A course at the Department of Roman Studies of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University

Time and venue: Every Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:00 pm, room 217, FF UK, nam. Jan Palacha 2
Lecturers: Chiara Mengozzi, Ph.D. and Mgr. Vojtěch Šarše
Language: French

Syllabus

The “post” in postcolonial not only alludes to the era following decolonization, but hints first and foremost to the set of practices of resisting colonialism, colonialist ideologies and contemporary forms of domination and subjugation. Our course aims at understanding the political, cultural and linguistic problems framed by European colonization and its legacies. Based on the reading of iconic theoretical texts of the postcolonial thought (by Césaire, Fanon, Saïd, Spivak, Mbembe, Bhabha, Thiong’o) and on the textual analysis of a few French and Francophone literary works (from Africa and the Caribbean), the course will revisit the literary canon through the lenses of power relationships between individuals, languages and cultures. It will highlight the stylistic and topical features of novels written by authors from the ex-French colonies and the Overseas Territories such as: the relationship to French language, exclusion/inclusion, feeling of in-betweenness, national allegories, master-slave dialectic, or the rewriting of history.

Continue reading Introduction to Post-Colonial Theories and Literatures: Francophones Perspectives →

A seminar hosted by CEFRES young researcher Katalin Pataki

Time & Venue: every Wednesday 15:50-17:30 pm, FF UK Jan Palach building, room 209
Lecturer: Katalin Pataki – Central European University (CEU) / CEFRES)
Language: English
Contact: katalin.pataki@cefres.cz

Outline

The course sets into focus the history of the Habsburg Monarchy in the early modern era, mainly covering the period between 1556-1806. In the first half of the course, there will be a strong emphasis on the spatial manifestations of state power: the political geography of the Habsburg territories will be investigated in detail: the territorial fragmentation of the individual provinces, their urban centers, the ethnical and confessional landscape will be considered. Simultaneously, the phenomenon of the composite state and the kinds of challenges peculiar to such states will be discussed. The course will investigate how policy making could or could not ensure the efficient exercise of political authority and management of resources, and what kind of legal, institutional, bureaucratic and other devices could facilitate “good government”.

The course aims to develop a comprehensive and critical understanding of European state formation in a fresh perspective, by providing an up-to-date understanding of state formation processes and going beyond the stereotypical presentation of the political and institutional history of the Habsburg Monarchy.

Program of individual sessions

1. The Early Modern State (22 February, 1 March)
2. “Austria: the Habsburg Heartland” (8 March)
3. “Bohemia: Limited Acceptance” (15 March)
4. “Hungary: Limited Rejection” (22 March)
5. “The German Empire: Limited Hegemony” (29 March)
6. The Role of Wars in State Formation (12 April)
7. Charles VI. (II/III) – War of the Spanish Succession and his Rule in Austria, Bohemia and Hungary (19 April)
8. “Financial Pressure and Reform” during the reign of Maria Theresa 1740-1780 (26 April)
9. Joseph II. – Josephism, Enlightened Absolutism (3 May)
10. The Enlightenment pursuit of improvement through government (10 May)
11. Enlightenment and improvement: continental and regional perspectives (17 May)
12. From the Realms of the Habsburgs to the Austrian Empire

See the Syllabus and bibliography here.

A seminar hosted by CEFRES young researcher Mátyás Erdélyi

Time & Venue: Tuesday 15:30-16:50, FHS UK Jinonice, building A, room 2083
Lecturer: Mátyás Erdélyi – CEU / CEFRES
Language: English
Contact: matyas.erdelyi@cefres.cz

Outline

The aim of the course is to familiarize students with the main topics and problem areas in the history of Central Europe in the long nineteenth century. The course follows a topical arrangement focusing on central themes at the intersection of social history and historical sociology; it is neither chronological, nor comprehensive. Each section starts with the presentation of basic theoretical concepts, followed by the discussion of selected readings. The course focuses on problem areas in connection with the social and economic changes that took place in Central Europe during the long nineteenth century. The key concept of our discussion is ‘modernization theory’ and the different facets of modernization understood as a process of social and economic change in the period under scrutiny. Here, instead of interpreting ‘modernization’ as a normative developmental model, the course demonstrates how modernization could be analyzed as a heterogeneous and non-linear process, which always infers the possibility of fallbacks, as the history of Central Europe demonstrates it, and contains a mixture of ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ elements.

Program of individual sessions

1 – Conceptual framework; Historical sociology vs. social history; the historical geography of Central-Europe in the 19th century
2 – Modernization, economic backwardness and belated embourgeoisement in Central Europe
3 – Industrialization and urbanization (2 sessions)
4 – Embourgeoisement and the middle-class question
5 – The dynamics of educational expansion (2 sessions)
6 – Professionalization
7 – Jewry: agents of modernization (2 sessions)
8 – Nations, empire, and nationalism at the challenges of modernization (2 sessions)

See the Syllabus and bibliography here.

A seminar hosted by CEFRES young researcher Filip Herza

Time & Venue: every Monday 5-6:20 pm, FHS UK Jinonice building, room 2066
Lecturer: Mgr. Filip Herza – Charles University (FHS / CEFRES)
Prague
Language: English
Contact: filip.herza@cefres.cz

Outline

The seminar focuses on cities of the fin-de-siécle Austro-Hungarian empire from the perspective of the recent urban history. In the first part of the course, we will study the process of industrialization and the emergence of the metropolitan culture in different capitals and regional centers of the Habsburg monarchy, from the capitals of Vienna and Budapest, to local urban centres such as Prague and Cracow. In the second part of the seminar, we will concentrate on particular aspects of the metropolitan culture and everyday life in the cities. Specifically we will study the production of urban spaces through different social and symbolical practices related to the social stratification of the Austro-Hungarian society, to the contemporary national movements and to the emergence of an international cosmopolitan culture in Europe. The seminar is offered for those interested in the urban history and in the history of the Central and Eastern Europe alike.

