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Taught courses

Essential Elective Subjects

Courses in winter term of academic year 2024/2025


YBAJ235 Anthropological Methods: Fieldwork and Ethnography (Lecture) (Winter)
YBAJ234 Anthropological Methods: Fieldwork and Ethnography (Seminar) (Winter)
YBA247 Anthropological Theory for Everybody (Winter)
YBAJ252 Exploring Cultural History: Origins, Perspectives, and Contributions (Winter)
YBAJ202 Health Psychology (Winter)
YBAJ237 History of the "Third Reich" (1933-1945). Domination, Society and Mass Murder (Winter)
YBAJ019 Humor under the Iron Curtain: Jokes and Everyday Life under Totalitarianism (Winter)
YBAJ222 Introduction to Anthropology of Arts (Winter)
YBAJ189 Introduction to Quantitative Methods in Social Sciences (Winter)
YBAJ251 Phenomenology of Empathy (Winter)
YBAJ263 Preparatory Seminar for Introduction to European History (Winter)
YBAJ198 Seminar in Social Psychology (Winter)
YBAJ197 Sociological Theory (Winter)
YBAJ250 The Ethics of Rationality (Winter)
YBAJ233 Theory of Social Movements (Winter)
YBAJ017 Towards a Philosophy of Existence (Winter)
YBAJ259 Travelling in the Middle Ages (Winter)


Anthropological Methods: Fieldwork and Ethnography (Lecture)

Code: YBAJ235 Lecturer: Verbuč,D.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Schedule: thu 10:00 - 11:20, room YT131 (Faculty of Humanities, Pátkova 2137/5, Praha 8 - Libeň)
Ethnography is the art and science of studying and writing about human culture and society. It is one of the most important methods in qualitative research, not only in anthropology, but also in other social science disciplines. It helps scholars and students to effectively approach and address, as well as to gain valuable and in-depth understanding of, relevant social and cultural phenomena. Students learn in this course about the main ethnographic fieldwork methods and techniques (participant-observation, interviewing, grounded theory, coding, eliciting of meaning, textual analysis, Internet ethnography, ethnography of [music] performance). In addition, they also practice how to develop a research design (including research questions, and a thesis statement), as well as how to present, analyze, and interpret ethnographic data in writing (in papers, articles, theses). In regard to the latter, students will master different forms of ethnographic writing for this course (fieldnotes, vignettes, ethnographic description, analysis of data, transcription). Furthermore, class topics also address the issues of positionality, reflexivity, and research ethics. Students are required to submit weekly reading and writing assignments, design and conduct a small fieldwork study, and present it in a final paper. The course also prepares the students for the writing of their BA theses in the field of anthropology and other related disciplines (including ethnomusicology). Advisably for the second year BA students. Prerequisite: students should have completed at least one sociocultural anthropology course before registering for this class. This class is taught in two interconnected classes (co-requisites: YBAJ235 and YBAJ234), and it is mandatory to register for both, in order to successfully complete either of them.

Anthropological Methods: Fieldwork and Ethnography (Seminar)

Code: YBAJ234 Lecturer: Verbuč,D.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 2
Schedule: thu 11:30 - 12:50, room YT131 (Faculty of Humanities, Pátkova 2137/5, Praha 8 - Libeň)
Ethnography is the art and science of studying and writing about human culture and society. It is one of the most important methods in qualitative research, not only in anthropology, but also in other social science disciplines. It helps scholars and students to effectively approach and address, as well as to gain valuable and in-depth understanding of, relevant social and cultural phenomena. Students learn in this course about the main ethnographic fieldwork methods and techniques (participant-observation, interviewing, grounded theory, coding, eliciting of meaning, textual analysis, Internet ethnography, ethnography of [music] performance). In addition, they also practice how to develop a research design (including research questions, and a thesis statement), as well as how to present, analyze, and interpret ethnographic data in writing (in papers, articles, theses). In regard to the latter, students will master different forms of ethnographic writing for this course (fieldnotes, vignettes, ethnographic description, analysis of data, transcription). Furthermore, class topics also address the issues of positionality, reflexivity, and research ethics. Students are required to submit weekly reading and writing assignments, design and conduct a small fieldwork study, and present it in a final paper. The course also prepares the students for the writing of their BA theses in the field of anthropology and other related disciplines (including ethnomusicology). Advisably for the second year BA students. Prerequisite: students should have completed at least one sociocultural anthropology course before registering for this class. This class is taught in two interconnected classes (co-requisites: YBAJ235 and YBAJ234), and it is mandatory to register for both, in order to successfully complete either of them.

