Understanding Russians: Contexts of Intercultural Communication

2024/2025

Academic Year

ENG

Instruction in English

3

ECTS credits

Delivered at:

School of Psychology

Course type:

Elective course

When:

3 year, 3, 4 module

Instructors

Lepshokova, Zarina

Titov, Alexander S.

Course Syllabus

Abstract

In the course “Understanding Russians: Contexts of Intercultural Communications": we will: 1) Build skills in the analysis of the intercultural communication process using Russian-Western communication as an example. 2) Apply the knowledge of interrelations between different contexts of communication (cultural, institutional, professional, social, interpersonal, etc.) to the cultural history and national psychology of Russians.•The purpose of the course is to provide the students with a broad overview of the basic principles governing the past, the present and the future interactions between Russia and the West, with a focus on the culture and national psychology of Russians and Western Europeans. For example, we will look at the cases when basic cultural values of Russians show up through the linguistic choices shaping language production which is consequently misattributed by Western partners. No matter what the language of intercultural communication is – Russian, or English – the meaning of many linguistic expressions may be reconstructed wrongly by the representatives of another culture.This course provides a broad overview of the basic principles governing the past, the present and the future interactions between Russia and the West, with a focus on the culture and national psychology of Russians and Western Europeans. This course is not just a list of practical instructions of dos and don’ts of dealing with Russians. It contains a substantial academic component introducing the key notions and concepts of the Theory of Communication. In the course you will build skills in the analysis of the intercultural communication process using Russian-Western communication as an example and apply the knowledge of interrelations between different contexts of communication to the cultural history and national psychology of Russians. You will understand the concepts of culture that have the strongest influence on communication, communication patterns of modern Russians, including those of public and electronic discourse.