UPCES Programme

Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies courses provided in cooperation with the Faculty of Humanities partner UPCES, CERGE-EI, CU

Courses of the academic year 2022/2023

Please note, it is subject to change. For detailed information on designing your LA, you may consult How to choose courses section.

Fall + Spring Semester Fall Semester Spring Semester

YBAU009 Central Europe: Shaping a Modern Culture (Fall)

YBAU011 Comprehending the Holocaust (Fall + spring)

YBAU040 Digital Currencies and Cryptocurrencies (Fall + spring)

YBAU037 Economic History of Central and Eastern Europe (Spring)

YBAU005 Economics of Transition (Fall + spring)

YBAU036 Environmental Economics in the Central European Context (Fall)

YBAU017 European-American Relations in the 21st Century (Fall + spring)

YBAU020 Film as a Mirror of History, Ideology, and Individual Freedom (Fall + spring)

YBAU007 Gothic, Baroque, Modern: Arts in Bohemia Culture (Fall)

YBAU041 Health Economics: Concepts and Challenges from the European Perspective (Fall)

YBAU11BLI Ideas Behind Politics: Communism, Post-Communism and Civil Society in Central Europe (Spring)

YBAU003 Kafka in Prague (Fall)

YBAU034 Meet the Europeans: Politics and Society in the European Union (Fall + spring)

YBAU025 Political Leadership in Central Europe (Fall)

YBAU004 Prague as Living History: Anatomy of a European Capital (Fall + spring)

YBAU047 Propaganda and Society (Spring)

YBAU016 Psychoanalysis and Cultural Studies (Fall + spring)

YBAU042 Story of Religion in the Most Secular Country (Fall)

YBAU018 Urban Anthropology of Central European Cities (Fall + spring)

Central Europe: Shaping a Modern Culture Code: YBAU009 Lecturer: Hříbek,T. + Havlištová,V. + Skladanová,N. Semester: Fall Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the courses of the UPCES programme (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); the comprehensive information is available at: http://fhs.cuni.cz/FHSENG-350.html#2.This course discusses the emergence of major modernist movements and ideas in the three Central European cities: Prague, Vienna and Budapest.

Comprehending the Holocaust Code: YBAU011 Lecturer: Plzák,M. + Havlištová,V. + Skladanová,N. Semester: Fall + spring Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the UPCES courses (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); comprehensive information is available at: http://fhs.cuni.cz/FHSENG-350.html#2.We will go through the rise and history of Christian anti-Judaism, its transformation into modern forms of anti-Semitism, we will discuss what is exceptional and what is normal about the Holocaust and define the role and responsibility of the individual in modern democracy. We will learn about the role of intellectuals during the Holocaust and discuss how good people can kill other people so easily. We will also try to understand the function of Nazi propaganda and its major themes. We will touch on the phenomenon of "denying the Holocaust", which is a modern form of anti-Semitism.

Digital Currencies and Cryptocurrencies Code: YBAU040 Lecturer: Saxa,B. + Havlištová,V. + Skladanová,N. Semester: Fall + spring Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the UPCES courses (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); comprehensive information is available at https://bakalar.fhs.cuni.cz/SHV-211.html.This course will consider the new phenomenon of digital currencies from a monetary and financial stability angle. We will first look at the technological foundations of cryptocurrencies, and then we will discuss challenges related to the issuance of central bank digital currencies and stable coins. We will study central bank digital currencies that are in advanced stages and we will learn about their potential impact. We will discuss private efforts to issue stable coins (e.g. LIBRA) and discuss why they raise concerns of regulators

Economic History of Central and Eastern Europe Code: YBAU037 Lecturer: Ochsner,C. + Havlištová,V. + Skladanová,N. Semester: Spring Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the UPCES courses (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); comprehensive information is available at https://fhs.cuni.cz/FHSENG-1016.html. This course provides an overview of economic history and the long-run development of socio-economic figures and focuses on the situation in CEE in particular. It provides the big picture of economic development from a European and US-centric point of view and links that to specific circumstances in CEE countries.

