General entry requirements + English 6.

The course is not part of any main field of studies and can normally be included in a general degree.

The aim of the course is to give the student a broad knowledge of the Caucasus – a politically turbulent region with high ethnic diversity in a vulnerable geopolitical location. The course introduces students to the Caucasus region, its ethnic groups and languages, history, patterns of migration and recent political developments.

The course consists of four modules:

1. Introduction to the Caucasus Region (7,5 credits)

This module introduces topics of relevance to studying the region such as geography, political and administrative divisions, ethnic groups, history, and more recent developments, including post-Soviet separatist conflicts.

2. Post-Soviet Developments in the Caucasus (7,5 credits)

This module focuses on the political, economic and social developments in the Caucasus region in the post-Soviet period. This will also include discussions of the region’s inter- and intra-state conflicts as well as geopolitical perspectives and interests.

3. History of the Caucasus (7,5 credits)

This module explores the ancient past of the Caucasus, the region’s incorporation into the Russian Empire, Soviet historical narratives, and considers how regional actors make sense of their history.

4. Migration in the Caucasus (7,5 credits)

This module focuses on the extensive migration flows that have shaped and reshaped the demographic map of the region. The causes and consequences of regional migration patterns will be discussed.

Introduction to the Caucasus Region

After completing the module the student will:

1. demonstrate basic knowledge of the Caucasus region, including its geography, ethnic composition, main languages, religions, demographic distribution, political systems, economy, administrative division;

2. be able to discuss and critically reflect on the obtained knowledge of the geographical, political, socio-economic and cultural characteristics of the Caucasus region;

3. demonstrate ability to master academic language and formalities, including referencing sources in an accurate and coherent manner.

Post-Soviet Developments in the Caucasus

After completing the module the student will:

1. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the key political, social and economic developments in the post-soviet period in the Caucasus;

2. be able to recognize and critically reflect on ongoing academic debates related to the post-soviet situation in the Caucasus;

3. demonstrate ability to master academic language and formalities, including referencing sources in an accurate and coherent manner.

History of the Caucasus

After completing the module the student will:

1. demonstrate knowledge of significant historical events in the ancient and modern past of the Caucasus, and recognize selective interpretations thereof;

2. be able to locate relevant sources, to engage in source criticism, and reference sources in an accurate and coherent manner;

3. demonstrate ability to master academic language and formalities, including referencing sources in an accurate and coherent manner.

Migration in the Caucasus

After completing the module the student will:

1. demonstrate knowledge of population movements in the Caucasus and understanding of different categories of migration that have reshaped the demographic map of the region;

2. be able to assess and critically reflect on the causes behind and consequences of population movements in the Caucasus;

3. demonstrate ability to master academic language and formalities, including referencing sources in an accurate and coherent manner.

The course is designed as a full time flexible distance study. Learning activities include online lectures; mandatory quizzes and assignments; interactive exercises; online forum discussions; and web seminars. The majority of the student’s workload consists of independent reading and study.

Introduction to Caucasus Studies

The student’s performance in the module is assessed by individual written assignments and quizzes.

• Learning outcomes 1-3 are assessed by a portfolio of mandatory assignments and quizzes (2,5 credits)
• Learning outcomes 1-3 are assessed by an individual take-home exam (5 credits)

Post-Soviet developments in the Caucasus

The student’s performance in the module is assessed by individual written assignments.

• Learning outcomes 1-3 are assessed by a portfolio of mandatory assignments (2,5 credits)
• Learning outcomes 1-3 are assessed by an individual take-home exam (5 credits)

History of the Caucasus

The student’s performance in the module is assessed by individual written assignments.

• Learning outcomes 1-3 are assessed by a portfolio of mandatory assignments (2,5 credits)
• Learning outcomes 1-3 are assessed by an individual take-home exam (5 credits)

Migration in the Caucasus

The student’s performance in the module is assessed by individual written assignments.

• Learning outcomes 1-3 are assessed by a portfolio of mandatory assignments (2,5 credits)
• Learning outcomes 1-3 are assessed by an individual take-home exam (5 credits)

Portfolios are graded with Pass (G) or Fail (U)

Take-home exams are graded with Excellent (A), Very Good (B), Good (C), Satisfactory (D), Pass (E) or Fail (U).

The course grade is calculated as the amalgamate of the grades obtained in the individual modules.