Anthropological Theory for Everybody

Code: YBA247 Lecturer: Seidlová,V.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Schedule: wed 11:30 - 12:50, room YT102 (Faculty of Humanities, Pátkova 2137/5, Praha 8 - Libeň)
First, theory can be difficult to grasp, but the aim of this course is to make it accessible because theory helps people understand and transform the world. Anthropology might be said to be characterized by a ‘toss and turn’ dynamic - it has taken a number of intellectual turns. A recent turn, for example, is ontological. It succeeds postmodern reflexive, interpretive, cultural materialist, structural-functional, historical particularist, and unilinear evolutionary turns. These turns reveal vibrant debates among anthropologists and the passion to understand the world. For a detailed preliminary syllabus, see the pdf attachment (the time of the class and the weekly dates change accordingly to the actual schedule of the academic year! Please refer to the actual schedule published in SIS).Important notice for the students of the 1st year of the Liberal Arts and Humanities Programme: THIS COURSE DOES NOT SUBSTITUTE THE COMPULSORY INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY. It is designed mostly for the 2nd year students as it can help them with the preparation for the CESS exam.Course Assignments: 70% Attendance at the weekly seminars. All the readings are uploaded on the course page in MOODLE. You are expected to read all the assigned readings on the day they are listed on the syllabus, and send “talking points” (a brief synthesis of the main points from the day’s readings and a “discussion question[s]” based on those readings, altogether min. 1 PAGE per title. Your talking points and questions must be sent to the Moodle page of this course at least two hours BEFORE each class. Two annotations can be missed without an apology. In total, you have to submit 10 annotations. Till the end of the examination period, you will also turn in a short essay [approx. 5-7 pages] summarizing and comparing arguments of two titles of your choice from the list of required readings, including a section with your own thought and reactions.

Exploring Cultural History: Origins, Perspectives, and Contributions

Code: YBAJ252 Lecturer: De Pablo Aguilar,D.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Schedule: thu 13:00 - 14:20, room YT131 (Faculty of Humanities, Pátkova 2137/5, Praha 8 - Libeň)
Cultural history offers a rich and multifaceted approach to understanding the past, examining the beliefs, practices, and expressions of individuals and societies across time. This course provides a comprehensive exploration of cultural history, tracing its origins, examining key historiographical schools such as the Annales and microhistory, and analyzing the significant contributions of scholars including Peter Burke, Clifford Geertz, Robert Darnton, Sarah Maza, and others. Through a combination of readings, discussions, and research projects, students will engage with a variety of topics and methodologies within cultural history, linking these approaches with broader discussions in the humanities and social sciences.This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of cultural history, equipping them with the analytical tools and theoretical frameworks needed to engage critically with primary sources and scholarly literature. By exploring the diverse perspectives and methodologies within cultural history, students will gain a deeper understanding of human societies and their cultural expressions, while also recognizing the broader implications of cultural historical research for interdisciplinary scholarship and social science.

Health Psychology

Code: YBAJ202 Lecturer: Csajbók,Z. + Zakreski,E.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Schedule: tue 14:30 - 15:50, room YT212 (Faculty of Humanities, Pátkova 2137/5, Praha 8 - Libeň)
The students will learn about the biopsychosocial model of health and illness. We will explore the social and psychological determinants of good physical and mental health. Through experience the students will learn about the promotion of health behavior.At the seminar the students will have to journal their own health behavior in a selected topic. Through discussions the students will formulate hypotheses about the difficulties people face when maintaining health behavior. The students will have to write an essay of 3-5 pages long in their own selected topic. The students will form groups and plan an awareness day or an intervention program in the selected topic and present to the participants of the seminar. The planned activities on this seminar will be lecturing, reading, writing, discussing key topics of health behavior, and student presentations.

History of the "Third Reich" (1933-1945). Domination, Society and Mass Murder

Code: YBAJ237 Lecturer: Vondráček,J.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Schedule: thu 14:30 - 15:50, room YT112 (Faculty of Humanities, Pátkova 2137/5, Praha 8 - Libeň)
The history of the “Third Reich” is still an ever expanding field of research with hundreds of books being published every year. However, we will analyze three key aspects of the history of Nazi Germany: domination, society, and mass murder. We will focus on the building of the Nazi state from 1933 until the end of the war. In this context we will take a look at different theories which try to explain the stability of Nazi domination until its military defeat. The Nazi vision of a racial pure and hierarchically organized “Volksgemeinschaft” as a specific form of German society is the second field we will analyze. Various inclusion and exclusion mechanisms will be considered as well as different historical approaches. The Holocaust and the mass murder of gypsy and other ethnic groups as well as the terror against political enemies of the Reich, materialized in the system of Nazi concentration and extermination camps, will be the last field of research we will deal with. The seminar will be strongly text based. You will be asked to read one or two texts and be asked to answer guiding questions for each session. vondracek@mua.cas.cz

