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Lecturer(s)
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Palatinus Dávid Levente, Ph.D.
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Vernyik Zénó, Mgr. Ph.D.
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Dumchak Iryna, doc. CSc.
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Marková Michaela, Mgr. Ph.D.
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Klapcsik Sándor, Ph.D.
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Světlíková Anna, Mgr. Ph.D.
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Course content
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List of topics to be addressed in lectures and seminars - this overview is informative, the order in which these will be dealt with and the amount of time dedicated to them depends on the particular teacher and students' needs. Lecture topics: Defining American Studies: History, Schools in the US and Europe, Main Figures. The First Americans - the Native American Nations. Colonial America and the Route to Independence. Native American Resistance (Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Tecumseh). The First American Presidents and their politics (the Monroe Doctrine, etc.). American Slavery and the Civil War. The South after the Civil War (e.g. the Reconstruction, the Jim Crow legislation). The Industrial Revolution; Immigration; The Progressive Age. The US in World War I. The Roaring Twenties, the Prohibition and the Great Depression. The US in World War II. The 1950s and the Cold War. The 1960s and 1970s and the Civil Rights Movements. The End of the Cold War and American Society in the New Millenium. Seminar topics: American Myths and Symbols. Early American Texts, Puritanism. Colonial and Revolutionary Literature. Transcendentalism. American Romanticism. American Realism. Turn of the century, transition between Realism and Modernism. American Modernism. The Harlem Renaissance. Beat Literature. The Novel of the 1960s and 1970s. Contemporary American Literature (e.g. literature of immigration, minority literatures). The extent of the face-to-face instruction: 17 lessons/semester
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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Lecture, Seminár, E-learning, Students' self-study
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Learning outcomes
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The course serves as an introduction to the history and culture of the USA. It offers a complex overview of American history and it also focuses on selected key events which are analysed in their political, religious, and economic context. The main emphasis is on comprehending the importance of dominant historical events which shaped American society into how we now know it. The subject also offers an overview of literary and non-literary texts which help students gain a better insight to the selected periods.
A basic overview of the history, culture and literature of the USA.
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Prerequisites
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B2 level of English, successful completion of Culture I: Introduction to Culture and Literature.
KAJ/KU1BE
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Oral exam, Written assignment, Test
It is essential that all students enroll to the course on elearning.tul.cz./Google classroom - links for seminar groups to be provided by respective seminar convenors. Lectures: https://elearning.tul.cz/course/view.php?id=14472 Lectures: participation is not obligatory (knowledge of discussed topics and supplementary materials is students' responsibility), mid-term/end-of-course written tests (to be awarded the credit, students have to achieve 70 % and above, and only then they will be allowed to sit the final oral exam). Active participation in seminars (1 absence is allowed), assignments (to be fulfilled according to instructions and submitted before the set deadline, these can be of different formats and frequency - specified by the particular seminar convenors), oral presentations and oral exam.
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Recommended literature
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Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation, a Concise History of the American People. New York: Overture, 2015.
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Campbell, Neil and Alasdair Kean. American Cultural Studies. An Introduction. New York: Routledge, 2016.
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Gray, Richard. A History of American Literature. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
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Lauter, Paul et al. eds. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Vols. A-E. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2013.
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Panchyk, Richard. Keys to American History. Understanding Our Most Important Historic Documents. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2009.
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Williams, William Carlos. In the American Grain. New York: New Directions, 2009.
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Woodward, C. Vann. The Comparative Approach to American History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
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