn about why Black people migrated to this part of the world, their intellectual, economic, and cultural contributions to those spaces, what they learned and encountered during their time there, and how we might redefine and reconceptualize our understandings of Black life, black political and economic thought, blackness, gender, and race through engaging with those experiences. Cross-list: AAAS 349.