SAKS001 Identity and Alterity in Literature and Culture: Theory, Methodology, Analysis

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2020
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 8 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
prof. PhDr. Petr Kyloušek, CSc. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Daniel Vázquez Touriño, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D.
Center for North American Studies – Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Center for North American Studies – Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Tue 16:00–17:40 G23
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 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/20
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to familiarize students with the main theoretical concepts for the analysis of identity formation as well as the formation of alterity. Presenting the main critical terms, methods of analysis will be developed, which will be in turn applied on a variety of case studies. The course aims at enabing students to gain thorough knowledge of the relevant aspects of the formation of human identity and alterity and their functioning across the North American space (and not only there).
Learning outcomes
The successful particiants of this course will:
- become familiar with the main theoretical concepts for the analysis of identity formation as well as the formation of alterity;
- will aquire basic methods of analysing these processes;
- will become familiar with a variety of case studies illustrative of the topic;
- will understand the role problems of identity and alterity formation played in the North American space, past and present.
Syllabus
  • 1.Identity in the Text and Daily Life (Petr Kyloušek)
  • Presentation of the main theories concerning national or community identity and alterity, majority and minority society, multiculturalism, interculturalism and transculturalism; Gellner, Anderson, Bissondath (Petr Kyloušek)
  • 2. Identity and Alterity: A Basic Theoretical and Historical Survey(Petr Kyloušek)
  • 3. Notes on the Notion of Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson (Tomáš Pospíšil)
  • 4. Identity in the USA, Session 1, General Remarks on Identity in the USA, Introduction (Tomáš Pospíšil)
  • 5. Identity in the USA, Session 2, Identity and Technology (Tomáš Pospíšil)
  • 6. Identity in the USA, Session 3 The Question of Assimilation (Tomáš Pospíšil)
  • 7. Identity in the USA, Session 4 Privilege, Power and the Notion of the Norm (Tomáš Pospíšil)
  • 8. The Search for Indentity: a Key Issue in Latin American Literaure, Session 1 (Daniel Vázquez Touriňo)
  • 9. The Search for Indentity: a Key Issue in Latin American Literaure, Session 2 (Daniel Vázquez Touriňo)
  • 10. Mexican and Latinx Identity in the Era of Globalization (Daniel Vázguez Touriňo)
  • 11. Notes on Canadian Multuculturalism (Tomáš Pospíšil)
Literature
    required literature
  • Establishing a Measure for American Greatness: Walt Whitman’s Abraham Lincoln. Read "Memories of President Lincoln,” in CRE, pages 328-339; David S. Reynolds, “Politics and Poetry,” in CCWW, pages 66-91.
  • Baker, Lee, D. (Ed.): Life in America: Identity and Everyday Experience. Blackwell 2004.
  • KYLOUŠEK, Petr, Klára KOLINSKÁ, Kateřina PRAJZNEROVÁ, Tomáš POSPÍŠIL, Eva VOLDŘICHOVÁ BERÁNKOVÁ and Petr HORÁK. Us-them-me : the search for identity in Canadian literature and film = Nous-eux-moi : la quete de l'identité dans la littérature et le cinéma canadiens (Us-them-me : the search for identity in Canadian literature and film). Vyd. 1. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2009, 283 pp. Spisy Masarykovy univerzity v Brně; č. 387. ISBN 978-80-210-5061-7. info
  • BOUCHARD, Gérard. Genèse des nations et cultures du nouveau monde : essai d'histoire comparée. Montréal, Québec: Boréal, 2001, 503 s. ISBN 2764601107. info
  • BISSOONDATH, Neil. Selling illusions : the cult of multiculturalism in Canada. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1994, 234 s. ISBN 0140238786. info
  • ANDERSON, Benedict R. O'G. Imagined communities : reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Rev. and extended ed. London: Verso, 1991, xv, 224. ISBN 0860915468. info
  • RICOEUR, Paul. Soi-même comme un autre. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1990, 424 s. ISBN 2-02-011458-5. info
  • GELLNER, Ernest. Nations and nationalism. Oxford: Blackwell, 1983, viii, 150. ISBN 0-631-12992-812. info
    recommended literature
  • Whitman, Walt “Drum-Taps,” in Leaves of Grass: Comprehensive Reader’s Edition, edited by Harold W. Blodgett and Sculley Bradley (New York: New York University Press, 1965), pages 279-327;
  • LANDOWSKI, Eric. Présences de l’autre : essais de sociosémiotique II. Paris, PUF, 1997.
  • BOUCHARD, Gérard. La nation québécoise au futur et au passé. Montréal, Québec: VLB éditeur, 1999, 157 s. ISBN 2890057089. info
Teaching methods
Home preparation of the assigned reading; lecture and discussion
Assessment methods
An oral exam of two parts; examined by two course teachers.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Teacher's information
https://elf.phil.muni.cz/elf3/course/view.php?id=4164
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2019, Autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2023, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2020, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2020/SAKS001