Students may choose from the ECES courses offered. A minimum enrollment of 10 is required for each course to be offered. Each course meets 45 hours per semester and is recommended for 3 credits. Courses are recorded on an official transcript from Charles University which is sent directly to the student’s home institution. Instruction is in English.
All courses are listed on http://eces.ff.cuni.cz/courses.
| Orientation | |
| Course Code and Credits: | Czech 101 (3) |
| Course Title: | Intensive Czech for beginners |
| Course Description: | |
| Students are automatically enrolled in this Intensive Czech Language orientation course held for 4.5 hours per day, 5 days a week during the first 2 weeks of the semester. Acquisition of basic communication skills in the Czech language, both written and spoken. Introduction to Czech linguistics and cultural environment. | |
| ECES courses | |
| Course Code and Credits: | ART HISTORY 301 (3) |
| Course Title: | Czech and European Art and Architecture |
| Course Description: | |
| Survey of artistic and architectural period styles and trends with a focus on fine arts and architecture in Prague and Bohemia against the background of European influences. Visits to museums, art galleries and architectural sites with the professor. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | ECONOMICS 303 (3) |
| Course Title: | Recent Economic Developments |
| Course Description: | |
| Examination of the economic aspects of the Czech Republic. Transition reform from the CPE to the market-oriented economy. Integration into the EU. Present economic situation will be studied on the real data base, examining the Czech Republic as a place for doing business. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | FILM 310 (3) |
| Course Title: | Central European Film: Search for Identity |
| Course Description: | |
| Discussion of identity of specific European nations with respect to the range of ideologies, ideas, wars and totalitarian systems born in this region. Covers masterpieces of Russian, Hungarian, German, Polish and Czech cinematography, focusing in particular on WWII and its aftermath. Analysis of the moral dilemmas of individuals and nations under the Nazi and Stalinist regimes. Examination of historical and geo-political contexts through media as well as film-makers’ means of expressing themselves within this specific visual art. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | HISTORY 302 (3) (spring only) |
| Course Title: | Jewish History in Central and Eastern Europe |
| Course Description: | |
| The course focuses on Jewish history in Central and Eastern Europe with an emphasis on the 19th and 20th century. Students will become familiar with the political, cultural, and economic situation of the Jews in Central and Eastern Europe including different forms of Jewish cultural and political identity. Special attention will be paid to the history of Central and Eastern European countries at the beginning of the 20th century. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | HISTORY 308 (3) |
| Course Title: | Czech and European History |
| Course Description: | |
| History of what is now the Czech Republic from primeval times till present considering historical-geographical context. Although the course focuses on modern period, for perfect and proper understanding of our present times it is necessary to examine the complete history of the Lands of Bohemian Crown. History of the inhabitants of this territory as well as description of general features of their political, social and cultural life. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | LITERATURE 309 (3) |
| Course Title: | From Kafka to Kundera: The Self Within the World in Czech and Central European Fiction and Cultural History |
| Course Description: | |
| The course will cover the development of Czech and Central European literature in the modern era. As a central issue, it will focus on the notion of identity and its transformations through the 20th century historical context: The notion of the collective national identity in the 19th century and its shifts into local, ethical, or religious modifications. The appearance of “men without qualities” after the turn of the century as a specific product of Central European modernism. The era of building up the state: identification with a state-based society construct. Void identity as an enforced totalitarian effect: Holocaust writings and texts responding to the first phase of building up Communism. Artificial identity as a social/cultural product. Postmodern identity as a palimpsest-like construct. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | LITERATURE 322 (3) |
| Course Title: | Snapshots of a Changing Landscape: Currents in Contemporary Czech literature |
| Course Description: | |
| This course aims to explore some of the diverse currents and personalities on the contemporary Czech literary scene, focusing solely on post-1989 literature. Focus on a number of genres - short stories, novel extracts, poetry, performance poetry, song lyrics and the graphic novel and will look at popular literary forms, e.g. science fiction and the work of best-selling Czech authors as well as more experimental, post-modern literature. Students have the opportunity to meet with some of the authors whose works are studied. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | LITERATURE 324 (3) |
| Course Title: | Literature of Central European Coffee Houses |
| Course Description: | |
| This course aims to introduce students to the coffee house culture and related literary and artistic life in three cities – Budapest, Prague and Vienna. Visits to coffee houses, tracking their history, film screenings and visits to related exhibitions are an integral part of this course. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | LITERATURE 326 (3) |
| Course Title: | Literature: Czech Short Stories |
| Course Description: | |
| This short course will familiarize students with a broad range of Czech 19th and 20th Century short stories. Authors include Vaclav Havel, Bozena Nemcova, Jan Neruda, Karel Capek, Alois Jirasek, Bohumil Hrabal, and Ivan Klima. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | LITERATURE 338 (3) |