Program of individual sessions

• 20. 2. Introduction: Cities and urban culture in the Austro-Hungarian empire 
• 27.2. Industrialization: Vienna and Budapest
• 6. 3. Architecture and city planing: Die Ringstraße and Vienna
• 13. 3. City planing, hygiene and nationalism in Prague
• 20. 3. Urban festivities and nationalism in Prague
• 27. 3. Urban experiences (in Budapest)
• 3. 4. Popular press and metropolitan identity (in Cracow)
• 10. 4. Science in/and the City (of Vienna)
• 17. 4. Moving between cities – technology and transportation (Bratislava/Pressburg/Poszóny)
• 24. 4. Cities in war (Vienna)
• 15. 5. Essay writing and final discussion

CEFRES Epistemological Seminar 2016-2017

Conveners: István Pál Ádám (CEFRES), Clara Royer (CEFRES) and Tomáš Weiss (IMS FSV UK)
Where: CEFRES library – Na Florenci 3, 110 00 Prague 1
When: every second Thursday from 3:30 pm to 5 pm
23 February,  9 & 23 March, 6 & 20 April, 11 May
Language: English

The program of the Summer Semester 2016-2017 is already available on our calendar!

Abstract

This seminar wants to provide young researchers with a theoretical background and help them to reflect upon how they use and elaborate relevant concepts for their PhD research. It will also highlight the differences and similarities in using concepts in different disciplines.

Each session will be led by a young researcher, who will comment on a theoretical text introducing a key-concept for his/her field and open it for discussion. Therefore, various concepts will be presented through their definitions, uses and limits. Concepts can’t be considered as a permanent “tool box” to which a social scientist could turn each time he/she conducts research, hence the necessity to think upon concept formation. The seminar aims at preventing the pitfalls of flat empiricism, words confusion, over-theorization, and at thinking through the uses and misuses of concepts. It could touch upon concepts such as “identity”, “modernity”, “moral behaviour”, “security”, “society”, “culture”, “form”, “gender”, “church”, “capitalism”, “professionalism”, and so forth.

Seminar is open to PhD students and post-doctoral scholars. Each session will begin with an overview of one selected reading mainly in English, followed by a discussion. The reader with texts will be available in electronic form. Please write to Claire Madl to get the reader : claire@cefres.cz

A few texts on concepts

1. Bastien Bosa, “Des concepts et des faits”, Labyrinthe [online], 37 | 2011 (2), online on 01/08/2013.
2. John Drysdale, “How Are Social-Scientific Concepts Formed? A Reconstruction of Max Weber’s Theory of Concept Formation”, Sociological Theory 14, no. 1 (1996), pp. 71-88.
3. Bernard Fradin, Louis Quéré, Jean Widmer (eds.), L’enquête sur les catégories. De Durkheim à Sacks, Paris, Éditions de l’EHESS, 1994.
4. John Gerring, “What Makes a Concept Good? A Criterial Framework for Understanding Concept Formation in the Social Sciences”, Polity 31, no. 3 (1999), pp. 357-93.

Conveners: István Pál Ádám (CEFRES), Clara Royer (CEFRES) and Tomáš Weiss (IMS FSV UK)
Where: CEFRES library – Na Florenci 3, 110 00 Prague 1
When: every second Thursday from 3:30 pm to 5 pm
2, 9 and 23 March, 6 and 20 April, 11 May 2017
Language: English

See the program of the Summer Semester 2016-2017

Abstract

This seminar wants to provide young researchers with a theoretical background and help them to reflect upon how they use and elaborate relevant concepts for their PhD research. It will also highlight the differences and similarities in using concepts in different disciplines.

Each session will be led by a young researcher, who will comment on a theoretical text introducing a key-concept for his/her field and open it for discussion. Therefore, various concepts will be presented through their definitions, uses and limits. Concepts can’t be considered as a permanent “tool box” to which a social scientist could turn each time he/she conducts research, hence the necessity to think upon concept formation. The seminar aims at preventing the pitfalls of flat empiricism, words confusion, over-theorization, and at thinking through the uses and misuses of concepts. It could touch upon concepts such as “identity”, “modernity”, “moral behaviour”, “security”, “society”, “culture”, “form”, “gender”, “church”, “capitalism”, “professionalism”, and so forth.

Seminar is open to PhD students and post-doctoral scholars. Each session will begin with an overview of one selected reading mainly in English, followed by a discussion. The reader with texts will be available in electronic form. Please write to Claire Madl to get the reader : claire@cefres.cz

A few texts on concepts

1. Bastien Bosa, “Des concepts et des faits”, Labyrinthe [online], 37 | 2011 (2), online on 01/08/2013.
2. John Drysdale, “How Are Social-Scientific Concepts Formed? A Reconstruction of Max Weber’s Theory of Concept Formation”, Sociological Theory 14, no. 1 (1996), pp. 71-88.
3. Bernard Fradin, Louis Quéré, Jean Widmer (eds.), L’enquête sur les catégories. De Durkheim à Sacks, Paris, Éditions de l’EHESS, 1994.
4. John Gerring, “What Makes a Concept Good? A Criterial Framework for Understanding Concept Formation in the Social Sciences”, Polity 31, no. 3 (1999), pp. 357-93.