Anthropology

The most pressing societal challenges in the present have to do with climate change and the loss of biodiversity. In the age of the Anthropocene, nature has become a vital political concern. This course offers cultural historical perspectives upon the present situation. The aim is to explore how humans have used, imagined and shaped animals and physical environments and, conversely, the role that nature and ideas of nature have played in social, cultural, political, economic, and everyday life. The course focuses on ways to describe and theorize the relations between humans and nature—from early modern natural histories and the modern distinction between nature and culture, to ongoing discussions about the Anthropocene. Central themes include the politics of landscape and of domestication, the rise of conservation and scientific ecology, nature and colonialism, nature and the nation-state, and the strange new hybrid natures that emerge with the Anthropocene.

The course consists of practical work combined with formal lectures and seminars. It involves six weeks of field work with a focus on the various methods and techniques ethnographers employ to gather primary data. The course explores ethnographic and other anthropological field survey methods, which involves the collection of oral accounts. Activities include training in data processing, recording, analysis, and interpretation, and in photography and videography.

Inequality is a fundamental part of every society that exists on earth. There is no society that does not manifest some form of it. This course investigates the construction and especially the reproduction of inequality in social life. The main theoretical point upon which this course is based is that although different forms of inequality can seem subjectively to have what Jürgen Habermas has described as “unshakable facticity,” they are in fact constructed and reproduced by humans in social life. Our objective, therefore, is to examine more deeply some of the different ways in which inequality is manifest, and then examine how it is constructed, defined, justified, and reproduced. To investigate this issue in detail, the course introduces theoretical concepts through lectures and readings, conducting three analyses of the construction and reproduction of inequality. The analyses will focus on pre-assigned topics. Students must submit a 1500–1800-word essay that describes their findings for the first two topics. The final analysis essay will be 1800-2100 words. All essays submitted for the course are expected to be thoroughly researched and documented, and cogently argued. These exercises will help students learn more about inequality while also developing their analytical skills.

This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to the phenomenon of humor, combining literary studies, culture studies, rhetoric, philosophy, ethics, psychology, and political theory. The course presents a historical introduction, comparing examples of humor and comedy from different parts of the world and different eras, focusing on the political power of laughter and comedy. Key concepts like satire, irony, parody, black humor, wit, resistance, subversion, absurd humor etc. are clarified and major philosophical theories of humor are discussed. The main focus of the course is Czech culture and the many ways humor is present in it. Was communism a “regime that was laughed out of existence”? Why did Czechoslovak citizens find absurd humour so relatable? Is there “nothing sacred” for Czechs? Apart from literary masterpieces by Hašek, Kafka, Havel, Kundera and others, the course takse a look at comedy in theater (Jára Cimrman Theatre), film (Czechoslovak New Wave) and other forms of art. The readings always include an excerpt from a humorous text and a short theoretical text pertaining to the type of humor or the problem presented. From the divine to the obscene, from the hyper-intellectual to the nonsensical, from practical jokes to political satire, the rich palette of humor provides a unique view of Czech culture.