AJ47002 Cultural Studies (United States of America)

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2012
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 4 credit(s) (plus 2 credits for an exam). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A. (lecturer)
Mgr. Iuliia Ievstignieieva (assistant)
Guaranteed by
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
each odd Friday 12:30–14:05 G31
Prerequisites (in Czech)
AJ40999 Qualifying Examination || AJ41002 Practical English II
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
Students who successfully complete the course will have a basic understanding of the main social, historical and political processes that shaped the African American journey from the slave cabin to the White House. Moreover they will be see that that the idea of “blackness” is much less a natural condition than a carefully designed, commercially exploited and politically abused cultural construct.
Syllabus
  • The aim of the course is to offer an introduction to African American history, culture and representation. Students will get acquainted with the major historical, economic and political forces that formed African American identity. A no less important segment of the course is an investigation into the manner in which the African American image was reflected – or rather created – by American popular culture in general and commercial narrative film in particular.
  • The course consists of five seminars. Three seminars will focus on crucial moments in the history of the involuntary presence of African Americans in North America; two seminars will be devoted to a discussion of representative films that were instrumental in defining and later substantially altering the black screen image.
  • Course Program:
  • Week 1: African Americans: 1619-1865 -- Slavery
  • Week 2: African Americans: 1865-1954 – Freedom and Segregation
  • Week 3: African Americans: 1954-2010 – The Civil Rights Movement to Obama
  • Week 4: The Origin of Black Screen Image: D.W. Griffith & the Southern Myth
  • Week 5: Redefinitions, Transformations: the “Message Film”; Blaxploitation; the Present
Literature
    required literature
  • POSPÍŠIL, Tomáš. Sambo tu již nebydlí? : obraz Afroameričanů v americkém filmu 20. století. 1. vyd. Brno: Nadace Universitas Masarykiana, 2003, 152 s. ISBN 8086258459. info
  • BOGLE, Donald. Toms, coons, mulattoes, mammies, and bucks : an interpretive history of Blacks in American films. 4th ed. New York: Continuum, 2001, xxv, 454. ISBN 082641267X. info
  • TAKAKI, Ronald. A different mirror :a history of multicultural America. 1st ed. Boston: Back Bay Books, 1993, ix, 508 s. ISBN 0-316-83111-5. info
Teaching methods
Seminar, on-line activities
Assessment methods
Written exam on Modules 1-3 (60% of final mark) and essay on Modules 4-5 (40% of final mark)
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught once in two years.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: 5x2.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2010, Spring 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2020.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2012, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2012/AJ47002