Study Center in Prague, Czech Republic Course Title: Nationalism, Democracy and Conflict in Central Europe: The Czech Case Course Code: POLI 3015 PRAG Programs offering course: Central European Studies; Communications, New Media and Journalism Language of instruction: English U.S. Semester Credits: 3 Contact Hours: 45 Term: Fall 2017 Course Description The use of a nationalist vocabulary in the political debate in countries of Central Europe shows that the issue of nationalism and national identity is not something of the past. Instead, it is very present in the public discourse about society and politics. The dominant idea in these countries is that the ethnic or national group is the most determining factor for one s identity. This course examines Czech nationalist concepts, a broader perspective of history, the diversity of concepts of national identity, and influences of personalities, movements, or ideologies. In the course we read and discuss texts which give valuable background information and disclose mentalities behind the developments. Essential questions to understand the Czech discourse on national identity and nationalism are: How was/is national identity defined in the Czech case? What is the relationship between Czechs to other ethnic groups living in Central Europe? What are the national myths, legends, and heroes? How violent was/is Czech nationalism? What was the effect of communism on national identity? What was the role of religion in this process? What is the relationship between the Czechs and the European Union? Learning Objectives After the course students will be able to: Explain the processes and dynamics of nation building, ethnic identification, and ethnic cleansing, especially in the case of the Czechs; Analyze the history of Czech nationalism and its present forms; Analyze the different ways and backgrounds of how Czechs think about themselves and about others; Analyze the different factors in the self-perceptions of the Czechs; Analyze backgrounds of current discussions in Czech society about the political and social field; Course Prerequisites None Methods of Instruction The course combines lectures, PowerPoint presentations, class discussions, and cooperative and interactive in-class activities. Sessions of the course are divided in two parts: a presentation by one or more participants and an introduction of a topic connected to the theme. Participants are encouraged to use multimedia methods and approaches in their presentation. 1
Course Requirements Participation Presentations are graded according to (a) accuracy in summarizing the given material, (b) creativity in presenting, and (c) originality in assessment. Midterm test Final test Final paper Assessment and Final Grade Active participation: 10 % Presentation: 20 % Midterm test: 20 % Final test: 20 % Final paper: 30 % 2
CIEE Prague Attendance Policy Regular class attendance is required throughout the program, and all absences are treated equally regardless of reason. Students may miss a maximum of 10% of the total course hours without penalization: This assumes a course schedule of two 90-minute meetings per week thus, if the course meets in one longer three-hour block, missing the class constitutes two absences. Missing more than 10% of the total class hours will result in a reduction of the final grade. When missing 4 classes, the final grade will be reduced by 5%; when missing 5 classes, the final grade will be reduced by 10%. Excessive absenteeism (students with more than 10% of the total course hours missed, or violations of the attendance policy in more than one class) may lead to a written warning and notification to the student s home institution. Missing more than 20% of the total class hours (6 and more absences) will lead to a course failure, and potential program dismissal. This is a CIEE rule that applies to all CIEE courses and is in line with the Participant Contract that each CIEE student signs before arriving on-site. Late arrival to class will be considered a partial (up to 15 minutes late) or full (15 or more minutes late) absence. Three partial absences due to late arrivals will be regarded as one full class absence. If missing a class during which a test, exam, the student s presentation or other graded class assignments are administered, make-up assignment will only be allowed in approved circumstances, such as serious medical issues. In this case, the student must submit a local doctor s note within one week of his/her absence to the SSC, who will decide whether the student qualifies for a make-up assignment. Notes issued after the student s recovery from the illness will not be considered. Should a truly extraordinary situation arise, the student must contact the SSC immediately concerning permission for a make-up assignment. Make-up assignments are not granted