Economics of Transition Code: YBAU005 Lecturer: Semerák,V. + Skladanová,N. + Havlištová,V. Semester: Fall + spring Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the UPCES courses (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); comprehensive information is available at: http://fhs.cuni.cz/FHSENG-350.html#2.The course deals with main economic issues related to transition from centrally-planned economies of the Soviet bloc, Yugoslavia, and China to market economies. Compared to other similar courses, this course will be less descriptive and more analytical; we will use economic models and results of econometric studies where appropriate.

Environmental Economics in the Central European Context Code: YBAU036 Lecturer: Krajčová,J. + Skladanová,N. + Havlištová,V. Semester: Fall Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the courses of the UPCES programme (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); the comprehensive information is available at http://fhs.cuni.cz/FHSENG-350.html#2.The aim of this course is to introduce students to some basic economic principles and theories explaining environmental issues and problems today and to explore existing policies at the national, international, and global level.

European-American Relations in the 21st Century Code: YBAU017 Lecturer: Zieleniec,J. + Havlištová,V. + Skladanová,N. Semester: Fall + spring Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the UPCES courses (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); comprehensive information is available at: http://fhs.cuni.cz/FHSENG-350.html#2.This course explores the history and the current state of political, economic and culturalrelations between the United States and Europe.

Film as a Mirror of History, Ideology, and Individual Freedom Code: YBAU020 Lecturer: Brdečková,T. + Havlištová,V. + Skladanová,N. Semester: Fall + spring Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the UPCES courses (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); comprehensive information is available at: http://fhs.cuni.cz/FHSENG-350.html#2.This lively and original course is open to students who have an interest in studying the social and political transition in Central Europe through an understanding of its cinema. This is not a traditional film course: We will focus on the films’ social, political and historical contexts.

Gothic, Baroque, Modern: Arts in Bohemia Culture Code: YBAU007 Lecturer: Hříbek,T. + Havlištová,V. + Skladanová,N. Semester: Fall Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the UPCES courses (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); comprehensive information is available at: http://fhs.cuni.cz/FHSENG-350.html#2.This course will survey the visual arts - including some photography and film - and architecture in the Czech Lands since the Middle Ages through the 20th century, with an emphasis on the last 150 years or so.

Health Economics: Concepts and Challenges from the European Perspective Code: YBAU041 Lecturer: Hromádková,E. + Havlištová,V. + Skladanová,N. Semester: Fall Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the UPCES courses (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); comprehensive information is available at https://bakalar.fhs.cuni.cz/SHV-211.html.The course aims to provide students with an introduction to the key concepts, methods and understanding of the application of economics to health and health care. Students will gain knowledge of the core theories underpinning health economics, and by looking at the empirical evidence they will learn to evaluate whether they give correct predictions for real health care market. The differences between US and European approach toward health care financing and provision will be discussed to stimulate students’ critical thinking about the major challenges health care systems face and how health economics can play a role in understanding and mitigating those challenges.

Ideas Behind Politics: Communism, Post-Communism and Civil Society in Central Europe Code: YBAU11BLI Lecturer: Hvorecký,J. + Havlištová,V. + Skladanová,N. Semester: Spring Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the courses of the UPCES programme (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); the comprehensive information is available at: http://fhs.cuni.cz/FHSENG-350.html#2.The objective of this course is to help students better understand the history of Central Europe and the ideal resources that might enable it to succeed in the transformation from communism.

Kafka in Prague Code: YBAU003 Lecturer: Roraback,E. + Skladanová,N. + Havlištová,V. Semester: Fall Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the courses of the UPCES programme (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); the comprehensive information is available at: http://fhs.cuni.cz/FHSENG-350.html#2.The course will focus on several of Kafka’s many short stories and, depending on student interest, also his most important novel,

Meet the Europeans: Politics and Society in the European Union Code: YBAU034 Lecturer: Najšlová,L. + Havlištová,V. + Skladanová,N. Semester: Fall + spring Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the courses of the UPCES programme (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); the comprehensive information is available at: http://fhs.cuni.cz/FHSENG-350.html#2.This course covers the main political, social, cultural, and economic factors which conditioned and accompanied post-war European integration. It invites students to critically rethink what the motivations were behind European integration at its emergence and how they have been changing up until the present.

