Czech Republic

This course examines the political, cultural, and economic situation of the Jewish community in the 19th and 20th centuries.  Students analyze various forms of Jewish cultural and political identity. Students develop a better understanding of the context that led to the Holocaust and its dramatic consequences. Lastly, students familiarize themselves with the most important Jewish political writers.

This course offers insight into the relationships between Hollywood and Europe. The course adopts a revisionist perspective insomuch as it seeks to challenge five ideas structuring understandings of the relations between the Hollywood and Europe. The course begins by questioning the notion that Hollywood is strictly American, and therefore separate from Europe. Students consider if Hollywood and European cinema are really the binary oppositions they tend to be imagined as being. The course goes on to discuss whether Hollywood's engagement with Eastern Europe in the twentieth century supports its reputation as a staunchly anti-Communist institution. Lastly, the course explores whether Americanization is the most useful explanatory framework for understanding Hollywood's engagement with the continent: first by considering the concessions Hollywood has needed to make to this powerful profit center, then the extent to which Hollywood has used European subject matter to provoke introspection among American audiences. Students work through these topics by employing historical analysis and examining representative films such as NINOTCHKA (1939), ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953), ROCKY IV (1984), TAKEN (2008), and THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014).

This course examines the Jewish experience in the Czech Lands and the other countries of Central Europe. It touches upon the history of Jews in Russia, in addition to Central Europe, since Russia shares some commonalities with the history of Jews in Poland and the Czech Lands. The History of Jews in Central Europe is not only a story of prejudice and contempt, but also a story of hope and suffering which culminates in the worst tragedy of the Jewish people in history, the Holocaust. However, the issue of the Holocaust is not principal in this course. This course provides students with insights into the most flourishing center of Jewish life of Prague and Central Europe, exploring its many different facets. Although the course presents some Jewish philosophical ideas and practices, it is not primarily a course in the Jewish Religion.

Eating is a natural necessity for almost all human beings. Food, however, does more than just help humans survive and grow. It can become a political tool, a marker of social class and gender, and a mirror of significant cultural differences. On a more individual scale, it can be related to personal identity, habits, and health. As the perspective in this course is sociological and semiotical, the course looks at food both as a source of embodied experience, and as a language that can be decoded. It is a symbolic system that reflects the everyday habits of humans, norms of societies, as well as deeper, internalized meanings. Food thus becomes a lens through which the course analyzes different cultures in a new light. The course asks questions such as: What is the place of origin of our food? How did our food get to us? How does food configure and change relations among people? During comparisons and practical workshops, the course traces the histories of some of the most significant meals of the Czech Republic (and former Austro-Hungarian empire). Their transformations help the course to understand the social changes that took place in Central Europe from a different perspective. Questions such as gender relations, families, political economy, health (obesity, anorexia, bio food), ecology, and the nation-state are discussed. Students read academic articles that react on these questions in various national and ethnic contexts. The course includes workshops where students try to cook a Central European meal and discuss it with a Czech chef, as well a field trip to the local Beer Brewery to learn about the process of beer making and the cultural aspect of its local consumption.

This course examines the issues and processes involved in developing an international marketing and branding strategy and plan, as well as the execution of marketing and PR operations on an international scale. Course content and practical assignments focus on real-world problems such as identifying and evaluating opportunities in international markets; developing and adapting marketing tactics in relation to multiple, specific national market needs and constraints; and coordinating marketing and branding strategies in global markets. Guest lectures by local business professionals and company visits provide first-hand context and experience for the issues explored in the course.

Power of great empires was always based on their economy. Sustainable economic growth is therefore crucial for keeping the political influence as well as for ensuring the prosperity for its inhabitants. Economic power and prosperity of the past empires were often threatened by similar economic policy failures as we know today: fiscal crises, inflation, extensive regulation, or institutional mismanagement. Course lectures provide an overview of the economic policy and institutional failures that led to economic decay of the selected past European powers. Lessons from history are compared with the current situation in Central Europe. Students widen and apply acquired knowledge to current economic issues. This course combines application of basic Institutional Economics and International Political Economy.

Many historical figures and phenomena that Czechs know well may remain a mystery to foreigners because of the lack of context. These omnipresent fragments of history are shared by members of the society and are usually modified by various ideological and political intentions, which eventually results in the creation of a national myth/myths. This course focuses on various forms of myths: pre-Christian (arrival of Czechs), Christian legends (St. Wenceslas), folk tales, the “national” myth of the Czech National Revival, modern state-forming myths (Czechoslovak legionnaires) and urban legend (the Springman), and connects them also to various traditions, such as folk traditions throughout the year, as well as traditional skills like beer brewing, fish farming, etc. Students engage in a historiographical and partially also anthropological analysis and interpretation of selected past events. To decipher how they came into existence, it is necessary to understand their historical context and the way they were understood and explained by contemporaries, the way they were interpreted by their followers, the way they were used, misused, and imposed by politicians. Moreover, the course discusses the role paradigm shifts played in these processes and closely examines and critique some of the relatively well-defined pillars of public knowledge and collective identity.