This course will examine the evolution of land use and attitudes towards resources and the landscape in Russia, in the context of Russia's social, economic, and political history.  Such topics as demographic growth and population migration, the agricultural transformation of the steppe, the evolution of scientific and state forestry, and the effects of the Soviet regime on landscape and resources will be examined.  One question we will explore is to what extent the Russian experience was unique and to what extent it was part of larger international trends.  Required readings will be in English.

There will be a written examination at the end of the course.

The course is organized in cooperation with Aleksanteri Institute's Russian and East European Master's School.

Preliminary programme:

-Introduction. Geographical background.  From Old Stone Age to the Rise of Muscovy.

-Muscovy to Imperial Russia.  (17th-18th centuries)

-Imperial Visions and Realities. (19th century)

-Age of Industrialization and Revolution (1880s-1920s)

-The Stalin Model and the Environment (late 1920s-1930s)

-Postwar Soviet environmental history (1945-1965)

-"Developed Socialism" (1965-1985)

-Perestroika (1985-1991)

-El'tsin and Putin/Medvedev (1992-present)

-Final examination

Enrolment via NettiOpsu