General

The program in Regional Studies — Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia is based on the premise that in the study of society and culture the integration of the various academic disciplines will produce insights unobtainable within the confines of any single discipline. The program seeks to produce area specialists with a sound knowledge of the Russian language and a broad background in the history, literature, government, and economics of Russia and other countries of the area.

The program offers preparation for careers in public service, business, journalism, or for more advanced academic programs. Each student’s career goals, as well as previous training, experience and academic qualifications, are taken into account in planning his or her course of study. A limited enrollment in the program facilitates individual guidance and personal attention.

Students in the program benefit from association with the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard’s research institution on countries of the former USSR and Eastern Europe. There is considerable intellectual interchange between the center and the program, since the center’s faculty associates teach in the program, and students in the program have access to the center’s library, seminars, and other activities.

Requirements for Admission

All applicants to the program must meet the requirements of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. These include a bachelor’s degree from a recognized institution (or an acceptable substitute) and a superior undergraduate record. The statement of purpose, three letters of recommendation, and results of Graduate Record Examinations (GREs) are required for indications of promise and commitment. Three years (or the equivalent) of college-level Russian are strongly recommended. Foreign students must demonstrate proficiency in English by sub-mitting results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).

Deferrals for admission are not allowed. Students accepted into the program but unable to enroll must reapply for admission for the year in which they expect to take up academic residence. The application deadline falls in late December for the academic year beginning the following September.

Financial Aid

Financial aid is administered under the direction of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Harvard grants are awarded on the basis of academic merit and financial need, as determined by documents submitted to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Prospective students apply for financial aid at the same time they apply for admission.

The Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship program, sponsored by the US Department of Education, is designed to meet the critical need for American specialists in education, government, and other fields who have knowledge and understanding of non-Western languages and cultures. Applicants must be US citizens or permanent residents of the United States. All eligible applicants should complete a FLAS application form, available online at www.gsas.harvard.edu/prospective_students/flas.php . Please note that the FLAS fellowship competition is conducted separately from the standard financial aid process and requires a separate application.

Degree Requirements

Academic Residence. Two years of full-time study while registered in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences are required.

Program of Study. Programs are designed individually in consultation with the program’s academic advisor to meet each student’s particular needs. The precise requirements depend upon the student’s background and preparation. Each student submits a two-year plan of study to the academic advisor before making final course selections for the first term in the program. At the beginning of each subsequent term, students meet with the program academic advisor to discuss the plan and make any necessary changes.

Language Requirement. Students must successfully complete a three-hour Russian Language Qualifying Examination, which is administered three times a year by the Slavic Department. In order to pass the exam, stu-dents must demonstrate the ability to read and accurately translate articles from the Russian press and scholarly journals.

Course Requirements. Each student selects two or three disciplines from the social sciences (economics, government, and history) and one or two disciplines from the humanities (upper-level Russian language, a non-Russian regional language, linguistics, and literature), for a total of four. Over the course of the two-year program, students must successfully complete at least two approved courses concerning the region in each of the selected four disciplines. One half-course must address questions of national identity and state structure in Russia, Eastern Europe, and/or Central Asia. This half-course may also be counted toward one of the discipline requirements, where appropriate. Electives are selected in consultation with the academic advisor to round out the plan of study. Approved electives typically include theory courses in a discipline that do not directly address the region; additional language study; or courses at one of the professional schools that relate to future career plans.

Seminars. Students must take a minimum of two seminars, and are strongly urged to take more than two.

Thesis. Students are required to write a master’s thesis during the second year, which is counted as the equivalent of two half-courses. The thesis is to be an original paper showing evidence of advanced research in a particular field, and based on primary sources in at least one of the area languages. It is supervised by a member of the Harvard faculty.

Foreign Area Officers

Foreign Area Officers in the US Army who are completing a civilian master’s degree as part of their US Army service are subject to special requirements. Please consult the REECA program office for details.

Sample Thesis Topics

“Reconciling Reform with Reality: Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in Russia”
“Nation-Making in Russia’s Jewish Autonomous Region: Initial Goals, Unwitting Contributions, and Surprising Results”
“A War of Laws: The Crimean Question, Tensions, and Ukrainian-Russian Relations”
“The Political Economy of Mass Privatization in Kazakhstan”
“The Re-emergence of Ethnic-Nationalistic Concepts in Modern Russian Philosophical and Political Thought”
“Russian Experimental Jury Trials: A Preliminary Examination”
“Questions of Identity: Islam and Ethnicity in St. Petersburg and Moscow”
“Claiming Autonomy in Russian Federalism:
A Study of Conflict in Russia’s Main Oil and Gas Producing Region”
“Growing Against the Odds: Russian Small Business Development and the Role of External Finance”

Course Offerings

Course offerings vary from year to year. For specific details see Courses of Instruction, published by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In certain cases, students may cross-register in Harvard’s other professional schools (including the Kennedy School of Government, School of Public Health, Law School, and Business School), as well as in the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. You may browse Harvard course catalogs online at www.harvard.edu/academics/catalogs.html.Further information regarding courses and the AM program in general may be obtained by contacting the Regional Studies Program, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, CGIS South Building, 3rd Floor, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138; (617) 495-1194; This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

To Apply

Application forms for admission and financial aid may be obtained from the Admissions Office, Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Holyoke Center, 3rd floor, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138; (617) 495-5396; This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . We encourage online submission of the application. See https://apply.embark.com/grad/Harvard/GSAS

PhD Programs

This interdisciplinary program is for the master’s degree only. Some graduates of the program subsequently apply to PhD programs at Harvard or other universities. Students interested in obtaining a PhD may wish to consider one of the following programs.

