The basic aim of the course is to analyze modern Czech history in the wider context of the history of Central Europe. The proposed course will guide the students through several processes of modernity (industrialization, urbanization, liberalism, civil society, and nationalism; modernity here basically equaling the traditional sociological definition of classical and "high" modernity (Giddens, 1990; or Bauman 1989)). Many themes (like early Czech nationalism and liberalism) will be closer to cultural or (in the case of modernization and emigration) social history. As a result, the course should help students to understand specific problems of Czech history national mythology and memory-making, the problem of elites and emigration, the main problem of Czechoslovakia and its existence, or relationship to Czech neighbors.
- Učitel: Jiří Hutečka