Humor under the Iron Curtain: Jokes and Everyday Life under Totalitarianism

Code: YBAJ019 Lecturer: Marková,A.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Schedule: mon 11:30 - 12:50, room YT121 (Faculty of Humanities, Pátkova 2137/5, Praha 8 - Libeň)
The course deals with the phenomenon of Soviet jokes (anecdotes) which were very popular during the existence of the Soviet Bloc. Jokes covered every aspect of daily life under socialism – the shortages, leisure, sport, propaganda of the media, ideology and many other aspects. They were told in each Soviet Bloc state as a Poland, Czechoslovakia, and others because they shared the same culture and live conditions of that period. The term “Communist jokes” could be more precisely described as anti-Communist or anti-Soviet jokes because this term better captures the sense of shared culture. There are many reason why Communist political jokes were very special. They had a unique homogeneity: the absolute monopoly of state power meant that any joke about any aspect of politics, the economy or media was a joke about Communism. Communism regime was inherently “funny” because of a unique combination of factors. The ineffectiveness of its theories, the mendacity of its propaganda and the ubiquity of censorship were all important. The cruelty of its methods interacted with the sense of humor of the people on whom it was imposed.The aim of the course is to introduce students to the reality of everyday life under the Soviet rule in the countries of the Soviet Bloc through Communist Jokes.

Introduction to Anthropology of Arts

Code: YBAJ222 Lecturer: Sindelar,M.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Schedule: without the schedule or the schedule has not been defined yet
The lecture provides an introduction to the history, theory, and methodology within the anthropology of art. It starts out by discussing terminological issues and the difference between art-historical and art-anthropological approaches. After introducing earlier anthropological studies on art, the lecture focuses on key debates within this sub-discipline, including: differences between material culture and art, questions of agency, primitivism, aesthetics, and iconography, as well as art and technology. Following, newer art-anthropological research will be discussed in the context of art as a commodity, the collection and display of modern and contemporary art, art’s circulation in global art worlds, as well as the provenance and restitution politics of art.

Introduction to Quantitative Methods in Social Sciences

Code: YBAJ189 Lecturer: Zakreski,E. + Csajbók,Z.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Schedule: tue 10:00 - 11:20, room YT033 (Faculty of Humanities, Pátkova 2137/5, Praha 8 - Libeň)
The course will provide a step-by-step introduction to fundamentals of quantitative research methodology and data analysis. It will introduce you to statistical thinking, interpreting and reporting results from statistical analyses, and will provide hands-on learning activities using a free easy-to-use statistics software (JASP). The course will be especially beneficial to students who are interested in psychology and sociology.

Phenomenology of Empathy

Code: YBAJ251 Lecturer: Janoušek,H.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Schedule: fri 14:30 - 15:50, room YT117 (Faculty of Humanities, Pátkova 2137/5, Praha 8 - Libeň)
In this introductory course, we will look at how phenomenological theory has struggled to understand, what our experience of other people's experience looks like. We will begin with Theodor Lipps, who introduced the term "em-pathy" (Mit-gefühl) into modern languages and we will look at how Edmund Husserl responded to his original concept. Then we will introduce development of the notion of empathy by Edith Stein and Max Scheler. After a short digression to Martin Heidegger and Jean-Paul Sartre and their critique of the theory of empathy, we will conclude the course with a discussion of of empathy in Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Dan Zahavi. Throughout the course, we will note how the theory of empathy influences the notion of the other person in the philosophical theories discussed.

Preparatory Seminar for Introduction to European History

Code: YBAJ263 Lecturer: Suchý,M. + Vondráček,J.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Schedule: thu 16:00 - 17:20, room YT112 (Faculty of Humanities, Pátkova 2137/5, Praha 8 - Libeň)
Upon completion of the course students will have an overview of European history from antiquity through the Middle Ages to modern history. Students will learn the importance of basic historical terms, such as the Reformation, the Lenten System, the Papal Schism and many others. The course will consist of thematic-oriented lectures and will be finished by a written test concentrated on important historical concepts. Completition of said course will help students with their preparation for following mandatory examination from European History.

Seminar in Social Psychology

Code: YBAJ198 Lecturer: Hanson,E.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Schedule: tue 17:30 - 18:50, room YT212 (Faculty of Humanities, Pátkova 2137/5, Praha 8 - Libeň)
The Seminar in Social psychology aims to familiarize students with core texts in the field, develop academic skills and foster critical thinking of students in themes associated to social psychology. The Seminar will be organized around reading core academic texts in social psychology, watching related audiovisual materials, discussions and written assessments.

