AJ16172 Contemporary Issues in US and UK Culture and Politics

Filozofická fakulta
jaro 2015
Rozsah
0/2/0. 2 kr. (plus 2 za zk). Doporučované ukončení: zk. Jiná možná ukončení: z.
Vyučující
doc. Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D. (přednášející)
Garance
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky – Filozofická fakulta
Kontaktní osoba: Tomáš Hanzálek
Dodavatelské pracoviště: Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky – Filozofická fakulta
Rozvrh
Út 10:50–12:25 B2.23
Předpoklady
( AJ09999 Postupová zkouška || AJ01002 Anglický jazyk II ) && AJ07002 Úvod do studia kultury USA II
Omezení zápisu do předmětu
Předmět je nabízen i studentům mimo mateřské obory.
Předmět si smí zapsat nejvýše 25 stud.
Momentální stav registrace a zápisu: zapsáno: 0/25, pouze zareg.: 0/25, pouze zareg. s předností (mateřské obory): 0/25
Mateřské obory/plány
předmět má 7 mateřských oborů, zobrazit
Cíle předmětu
This course will examine current cultural and political controversies, primarily in the United States but also in the United Kingdom. Lectures and discussions will aim to contextualize present-day issues, locating them in the broader streams of history and cultural development that help explain how and why they arose, what is at stake in them, who the groups in contention are, and how the contrasting positions in current debates reflect and help construct different racial, cultural and political identities. Besides gaining an ability to follow and understand events in the English-speaking world with depth and insight, students will have the opportunity to become “issue experts” in one area of their choice.
Osnova
  • Details of the syllabus will be developed on the basis of final enrollment and on students' interests. The tentative week-by-week schedule below offers a rough idea, but specific topics for discussion each week will depend in part on events in the news, and on the topics students choose to present in reports in class. Students will also discuss and share information about news events in a group discussion forum on Facebook.
  • For essential background, these assigned "core readings" have been posted online:
  • > L. Sandy Maisel, American Political Parties and Elections: A Very Short Introduction
  • > Anthony Wright, British Politics: A Very Short Introduction
  • > Colin Woodard, "The Real U.S. Map"
  • > David Hackett Fischer, Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America, excerpts
  • > Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind, chapter 7: "The Moral Foundations of Politics"
  • There will also be various recommended readings, including these:
  • > Peter S. Wenz, Beyond Red and Blue: How Twelve Political Philosophies Shape American Debates
  • > Jonathan Haidt, "What the Tea Partiers Really Want"
  • > Colin Woodard, "A Geography Lesson for the Tea Party"
  • In addition to specified readings, students be following news from the U.S. and the U.K. regularly and avidly, using and supplementing the website and RSS feeds that the instructor provides for this purpose, and should read any news items that fellow students or the instructor post to the course's online forum.
  • WEEKLY TOPICS:
  • Week 1: Regions, states, and counties of the US and UK
  • Week 2: Government structures and policymaking procedures
  • Week 3: Presidents, prime ministers, and party organizations
  • Week 3: Political traditions; "red" vs. "blue"
  • Week 4: Racial and ethnic issues
  • Week 5: Class, mobility, and economic issues
  • Week 6: Popular cultures and stereotypes
  • Weeks 7-10: Further student reports on selected issues in the news
  • Week 11: Exam review and conclusion
  • Week 12: Final exam: first sitting
Literatura
    povinná literatura
  • American political parties and electionsa very short introduction. Edited by Louis Sandy Maisel. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007, xvi, 175 p. ISBN 9780195301229. info
  • Books: Wright, British Politics; Wenz, Beyond Red and Blue; Articles: Woodard, "The Real U.S. Map," Parts 1 -5
Výukové metody
Lecturer, class discussions, readings, film viewings, student presentations.
Metody hodnocení
100% final exam, supplemented in part with credit for in-class presentations. Resits possible, but these will be essay assignments.
Vyučovací jazyk
Angličtina
Informace učitele
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0ByITdoqGbUYXfkhoTS1FdFZ2cHQ1ZGFrS2l4eXZPXzhTNTVtZUU4eUNMQ1pBbGVrcS1IVm8&usp=sharing

Assigned readings and other course materials are available at that "Google Drive" link. (As we go along, others will likely be posted to the Facebook page mentioned below.)

In addition, we will rely on these online resources:

http://www.protopage.com/contemporaryissues

Students should check this site regularly, i.e. at least three times a week (or, alternatively, should set up a "newsreader" with similar links, as explained in class.) The site is a continuously updating aggregation -- also available on mobile devices -- consisting of links to useful sources of current information, and further divided into these pages:

News and politics / Commentary / Culture / Comedy

On each page, sources are color-coded according to approximate political orientation: red: generally right / conservative; blue: generally left / liberal.

There is a also a Facebook "group" specific to this course:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/280944718726020/

Students should join this group (as explained in class) and make sure they are regularly receiving notices posted to it.
Další komentáře
Studijní materiály
Předmět je vyučován každoročně.
Předmět je zařazen také v obdobích jaro 2014, jaro 2016, podzim 2017, podzim 2020.