PhD in Economics: see Higher Degrees under the Department of Economics.
PhD in History: see Higher Degrees in History.
PhD in History of Science: see History of Science.
PhD in Political Science: see Department of Government.
PhD in Slavic Languages and see Higher Degrees in Slavic Languages and Literatures.
PhD in Sociology: see Higher Degrees in Sociology.

Faculty

Abdelal, Rawi, Associate Professor, Business, Government, and International Economy Unit, Harvard Business School. International political economy; Eurasian energy sector; the effect of nationalism on economic relations among the CIS; comparative aspects of post-Soviet regional economy.

Adams, Laura, Lecturer on Sociology. Culture and national identity in Uzbekistan; the performing arts, politics, and contemporary social issues such as ethnicity, migration, and education in Central Asia.

Bolton, Jonathan, Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures. Czech literature, history, and culture in a Central European context; Jews in Central European literature; language, narrative form, and political power in first-person writing under Communism; literary theory and theory of literary history.

Boym, Svetlana, Curt Hugo Reisinger Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures and Professor of Comparative Literature. 20th-century Russian literature (poetry, essay, autobiographical fiction); film and visual arts; cultural studies; comparative literature; literature of exile; literary theory; Soviet and post-Soviet culture; East-European expatriate writers.

Braumoeller, Bear F., Associate Professor of Government. Relationship between belief systems and foreign policy behavior, especially as they pertain to Russia foreign affairs; sources of isolationism in international relations; war and conflict; the relationship between theory and methodology.

Buckler, Julie A., Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures. Russian literature; 18th-century, 19th-century and prerevolutionary fiction; West European and American literature; cultural studies and semiotics; gender studies; performing arts (opera, theater, music); St. Petersburg; memoir and autobiography; literary canon and popular culture.

Chaput, Patricia R., Professor of the Practice of Slavic Languages. Russian verb aspect; lexical semantics; pragmatics; language and culture; language teaching.

Colton, Timothy J., Morris and Anna Feldberg Professor of Government and Russian Studies, Director of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. Russian government and politics, viewed both historically and comparatively; legislative development and electoral politics in Russia.

Ekiert, Grzegorz, Professor of Government. East Central European comparative politics; regime change and democratization; collective politics and society.

Elliott, Mark C., Mark Schwartz Professor of Chinese and Inner Asian History. Social, political, and institutional history of China and Inner Asia; Manchu studies.

Flier, Michael S., Oleksandr Potebnja Professor of Ukrainian Philology; Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute. Slavic linguistics; semiotics of medieval East Slavic culture.

Frank, Alison F., Assistant Professor of History. Central European history, with an emphasis on the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Grabowicz, George C., Dmytro Cyzevs’kyj Professor of Ukrainian Literature. Ukrainian literature; Russian-Ukrainian and Polish-Ukrainian literary relations; literary theory (especially reception theory); Romanticism; the Baroque.

Malmstad, John E., Samuel Hazzard Cross Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures. Russian poetry of the 19th and 20th centuries; the culture of the “Silver Age”; the Russian avant-garde.

Martin, Terry, George F. Baker III Professor of Russian Studies. History of the Soviet Union; nationalism and ethnicity; the sociology of Stalinism; secret police in communist societies; comparative communism.

Nizynska, Joanna, Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures. Polish studies; classics; American poetry; literature and philosophy; hermeneutics; trauma studies; the theory of the everyday.

Plokhii, Serhii, Mykhailo S. Hrushevs’kyi Professor of Ukrainian History. Cultural and intellectual history of Eastern Europe, with special emphases on the history of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. The formation of national identities; the role of religion in the justification of revolt and violence in multiethnic and multicultural societies; and the role of historical narratives in the unmaking of imperial and construction of national loyalties and stereotypes.

Sandler, Stephanie, Ernest E. Monrad Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures; Chair, Department of Slavic Languages and Literature. 19th- and 20th-century Russian poetry; literary and cultural theory; feminist approaches to Russian literature; Pushkin and myths of Pushkin in Russia; contemporary Russian poetry and theory.

Schoeberlein, John, Lecturer on Anthropology and on Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Identity, ethnicity, conflict, gender, nationality, religion, and community organization among the Islamic peoples of Central Eurasia, including Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kirghizstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, southern Russia and the Caucasus.

Simons, Thomas, Lecturer on Government. Contemporary post-Soviet affairs; modern and contemporary Islam; South and Southwest Asia. 5-9302, tsimons@fas

Skach, Cindy, Assistant Professor of Government. Comparative politics, with a focus on constitutional engineering; parties and party systems; electoral systems; democracy and democratization; concept analysis.

Todd, William Mills III, Harvard College Professor, Harry Tuchman Levin Professor of Literature, and Professor of Comparative Literature. 19th-century Russian and European -literature; Russian pastoral; journalism and literature; Pushkin; Dostoevsky; theory of narrative; semiotics; literary sociology; cultural studies.

Toft, Monica, Associate Professor of Public Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government. Settlement patterns and ethnic conflict; origins and resolution of civil wars; the meaning of territory; demography and conflict.

Tromly, Benjamin, Lecturer on History. Soviet society and politics during the Khrushchev “thaw”; the university in the USSR and Eastern Europe; student movements.

Weir, Justin McCabe, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities. 19th- and 20th-century Russian prose; 20th-century Russian drama; film and visual art; literary theory.