SANb2008 Anthropology and Post-Socialism: Transformations and Identities

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2019
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Zuzana Sekeráková Búriková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Zuzana Sekeráková Búriková, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Mgr. Zuzana Sekeráková Búriková, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Tue 14:00–15:40 U35
Prerequisites (in Czech)
! SAN267 Anthropology and PostSocialism && !NOW( SAN267 Anthropology and PostSocialism )
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 25 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/25, only registered: 0/25, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/25
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to introduce students to the major themes and paradigms in the anthropological research of late-state-socialist and post-socialist societies. The course starts with a brief overview of theoretical approaches and historical legacies, and continues with the exploration of various forms of identities as they are presented and discussed in empirical case studies and ethnographic accounts.
Learning outcomes
After passing the course the students will:
- be able to recognise and describe most important theoretical paradigms and themes in anthropological thinking abut socialism, post-socialism and post-socialist transformation;
- understand better cultural transformations in Central and Eastern Europe;
- be able to write an essay on various themes related to society, culture and identities in post-socialist societies;
Syllabus
  • 1. Central and Eastern Europe as an Area of Anthropological Studies
  • 2. What was Socialism? History, Conceptualizations, and Ethnographies
  • 3. Uncertain Transition: Theories and Histories of the Political and Economic Transition
  • 4. Post-socialism and/as Global Capitalism
  • 5. De-collectivisation, Privatization and Changes of of Property Relations
  • 5. Shifting Paterns of Prodction and Labour 6.Postsocialist-transformation as transformation of personhood
  • 7. Reading week 8. Consumer Cultures
  • 9. Gender, Kinship and family
  • 10.Nationalism and minorities
  • 11. Old and new inequalities: New entrepreneurs, managers and economic elites
  • 12. History, memory and forgetting: Identity and heritage
  • 13. Networks and everyday copying strategies
Literature
    required literature
  • Uncertain transition : ethnographies of change in the postsocialist world. Edited by Michael Burawoy - Katherine Verdery. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1996, vi, 322 s. ISBN 0-8476-9042-3. info
    recommended literature
  • VERDERY, Katherine. What was socialism, and what comes next? Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996, 298 s. ISBN 0-691-01132-X. info
Teaching methods
lectures, critical reading of texts, discussions, group projects
Assessment methods
- written test with both open and closed questions - essay
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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