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SLAVONIC STUDIES LEVEL 2 MODULE 2B
Culture in the Age of Globalisation
(Course Code: 0SHV)
(20 credits)

(Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at 4.00 pm from Monday 12 January 2009 to Thursday 26th March 2009)

(Course Convener: Dr Jan Čulík)

ENROLMENT: Monday 12 January 2009 at 4.00 pm, Boyd Orr Building, Lecture Room B

General description
This is a Level 2 eleven-week module. Any student having satisfactorily completed Level 1 courses at the University may be admitted to this course at the discretion of the Convener of the Slavonic Studies Section of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures. Completion of the module with a satisfactory grade (grade D or better) MAY qualify for entrance into Slavonic Studies at Honours level.

The course focuses on the most recent developments within Czech, Polish and Russian cultures after 1989. Using the framework of globalisation, the course discusses samples of film, media, literature, arts and language. Special attention is devoted to the importance of understanding local cultural contexts that can be easily misunderstood and consequently misread when approached from a general 'global' perspective.

Aims
This module is intended to:

  1. provide students with a broad knowledge of developments in Czech, Polish and Russian culture, politics and society after 1989;
  2. impart to students an in-depth knowledge of selected Czech, Polish and Russian cultural phenomena (in English translation) from the period;
  3. develop students' ability to analyse works of literature, cinema and media;
  4. increase students' ability to work effectively, as well as to enhance their acquisition of generic and transferable skills which will be of value in later life.

Learning Objectives
By the end of the module students will be able to:

  1. demonstrate a competent knowledge and understanding of the impact of globalisation upon Czech, Polish and Russian cultures during the time of post-communism;
  2. demonstrate a close reading of selected texts and cultural phenomena from all three cultural contexts;
  3. discuss and write critically on various aspects of post-1989 cultures in Poland, Russia and the Czech Republic;
  4. produce by stated deadlines carefully structured, cogently argued, appropriately documented and well-written pieces of written work;
  5. apply the analytical skills gained through the study of media, film, literature, politics and society to wide range of problems which they may face in different situations and contexts later in life.

Set texts/films

  • Jan Svěrák, The Ride (1994)
  • Börkur Gunnarsson, Bitter Coffee (2004)
  • Jan Hřebejk, Helter Skelter (2004)
  • Olga Tokarczuk, House of Day, House of Night
  • The Three Colours Trilogy: White (1994), directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski
  • Viktor Pelevin, Babylon (2000)
  • Aleksei Balabanov, Brother-2 (2000)
  • Anastasia Gosteva, Closed Americas (2003)
  • Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda, The Czech Dream (2004)

Recommended Secondary Literature:

General Bibliography

  • Steger, B. Manfred. Globalization. A Very Short Introduction (Oxford UP, 2003)
  • Bauman, Zygmunt. Globalization. The Human Consequences. (Polity, 1998)
  • Forrester, Sibelan, Magdalena Zaborowska and Elena Gapova, eds. Over the Wall/After the Fall. Post-Communist Cultures Through an East-West Gaze (Indiana UP, 2004)
Czech Component:
    Jan Čulík, Jací jsme: Česká společnost v hraném filmu devadesátých a nultých let (What we are like: Czech society in the Feature Films of the 1990s and 2000s), Host, Brno, November, 2007; selected passages of this monograph, dealing with the Czech films studied in this module, have been translated into English and are available HERE.
Polish Component:
  • Gannon, Martin J. Ed. "The Polish Village Church." Understanding Global Cultures. Metaphorical Journeys through 28 Nations, Clusters of Nations, and Continents. (SAGE publications, 2004), pp. 111-121.
  • Kickasola, Joseph G. The Films of Krzysztof Kieslowski. The Liminal Image (Continuum, 2004)
  • Kalinowska, Izabela. "Exile and Polish Cinema: From Mickiewicz and Slowacki to Kieslowski," Realms of Exile. Ed. by Domnica Radulescu. (Lexington Books, 2002), pp. 107-124.
Russian Component:
  • Ryazanova-Clarke, L. "The Development of the Advertising Genre on Russian Television", Proceedings of the Scottish Society for Russian and East European Studies 1996, pp. 101-12.

All recommended secondary works are available on Short Loan in Glasgow University Library or via the Slavonic Studies Office.

Assessment
Students should note that a system of mixed-mode assessment operates as follows:



Formative Assessment
  1. A discussion forum would be arranged as and when necessary.

Summative Assessment
  1. one class essay to be submitted by Monday 23rd February by 5 pm, worth one-third of the total marks;
  2. two essays written in an End-of-Module two-hour examination, each worth one-third of the total marks.
The attention of all students is drawn to the four following important items:
  1. Only certain texts will be included in the End-of-Module Examination. The examination questions will usually be of a comparative nature.
  2. The class essay and the End-of-Module examination essays MUST each deal with a different work/topic. Student course work and examination paper should jointly cover at least TWO of the THREE cultural regions on the curriculum.
  3. Duplicated work will receive no mark or grade and will be returned to the student. All essays submitted late (without a certificated reason) will be returned unmarked to the student.
  4. Pre-requisites: Completion of the class presentation and submission of the course essay by the due deadline (Monday, 23rd February 2009 by 5 pm) entitle the student to sit the End-of-Module Examination. Non-submission of coursework and non-attendance may result in credit refusal.

Slavonic Studies after Level 2
Students will be guaranteed entry into Honours if they have met the Faculty of Arts requirements for entry into Honours and if they have successfully completed (at Grade D or better) any three modules in Slavonic Studies at Level 1 or Level 2. With the approval of the Convener of the Slavonic Studies Section of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures students will be able to substitute up to two modules taken in a cognate subject (e.g. English Literature or Scottish Literature), i.e. they need have completed only one module in Slavonic Studies at Level 1 or 2.

Taught by Dr John Bates, Dr Jan Čulík, Dr Andrei Rogatchevski, Mr Josef Švéda and Dr Margaret Tejerizo.