Slavic Languages and Literatures

University of California, Berkeley

Overview

The Slavic Department studies and teaches languages, literature, and cultures of the Russian and other Slavic peoples and their immediate neighbors in East and Central Europe (Hungary and Romania) as well as the Caucasus and Central Asia (hence the terms “Eurasia” and “Eurasian”). Over the centuries, these peoples shared linguistic, literary, cultural and historical experiences, which both united and divided them. These experiences include their intermediary position between the “West” and the “East,” participation in large multi-national states and empires, membership in the Soviet bloc in the twentieth century, and, in recent decades, the transition to post-socialism. In a word, we represent peoples who have influenced the history of a large part of the world.

Our department, which celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary in 2001, was one of the first departments of its kind in the United States. It was home to UC Berkeley’s only Nobel Prize winner in the Humanities, Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004). Over the years, it has remained in the vanguard of Slavic, East European and Eurasian studies because of the breadth of coverage and interdisciplinary approach to the field. Our faculty members have a wide range of interests and train students to discover the links between language, literature and other aspects of culture (including history, religious thought, visual arts, theater, film, popular culture) as well as between our subject matter and that of other related disciplines. Thus, students find that our courses complement their studies in other fields as different as History, English, Political Science, or Business.

Undergraduate Programs

Slavic Languages and Literatures: BA (with concentrations in "Russian/East European/Eurasian Languages and Cultures" or "Russian Language and Literature")

Armenian Studies: Minor

Russian Culture: Minor

Russian Language: Minor

Russian Literature: Minor

East European/Eurasian Languages and/or Cultures: Minor

Graduate Program

Slavic Languages and Literatures: PhD

Visit Department Website

Courses

Literature, Linguistics and Culture:

Languages:

Armenian

Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian

Czech

Hungarian

Polish

Russian

Slavic Languages and Literatures

Ukrainian

Contact Information

Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

6303 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-642-2979

issa@berkeley.edu

Visit Department Website

Department Chair

Anne Nesbet

nesbet@berkeley.edu

Undergraduate Faculty Advisor

Darya Kavitskaya

6219 Dwinelle Hall

dkavitskaya@berkeley.edu

Undergraduate Student Services Advisor

Amanda Minfao

6303 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-642-4661

issaug@berkeley.edu

Head Graduate Advisor

Edward Tyerman

6112 Dwinelle Hall

etyerman@berkeley.edu

Graduate Student Services Advisor

Seth Arnopole

6313 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-642-9051

issag@berkeley.edu

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