Students engage in advanced Russian language study by examining the most emblematic representations of the Caucasus in Russian cultural productions of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Works by Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, Pristavkin, Pelevin, and Politkovskaya, alongside several relevant films, feature as the center of the course. Students examine how Russian writers and filmmakers have used the image of the Caucasian 'Other' to address the issue of Russia's self-representation and to what degree contemporary Russian artists have transformed the image of the Caucasians. Prerequisite: RUSN 301.