CIEE, Prague

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.

This course explores the historical development of racial prejudice and antisemitism, from their roots in the classical and mediaeval worlds to the rise of National Socialism in the early 20th century. It analyses the way religious, cultural, linguistic, and physical/biological forms of exclusion have overlapped and reinforced each other. It is one of the principal contentions of this course that National Socialism’s exterminatory antisemitism is not merely a product of centuries of anti-Jewish prejudice; rather, racial antisemitism must be understood as something which evolved in close symbiosis with racial prejudices directed against Indigenous Peoples, Africans (slave and free), and colonial peoples from the early modern period onward, culminating in the historically particular form of exterminatory racial antisemitism which formed the necessary precondition of the Holocaust. A focus of the course is the rise of exclusionary racial, anti-Semitic, and nationalist discourses in Central Europe from the middle of the 19th century until the Final Solution. Throughout, the course analyzes disparate and contradictory perspectives on the history of racism using primary sources as well as theoretical conceptualizations. It critically examines divergent conclusions and, through a focused, discriminatory, and judicial critique of these sources, produces evidence to creatively integrate these divergences into something which reflects the student’s unique perspective.

The course discusses environmental studies as an interdisciplinary field, exploring their intersection with other disciplines. The core of the course is focused on the current environmental issues in a global context, primarily within the conceptual framework of Anthropocene and Post-Anthorpocene. The Czech context is presented through an analysis of the most burning environmental issues, including brown coal mining, air pollution, carbon emissions, waste management, landscape transportation, soil erosion, and energy production. The interconnection of social, economic, and ethical contexts of environmental issues is stressed throughout the course. The course consists of lectures, discussions, student presentations, group work, quizzes, and an excursion.

This course provides a basic overview of the role of sport in the Czech Republic from historical, sociological, and political perspectives. Students are acquainted with current trends in the society and their influence on the development and practice of outdoor activities. The main topics include the concept of Czech physical culture and the outdoor concept of “turistika,” a nation-specific type of hiking. The course also examines some contemporary sports-related issues from an inter-disciplinary perspective, including violence, cheating, doping, and technologies in sport.

The European Union (EU) as we know it has been formed by three creative processes: deepening of the integration, enlargement of the EU, and economic transformation in former socialist countries. In this course, after introducing those processes and some theoretical background, different EU economic policies are thoroughly analyzed. Considering that the participants are American undergraduates, this course systematically compares and contrasts the EU and its role in the world with the United States. Preliminary knowledge of principles of microeconomics is strongly recommended, but all necessary theoretical concepts are briefly summarized as part of this course.