Course Descriptions

Course Description

This course is an introduction to Czech culture from 870 to the present.  The first half of the course will begin with the ninth century Přemyslid dynasty and Czech legends and will chronicle critical moments in the historical evolution of Czech culture up to the nineteenth century Czech National Revival.  The second half of the course will focus on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and will conclude with a field trip tour of a local brewery.

Texts:

Alois Jirasek, Old Czech Legends

Jan Neruda, Prague Tales

Jaroslav Hasek, The Good Soldier Svejk

Vaclav Havel, Disturbing the Peace

Bazant, Bazantova, Starn The Czech Reader: History, Culture, Politics

Hugh Agnew, The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown

Requirements and Grading

2 Exams 50%

Short Paper 10%

Final Paper 20%

Attendance and Participation 20%

This course has an emphasis on speaking, reading, and listening.  In addition to the textbook itself, music, video, and the Internet will be used not only to increase proficiency, but also to expose students to Czech culture. 

Attendance and active participation are vital to foreign language study.  Students are thus expected to attend class regularly,  and ask questions. 

Periodic quizzes and dictations not listed on the syllabus (some of them unannounced) will be scheduled between the regularly scheduled tests and quizzes.

Text

Czech for Fun by Susan Kresin

Requirements and Grading

4 short tests                  40%

Final Exam                    20%

Homework                    15%

Quizzes                        15%

Attend/Participate           10%

The course is a continuation of Czech 507 with an emphasis on speaking and reading.  In addition to the textbook, short articles, videos, and lectures will be used not only to increase comprehension, but also to expose the student to Czech culture.

Grading:  Short tests—45%s, final exam—20%, homework:  15%, quizzes—5%, attendance—5%

Grading scale:  90–100=A; 80–89=B; 70–79=C; 60–69=D.  Any average below 60 is failing

This course reaches back to the first centuries of Protestantism in Central Europe, from about 1400 to about 1700. The Czech Lands, under the names of Bohemia and Moravia, and under the dominion of the Habsburg Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, were heavily implicated in the various breaks from and returns to Catholicism, as the reformation started by Luther gave way to the counter-reformation of the organized Catholic Church, resisting the fracturing of its One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. This hotbed of religious dissidence pitted newly emerging Protestant groups on several sides of each doctrinal and political issue that arose as the region sought its religious identity: Utraquists, Hussites, Lutherans, Calvinists, and Czech Brethren, and others.  

The course will explore the theologies, politics, and personal identities that emerged, and passed away in this era through the accounts in primary sources, including the writings of the reformers as well as through the lenses provided by current scholarship. In addition, the course examines the visual arts and music (especially hymns) that played such a huge role in this battle for land, power, hearts, and minds shaping the lives of believers and non-believers alike. The course concludes with an examination of the evolutions within Catholicism reflected in the Catholic catechism as a result of the Counter-Reformation.

Prerequisites: none

Readings: The reading list will consist mainly of primary sources, available digitally in the public domain and scholarly articles to which the students have digital access through the library. In addition, there will be some required film viewing and music recordings.

Grading: attendance and participation 10%, multiple précis (one page written assignments) throughout the semester 40%, mid-term 20%, final exam 30%

Prerequisite: Six semester hours of upper-division coursework in Czech, or upper-division standing and consent of instructor.

Hour(s) to be arranged. Restricted enrollment; contact the department for permission to register for this class. May be repeated for credit.