Courses

Countercultures in Late Socialist Central Europe

Winter, 2023/24 AY

Instructor: Balázs Trencsényi

The course offers an introduction into the major trends in the theory of sub-cultures and countercultures and an overview of the main developments in East-Central Europe from the 1960s to the post-communist transition. It seeks to offer a synoptic view of the developments in these countries, focusing on the alternative musical scene in the sense of a Gesamtkunstwerk, i.e. analyzing its complex linkages to other art branches, especially alternative theatre and performance art, film, and literature. The course intends to place these movements into their respective socio-cultural settings, paying attention to both the local political and artistic contexts and traditions but also the trans-national cultural mediation of styles and ideas. It will tackle questions like the emergence of generational sub-cultures, the relationship of Samizdat/opposition groups and the art sub-cultures, the reconstruction of contemporary aesthetic and sociological debates on counter-culture, or the “ethnic revivals” of the 1970s and 1980s. I have offered this course, co-directed with Balázs Trencsényi already a few times in the past decade, concentrating each time on a different field (music, theatre, film, avantgarde art, secret service observation). Balázs Trencsényi has accepted to be a guest at a few seminars and we will also have some other external participants from Vienna.

See more: https://courses.ceu.edu/courses/2023-2024/countercultures-late-socialist...

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Countercultures in Late Socialist Central Europe

Winter, 2022/23 AY

Instructor: Gábor Klaniczay

The course offers an introduction into the major trends in the theory of sub-cultures and countercultures and an overview of the main developments in East-Central Europe from the 1960s to the post-communist transition. It seeks to offer a synoptic view of the developments in these countries, focusing on the alternative musical scene in the sense of a Gesamtkunstwerk, i.e. analyzing its complex linkages to other art branches, especially alternative theatre and performance art, film, and literature. The course intends to place these movements into their respective socio-cultural settings, paying attention to both the local political and artistic contexts and traditions but also the trans-national cultural mediation of styles and ideas. It will tackle questions like the emergence of generational sub-cultures, the relationship of Samizdat/opposition groups and the art sub-cultures, the reconstruction of contemporary aesthetic and sociological debates on counter-culture, or the “ethnic revivals” of the 1970s and 1980s. I have offered this course, co-directed with Balázs Trencsényi already a few times in the past decade, concentrating each time on a different field (music, theatre, film, avantgarde art, secret service observation). Balázs Trencsényi has accepted to be a guest at a few seminars and we will also have some other external participants from Vienna.

See more: https://courses.ceu.edu/courses/2022-2023/countercultures-late-socialist-central-europe

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Counter-Cultures and Power During State Socialism -1960-1990

Winter, 2015/2016 AY
Instructors: Balázs Trencsényi, Gábor Klaniczay and Ioana Macrea-Toma
The course, combined with a guest lecture series, offers an introduction into the relationship of different alternative (sub)cultural movements and state power in East-Central Europe from the 1960s to the post-communist transition. It also seeks to offer a synoptic view of the developments in the region, analyzing its complex linkages of various art branches, especially alternative theatre and performance art, rock music, film, and literature. The course intends to tackle questions like the emergence of generational sub-cultures, the relationship of Samizdat/opposition groups and the art sub-cultures, the reconstruction of contemporary aesthetic and sociological debates on counter-culture, or the "ethnic revivals" of the 1970s. Along these lines, we will explore both the strategies of these movements to carve out a space for themselves in the "grey zones" of these regimes, but also the strategies of the power-holders who tried to control, manage, and manipulate these sub-cultures. The material of the course is based on a mixture of historical reconstruction based on archival research and inviting former participants and theorists of these movements as exercises of "oral history". Going beyond the analysis of already existing research, the class is also intended to generate new primary research, especially collecting and comparing materials from the region. Importantly, we will also focus on the theoretical questions of the ways these "primary materials" can be interpreted and used for historical research. The lectures and discussions are supplemented with film screenings organized by the Center for Arts and Culture.
See more http://history.ceu.edu/courses/counter-cultures-and-power-during-state-socialism-1960-1990
See also the lectures of the course that are open to public: http://pasts.ceu.edu/article/2016-02-04/counter-cultures-and-power-during-state-socialism

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European Labor History in Global Context from the 18th Century to the Present
Winter, 2014/2015
Instructors: Marsha Siefert and Susan Zimmermann
This course explores the history of labor from a global and transnational perspective. Lectures will highlight important debates that have emerged in the field of labor history, with an emphasis on the concepts and categories that have been interrogated and challenged in twenty-first century scholarship. There will be an emphasis on themes that directly affect Eastern Europe, as part of the History Department's initiative aimed at bringing Eastern Europe into, and in this way influencing, research on global labor history.

