Faculty Profile
Alyssa DeBlasio
(she/her/hers)Professor of Russian; John B. Parsons Chair in the Liberal Arts & Sciences (2010)
Contact Information
Bosler Hall Room 115
717-245-1766
http://filosofia.dickinson.edu/
Bio
Prof. DeBlasio’s research and teaching fall primarily along the intersections of philosophy, literature, and cinema, with a focus on late Soviet intellectual history. She is editor of Brill’s book series in Contemporary Russian Philosophy and author of two monographs, The End of Russian Philosophy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) and The Filmmaker’s Philosopher: Merab Mamardashvili and Russian Cinema (Edinburgh University Press, 2019; Russian trans.: Academic Studies Press, 2020). Together with Izolda Savenkova, she published the textbook Про-движение: Advanced Russian Through Film and Media (Georgetown University Press, 2023). With Mikhail Epstein, she edits Filosofia: An Encyclopedia of Russian Thought, the only scholarly electronic resource in English dedicated to contemporary Russian philosophy. Her work has been supported by the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Philosophical Society, Fulbright-Hays, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the U.S. Dept. of State. At Dickinson she also contributes to the Philosophy Department and the Film Studies Program. Together with Claire Seiler, DeBlasio is co-director of “Beyond the New Normal: Disability, Literature, and Reimagining Social Justice,” a Dickinson College initiative funded by the Mellon Foundation.
Education
- M.A., University of Pittsburgh, 2006
- Ph.D., 2010
Awards
- Dickinson Award for Distinguished Teaching, 2019-20
2024-2025 Academic Year
Fall 2024
RUSS 201 Intermediate Russian
Advanced grammar review incorporating controlled reading and composition. Emphasis on speaking competence continued through oral reports and conversational topics. Prerequisite: 102 or the equivalent. This course fulfills the language graduation requirement.
FMST 210 Russian Film of the Putin Era
Cross-listed with RUSS 241-01. For Lenin, cinema was "the most important art"; for Stalin, it was "the greatest medium of mass motivation." Since Vladimir Putin's inauguration as leader of the Russian Federation in 2000, film has held an equally important role. We will track and analyze major themes in Russian cinema since 1991, including the rise of the Russian blockbuster, popular culture under Putin, festival films, and the intersections of politics and film art. Course taught in English. No prior knowledge of Russian culture required.
FMST 220 Popular Culture and New Media
Cross-listed with RUSS 335-01.
RUSS 223 19th C Russian Lit in Translat
An introduction to major literary movements and developments in 19th century Russian literature. Readings may include works by Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Chekhov, as well as important theoretical and cultural texts from and about the period. No knowledge of Russian necessary.Conducted in English. Offered every other year.
RUSS 241 Russian Film of the Putin Era
Cross-listed with FMST 210-04.
RUSS 333 Adv Sem in Russ Cult & Lit
Authentic Russian texts in different genres and disciplines present specific sets of challenges, including specialized vocabulary, narrative conventions, and idiosyncratic grammar. This course prepares students for reading, analyzing, and discussing challenging, authentic Russian texts in a variety of disciplines and genres, with an emphasis on close reading and cultural context. The course is taught in Russian and includes a variety of texts or focus on one literary text. May include courses taken in Russia. Prerequisite: 231, 232 or equivalent.
RUSS 335 Popular Culture and New Media
Cross-listed with FMST 220-04.