The course provides a gender analysis of Czech cultural history and selected contemporary phenomena. Starting with archetypal interpretations of foundation myths (Libuše the Seer, Přemysl the Plowman and the war of maidens) it further tracks the representational significance of figures such as St. Agnes, Jesenská, Horáková as well as Masaryk and radical feminism. Communist theories of gender equality are explained and major issues of post-socialist transformation presented: the re-recreation of civil society, refashioning the family, labor market and globalization together with the negative aspects of sex trafficking, the feminization of poverty, the lack of state-supported child care and low political representation of women. Gender mainstreaming strategies following EU accession, e.g. the institution of parental leave, end of conscription, registered partnership and the anti-discrimination law, are discussed. The second part of the course consists of case studies in contemporary Czech culture and media using methods of psychoanalysis and semiotics. These include Věra Chytilová´s film Daisies, rock music videos, billboard and city light advertising, beer commercials, street art and architecture. The course is built on in-class minilectures with powerpoint presentations and documentaries, discussions of readings, and gender-related events. Field trips are taken to gendered Prague spaces, exhibits and festivals (Gay and Lesbian, One World, etc). Course requirements: active class participation, reading (50 pages and more per week), reaction papers (about 500 words), mid-term test and a final research project on a gender and culture topic of choice (about 4000 words). The course meets for three hours per in weeks in two sessions.

Pavla Jonssonová

translator, gender studies scholar, publicist, musician. She taught at the Pedagogical Faculty of Charles University (English Department) from 1990 to 1999. In 1998, she was a Fulbright scholar at the University of California. Since 1991, she has served as a member of the board for the Center for Gender Studies in Prague. Her writing and research focuses on gender studies topics. In 2001, she published Czech translation of The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer. For twenty years, she performed original music as a member of an all women’s rock band, ZUBY NEHTY. She is amember of the feminist media group Meluzina.