Courses | Alexander Semyonov

2022 to the present, John J. McCloy ’22 Visiting Professor of History at Amherst College

“Russian Empire in Eurasia,” 100-level: 6 AD to 1918, includes exploration of primary historical sources and narratives of heterogenous region of Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
“European Intellectual History and its Discontents,” 200-level: major methodological schools in intellectual history and major intellectual currents and paradigms from early modern history through the end of the Cold War, the course serves as a gateway course for European Studies program.
“Readings in European Tradition II,” 200-level: major interpretative debates in European history.
“Empires in Global History,” 300-level: satisfies the requirement of comparative, transnational, and global history.
“On Nationalism,” 400-level: covers the main methodological debates in theories of nationalism, from the modernist school through cognitive and post-colonial perspectives on nation-form, and spans the period of modern and contemporary history, the course serves as research seminar and helps students complete a research paper requirement.

“Europe in the Modern World,” 100-level: surveys the major movements and developments in Europe during the era of European expansion and dominance, from the devastations of the Thirty Years War to the Second World War, and up to the current era of European Union.

“History of the Russian Empire in Global Contexts,” 300-level: introduction to the core primary sources in early, early modern and modern Russian and Eurasian history.
“Debates in Historiography of Russian and Soviet History,” 600-level: the evolution of historical paradigms from the Romantic historical writing to current debates in historical memory studies.
“Readings in Comparative and Global History,” 600-level: methodologies of comparative, transnational, and global history in modern and contemporary history.
“Empire and Nationalism at War: The Eastern History of World War I,” 400-level: entangled war experience of the German, Habsburg, Ottoman, and Russian Empires.
“Sources, Contexts, Narratives,” 600-level: critique of primary sources and understanding the 20th century paradigms of historical profession.
“Modern Historiography,” 200-level: development of historicism and modern discipline of history.
“Global History Lab,” 300-level: network virtual campus course co-led by Jeremy Adelman.
“Dissertation Workshop Seminar,” 700-level.
“Senior Thesis Writing Seminar,” 400-level.

“First Year Seminar,” 100 level: distribution requirement seminar focused on critical thinking and reading.
“Origins of Contemporary Russia, 1985-2000,” 200-level: gateway course for Political Science Program, using methodologies of contemporary and oral history and memory studies.
“Russian Intellectual History,” 300-level: methodologies of intellectual history and paradigms of Russian social and political thought from the Enlightenment to post-Modernism.
“Why Do I Hate You: Theories of Nationalism and History of Nationalism in Eastern Europe and Eurasia,” 300-level: classic and new theories of nationalism and history of East European and Russian nationalism.
“The Russian Revolution,” 300-level: the period of transformation from World War I through the Earyl Soviet period, covering political, social and cultural histories of the multinational space.
“History of the Russian Empire in Comparative Perspective,” 200-level: the course on the imperial turn in understanding the history of the Russian Empire and recent approaches to comparative and entangle history.
“Contending with the Modern: Russia, the Soviet Union, and the United States in the 20th Century,” 300-level: co-taught with Mark Lyttle.