Smith College's Moodle

Gender, Sex, and Sexuality in Russian Culture

Ruth Averbach

raverbach@smith.edu

Pierce Hall, Room 104

Course Description

In June 2013, President Vladimir Putin signed into law a ban on ‘propaganda’ that advocates for non-traditional sexual relationships, homosexuality, and transgenderism. Despite this, Russia has at times in its history been a bastion of gender and sexual diversity. Nevertheless, Russia’s queer and trans heritage is often neglected in scholarly and popular conceptions of the country. Students in this course examine Russia’s queer and trans history through literature, visual arts, and music. Topics include the history of “homosexuality” and “heterosexuality,” the medical history of transsexuality, gay and lesbian subjectivities, trans autobiography and fiction, and the ethics of queer scholarship.

Course Objectives

This seminar is designed to achieve several goals. First, this course develops students’ critical thinking and writing skills. Students will learn how to outline, draft, and revise papers, effectively summarize literary texts, analyze specific themes in a work, contextualize artistic works in a proper cultural and historical context, understand and respond to critical works, and construct a short research paper with a coherent thesis and clear line of argumentation. Second, students will gain a broad overview of Queer and Trans Russian history and culture and engage with understudied source materials, perspectives and experiences concerning gender, sex, and sexuality.

Course Requirements

Assignments

            Weekly reading responses (appx. 250 words)

            First Paper: Summary of a Literary Text (3 pages)

            Second Paper: Thematic Analysis (5 pages)

            Third Paper: Research and Argumentation (7 pages)

            Draft paper due one week before final version

            Students will read and respond to a classmate’s paper within a week of turning in final drafts

            Revisions will be turned in a week after receiving their peer review and instructor feedback

            Due dates for all assignments are listed in the reading schedule

Grading Rubric

            Attendance and Participation – 20%

            Reading Responses – 20%

            First Paper – 15%

            Second Paper – 15%

            Third Paper Presentation – 10%

            Third Paper – 20%

Course Expectations

It is essential for students to complete assigned readings, attend course meetings, and contribute to class discussions. Feel welcome to use electronic devices, but do not let them distract others or yourself from the lesson. Please let Ruth know as soon as possible if you are ill or must miss class for any reason.

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to uphold all Smith College policies on academic integrity. AI is only acceptable for proofreading for grammar, punctuation, and spelling. All outside sources used in written assignments must be cited properly.

Accommodations

If you need any accommodations to participate in and complete the course, please contact the Accessibility Resource Center (College Hall 104; arc@smith.edu; 413-585-2071) and let Ruth know how she can best serve your needs. 

COURSE READING SCHEDULE

Week II: Sexuality and Russian Civilization

M: (De)legalize Gay

            Igor Kon, The Sexual Revolution in Russia (11-38)

            Foucault, “The Birth of Homosexuality” from The History of Sexuality, vol. II

            Olearius, The Travels of Olearius in 17^th Century Russia

W: Is Gender, Sex, and Sexuality Universal?

            Xenia the Servant of God, or Andrei Fyodorovich the Holy Fool

            Benjamin, excerpts from The Transsexual Phenomenon

Mayhew, “Holy Foolishness and Gender Transgression in Russian Hagiography” (optional)

Week III: Is Homosexuality a Psychological Complex?

M: The Endless Anxieties of Nikolai Gogol

Gogol, “The Nose”

            Gogol, “Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt”

            Freud, excerpts of “Certain Neurotic Mechanisms in Jealousy, Paranoia, and Homosexuality”

Freud, letter to father of a homosexual boy

W: H-o-t t-o Gogol: Gay Iconography

Gogol, The Overcoat

            Gogol, “Nevsky Prospect”

            Gogol, “Woman”

