Jens, Benjamin C | Department of Russian and Slavic Studies

bcjens@arizona.edu

Office

Learning Services Building 328

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Jens, Benjamin C

Associate Professor of Practice

Dr. Benjamin Jens received his Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His main area of research is 19th-century Russian literature – especially the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky – with a focus on the relationship between literature, discourse, and Eastern Orthodoxy. He also has research interests in Eastern European cinema, science fiction, and cultural ties between the Western Balkans and Russia. Dr. Jens is also the director of the Arizona in Russia study abroad program in Moscow, Russia.

Select Publications

Jens, Benjamin, et. Al. “Oral History in the Russian Language Curriculum: A Transformative Experience.” The Art of Teaching Russian, eds. Evgeny Dengub, Irina Dubinina, and Jason Merrill, Georgetown University Press, 2020.
“Silence and Confession in The Brothers Karamazov.” Russian Review, vol. 75, no. 1, 2016, pp. 51–66.

Courses Taught:

RSSS 275 – Eastern Europe & the Balkans (EP-Humanist - World Cultures and Societies, Diversity and Equity)
RSSS280 – Sports and Empire (Building Connections – World Cultures and Societies)
RSSS304 – History of Soviet and Post-Soviet Film (EP-Humanist – World Cultures and Societies, Writing)
RSSS310 - Red Stars, Cosmonauts, and Robots: Soviet and East European Science Fiction (EP-Humanist - World Cultures and Societies)
RSSS315 – Werewolves and Vampires: Slavic Folklore in our Culture (EP-Humanist - World Cultures and Societies, Diversity and Equity)
RSSS325 – Eastern Orthodoxy in a Global Age (EP-Humanist – World Cultures and Societies)
RSSS335 – Healthy Places, Toxic Spaces (Building Connections - World Cultures and Societies, Diversity and Equity)
RSSS340 – The Pen and the Sword: Russian Writers and Autocracy (1825-1905) (EP-Humanist - World Cultures and Societies, Writing)
RSSS360 – Utopian Visions: East European Visual Culture (EP-Artist – World Cultures and Societies)

Currently Teaching

RSSS 315 – Vampires and Werewolves: Slavic & East European Folklore in our Culture

This course will examine the ways in which the vampire and werewolf serve as metaphors for human fears and desires. Starting with East European peoples, we will explore how the folklore around the monsters symbolized "the other" and cultural taboos. We will trace how Western cultures engaged with, adopted and transformed the East European beliefs to reflect evolving conception of identity, social conflict, gender/sexuality, and the nature of good and evil

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RSSS 335 – Healthy Places, Toxic Spaces: GeoHumanities & Health in Russia & Eastern Europe

Space, place, and ecology have long played the part of actors - rather than backdrops - for human action in Eastern European arts; by adding the concept of health, this course explores the intersection of the human person, culture, and the environment in Eastern European literature and film. By analyzing the "humanistic geography" created by artists from the region, this course will endeavor to understand how the health (broadly understood) of individuals is affected by place, and vice versa. This course will also explore how authors have contributed to creating a "cultural biography" of some of the major health and environmental issues - the legacy of Chernobyl, migration, accessibility, etc. - facing Russia and Eastern Europe today.

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RSSS 360 – Utopian Visions: East European Visual Culture

Since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution our understanding of East European and Russian art has been defined by utopian ideas of revolutionary transformation. This course will trace the historical development of East European and Russian art from the medieval era to the modern day, focusing primarily on the Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet periods to reveal the social and cultural forces behind artistic change, transgression, and transformation. We will investigate artists and art movements in Eastern Europe and Russia, critically assessing artistic influence, production, avant-garde experiments, reception, and cultural interaction in their historical context. We will also discuss how the changing ideologies in the 19th-, 20th-, and 21st centuries led to the re-assessment of artistic production in relation to discourses of nationalism, identity, gender, politics, modernity, propaganda, and mass media. The course analyzes the artistic practices, styles, interpretations, and expressions of recurring themes in East European and Russian art and culture more broadly, such as utopia, spirituality, anarchy, satire, and the collective.

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RSSS 280 – Sports and Empire: Sport in Soviet & Post-Soviet Eastern European Society

For almost 100 years, the Soviet Union and Russia have used large sporting events for both geopolitical and domestic purposes. In the Soviet Union sport was not only a means of entertainment, but also a key element of state propaganda. Through sport, the new Soviet person was to be made. By 1956, the Soviet Union took home more Olympic medals than the US team, setting the stage for a rivalry between capitalist and socialist states that would last throughout the Cold War era. This course will explore the birth of sport in Russia and Eastern Europe, trace how the Soviet system created a propaganda machine out of international sporting competition, and how the Soviet legacy continues into the modern day. We will also discuss contemporary sporting issues--such as doping scandals and the hosting of international events--to analyze how sport is used as a projection of identity, resistance and/or power in the global arena.

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