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Curriculum / Fall 2010
Czech Culture and Civilization The course traces the essential events and periods of Czech history and culture. However, its goal and method are not descriptive. The emphasis is laid upon issues that underlie today’s way of thinking of Czech people, their views and stances. One of the central issues dealt with in the course is the issue of personal/individual identity. While the 19th century prefers the idea of an individual fitting in and belonging to a national (religious, local, professional) collective, the modernity turmoil challenges this idea and unveils a personal/individual identity crisis. An attempt to substitute the national collectivity with a notion of a functional civic society in 1920s and 1930s is followed by ideological/political collective constructs of 1950s and 1960s. These phenomena reflect and are tackled in the course through interplay of polarities of heterogeneous vs. homogeneous, private vs. public, past vs. present vs. future, local vs. universal, narrow (i.e. Czech) vs. large (European) context. The course provides students with a deeper insight into the Czech mentality and character by dealing with issues which have determined modern Czech identity, as well as with current political and cultural events and issues. Moreover, students become familiarized with the city of Prague. Through both these aspects, the course will help students to integrate into and experience the Czech society from within.The course is co-taught by four faculty members, nevertheless it represents a coherency: the contributions of individual faculty members complement each other and represent a plurality of interpretative angles. The course consists of in-class lectures, multimedia presentations, documentaries and motion pictures screening, literature reading, discussions, and series of five field trips in Prague as well as field trips to Kutná Hora and Terezín.Course requirements: active class participation, reading, essay and a test. The course is obligatory for each program participant and establishes the core of the first two-week core course session. Instructors: Petr Bílek, Václav Cílek, Ivana Doležalová, Pavel Sládek An intensive conversational course of Czech language designed to develop, at a very basic level, proficiencies in comprehension and speaking, and to introduce students to everyday culture of Czech life. Students will achieve elementary conversational skills in everyday situations including conversational keywords and phrases such as warnings, signs, personal contact words and phrases (identification, greetings, etc.), handling numbers (prices, money, Czech currency; basic weights and measures), time, making appointments, shopping (asking for things; shopping in the neighborhood stores; labels, notices), communication in restaurants, physical environment (asking the way, city transport), and travelling. The course consists of in-class lectures; excursions out of the classroom are organized where relevant. Course requirements: active participation, one final written and oral exam to summarize and test the content covered, results will be counted as part of the regular semester Czech course. Instructors: Marie Auerspergová, Jitka Kauerová, Karel Kučera, Zuzana Vanišová
Politics of the European Union The course explains the origins and current structure of the European Union (EU). It examines the role of politics in the functioning of the EU. The course describes effects of the European Integration and the role Member States, EU Institutions and European citizens play in this process. Among others, the course examines to what extent the EU limits the power and sovereignty of EU Member States. The main goal is to familiarize students with the political system of the EU and to discuss current EU affairs, i.e. the EU politics “in doing”. There are three major theoretical parts. The first section analyzes historical basis for and theoretical explanation of the European integration. Also, it is concerned with the role of the EU internal market in the European politics. The second (core) section scrutinizes major Union´s institutions, their functions and the role of Member States in the EU. Special attention is paid to the (limited) role of the European citizens in the EU. The third section deals with the EU activities in the world, such as the enlargement process (by far the most important and most successful tool of the EU to influence neighboring states) and the role of the EU in the world economical, political and military affairs. Course consists of in-class lectures, multimedia presentations (incl. those by students), discussions, reading, and regular e-mail communication with its instructors related to current affairs. The course meets for three hours per week in two sessions. Instructors: Martin Moravec, Michal Mocek
Challenges to European Politics The main goal of this course is to familiarize students with European political systems and contemporary challenges to European politics. It implies a deeper insight into the European politics, highlighting of contemporary trends of the European political development, and finally identification of neuralgic spots of potential future issues and problems European policy makers will have to address. The course is divided into three parts – 1. Ethnic and religious cleavages in/among European countries (national minorities, religious-based conflicts, etc.) 2. European Governments (this part concentrates on Western models of government – separation of powers, the role of president and parliament, party and party systems; case studies discussed include Great Britain, Germany, France), 3. Post-communist societies (this part focuses on an