automatically! The SSC decides the course of action for all absence cases that are not straightforward. Always contact the SSC with any inquiry about potential absence(s) and the nature thereof. Personal travel, flight delays, interviews, volunteering and other similar situations are not considered justifiable reasons for missing class or getting permission for make-up assignments. CIEE Prague staff keeps track of absences on a weekly basis and regularly updates attendance for each course in Moodle. Each of your CIEE courses has a Moodle site to record attendance; students need to check all of them separately. Students are responsible for checking their attendance on the Moodle course sites on a weekly basis to make sure it is correct. If there is an attendance discrepancy in Moodle, the student should contact the SSC within one week of the discrepancy date to have it corrected. Later claims will not be considered. CIEE staff does not directly manage absences at FAMU and ECES, but they have similar attendance policies and attendance is monitored there. Grade penalties can result from excessive absences. CIEE Academic Honesty Statement Presenting work of another person as one s own, failure to acknowledge all sources used, using unauthorized assistance on exams, submitting the same paper in two classes, or submitting work one has already received credit for at another institution in order to fulfill CIEE course requirements is not tolerated. The penalty ranges from failure on the assignment to dismissal from the program. The Academic Director should be consulted and involved in decision making in every case of a possible violation of academic honesty. 3
Weekly Schedule Week 1 Where and How Do We Find Czech National Identity? Introduction to the subject, definitions and comparisons. Analysing some Old Czech Legends of Alois Jirasek. Excursion to Vyšehrad Cemetery. Week 2 Chad Bryant, Czechness Then and Now (published by Multicultural Center Prague, 2005). What is Nationalism? Three concept of Czech national identity: the Catholics, the Liberals and the Protestants. o Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism, New York 1983. o Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, London 1986. Week 3 Krzysztof Jaskulowski, Western (civic) versus Eastern (ethnic) Nationalism. The Origins and Critique of the Dichotomy, in: Polish Sociological Review, 3 (171), 10, p. 289-303. Cynthia J. Paces, The Czech Nation must be Catholic! An alternative version of Czech nationalism during the First Republic, in: Nationalities Papers, Vol. 27, No. 3, 1999, p. 407-428. The Czech Founding Fathers The moral concept of national identity of the founder of Czechoslovakia T.G. Masaryk: Who was Masaryk? His inspiration from the Father of the Czech Nation Palacký. Presentation: Mary Heimann, Czechoslovakia, The State that Failed, New Haven 2009. Week 4 Masaryk, The Lectures of Professor T.G. Masaryk Joep Leerssen, Viral nationalism: romantic intellectuals on the move in nineteenth-century Europe, in: Nations and Nationalism 17 (2), 2011, 257 271. The Czech Founding Fathers The moral concept of national identity of the founder of Czechoslovakia T.G. Masaryk: Who was Masaryk? His inspiration from the Father of the Czech Nation Palacký. Presentation: Mary Heimann, Czechoslovakia, The State that Failed, New Haven 2009. Masaryk, The Lectures of Professor T.G. Masaryk Joep Leerssen, Viral nationalism: romantic intellectuals on the move in nineteenth-century Europe, in: Nations and Nationalism 17 (2), 2011, 257 271. 4
Week 5 Czech Identity and Religion The role of religion in national identity. o Martin J. Wein, Chosen Peoples, Holy Tongues : Religion, Language, Nationalism and Politics in Bohemia and Moravia in the seventeenth to twentieth centuries, in: Past and Present, no. 202 (Feb. 2009), p. 37-81. o Czechs and their Martyrs: R.B. Pynsent, Questions of Identity, ch. 4 Czech self-definition through martyrs, p. 148-210. Week 6 Midterm Exam Week Week 7 Patrick Cabanel, Protestantism in the Czech historical narrative and Czech nationalism of the nineteenth century, in: National Identities, Vol. 11, No. 1, March 2009, p. 31-43. Zdeněk R. Nešpor, Religious Processes in Contemporary Czech Society, in: Czech Sociological Review, Vol. 40 (2004): 3, p. 277-296. Czech national identity in film Midterm Test The Ethnic Conflict between Czechs and Germans The roots and developments of the relations between Czechs and Germans. Presentation: Jeremy King, Budweisers into Czechs and Germans: A Local History of Bohemian Politics, 1848-1948, Princeton 2005. Week 8 Eagle Glassheim, The expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia Laura Tharsen, Ethnic Nationalism in Germany, in: Philosophia Africana, Vol. 8, No. 2, August 2005, p. 117-142. Ethnic Cleansing and its Aftermath Continuation of theme Czechs and Germans. o Alfred-Maurice Zayas, A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans 1944-1950. o R. Pynsent, The Liberation of Women and Nation: Czech Nationalism and Women Writers of the Fin de Siècle, in: The Literature of Nationalism, p. 83-156. Cynthia Paces, Rotating Spheres: gendered commemorative practice at the 1903 Jan Hus Memorial Festival in Prague, in: Nationalities Papers, Vol. 28, No. 3, 2000, 523-539. 5