Political Leadership in Central Europe Code: YBAU025 Lecturer: Hvorecký,J. + Skladanová,N. + Havlištová,V. Semester: Fall Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the courses of the UPCES programme (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); the comprehensive information is available at: http://fhs.cuni.cz/FHSENG-350.html#2.Central Europe has been through very demanding times in the 20th century and this course will examine role of its leaders in implementing (or failures to implement) crucial and often life-preserving policies. We will look at lives and deeds of several important political figures from Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia. In doing so we will confront their autobiographical records with facts, learn quite a bit about the history of the region and understand important theories and distinctions in a general theory of leadership.

Prague as Living History: Anatomy of a European Capital Code: YBAU004 Lecturer: Skripnik,O. + Skladanová,N. + Havlištová,V. Semester: Fall + spring Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the UPCES courses (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); comprehensive informationis available at: http://fhs.cuni.cz/FHSENG-350.html#2.This course and accompanying excursions will introduce students to the history of the Czech Republic and its capital city, Prague, while also showing the development of its urban structure and main social functions.

Propaganda and Society Code: YBAU047 Lecturer: Nesbitt,T. + Havlištová,V. + Skladanová,N. Semester: Spring Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the UPCES courses (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); comprehensive information is available at https://bakalar.fhs.cuni.cz/SHV-211.html. This course explores mass persuasion and propaganda in a developmental context with an emphasis on understanding approaches and techniques. It traces the emergence of strategic persuasive communication and propaganda from its origins to the present day. The basic principles, philosophy, and techniques of mass persuasion in different periods are considered, with an emphasis on contemporary contexts. Students will learn to identify different propaganda techniques and will gain the tools to evaluate and debunk propaganda campaigns. A developmental approach is used in order to allow the opportunity to see aspects of continuity and change in approaches. A combination of classic and contemporary texts in the area of propaganda and disinformation will be studied. Various approaches to propaganda will examined across a variety of media, with an emphasis in the second half of the course on emerging computational and participatory propaganda.

Psychoanalysis and Cultural Studies Code: YBAU016 Lecturer: Roraback,E. + Havlištová,V. + Skladanová,N. Semester: Fall + spring Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the courses of the UPCES programme (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); the comprehensive information is available at: http://fhs.cuni.cz/FHSENG-350.html#2.This course examines in detail a select band of the seminars offered by the major post-Freudian psychoanalytic thinker, teacher and practitioner, Jacques Lacan (1901-81), and some outstanding Lacan-criticism. The course also covers some important post-Lacanian thinkers with special reference to Slavoj Žižek (1949-) and to Julia Kristeva (1940-) in order to use psychoanalysis as a powerful critical tool to diagnose both individual and social reality, as well as individual artworks.

Story of Religion in the Most Secular Country Code: YBAU042 Lecturer: Mucha,P. + Havlištová,V. + Skladanová,N. Semester: Fall Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the UPCES courses (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); comprehensive information is available at https://bakalar.fhs.cuni.cz/SHV-211.html.This course aims to introduce students to the paradox concerning religion: although the historical visage of Prague is very religious, Czech society is currently ranked as one of the most atheistic in the world. Through excursions to interesting religious sites, we will interpret the various historical roles of religion and, in class discussions, explore the roots of the high degree of secularization today. The course will enable students to understand the role of religion in Western societies and the interactions between religion, culture, and politics. We will also explore possible future prospects of this phenomenon.

Urban Anthropology of Central European Cities Code: YBAU018 Lecturer: Zahradníková Štefánková,L. + Havlištová,V. + Skladanová,N. Semester: Fall + spring Language: English ECTS credits: 6 This is one of the UPCES courses (the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); comprehensive information is available at: http://fhs.cuni.cz/FHSENG-350.html#2.Central European cities have been undergoing rapid social and economic change, which has had major effects on their physical make-ups. It has also affected the ways in which people - urbanites as well as non-urbanites - perceive these cities and urban life in general. This course aims to investigate how, in the post-communist context, city dwellers perceive, define and use this rapidly transforming urban space, as well as how they try to shape and appropriate it.

Last update: 14 Mar 2023