CJLB105 Multilingualism of Czech countries from an intercultural perspective

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Vlastimil Brom, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Jan Budňák, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Michal Fránek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Marie Hanzelková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Šárka Havlíčková Kysová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
PhDr. Zdeněk Mareček, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Bc. Iva Mikulová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Jakub Sichálek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Aleš Urválek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Zuzana Urválková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Providers of Specific teaching support
Mgr. Marek Lang, Ph.D. (zapisovatel)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Zuzana Urválková, Ph.D.
Department of Czech Literature – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Czech Literature – Faculty of Arts (50,00 %), Department of German, Scandinavian and Netherland Studies – Faculty of Arts (50,00 %)
Timetable
Mon 14:00–15:40 D51, except Mon 17. 11. to Sun 23. 11.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 22 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 22/22, only registered: 0/22, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/22
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 15 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to provide students across faculties of the MUNI with insight into the multilingual and interculturally diverse environment of the Bohemian lands from the Middle Ages to the mid-20th century. The course seeks to critically revise the widespread notion that the Bohemian lands were merely a stage for the "national history" and "national literature" of the Czechs and that everything else came from "outside" and was "foreign." In contrast to this notion, the course will present a series of themes, texts and situations that illustrate the thesis that the culture and history of the Bohemian lands was much more a site of the intermingling of cultural circles and languages. It was therefore a typical Central European region that can be understood on the basis of concepts of plurality rather that monoculturalism. The lectures and discussions on the texts will be led by teachers of various disciplines of the Faculty of Arts: German Studies, Czech Studies, Theatre Studies, History.
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of the course, the student will be able: - to approach critically the narratives appealing to the cultural or linguistic homogeneity of a certain area (e.g. Czech lands), - to notice different forms of interculturality (being together, side by side, in each other, against each other) and to understand them as situationally conditioned staging of cultural proximity or distance, - to consider models of collective identities (e.g. nation) and to understand them as constructions produced through texts, symbols, positionings, - to work with texts and other cultural artefacts in terms of interculturality, - to perceive (not only) Central Europe not as a fighting ground of nations, but as a space of intermingling cultures and languages.
Syllabus
  • Preliminary order of lectures:
  • Jan Budňák (ÚGNN): Introduction to interculturality and multilingualism: Czech lands as an intercultural and multilingual space / Zuzana Urválková (ÚČL): Examples of multilingualism in the Czech-German cultural context (publishing and publishing operations, I. L. Kober)
  • Vlastimil Brom (ÚGNN): Czech and German Dalimil and other chronicles
  • Jakub Sichálek (UČJ): Ploughman from Bohemia
  • Šárka Havlíčková Kysová (KDS): Bedřich Smetana in the context of Wagnerianism
  • Jan Budňák (ÚGNN): German Cosmopolitans and Freethinkers of the First Republic
  • Zdeněk Mareček (ÚGNN): Rudolf Tesnohlídek on the Linguistic Situation in Brno, 1908–1928.
  • Michal Fránek (ÚČL): Semantics of places and symbols in Czech and German poetry in Brno
  • Marie Hanzelková (ÚČL): Broadside Ballads/Street Songs and Their Journeys Across Languages and Cultures
  • Iva Mikulová (KDV): The Central European Theatre Director Dušan D. Pařízek
  • Aleš Urválek (ÚGNN): Czech and German national, international and transnational projects and dreams
Literature
  • HROCH, Miroslav. Hledání souvislostí : eseje z komparativních dějin Evropy. Vydání třetí, v Karolinu. Praha: Univerzita Karlova, Nakladatelství Karolinum, 2022, ii, 354. ISBN 9788024651507. URL info
  • Kompendium německé literatury českých zemí. Edited by Peter Becher - Steffen Höhne - Jörg Krappmann - Manfred Weinberg, Tr. Vydání první. Praha: Academia, 2022, 650 stran. ISBN 9788076710702. info
  • Jak psát transkulturní literární dějiny? Edited by Václav Petrbok - Václav Smyčka - Matouš Turek - Ladislav Futtera. Vydání první. Praha: Ústav pro českou literaturu AV ČR, v.v.i., 2019, 286 stran. ISBN 9788074702686. info
  • MACURA, Vladimír. Znamení zrodu a české sny. V tomto uspořádání vydá. Praha: Academia, 2015, 658 stran. ISBN 9788020025067. info
  • ŘEPA, Milan. Moravané, Němci, Rakušané : vlasti moravských Němců v 19. století. Praha: Historický ústav, 2014, 261 s. ISBN 9788072862269. info
  • ANDERSON, Benedict R. O'G. Představy společenství : úvahy o původu a šíření nacionalismu. Edited by Martin Procházka, Translated by Petr Fantys - Miloslav Uličný. 1. české vyd. Praha: Karolinum, 2008, 274 s. ISBN 9788024614908. info
  • ŘEPA, Milan. Moravané nebo Češi? : vývoj českého národního vědomí na Moravě v 19. století. 1. vyd. Brno: Doplněk, 2001, 221 s. ISBN 8072390848. info
  • GEERTZ, Clifford. Interpretace kultur : vybrané eseje. Translated by Hana Červinková - Václav Hubinger - Hedvika Humlíčková. Vydání první. Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství, 2000, 565 stran. ISBN 8085850893. info
  • KOŘALKA, Jiří. Češi v habsburské říši a v Evropě 1815-1914 : sociálněhistorické souvislosti vytváření novodobého národa a národnostní otázky v českých zemích. Vyd. 1. Praha: Argo, 1996, 354 s. ISBN 8072030221. info
  • HROCH, Miroslav. Evropská národní hnutí v 19. století : společenské předpoklady vzniku novodobých národů. Vyd. 1. Praha: Svoboda, 1986, 397 s. info
Teaching methods
Teaching will be organized as a combination of lectures and close reading of selected short texts (10-15 pages), ideally in the form of discussion. The texts will be made available at the beginning of the semester. E-learning support for the course will be provided through the MUNI e-learning environment (IS).
Assessment methods
1. Attendance at lectures is very much preferable. 2. Reading short (10-15 pages) impulse texts to be analyzed and discussed during the lecture is very much preferable. 3. Assignments "on the run": short answers (2 sentences) to 4 questions on  10 lectures (out of a total of 12 lectures). The questions will be available in the e-learning course (IS) and the answers will be submitted there. 4. The final part of course completion is Group project. The goal of the project is to creatively rework/adapt some of the discussed texts or contents from lectures. The adaptation may take the form of a text (e.g., as a fictional interview with the author, a parody, a translation into another genre, e.g., a sociological study or expert opinion) or a transmission into another medium (e.g., a short film script and film, a dramatization, a visual medium, a play, a computer program, a podcast, etc.). The project will be presented in the last class of the semester, and should be 10-15 minutes in length. Please discuss the project topics with the course guarantor (J. Budňák) in advance.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2025/CJLB105