interpretation of the history of communism and the transition to capitalism and the current situation in three countries – Soviet Union/Russia, Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic and Poland). Each part starts with theoretical background and approaches and discusses relevant issues in a comparative perspective. The course consists of in-class lectures and discussions, multimedia presentations, field trips (Museum of Communism, Parliament of the Czech Republic and the like). Course requirements: active class participation, reading of about 50-60 pages per week, short test (at the end of first part of the course), midterm and final tests, home works (short interpretations of the assigned readings (thousand words), a team work – power point presentation on the most important ethnic and religious conflicts, five-thousand-word paper). Class meets twice a week for a total of three class hours per week. Instructors: Vladimíra Dvořáková, Petr Vymětal CEE Economies and the EU Enlargement In 2004 Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia became part of the enlarged EU. Bulgaria and Romania joined EU in 2007. This had an economic impact on both the new entrants and the EU itself. The first part of this course deals with issues related to the economic transition from centrally planned economic system into the market economy. The second part tackles topics related to the EU enlargement and to current EU issues. The course is focused on economic realities of the CEE region. Local experts are regular guest speakers in the course on issues as car industry, capital market, beer industry, EU structural funds etc. Course requirements are class participation, oral presentation, midterm and final exam and a paper. The course meets for three hours per week in two sessions. Instructor: Tomáš Jelínek Fragmentation of Europe and Reintegration by the European Union This course is concerned with the current stage of fragmentation and reintegration tendencies in Europe. The European continent is a dynamic and fascinating region striving to come to terms with its ethnonational identities and political and economic transformations. Since the 1989 fall of the Iron Curtain, the continent is involved in modernization and reintegration largely orchestrated by the European Union. Nevertheless, the importance of ethnonational, political, and economic diversity endures and its importance has increased due to the fragmentation of former communist federations. Current reintegration is based upon widening (i.e. EU enlargement) and deepening (i.e. EU deeper integration.) Widening and deepening are understood in terms of the changing identities in the countries concerned. Euro-skeptic, Euro-optimistic or Euro-realistic views are examined in this connection. The course approaches the outlined issue from an interdisciplinary perspective. Course requirements: active class participation, regular weekly reading (about 60 pages per week), oral presentation, midterm exam (with a short paper of 3 pages), project resulting in a final essay of 10-12 pages (first draft after 10th week). Project topics are based both on lectures and in-class discussions, and on additional reading. The course meets twice a week for total of three hours. Instructor: Petr Dostál Social Change in East Central Europe: From Communism to EU Membership The course focuses on the complexity of social change in East Central Europe in the period between the fall of Communism and the accession to the European Union. It emphasizes the mutual interrelations between social, economic, and political developments. Special attention is paid to the external influence of the EU accession on these processes. The course is organized into four thematic parts. The first part covers socioeconomic changes in the region, including changes in the national economy, social structure, poverty distribution, social mobility, education, and housing. The second part deals with voting behavior, the development of national party systems, and issues of local democracy in relation to region’s history, cultural diversity, development of social structures, ethnic relations, and electoral laws. In the third part, gender issues and value changes are discussed. In the concluding part, the hypothesis of East - West convergence in political, social, economic, and regional development is tested. An important part of the course consists in a project, which is conducted by students on topics related to the course. The course consists of in-class lectures, reading (30 to 40 pages weekly), presentations and discussions. Course requirements: active class participation, midterm and final test, oral presentation of project, essay (10 to 20 pages) based on project. Class meets twice a week for total of three class hours per week. Instructor: Tomáš Kostelecký
Gender and Culture: Selected Current Topics The course analyzes contemporary phenomena shaping our everyday existence in this world as men and women. Starting with the debate of the “communist gender experiment” students move into political and sociological arenas to debate registered partnership, transgender issues, reproduction rights (including sterilization of Roma women), sex trafficking, pornography, and representation of sexes in public life. Youth subcultures will be presented from a gender viewpoint. Other major cultural myths upholding tradition-al concepts of masculinity and femininity – film, media and advertising will be studied and compared to the new virtual possibilities of cyberspace, “reformed” spirituality and post-feminist readings of popular culture and cartoons. The course is heavily supported with visual documentation, field-trips, and stars exciting Czech guest-speakers from the field of arts, politics