The course literature will be made available to students online through the university library and the course website.

Introduction to the Caucasus Region

• Coene, F. The Caucasus: an introduction. Routledge, 2009

The module includes additional online resources and articles of approximately 150 pages.

Post-Soviet developments in the Caucasus

• Dudwick, Nora, Elizabeth Gomart, and Alexandre Marc. 2003. When Things Fall Apart: Qualitative Studies of Poverty in the Former Soviet Union. Washington DC: The World Bank. [Selected chapters]
• Hunter, Shireen T. 2017. The New Geopolitics of the South Caucasus: Prospects for Regional Cooperation and Conflict Resolution. Lanham: Lexington Books
• King, Charles. 2008. The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Malek, M. 2006. “The South Caucasus at the Crossroads: Ethno-territorial Conflicts, Russian Interests, and the Access to Energy Resources”. In: G. Hauser & F. Kernic (eds.) European security in transition. Aldershot, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006, p.145-160.
• Philip G. Roeder. 1998. “Liberalization and Ethnic Entrepreneurs in the Soviet Successor States” In: Beverly Crawford and Ronnie D. Lipschutz. (eds.) The Myth of “Ethnic Conflict”: Politics, Economics, and “Cultural” Violence. University of California at Berkeley. Pp. 78-107.

Additional online resources and articles will be added when relevant.

History of the Caucasus

• Banerji, Arap. 2006. Notes on the Histories of History in the Soviet Union in Economic and Political Weekly 41 (9): 826-833.
• Caucasus Analytical Digest. 2009. Writing National Histories: Coming to Terms with the Past.
• Dudwick, Nora. 1990. The case of the Caucasian Albanians: Ethnohistory and ethnic politics in Cahiers du monde russe et sovie´tique 31 (2-3): 377-383.
• Gammer, Moshe and Vera Kaplan. 2013. Post-Soviet Narratives of the Conquest of the Caucasus in Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 61 (1): 26-46.
• Garagozov, Rauf. 2012. Azerbaijani history and nationalism in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods: challenges and dilemmas in Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflicts 5 (2): 136-142.
• King, Charles. 2008. The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Kolstø, Pål & Aleksander Rusetskii. 2012. Power Differentials and Identity Formation: Images of Self and Other on the Russian-Georgian Boundary in National Identities 14 (2): 139-155.
• Rouvinski, Vladimir. 2007. "History Speaks Our Language!" A Comparative Study of Historical Narratives in Soviet and Post-Soviet School Textbooks in the Caucasus in Internationale Schulbuchforschung 29 (3): 235-257.
• Suny, Ronald. 2009. Truth in Telling: Reconciling Realities in the Genocide of the Ottoman Armenians in The American Historical Review 114 (4): 930-946.

Additional online resources and articles will be added when relevant.

Migration in the Caucasus

• Dermendzhieva, Zvezda. 2011. Emigration from the South Caucasus: who goes abroad and what are the economic implications? in Post-Communist Economies 23 (3): 377-398.
• Holland, Edward. 2016. Economic Development and Subsidies in the North Caucasus in Problems of Post-Communism 63 (1): 50-61.
• Judah, Ben. 2013. Russia’s Migration Crisis in Survival 55 (6): 123-131.
• Kreiten, Irma. 2009. A colonial experiment in cleansing: the Russian conquest of Western Caucasus, 1856-65 in Journal of Genocide Research 11 (2/3): 213-241.
• Lewis, Robert & Richard Rowland. 1977. East is West and West is East: Population Redistribution in the USSR and Its Impact on Society in The International Migration Review 11 (1): 3-29.
• Martin, Terry. 1998. The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing in Journal of Modern History 70 (4): 813-861.
• Polian, Pavel. 2004. Against Their Will: The History and Geography of Forced Migrations in the USSR. Budapest: Central European University Press.
• Sammut, Dennis. 2001. Population Displacement in the Caucasus: An Overview in Central Asian Survey 20 (1): 55-62.

Additional online resources and articles will be added when relevant.

Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).

If a course is no longer offered, or has undergone significant changes, the students must be offered two opportunities for re-examination based on the syllabus that applied at the time of registration, for a period of one year after the changes have been implemented.

If a student has a Learning support decision, the examiner has the right to provide the student with an adapted test, or to allow the student to take the exam in a different format.

The syllabus is a translation of a Swedish source text.