Writing on Eurasia
This course is designed to help MA-level students improve their researching and writing skills, and become adept at distilling acquired knowledge into straightforward prose. The aim is to assist students in being more effective communicators regardless of whether they pursue careers in academia, journalism, government service, private enterprise or the non-governmental sector. The course will also promote better understanding of how to get work published by mass media outlets. The course places particular emphasis on practical work, including the preparation of commentaries and book reviews concerning current affairs in Eurasia. Lectures examine the basic elements of editing, interviewing and concise writing. Other lectures focus on how to maintain personal and digital security while living and researching/working in Eurasia, and discuss best practices on harnessing social media for career advancement. Guest speakers will provide additional perspectives on ways to make writing on academic topics more accessible to the general reading public, and how to leverage expertise in Eurasian-area affairs in ways that can jump-start careers.
- R 3:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
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Instructor:
Justin Burke
Info - 1.5 points
Central Asian Politics and Security
Central Asian Pol & Secur
This course surveys the politics and history of the five countries of contemporary Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan). In addition to imparting a substantive understanding of these countries, the course explores several conceptual lenses through which the region can be analyzed both over time and in comparison with other parts of the world. The first half of the course examines the political history of the region, with particular reference to how policies and practices of the Soviet state shaped the former republics of Soviet Central Asia. The second half turns to special topics at the center of the region’s political and social life today. Coverage of these topics—which include democratization, Islam and the politics of counter-insurgency, women and definitions of the public sphere, the politics of nation-building, and international security—will involve light reading from other regions to provide comparative perspective.
- T 5:10 p.m.-7 p.m.
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Instructor:
Lawrence Markowitz
Info - 3 points
Propaganda, Russia, & The World Informat
Propaganda, Russia & Info
Prerequisite: Instructor-Managed Waitlist.
Propaganda, Russia and the World Information War is a highly current guide to propaganda and disinformation, the geopolitical impact of information, and how false, weaponized narratives threaten the world's news and information environment.
The course teaches how propaganda and disinformation work, the most effective ways to counter them, and the effects of artificial intelligence. The course draws many of its examples from information operations by Russia, but also considers operations by state and private actors worldwide. This includes overt and covert activities by Western governments, including in the Ukraine war.
The course also discusses information at a more philosophical and sociological level. How do we receive and process information? Can there actually be more than one truth? What is the future of the world’s information climate given all the political, social, and technological stresses on it?
The course is aimed at students with interests in geopolitical analysis involving Russia or any region; the techniques of public persuasion, in any context; or in countering propaganda and disinformation.
Interested students are encouraged to contact the instructor at
tjk17@columbia.edu
.
- M 10 a.m.-11:50 a.m.
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Instructor:
Thomas Kent
Info - 3 points