Between Europe & Asia: Explorations in Culture, Law & Cognitive Science

Overview

The cognitive sciences play an integral role in scientific inquiry concerning the construction of cultural space, the role of the brain in human language, and the defining parameters of individual and collective memory.  Students in this cluster will explore and analyze the complex interworkings of biological and cultural principles through an integrated cross-disciplinary view of these important questions.  The courses in this cluster incorporate humanities, social science and natural science methods.  Some courses will focus more directly on the cognitive sciences and some more directly on the culture in other forms.  Study of the cognitive sciences and culture will take place within the context of neurolinguistics, legal reform in Eurasia, comparative world religions and the literatures of Russia and Poland.

Courses

Seminar: Linguistics 133FCS Neuroscience & Human Language

Edna Andrews, Professor, Department of Slavic & Eurasian Studies;
Director, Center for Slavic, Eurasian & East European Studies

The relationship of brain and language is explored through a variety of methodologies and approaches, including studies of first and second language acquisition across cultures, multilingualism, language disorders, and imaging studies contributing to understanding current neurobiological, neuro-physiological and neurolinguistic perspectives of representation of language in the brain.  Other topics considered in this course include the relationship of memory systems to language acquisition, maintenance and loss, the role of language and memory in the construction of identity at the individual and group levels.  Readings and case studies will focus on the latest theoretical contributions to the field, as well as classical contributions from the 20th century, including Vygotsky, Luria, Sacks, Kosslyn, Lieberman, Ojemann, Fabbro, Paradis, and Dowling.
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Seminar: Russian 182FCS Russian Art and Politics: 1800 - Present

Pamela Kachurin, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies

Examination of multiple ways that visual culture - painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic arts, film, photography - has engaged with the political sphere in Russia from the early 19th century to the present. Through examination of selected monuments in visual culture, we will invetigate the interaction between artists, art critics, censors, government authorities and the public to reveal how visual culture in Russia and the Soviet Union not only responded to demands emanating from the political shpere, but also participated in and shaped the political discourse of the day.
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Seminar: Russian 118S Islam & Orthodoxy

David Need, Visiting Instructor, Department of Religion

Since the 10th century CE, Orthodox Christianity and Islam have influences identity, culture and ethics in Russia, Central Asia, and the Caucuses, supplying terms for self and other but also generating utopian visions of universal justice and polity.  This course introduces students 1) to the history, distinctive doctrines, institutions, controversies, and influences of Orthodox Christianity and Islam in Russia, Central Asia and the Caucuses, and 2) to issues related to identity formation, ideology and difference in religious discourse.  Particular attention will be paid to the relationship fo religious identity to other identity terms (tribal, clan, nation, state), to the different subjectivities made possible by differing ideologies and world views, and to the instrumental and ethical dimensions of identity claims.  The historical dimension of the course provides for the study of these issues in relation to the specific case of Eurasia, beginning with the Byzantine and Muslim missions to the Volga region in the 9th century CE, ending with the reemergence of Orthodoxy and Islam in the post-Soviet era, and including close readings of the social–religious functions of monasticism and Sufi brotherhood, and explorations of the influence of both Orthodoxy and Islam on arts and literature.
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Seminar: Public Policy 135FCS Law & Globalization in Emerging Markets

Michael Newcity, Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies;
Deputy Director, Center for Slavic, Eurasian & East European Studies

Using the Eurasian nations as a case study, we will examine how the processes of law and economic reform in these countries are shaped by external influences as well as by purely domestic factors.  In this context, we will examine the effect that membership in the World Trade Organization, the European Union, the Council of Europe, NATO, and other such organizations has on these processes as the nations of Eurasia seek a new role in the globalized world economy.  We will examine the strategies followed to establish a respect for the rule of law and constitutionalism, new concepts of property ownership, market economics, foreign investment, and greater protection of human rights.  We will also assess how effective these reform strategies have been and the factors contributing to their success or failure.
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Focus 99FCS.01 Special Topics in Focus: Culture, Law & Cognitive Sciences

Michael Newcity, Senior Lecturing Fellow, Center for International Development, Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy;
Deputy Director, Center for Slavic, Eurasian & East European Studies

Students and faculty will meet weekly in this half-credit course to discuss issues of common interest that bridge the topics of individual seminar courses.
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