and religion. The course meets for three hours per week in two sessions. Instructor: Pavla Jonssonová The course is designed to bring students to a general understanding of European mentality as a unity established on the basis of Christianity, urban culture, and market economy, a unity that is permanently (from time to time?) unbalanced, occasionally almost destroyed by civil, religious, and national conflicts. The extreme plurality and constant, often brutal discussions among individual kingdoms, states, political fractions, guilds, heretic sects, aristocracy, and clergy – the never-ending flow of ideas, influences and technologies - may have created the seemingly uniform but in detail very complex European phenomenon. Can it last in contact with globalization, Americanization, Islam, and its own internal conflicts and transformations? What is at the heart of the European Phenomenon? With what kind of potential can it endow the common European future? The course will lead students through the main European periods of architecture such as Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles which will be interpreted in terms of mentality changes, intellectual history and cultural anthropology. Approximately half of the lectures will be held in the classroom while the excursions to some well known as well as totally unknown historical monuments and sites will take place during the other lectures. Course requirements: reading of 50 pages per week; two midterm essays (Which place or building you have found most interesting in Prague and why?, 1400 words, Describe the route taken by any tram from one terminal to the other, how does the city change, 1400 words) final essay (comparison one of the aspects of European and American life, is there something valuable Europe can give to America and vice versa, about 3000 words). The course meets for three hours per week in two sessions. Instructor: Václav Cílek Jews in East Central Europe: Life of a Minority The course describes the life of the Jewish community in Europe since the formation of Jewish settlements around the 10th century until the present time. The historical aspect is enriched by detailed insights into both Jewish spirituality and social life. In-class lectures are combined with the field trips to Prague Jewish monuments. The course has three foci: (1) The situation of the Czech Jewry is the natural departure point. However, the course provides meaningful comparisons with related regions, above all, a comparison with the very specific development of Polish Jewry are necessary for understanding of Jews of Central Europe from 16th century onwards. (2) Emphasis is placed on constantly recurring interference of the Jewish minority and the surrounding society. Development of the minority is thus not viewed in isolation but in its very particular interconnection with the majority society. (3) The character of the daily life of the Jewish people in the period under scope is studied through an analysis of rites of passage, festivals and customs as well as of social structures and the different social roles of classical Rabbinic Judaism (child, woman, layman, rabbi etc.) are described. Students will become acquainted with the internal and external problems which the Jewish community has faced on its journey throughout its history. The values central to the Jewish society of the past and present will be defined and their origin indicated. Are these values particular to the Jews? How does a minority present itself to the outside world? How does it reflect its own position in the society? What is the attitude of the Jewish minority towards the processes of its integration, acculturation or even assimilation? These questions will be asked with regard to specific socio-political and cultural environment. The goal of the course is not only to understand the Jewish history as such; it might become helpful for anyone aspiring to get oriented in today’s globalized and still fragmented society. The following sites will be visited on the field-trips: the Old-New Synagogue, the Maisel Synagogue, the Pinkas Synagogue, the Klausen Synagogue, the Ceremonial Hall of the Burial Society, the Old Jewish Cemetery, the Spanish Synagogue, and the New Jewish Cemetery. Course requirements: regular active participation; students are expected to read assigned texts prior to each session where they will be discussed; two short quizzes – midterm and final; a paper or project based on students’ own research (min. 3,000 words; the project topic can relate to both the lectures or field trips); a presentation of the project. The course meets for three hours per week in two sessions. Instructor: Pavel Sládek Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in European Context: Confrontation, or coexistence? The course addresses the role of religion in the constitution of Western Civilization in general and the specific contribution of the monotheistic traditions to this process in particular. Many of the basic “secular” values have originated in the religious setting, therefore, the religious experience should be paid due attention so that such social phenomena as minority issues, racism, or nationalism can be understood. A general introduction into the study of religion, students will be explained elements of the three major monotheistic systems Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, in both phenomenological (comparative) as well as historical perspectives. The general principles are then applied to concrete periods of European history, with special attention paid to interaction among the three religions/cultures in given historical and geographical contexts. Their respective contributions to the shaping of the European culture will