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History Politics in Eastern, Central and South-Eastern Europe
Winter, 2012/2013

The course featured 12 lectures, conducted by CEU faculty.
The task of the course was to provide students with knowledge of most important recent literature on history politics, to develop critical understanding of key analytical issues – the role of various actors and institutions in implementation of history politics, relative significance of domestic and international aspects of history politics, ideological foundations and justifications of political use of history, the role of professional historians in history politics and professional challenges which emerge in this context, and to develop comparative perspective on political use of history in the countries of the region(s) and student’s skills in discussing ideological and political conflicts linked to history politics.

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Space and Science II: Power, Networks and the Circulation of Knowledge the 16th-19th Centuries (European and Global Perspectives)
Winter, 2009/2010
Instructor: László Kontler
This is a PhD course open to MA students as well. This course addresses aspects of the hegemony of a part of Europe over the rest of the continent and the world during much of modern history. Among the criteria for conceptualizing and representing this hegemony, preoccupation will be with variables in the production and circulation of scientific knowledge.

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Approaches to Counter-Cultural Movements in East-Central Europe, 1960-1990
Winter, 2009/2010
Instructor: Balázs Trencsényi
The course, combined with a guest lecture series, offers an introduction into the major trends in the theory of sub-culture and an overview of the main developments in East-Central Europe from the 1960s to the post-communist transition. It seeks to offer a synoptic view of the developments in these countries, focusing on the alternative musical scene in the sense of a Gesamtkunstwerk, i.e. analyzing its complex linkages to other art branches, especially alternative theatre and performance art, film, and literature.

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Cities, Culture, Creativity: European cities as centers of culture
Fall, 2008/2009
Instructor: Markian Prokopovych
MA course, bringing together different aspects of urban and cultural history and providing the students both with the classical works (mainly discussed in the seminar) and the latest achievements in the field.

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Approaches to Counter-Cultural Movements in East-Central Europe, 1980-1990
Winter, 2008/2009
Coordinator: Gábor Klaniczay and Balazs Trencsenyi
Guest lecture series, organized as part of a graduate course, an introduction into the major trends in the theory of sub-culture and an overview of the main developments in East-Central Europe from the 1960s to the post-communist transition.

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Space and science: power, networks and the circulation of knowledge in the 16th-19th centuries (European and global perspectives)
Winter, 2006/2007
MA/PhD seminar with guest speakers.
Instructors: Laszló Kontler and Zsuzsanna Török
Based on recent scholarship that contests simplistic assumptions about the 'uniqueness' and 'universality' of 'Western' science/knowledge, in this seminar and lecture series we approach the putative 'superiority,' 'primacy,' and 'centrality' of a part of Europe as an uneven and contingent process, whose shifting criteria over the centuries have yet to be defined.

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Approaching the Humanities
Fall, 2004/2005
MA Course (open to Ph.D. students) accommodating the Jan Comenius Lectures on the Humanities, delivered by Hayden White. Course Director: Sorin Antohi (CEU). Instructors: Sorin Antohi (CEU), Hayden White (Stanford University), and the panelists from the international conference, Historical Studies: Disciplines and Discourses".

The Jan Comenius Lectures on the Humanities
Fall, 2004/2005
The lectures were also the core of the MA course (open to PhD students), Approaching the Humanities, in cooperation with the History Department.

The Ioan Petru Culianu Lectures on Religion
Fall, 2003/2004
The lecture series was the core of a PhD course, Approaching Religion, (link to CEU courses Approaching Religion), in cooperation with the History Department and the Jewish Studies Program.

The René Wellek Lectures on Literature
Winter, 2003/2004, 2004/2005
The lecture series was the core of a PhD course, Approaching Literature, organized in cooperation with the History Department and the Department of Gender Studies.