Erasmus IP (Intensive Programme)

Course Description
The chief objective of the IP is to promote historical understanding of the contemporary global economic crisis and related conflicts in present-day Europe. The multidisciplinary approach (literary, cultural, media and gender studies, sociolinguistics, rhetoric, art history and musicology) will trace similarities of the present developments to, and their differences from, the dynamics of the early modern period. Hence the focus  of the  IP on the  cultural, political and economic functions of early modern theatre and its  wider literary context (poetry, prose)  as global values and principal agents of cultural communication in relation to historical memory, representations of conflicts, constructions of European identity and imaginings of Europe's future. The salient feature of this perspective is the interaction of early modern theatre and literature with local and global commerce which has been significantly influencing popular and mass culture. These perspectives inform the methodology of teaching, merging standard and innovative approaches, namely lecturing, seminar discussions, e-learning and teaching practical and business skills (journalism, translating, editing, power-point presentations, rhetoric, advertising, publishing trade and management strategies).

The main target group are graduate students (in MA, partially in PhD programmes) in English and cultural studies. Excellent undergraduates are also admitted. A wider target group are the professionals in cultural business who will conduct workshops, participate in monitoring the programme and organize internships focused on further development of business-related skills.

Apart from lectures and  seminars, the  main  activities under the  IP include workshops introducing students to business-related skills, student power-point presentations of the  results of individual seminars, student electronic discussion and  publication platform (further work  with seminar essays)  and  student applications for internships in cultural institutions (Argo  Publishers, later a major national newspaper) judged by expert professionals from these institutions. The follow-up activity is the internship in important Czech cultural institutions (see above) of students chosen in the interviews. The unique nature of the IP programme results from the combination of high-level multidisciplinary expertise and the emphasis on subject-specific professional and entrepreneurial skills.

The IP will promote the multidisciplinary understanding of early modern drama, poetry, prose and theatre as transcultural values having a powerful impact on specific forms of cultural and economic practice. Such understanding will be pursued in close interaction with leading professionals and businessmen in the field and complemented with teaching entrepreneurial skills.
hide

Literature
For specific texts see the descriptions of individual seminars

All students must familiarize themselves with the following primary texts:
Thomas More: Utopia
Christopher Marlowe: The Jew of Malta
Selection of Early Modern Sonnets and Other Poems: reading list
William Shakespeare: Hamlet
William Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice
William Shakespeare: Richard II
Ben Jonson: Bartholomew Fair
John Webster: The Duchess of Malfi
hide