| Course Title: | Romanticism and National Identity in Central Europe |
| Course Description: | |
| The course will familiarize students with the origins and different forms of Romanticism in Central European cultures: Czech, Slovak, and partially also Austrian, German, Polish, and Hungarian. Readings from Czech romantic literature include K.H. Macha’s verse tale May, selected poems from the Queen’s Court Manuscript, selected theoretical or historical texts, and representative works of twentieth-century Central European literature. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | LITERATURE 348 (3) |
| Course Title: | From Modernity to Avant-garde: A Survey of Modern Poetics |
| Course Description: | |
| Through detailed analyses of the poetic form and broader discussions of the literary and cultural contexts, the course will focus on the role and quality of the lyrical voice, the properties of the poetic space and the transformation of religious impulses into modern poetry. The course will begin with a broader discussion of Whitman, Poe, Baudelaire and Rimbaud, as they represent key figures in understanding modern poetry. Further on, the course will interpret poems of Vrchlický, Brezina, Hlavácek, Bezruc, Lawrence, Eliot, Xlebnikov, Maiakovski, Tsvetaeva and more. The underlying aim of the course is to determine the structure of modern poetics and its possible relation to ethics. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | POLITICS 311 (3) |
| Course Title: | Contemporary Central-European Politics |
| Course Description: | |
| Czech and Central European developments during and after the democratic revolutions in 1989. To understand both the Czech and Central European developments since 1989, it is necessary to get acquainted with the main turning points of Czechoslovak and Czech political history and to undertake comparative research into similarities and differences of such developments across Central Europe. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | POLITICS 315 (3) |
| Course Title: | Contemporary Central-European Politics: Transformation of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic |
| Course Description: | |
| The transformation of Czechoslovakia and later of the Czech Republic from a communist satellite state into a European Union member state is an exciting story, but it is also an intellectual challenge. The course will start with a short survey of communist rule concentrating on the role of the party, propaganda and political life, looking also at the daily life under communism. Next two radical political changes will be discussed: The Velvet Revolution of 1989 and the “Velvet Divorce” of 1992-1993; these will be taken as models of change with much larger implications for the whole Central and Eastern Europe. The focus will be on the discussion of key political institutions and parties in a comparative perspective. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | PSYCHOLOGY 321 (3) |
| Course Title: | Language, Culture and Social Cognition |
| Course Description: | |
| Selected topics centered on the relationship among social cognition (i.e., folk psychology, theory of mind), language and culture. In spite of its cross-disciplinary scope, its chief focus is on questions of human development. Designed both for students in arts and the sciences and run as a combination of lectures and seminars. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | PSYCHOLOGY 339 (3) |
| Course Title: | Selected Topics in Forensic Psychology |
| Course Description: | |
| Alternate to Psychology 305. The course focuses on forensic psychology as an applied psychological discipline. The applied psychological services are linked to appropriate psychological theoretical background (e.g. social psychology – communication, general psychology – perception, remembering, clinical psychology and others). The psychological point of view is connected with criminalistic information and procedures. The current situation in Czech republic is compared to foreign experiences. Please note this course will only run if Psychology 305 does not open. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | PSYCHOLOGY 305 (3) |
| Course Title: | Selected Topics in Educational Psychology |
| Course Description: | |
| Alternate to Psychology 339. The course focuses on psychological aspects of the educational process. Students will become familiar with links between educational psychology and both developmental psychology and psychology of personality (e.g. motivation, learning, cognitive styles, family interactions). However, the main part of the subject will concentrate on specific educational problems as they are viewed from the psychological point of view. Students will learn about psychological processes within schools, which are influenced by teachers, students, their parents, and also external institutions that cooperate with schools. Students will visit several educational institutions, which offer psychological services. Please note this course will only run if Psychology 339 does not open. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | SOCIOLOGY 343 (3) |
| Course Title: | Interculturalism in the Czech Context |
| Course Description: | |
| The course will introduce issues related to intercultural diversity. Special attention will be paid both to globalization and internationalization, as well as to domestic multicultural diversity subjects. The course will focus on the real life aspects in terms of the manifestations of Czech nationalism, social exclusion of Roma in the Czech Republic as well as current problems of forced labor of immigrants and human trafficking. The class will visit the International Organization for Migration in Prague. | |
| Course Code and Credits: | SOCIOLOGY 344 (3) |
| Course Title: | Gender and Postsocialist Transformation in Central Europe |
| Course Description: | |
| Gay, lesbian and transgender issues are discussed alongside women’s and men’s issues. The transition to democracy in post-Soviet space from a gender viewpoint. Documentaries of the Open Society Fund Gender Montage and other visual materials and field trips are a part of this course. | |
