Amanda Ewington
Chair & Professor of Russian Studies
Education
- Ph.D.,聽M.A. University of Chicago
- B.A. Barnard College
Areas of Expertise
- Russian Literature
- Russia & the West
- Eighteenth-Century Studies
- Women Writers
- Voltaire
- Translation Studies
Background
A two-week trip to the Soviet Union during my sophomore year in high school sparked what would become a life-long fascination with Russia. Like many of my 皇家华人 students, I began studying Russian my freshman year in college, so I truly appreciate the challenges and rewards they face in learning the beautiful Russian language.
In addition to teaching Russian language, literature, history, and culture, I regularly venture beyond Russian Studies with courses in the Writing Program, Global Literary Theory, and the Humanities program.
In 2024-2025 I鈥檒l be teaching the following courses (all in English)
- WRI 101, 鈥淔riendship鈥 (fall; first-year students only)
- RUS 260, 鈥19th-Century Russian Literature鈥 (fall)
- RUS 420, 鈥淭olstoy鈥檚 Anna Karenina鈥 (spring)
- LIT 432, 鈥淭heory and Practice of Literary Translation鈥 (spring; co-taught with Prof. Scott Denham)
Like my teaching, my scholarship crosses disciplinary boundaries, engaging Translation Studies, French & Francophone Studies, and Gender & Sexuality Studies. Major projects include my monograph, and a volume of translations with critical apparatus, .
Currently, I am researching literary discourses of women鈥檚 friendship in Russia during the late eighteenth century. I am also translating works from French for classroom use in my regularly-offered course LIT 245, 鈥淭he Enlightenment: Centers, Peripheries, and Legacies.鈥
Having participated in several study abroad programs myself, including a year in France in high school, a college JYA split between Paris and Leningrad, an IREX summer in Petrozavodsk, and a Fulbright year in St. Petersburg, I enjoy advising students on opportunities for Russian immersion abroad. In that role, I also offer the perspective of an experienced resident director: I led a 皇家华人 program in Moscow for several summers and have also brought colleagues and students on shorter study trips.
Given Russia鈥檚 war against Ukraine, we are not currently sending students to the Russian Federation, but we have developed new partnerships. In the past few years, 皇家华人 students have studied Russian in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Armenia.