Political Science

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Professor Raymond Taras

taras

Contact Information

   Office:
   306 Norman Mayer bldg.
   New Orleans, LA. 70118

Email: taras@tulane.edu

Office Hours: W 12:00-2:00 by appointment

Tel: (504) 862 - 8302

Commonly Taught Courses

POLC 301- Politics and Film / JWST 344 - Representing the Holocaust

This course examines the Holocaust from various perspectives and genres to investigate the conditions and limitations of representing the Holocaust. The principal focus is on literary and cinematic depictions of the undepictable. Textual analysis—letting the artistic text (whether a novel or a feature film) speak for itself—can be an integral part of the study of the historical.

POLC 341 - Politics and Nationalism

This course reviews theories of nation building and identity formation and considers contemporary case studies of nationalism drawn from both advanced Western democracies and developing states. The conditions under which nationalism leads to ethnic conflicts and to political extremism will be assayed.

POLC 447 - Politics and Literature

This course will introduce students to contemporary examples of world literature. These novels describe different cultures as well as cases of encounters and conflicts between cultures. What happens when different cultures meet is likely to have profound political consequences for the societies involved. Narratives depicting culture encounters, written by those whose primary activity is artistic and intellectual, not political, provide a unique insight into the pre-political process. They constitute valuable textual material for political analysts. Textual analysis—letting the text speak for itself—can be an integral part of the study of the political.

POLI 465 - Russian Foreign Policy

This course identifies the principal objectives of post-Soviet Russian foreign policy. It describes contemporary Russian foreign policy towards various countries and regions.

Research Interests

Nationalism, xenophobia, ethnic conflict, European transnationalism and international politics, Russian foreign policy, and world literature and politics.

Curriculum Vitae

Recent Publications

Europe’s Rising Islamophobia: The Impact on Foreign Policy
University of Utah Press, 2010

Understanding ethnic conflict (with Rajat Ganguly)
4th edn. Longman, 2010

Europe old and new: transnationalism, belonging, xenophobia
Rowman and Littlefield, 2009

Contributions to Cultural and Literary Studies

https://ent.tulane.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://americareads.blogspot.com/2009/10/interview-gerald-elias.html