                        First Paper Draft Due Sunday

 Week IV: Aleksandr Aleksandrov: Russia’s First Transsexual Writer

M: Conceptualizing Transsexual Autobiography

            Aleksandrov, The Cavalry Maiden, Chapters I-VI

            Zirin, “Introduction” to English translation of The Cavalry Maiden

W: The Unmaking of a Man

            Aleksandrov, The Cavalry Maiden, Chapters VII-XIII

                        First Paper Due Sunday

Week V: Aleksandrov’s Fiction

M: Trans Men and Misogyny

            Aleksandrov, Nurmeka

            Zazanis, “On Hating Men (and Becoming One Anyway)”

W: Colonialism and the Transsexual Empire

            Aleksandrov, Nurmeka

            Puar, excerpts from Terrorist Assemblages (optional, Ruth will summarize)

                        First Paper Peer Review Notes Due

Week VI: Between Sex and Sexuality

M: Compulsory Heterosexuality

            Gan, “The Ideal”

            Rich, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence”          

W: Compulsory Homosexuality

            Pomialovsky, Seminary Sketches

                        First Paper Revisions Due Sunday

Week VII: Becoming ‘Gay’

M: Homosexual or Gay?

            Kuzmin, selected poems

Kuzmin, Wings

Somov, selected paintings

W: Is Sexuality an Identity or a Behavior?

            Kuzmin, Wings (finish)

            Rozanov, excerpts from “People of the Moonlight”

Week VIII: Becoming ‘Gay’ (Cont’d); Lesbianism and Gender Expression

M: Lesbian Gender and Sexuality

            Zinovieva-Annibal, The Tragic Menagerie

W: Lesbian Gender and Sexuality (cont’d)

            Zinovieva-Annibal, The Tragic Menagerie (continue)

                        Second Paper Draft Due

Week IX: Lesbianism and Gender Expression (Cont’d)

M: What is the Difference Between Lesbians and (Trans) Men?

            Zinovieva-Annibal, The Tragic Menagerie (finish)

            Shrier, excerpts from Irreversible Damage

            Wittig, excerpts from The Straight Mind (optional, Ruth will summarize)

W: Sapphic Verse

            Gippius, selected poems

            Parnok, selected poems

            Tsvetaeva, selected poems

            Sappho, selected poems

                        Second Paper Due

Week X: Pre-Revolutionary and Revolutionary Sexuality

M: Is Male Heterosexuality Gay?

            Gorky, “26 Men and a Girl”

            Mulvey, excerpts from Visual Pleasure

W: Is Homosexuality Communist?

            Trifonov, selected poems

            Kharitonov, “One Boy’s Story” and “Alyosha-Serezha”

            Harry Whyte, letter to Stalin

                        Second Paper Peer Review Notes Due

Week XI: Transsexuality, Soviet Style

M: Transsexuality and Medicine

            Gill-Peterson, excerpts from Histories of the Transgender Child

            Benjamin, The Transsexual Phenomenon

            Blanchard, excerpts from articles on transsexual etiology

            Kalnberz, excerpts from My Time

W: Is Gender a Social Duty?

            Hammer & Sickle (1994)

            Bogdan Popa, Decentering Queer Theory

                        Second Paper Revisions Due

Week XII: Late and Post-Soviet Sexuality

M: Late Soviet Sexuality

            Past, “No Offense in Love”

            Rybikov, “The Lay of the Gay Slavs”

            Fiks, selected poems and photographs

W: Post-Soviet Tolerance and Intolerance in Popular Culture

            t.A.t.U, 200km/h in the Wrong Lane

            Strykalo, “vse resheno”

            2013 Anti-Gay Propaganda bill

            Selections of recent American anti-gay and trans bills

                        Third Paper Outlines Due

Week XIII: Trans Art in an Age of Reaction

M: Between Homosexuality and Transsexuality

            Outlaw (2019)

W: Being Trans When Being Trans is Illegal

            Letter, A City Flower

Selections, What Is a Woman?

Dugin, selections from The Fourth Political Theory and interview with Tucker Carlson

Third Paper Drafts Due Sunday          

Week XIV: Conclusion and Presentations

M: Student Presentations

Students will present their final projects in progress in a conference format

W: Conclusion

            Student presentations will continue

            Concluding lecture

                        Third Papers Due (one week after final date)

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