be examined and their role in this multicultural process will be evaluated. The historical-phenomenological survey will be completed with an assessment of the contemporary situation. The course consists of in-class lectures, readings of relevant texts and discussions of current issues. The course is concluded with a round-table conference on one of the chosen topics (to be determined by the instructor after discussion with students). Course requirements: active class participation, readings, and three short quizzes (Judaism, Christianity, Islam); final essay (10-15 pages), the topic of which will be chosen by the student after consultation with the instructor. The course meets twice a week for total of three hours. Instructor: Milan Lyčka “Baroque-Classicism” Polarity in the Art of Central Europe This course provides a comprehensive picture of the development of European architecture, sculpture, and painting from the Renaissance to the early 20th century in Central Europe. Stress is placed upon 17th- and 18th-century Prague, which is considered one of the most beautiful Baroque cities in the world. The Baroque of Central Europe is basically a manifestation of political power and religious faith, therefore it was not popular in Europe in the subsequent centuries in which liberal attitudes prevailed and analytic understanding was preferred to synthetic truth. Since the end of the 20th century, however, artists and scholars alike have been professing a new interest in Baroque because of its “open” and dynamic forms, which have a basic affinity to modern art. The Baroque emphasis on expression close to every day experience rather than to an ideal order is certainly much closer to life as we perceive it today. Given the importance of the visual experience and the unique opportunity to see first-hand the most important buildings and works of art in Prague, the course is organized around 21 on-site lectures. These lectures are supplemented with excursions to the historical surroundings of Prague (Kutná Hora, Český Krumlov, and Karlovy Vary). At the beginning of the course, students will receive a reading package based on H.W.Janson, A.F.Janson, History of Art (New York, 2001) and booklets related to excursions outside of Prague. There will always be a reading test (homework). The course meets for three hours per week and is not intended exclusively for art history students. Course requirements: active class participation, reading (100 pages per week), home works based on reading, midterm and final essays (1500 and 3000 words respectively) and midterm and final tests (consisting in identification of painting and/or architectural monument and its analysis, explanation of basic art concepts, questions based on reading, lectures and excursions). Instructor: Jan Bažant Reading in 20th century Czech and American Literature The course focuses on comparative reading of selected works of Czech and American modern fiction. This reading will cover the following themes: 1) Speaking of Europe, Speaking of America; 2) Speaking of War; 3) Speaking in a Minority voice; 4) Speaking of Women and 5) Speaking of Alienation. In the first block, students will look at texts depicting “the other”, i.e. at images of Europe in American fiction, and images of the US and reflections of the American dream in Czech fiction. In the second block, texts related to WWI and WWII and to involvement of America and Czechs in these conflicts will be studied. The third block, will deal with fiction of contemporary Afro-American and Native American writers and with perception of these texts in the Czech cultural milieu. Contemporary fiction by women and position of female writers in America and Czech cultures will be the topic of the fourth block. Finally, in the fifth block, the concept of alienation of a modern city dweller will be examined in both literatures. The course consists of in-class lectures and discussions, film screenings and visits to course-theme-relevant exhibitions and art shows. The following texts (or excerpts from them) are part of the reading list: Henry James: Daisy Miller, Franz Kafka: America, Karel Čapek: Hordubal, Josef Škvorecký: Engineer of Human Souls, Joseph Heller: Catch 22, Jaroslav Hašek: Good Soldier Švejk, Jan Drda: The Silent Barricade, Ernest Hemingway: Soldier’s Home, Gerald Vizenor: Landfill Meditations, Toni Morrison: The Bluest Eye, Alice Walker: In Search of Our Mothers’s Gardens, Eda Kriseová: Cast’s Lives, Franz Kafka: A Country Doctor, Herman Melville: Bartleby the Scrivener, Daniela Hodrová: Perun’s Day, Radoslav Nenadál: There Goes K. and following films will be screened: Brazil (T. Gilliam), Cremator (J. Herz) and Dead Man (J. Jarmusch). Course requirements: active class participation, 2 tests and one term paper (10 pp.). Film screenings and visits exhibitions are an integral part of this course. Class meets twice a week for total of three class hours per week. Instructor: Martina Moravcová Reading Prague: the City as a Metaphor of Human Existence Are Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, Kyle MacLauchlan in The Trial and Daniel Day-Lewis in The Unbearable Lightness of Being walking through the same city of Prague? Yes and no. More detailed answers can be found in the course. The course is designed in the interdisciplinary pattern: It analyses the “archetypal” as well as temporary historical images of Prague as they appear in literature, visual arts, photography, postcards, movies, commercials, and websites through the course of a millennium, focusing of the era of the 19th and 20th centuries and its recent status. Walking virtually through Prague of the National Revival era, Prague of the industrialization and modernity crisis, Prague of the Nazi occupation, and