Sociological Theory

Code: YBAJ197 Lecturer: Dobrovolná Wladyniak,L.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Schedule: mon 16:00 - 17:20, room YT117 (Faculty of Humanities, Pátkova 2137/5, Praha 8 - Libeň)
The course is an introduction to the sociological theory and offers a closer analysis of the main sociological concepts (both classic and contemporary). In a form of an interactive lecture, the course offers a comprehensive overview of the most influential theories and theoreticians. Individual lectures are devoted to particular issues in sociological theory. The course is recommended for the students, who already graduated from the course Introduction to Sociology.

The Ethics of Rationality

Code: YBAJ250 Lecturer: Novák,A.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Schedule: wed 16:00 - 17:20, room YT032 (Faculty of Humanities, Pátkova 2137/5, Praha 8 - Libeň)
It is perhaps the most intuitive and least controversial notion that one of the constitutive features of human beings is rationality. Indeed, reason-- and all its associated functions-- is esteemed not just because of the distinction it confers, but also because of its capacity to identify morally salient features of the world and prescribe appropriate conduct in relation thereto. Theories abound for how to make the best use of this faculty, but one of the most formidable among them is the class of ethical theories known as consequentialism. In the broadest sense, consequetialismrefers to any ethic that affords priority for assessing the moral status of an action to the consequences it in fact or likely effects. Among such theories, perhaps the most familiar is utilitaranism, whose doctrine is rendered in a deceptively simple way: ‘the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people.’ And the methods for determining our obligations when confronted with moral situations, being as they are predicated on calculation and basic assumptions about human nature and psychology, are decidedly rational. The present course proposes to explore the foundations of the varieties of consequentialist ethics throughout history, how and if they are justified, their propriety, and how they might be applied to contemporary society.

Theory of Social Movements

Code: YBAJ233 Lecturer: Çakir,A.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Schedule: mon 14:30 - 15:50, room YT201 (Faculty of Humanities, Pátkova 2137/5, Praha 8 - Libeň)
Social Movements have been one of the main engines of social change worldwide, gaining even more relevance in the first quarter of the 21st century as we observe countless protests and movements in each part of the world. Therefore, the study of the phenomena that is social movements is imperative to our understanding of society and history. This course aims to provide an introduction to the theories of social movements, linking theory to various historical and contemporary cases to better understand how social movements emerge and in which dynamics they operate. These dynamics include social, political, and cultural aspects as the nature of any given social movement is highly dependent on these aspects, while also transforming the dynamics they operate in. The course addresses topics such as collective action, repertoires and cycles of contention, individuals and networks, mobilization patterns, inclusion and exclusion mechanisms, etc by linking them to broader sociological theory. With the help of such topics, the course aims to discuss the contemporary theoretical debates revolving around the complex phenomena of social movements.

Towards a Philosophy of Existence

Code: YBAJ017 Lecturer: Marek,J.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Schedule: thu 14:30 - 15:50, room YT032 (Faculty of Humanities, Pátkova 2137/5, Praha 8 - Libeň)
The course is intended as an introduction to the German variety of existential philosophy (Existenzphilosophie). We will be discussing the philosophical work of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Jaspers, Heidegger, and Patočka. Our goal is to understand the basic scope, topics, and bearings of this particular variety of philosophy. The course is open to all interested students and requires no significant prior philosophical knowledge.Weekly Schedule:1. Introduction: Existence and existentia2. Kierkegaard I: Stages of Existence3. Kierkegaard II: The Synthesis of Existence4. Nietzsche I: Metaphorical Existence5. Nietzsche II.: A Genealogy of the (also)Human6. Kierkegaardian Renesance: German Philosophy in the interbellum period7. Jaspers: World-Views and Limit Situations8. Heidegger: Existence and Dasein9. Heidegger contra Jaspers - The Role of Philosophy10. Patočka I: Existence and the Natural World (Lebenswelt)11. Patočka II: Movements of Life12. Is Philosophy of Existence Still Viable Today?13. Conclusion

Travelling in the Middle Ages

Code: YBAJ259 Lecturer: Suchý,M.
Semester: Winter Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Schedule: tue 19:00 - 20:20, room YT211 (Faculty of Humanities, Pátkova 2137/5, Praha 8 - Libeň)
The course provides students with insights into different aspects of medieval travelling. Source criticism to contemporary sources (chronicles, travel accounts, itineraries, books of travels, charters, etc.) within major topics (such as war campaigns, pilgrimage, university peregrination, diplomacy, trade and crafts) constitutes an important feature of the course.


Last update: 07 Nov 2024
Last change: May 19, 2004 16:46 
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Charles University

Faculty of Humanities

Pátkova 2137/5

182 00 Praha 8 - Libeň

Czech Republic


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