Russian studies is an interdisciplinary field crossing
politics,
history,
culture,
economics, and
languages
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
of Russia and its neighborhood, often grouped under
Soviet and Communist studies. Russian studies should not be confused with the study of the
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were c ...
or linguistics, which is often a distinct department within universities.
In university, a Russian studies
major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
includes many cultural classes teaching Russian politics, history,
geography, linguistics,
Russian language
Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...
, literature, and arts. Mysticism and
folklore is commonly studied, introduction of
Christianity, rule under the tsars and expansion of
Russian empire, later rule under communism,
history of the Soviet Union, and its collapse and studies about present-day Russia.
Russian studies rose in prominence during the Cold War, but experienced a decline after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Aggressive behavior by Russia, particularly its invasion of Ukraine, led to increased attention to Russian studies.
See also
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Area studies
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Kremlinology
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List of Russian studies centers
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Russian culture
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Slavic studies
Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...
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Byzantine studies
References
External links
Russian Studies at Petrozavodsk State UniversityRussian Studies / University of Helsinki*
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Russian culture
Russian language
Area studies
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