CORE051 Interculturality and Multilingualism in Bohemian Lands

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Jan Budňák, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Jan Budňák, Ph.D.
Department of German, Scandinavian and Netherland Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Eva Kimmerová
Supplier department: Department of German, Scandinavian and Netherland Studies – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
TYP_STUDIA(BM) && FORMA(P) && !(PROGRAM(B-NJ_) || OBOR(FBNJpV) || PROGRAM(B-CJ_) || OBOR(FBCJpV))
The course is open to full-time Bachelor's and five-year Master's students, with the exception of the German Language and Literature and Czech Language and Literature programmes.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
The capacity limit for the course is 100 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/100, only registered: 0/100, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/100
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to provide students of all faculties of the MU with a basic insight into the multilingual and interculturally diverse environment of the Czech lands from the Middle Ages to the mid-20th century. The course seeks to revise the widespread idea that the Czech lands were just a stage of Czech "national history" and Czech "national literature". In contrast to this preconception, the course introduces themes, texts and situations that show that the culture and history of the Czech lands was much rather a site of the intermingling of different cultural influences and different languages, especially Czech and German - a typically Central European region, culturally and linguistically hybrid. The lectures and discussions on the texts will be led by teachers of various disciplines of the Faculty of Arts: German, Bohemian studies, theatre studies, history.
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to: - approach critically the notions of cultural or linguistic homogeneity of a certain area (e.g. Czech lands), - to notice different forms of interculturality and understand them as situationally conditioned staging of cultural proximity or distance, - to consider models of collective identities (e.g. nation) and to understand them as temporally created constructions, - work with texts and other cultural products in terms of interculturality, - perceive (not only) Central Europe not as a hub of nations, but as a space of intermingling cultures and languages.
Syllabus
  • The preliminary order of the lectures is as follows: Jan Budňák (German Studies): Introduction to interculturality and multilingualism: Czech lands as an example Vlastimil Brom (German Studies): Czech and German Dalimil and other chronicles Sylvie Stanovská (German Studies): Ackermann aus Böhmen and Tkadleček: two early modern disputations Marie Hanzelková (Czech Language): Interculturality and multilingualism in Kramář songs Zuzana Urválková (Czech Literature): The publisher I. L. Kober on the literary market of the Czech lands Šárka Havlíčková Kysová (Theatre Studies): Bedřich Smetana in the context of Wagnerianism Michal Fránek (Czech Literature): Semantics of places and symbols in Czech and German poetry in Brno Zdeněk Mareček (German Studies): "I am a butcher and you nationalities are crap". On the language situation in Brno 1908-1928 Aleš Urválek (German Studies): Czech and German national, international and transnational projects and dreams Jiří Němec (History): Historiography in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia Iva Mikulová (Theatre Studies). Central European theatre director Dušan D. Pařízek Jiří Trávníček (Czech Literature): Concepts of Central Europe
Literature
  • HROCH, Miroslav. Hledání souvislostí : eseje z komparativních dějin Evropy. Vydání třetí, v Karolinu. Praha: Univerzita Karlova, Nakladatelství Karolinum, 2022, ii, 354. ISBN 9788024651507. URL info
  • Kompendium německé literatury českých zemí. Edited by Peter Becher - Steffen Höhne - Jörg Krappmann - Manfred Weinberg, Tr. Vydání první. Praha: Academia, 2022, 650 stran. ISBN 9788076710702. info
  • Jak psát transkulturní literární dějiny? Edited by Václav Petrbok - Václav Smyčka - Matouš Turek - Ladislav Futtera. Vydání první. Praha: Ústav pro českou literaturu AV ČR, v.v.i., 2019, 286 stran. ISBN 9788074702686. info
  • MACURA, Vladimír. Znamení zrodu a české sny. V tomto uspořádání vydá. Praha: Academia, 2015, 658 stran. ISBN 9788020025067. info
  • ŘEPA, Milan. Moravané, Němci, Rakušané : vlasti moravských Němců v 19. století. Praha: Historický ústav, 2014, 261 s. ISBN 9788072862269. info
  • ANDERSON, Benedict R. O'G. Představy společenství : úvahy o původu a šíření nacionalismu. Edited by Martin Procházka, Translated by Petr Fantys - Miloslav Uličný. 1. české vyd. Praha: Karolinum, 2008, 274 s. ISBN 9788024614908. info
  • ŘEPA, Milan. Moravané nebo Češi? : vývoj českého národního vědomí na Moravě v 19. století. 1. vyd. Brno: Doplněk, 2001, 221 s. ISBN 8072390848. info
  • GEERTZ, Clifford. Interpretace kultur : vybrané eseje. Translated by Hana Červinková - Václav Hubinger - Hedvika Humlíčková. Vydání první. Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství, 2000, 565 stran. ISBN 8085850893. info
  • KOŘALKA, Jiří. Češi v habsburské říši a v Evropě 1815-1914 : sociálněhistorické souvislosti vytváření novodobého národa a národnostní otázky v českých zemích. Vyd. 1. Praha: Argo, 1996, 354 s. ISBN 8072030221. info
  • HROCH, Miroslav. Evropská národní hnutí v 19. století : společenské předpoklady vzniku novodobých národů. Vyd. 1. Praha: Svoboda, 1986, 397 s. info
Teaching methods
Teaching will be organized as a combination of lectures and close reading of selected short texts (10-15 pages), ideally in the form of discussion. The texts will be made available at the beginning of the semester. E-learning support for the course will be provided through the MUNI Faculty of Arts e-learning environment called ELF (elf.phil.muni.cz). Students of MUNI faculties without direct access to ELF will be provided with access.
Assessment methods
1. Attendance at lectures is very much preferable. 2. Reading short (10-15 pages) impulse texts to be analyzed and discussed during the lecture is very much preferable. 3. Assignments "on the run": short answers (2 sentences) to 4 questions on  10 lectures (out of a total of 12 lectures). The questions will be available in the e-learning course (ELF) and the answers will be submitted there. 4. The final part of course completion is a choice from two options, i.e. a. OR b.: - a. Two reflections on the texts read in class. Each reflection is 1-2 standard pages long (1800-3600 characters including spaces) and consists of an introductory contextualization of the text reflected upon, a summary of the contents of the text, and an evaluation of the text (topicality, polemics, alternatives, problems...). Reflections are to be submitted in  ELF. - b. Group project. The goal of the project is to creatively rework/adapt some of the discussed texts or contents from lectures. The adaptation may take the form of a text (e.g., as a fictional interview with the author, a parody, a translation into another genre, e.g., a sociological study or expert opinion) or a transmission into another medium (e.g., a short film script and film, a dramatization, a visual medium, a play, a computer program, a podcast, etc.). The project will be presented in the last class of the semester, and should be 10-15 minutes in length. Please discuss the project topics with the course guarantor (J. Budňák) in advance.
Language of instruction
Czech
Teacher's information
https://elf.phil.muni.cz/23-24/course/view.php?id=7542
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/CORE051