Inclusive Strategies and Critical Pedagogies for East European and Eurasian Languages

Sunnie Rucker-Chang is the Kenneth E Naylor Professor of South Slavic Culture and Associate Professor in Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures and African and African American Studies at the Ohio State University. She works on the social construction of race and culture as it relates to privileged and marginalized communities in Europe. In her research, Rucker-Chang focuses on how literature and film contribute to culture and nationalist identities, especially in the creation and maintenance of racialized communities in Southeast Europe and how the demographics of a field shape pedagogy and community participation.Rachel Stauffer is an educational researcher who examines practices and histories of education about the Russian-speaking world in the United States. She has an MA and PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures (University of Virginia) and a Masters of Education with emphasis in Diversity and Equity (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign).

• ForewordThomas Jesús GarzaCritical Introduction Sunnie Rucker-Chang, Ohio State University and Rachel StaufferChapter 1Decentralizing and Modernizing the Russian Language and Culture Curricula  Elena Chernysh, American UniversityMaria Bourlatskaya, University of PennsylvaniaChapter 2Textbook Examples of Color-Evasiveness in Teaching Russian: Moving the Profession toward Race-ConsciousnessRachel StaufferJambul Akkaziev, University of MissouriChapter 3Promoting Psychological Safety and Practicing Leadership Inclusivity in the SEEES ClassroomKelly Knickmeier-Cummings, Howard UniversityChapter 4Equity-Minded and Inclusive Pedagogy: Modeling Social Action through the Genre of Grant WritingKelly Knickmeier-Cummings, Howard UniversityChapter 5Bridging Gaps in Multicultural Education to Grow the Field of Russian: Outcomes and Recommendations for a Certificate in Diverse and Inclusive PedagogiesRachel StaufferJillian Costello, American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages Chapter 6The Goals and Challenges of Decolonizing Russian-Language Study Abroad: A Case Study from West PointCarlotta Chenoweth, United States Military Academy West PointAlexander Groce, United States Military Academy West PointJohn Pendergast, United States Military Academy West PointChapter 7Centering University Russian Heritage Learners as Multilinguals and Multiculturals through Translanguaging: An Inclusive and Culturally Sustaining Approach to Promote Heritage Learner Hybrid Identities Natasha Dame, University of Southern California Matthew Dame, University of Southern CaliforniaChapter 8Who Are(n’t) Our Students? The Gender and Ethnoracial Distribution of US Bachelor’s Degrees in Russian and Literature over Twenty Years, from 1999–2000 to 2018–2019 [Reprint] Dianna Murphy, University of Wisconsin, MadisonHadis Ghaedi, University of Wisconsin, MadisonIndex

“Expansive in scope and meticulously researched, Inclusive Strategies and Critical Pedagogies for East European and Eurasian Languages tackles the most pressing issues facing today’s world language programs. From modernizing the Russian language and culture curricula to equity-minded inclusive pedagogy in East European and Eurasian Studies, this volume describes some of the historical prejudices in our field and boldly outlines the ways to address them through justice-oriented teaching that acknowledges, appreciates, and centers the diverse, multilayered identities of our students. With a rich and varied selection of chapters, this volume makes a lasting contribution to the field.”—Dr. Colleen Lucey, Associate Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies, University of Arizona“We stand on the precipice—at a moment when teaching faculty in Russian and Eurasian studies feel the ground shifting beneath our feet, and when the tried-and-true paths within our profession are contracting and crumbling. This is also the moment when Rucker-Chang and Stauffer bring us a set of practices that illuminate new pathways of greater potential. I read inclusive and critical in this volume’s title as synonymous with expansive and explosive. This volume of essays contains within its pages a set of ideas to explode the narrow frameworks that have been our past and to expand our vision of what is possible in the uncertain times ahead. These chapters guide us in imagining a new future of our field, a wider vision of who we are and what we study, and an expansion of our classroom practices that just might be the thing that saves us.”—Dr. Molly T. Blasing, Associate Professor of Russian Studies, University of Kentucky