BA in Slavic Literatures and Cultures in Cambridge United States | Harvard University

The Slavic Literatures and Cultures concentration at Harvard enables students to explore the artistic achievements and cultural heritage of Russia and neighboring Slavic nations, including Ukraine, Poland, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, and the Czech Republic. These regions boast vibrant cultural traditions alongside complex historical narratives, spanning from medieval times through imperial rule under Russian, Habsburg, and Ottoman powers, to the modern challenges of reshaping democratic ideals and cultural identity. While our program emphasizes literary and artistic studies, we encourage interdisciplinary approaches, welcoming students interested in political science, history, linguistics, anthropology, and related fields to craft a personalized Slavic studies path. This concentration fosters critical thinking and cultural analysis skills, equipping students to examine both literary masterpieces and their broader sociopolitical frameworks. You'll engage with landmark texts of global literature, from Tolstoy and Dostoevsky to Nabokov and Kundera. Our language component ensures advanced competency in Russian or another Slavic language (like Czech, Polish, Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, or Ukrainian), empowering students to access diverse materials ranging from contemporary media and historical documents to literary classics such as War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, and The Master and Margarita.