Prague of the Communist totalitarian system, we will focus on its sociological, semiotic, and symbolic key icons: central squares, churches, observations towers, statues and monuments, cemeteries. Next to key prose fiction texts (the Golem story; Kafka: The Trial; Kundera: The Unbearable Lightness of Being; Hrabal: Too Loud a Solitude), we will also make use of selected theoretical conceptualizations (Barthes, Eco, Deleuze, Cixous). Half of the course is spent in the classroom and consists of interpretations of literary and visual samples of the image of Prague; the other half is devoted to field trips guided by the instructor that take students to the Disneyland Prague of today’s tourism but also to places with no tourist footprint yet. Some time will be devoted also to comparative analyses of the images of other metropolitan cities (New York, London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Vienna, and Budapest). The course meets for three hours per week in two sessions. Course requirements: reading (about 200 pages per week); writing a journal (15-20 pages of text); mid-term paper (1,500 words); final paper (2,500 words). Instructor: Petr Bílek Modern Czech Film: History on Screen This interdisciplinary course provides a deeper insight into the issues of modern Czechoslovak history and socio-cultural developments as documented by both major feature films and documentaries. Viewed against the general backdrop of key historical events, the participants will gain more intimate knowledge and understanding of the unique Czech New Wave in Cinema (Miracle of the Czech New Wave) which was an intriguing response to the political and cultural thaw of the Sixties and thoroughly investigate the works of art in the aftermath of the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Screenings will include films of renowned artists and Academy Award winners such as Miloš Forman and Jiří Menzel as well as other prominent representatives of the Czech New Wave: Věra Chytilová, Jan Němec, Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos. Historically the screenings include films covering WWII (The Shop on Main Street), the Stalinist fifties (The Joke, Larks on a String), politically friendlier sixties and the typical new wave style (Miloš Forman’s Loves of a Blond and Firemen’s Ball). Attention is paid to the most significant works of the post-1968 Soviet invasion, the so-called normalization period and to cinematography in the course of building up democracy after 1989. Course requirements: students are required to attend screenings, read respective articles and reviews from a course pack (20 pages a week) and actively participate in the discussion sessions; 3-page responses to the screened films are required, they serve as guidance for discussions. There is a mid-term exam (3-4 pages in-class essay) and a comprehensive final exam in the form of an out-class written essay (10-12 pages). The course meets twice a week for total of three class hours per week. Instructor: Ivana Doležalová
The course focuses on the most frequent psychic disorders, basics of psychological assessment, and clinical site visits. The field of clinical psychology and its history is introduced in the first part of the course. The following part deals with issues of both general psychopathology (symptoms and syndromes) as well as with special psychopathology (anxiety, mood and personality disorders and schizophrenia). The biological and psychological etiology of the disorders is explained; pharmacological and therapeutic possibilities in treating these disorders are dealt with as well. The disorders are approached in the European tradition, differences between European and US approaches as well as DSM-IV vs. ICD classifications are discussed. The course requires knowledge of psychological assessment and the key psychodiagnostic methods of clinical assessment. The course consists of in-class lectures, case study presentations and discussions and four clinical site visits. Clinical site visits take place at a psychiatric hospital where students meet diagnosed patients under supervision. Students have an opportunity to use their knowledge of respective psychiatric disorders taught in in-class lectures and train them in patient interviewing and observation. Course requirements: active class participation, regular reading (about 50-70 pages per week), an essay on a clinical psychology topic (10-15 pages), a test, work at the clinical sites, and a short concise report about fieldwork experience. The course meets for three hours per week in two sessions. Instructors: Katarína Komadová, Mabel Rodriguez
The elementary Czech course is focused on the development of the four basic proficiency skills (speaking, writing, listening comprehension, and reading), with emphasis on speaking and listening comprehension in everyday situations. Basic concepts in Czech grammar will be introduced and compared to English. The course covers the following topics: conversational basics; shopping, asking for things, making orders and reservations; making appointments; asking the way, travelling; likes and dislikes; jobs, professions, nationalities; daily and other routines; plans; past events; speaking about one’s origin, home, family and friends; age, health, condition and feelings. Grammar of the year-long elementary course is covered. Course requirements: active class participation (including homework and ability to communicate orally). Evaluation: quizzes, midterm and final tests. The course meets three times a week for five total of hours and is taught in groups of ten or fewer students. Instructors: Marie Auerspergová; Jitka Kauerová, Karel Kučera, Zuzana Vanišová
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