Week 9 Communism and National Identity The communist manipulation of national identity. Presentation: Bradley F. Abrams, The Struggle for the Soul of the Nation, Czech Culture and the Rise of Communism, Oxford 2004, ch. 1, 4, 6, 8. Week 10 Jiří Lach e.a., The Party Isn t Over: An Analysis of the Communist Party in the Czech Republic, in: Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, Vol.26, No.3, September 2010, pp.363 388. Václav Havel and identity o Václav Havel, the Czech dissidents and Czech identity. o Presentation: o R.B. Pynsent, Questions of Identity, ch. 1 Questions of identity and responsibility in Václav Havel, p. 1-42. o Ladislav Holy, Little Czechs and Great Czech Nation, Cambridge 1996, ch. 5. Week 11 Milan Kundera, The Czech Fate; Havel, The Czech Fate? (Both in NI 8). The relationship between the Czech majority and some minorities Ethnic and religious minorities. o David M. Crowe, A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia, NY 1996. o Helena Krejčová, Czechs and Jews, in: M. Teich, Bohemia in History, p. 344-363, and Steve Beller, The Hilsner Affair: Nationalism, Anti-Semitism and the Individual in the Habsburg Monarchy at the Turn of the Century, in: Robert P. Pynsent (ed.), T. G. Masaryk (1850-1937), Vol. 2, Thinker and Critic, NY 1989, p. 52-76. Week 12 David M. Crowe, The Roma in Post-Communist Eastern Europe: Questions of Ethnic Conflict and Ethnic Peace, in: Nationalities Papers, Vol. 36, No. 3, July 2008, p. 522-552. Laura Cashman, Developing an effective Romani integration strategy: Experiences of ethno-culturally neutral and specific policies in the Czech Republic, in: Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism: Vol. 8, No. 3, 2008, p. 595-618. Czechs and the European Union The role of the Czech identity in the European Union. Presentation: The European Union and (Czech) National Identity. Final Exam Week Daniel Esparza, National identity and the Other: imagining the EU from the Czech Lands, in: Nationalities Papers, Vol. 38, No. 3, May 2010, p. 413 436. Final exam 6
Bibliography Chad Bryant, Czechness Then and Now (published by Multicultural Center Prague, 2005) Patrick Cabanel, Protestantism in the Czech historical narrative and Czech nationalism of the nineteenth century, in: National Identities, Vol. 11, No. 1, March 2009, p. 31-43. Laura Cashman, Developing an effective Romani integration strategy: Experiences of ethnoculturally neutral and specific policies in the Czech Republic, in: Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism: Vol. 8, No. 3, 2008, p. 595-618. David M. Crowe, The Roma in Post-Communist Eastern Europe: Questions of Ethnic Conflict and Ethnic Peace, in: Nationalities Papers, Vol. 36, No. 3, July 2008, p. 522-552. Daniel Esparza, National identity and the Other: imagining the EU from the Czech Lands, in: Nationalities Papers, Vol. 38, No. 3, May 2010, p. 413 436. Eagle Glassheim, The expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia (Text available on the website of the course) Paal Sigurd Hilde, Slovak Nationalism and the Break-Up of Czechoslovakia, in: Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 51, No. 4 (Jun., 1999), pp. 647-665. Krzysztof Jaskulowski, Western (civic) versus Eastern (ethnic) Nationalism. The Origins and Critique of the Dichotomy, in: Polish Sociological Review, 3 (171), 10, p. 289-303. Milan Kundera, The Czech Fate; Havel, The Czech Fate? (Texts available on the website of the course) Jiří Lach e.a., The Party Isn t Over: An Analysis of the Communist Party in the Czech Republic, in: Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, Vol.26, No.3, September 2010, pp.363 388. Joep Leerssen, Viral nationalism: romantic intellectuals on the move in nineteenth-century Europe, in: Nations and Nationalism 17 (2), 2011, 257 271. Zdeněk R. Nešpor, Religious Processes in Contemporary Czech Society, in: Czech Sociological Review, Vol. 40 (2004): 3, p. 277-296. Cynthia J. Paces, The Czech Nation must be Catholic! An alternative version of Czech nationalism during the First Republic, in: Nationalities Papers, Vol. 27, No. 3, 1999, p. 407-428. Cynthia Paces, Rotating Spheres: gendered commemorative practice at the 1903 Jan Hus Memorial Festival in Prague, in: Nationalities Papers, Vol. 28, No. 3, 2000, 523-539. Laura Tharsen, Ethnic Nationalism in Germany, in: Philosophia Africana, Vol. 8, No. 2, August 2005, p. 117-142. 7