FASDT02 Historical and Political Aspects of Central Europe

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2024
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 10 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Petr Kalina, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Roman Madecki, Ph.D. (lecturer)
prof. PhDr. Ivo Pospíšil, DrSc. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Václav Štěpánek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Václav Štěpánek, Ph.D.
Department of Slavonic Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Pavel Pilch, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Slavonic Studies – Faculty of Arts
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course is focused on the description and analysis of the Central European area. Its aim is to present Central Europe as a specific historical, cultural and spiritual phenomenon, based on the principle of extraordinary diversity in a relatively small area. Within the interpretation, students will be acquainted with various concepts of the concept of Central Europe, with the definitions of the Central European area from various perspectives (geographical, linguistic, religious, historical-cultural, political-economic), with its specific features (intermingling of cultures, development cities and industry, orientation to the European continent, continuity and discontinuity of Central European history, negative experience with communism, relations with the USSR and Russia), with important cultural phenomena and personalities of Central Europe (Central European architecture and art, Nobel Prize winners for literature) and the role of Central Europe in the process of European integration. From a diachronic point of view, it is based on different conceptions of Central Europe and the territory of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia is presented as the intersection of a number of cultural influences in the past, which can become the starting point for new integration activities. The ties and relations of the Central European area to Ukraine (Subcarpathian Russia) and Slavic southern Europe will also be of interest.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course, the student will have the idea of the unsubstitutable role of Central Europe as a source of the complex knowledge of European area,
will be able to interpret important turning points in the history of Central Europe,
will know its significant cultural phenomena and personalities
and have the idea of the role of Central Europe in the EU.
Syllabus
  • Central European area in the system of world and European areas, its heterogeneous character, definition criteria and typology
  • The concept of Central Europe, waves of interest in Central Europe, centers of Central European studies, personalistic comparative studies: homo Europae centralis, today's cultural and geopolitical significance of Central Europe
  • Definition of Central Europe in terms of geographical, geopolitical, religious and historical, cultural-historical legacy of former state units and alliances (Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire, Polish-Lithuanian state)
  • The language situation in Central Europe from a synchronous and diachronic point of view
  • Common features of Central Europe, M. Kundera - violent rupture of ties between Central and Western Europe after 1968, changes after 1989, current challenges
  • Central Europe in the literary work of Czeslaw Miłosz and A. Stasiuk
  • Central Europeanism and Modernity - a few key questions based on the modern history of Poland
  • Central Europe from the perspective of socio-economic geography: a comparison of economies and institutional environment of Central European countries
  • Central Europe and the heritage of Austria-Hungary
  • Identity of Ruthenians in Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia and Serbia
  • Central Europe and the Balkans: mental maps and stereotypes
Literature
    required literature
  • Evropské areály a metodologie (Rusko, střední Evropa, Balkán a Skandinávie). Pospíšil, Ivo - Šaur, Josef (ed.). 1st ed. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2011, 308 pp. ISBN 978-80-210-5434-9. info
  • POSPÍŠIL, Ivo, Jiří GAZDA, Katerina KEDRON, Pavel KREJČÍ, Roman MADECKI, Ludvík ŠTĚPÁN and Václav ŠTĚPÁNEK. Slované a Evropa na počátku 21. století (The Slavs and Europe at the Beginning of the 21st Century). 1. vydání. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2007, 104 pp. ISBN 978-80-210-4487-6. info
  • WANDYCZ, Piotr S. Střední Evropa v dějinách : od středověku do současnosti : cena svobody. Translated by Jaroslav Valenta. Vydání 1. Praha: Academia, 1998, 301 stran. ISBN 8020006575. info
    recommended literature
  • MAGRIS, Claudio. Dunaj. Translated by Kateřina Vinšová - Bohumír Klípa. 2. vyd., V Mladé frontě vy. Praha: Mladá fronta, 2010, 451 s. ISBN 9788020421180. info
  • V kleštích dějin : střední Evropa jako pojem a problém. Edited by Jiří Trávníček, Translated by František Benhart. Vyd. 1. Brno: Host, 2009, 343 s. ISBN 9788072943234. info
  • EVANS, R. J. W. Austria, Hungary, and the Habsburgs : essays on Central Europe, c.1683-1867. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006, xvii, 337. ISBN 9780199541621. info
  • JOHNSON, Lonnie R. Central Europe : enemies, neighbors, friends. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, xii, 351 s. ISBN 0-19-514826-6. info
  • TODOROVA, Marija Nikolaeva. Imagining the Balkans. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, xi, 257. ISBN 0195087518. info
  • MIŁOSZ, Czesław. Rodná Evropa. Translated by Helena Stachová. V Olomouci: Votobia, 1997, 277 s. ISBN 80-7198-279-2. info
  • MASARYK, Tomáš Garrigue. Nová Evropa. Vyd. 4. Brno: Doplněk, 1994, 193 s., 2. ISBN 80-85765-29-2. info
  • BUSEK, Erhard and Emil BRIX. Projekt Mitteleuropa. Wien: Ueberreuter, 1986. ISBN 3800032279. info
Teaching methods
Discussion, independent reading and preparation, lectures, written essays
Assessment methods
Essay, discussion with the teacher, evaluation of reading
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught annually.
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2024/FASDT02