Belarusian literature, culture and language within the space of centuries I 3221-34SL31S

Working at the seminar will take place in two stages. The first part of the course (approx. 10 hours) will be devoted to theoretical preparation of students to write undergraduate work. During the course students will acquire the technical knowledge necessary to construct a self-written work (the principle of the creation of footnotes and references, methods of use of sources, the basic rules to create storyboards, the essence of the query library, etc.). Knowledge gained by the students will be used when writing self-studies of selected research papers (articles, books), then subjected to a public discussion with other students. They will also learn basic literary, linguistic and culture subjects that can be used for independent study.
The second part of the course will be devoted to substantive preparation for writing the work of undergraduate and gettink to know particular areas and directions of development of modern Belarusian studies. Activities will include three main thematic blocks related to literary, linguistics and cultural studies.
Substantive literary preparation will consist of the presentation of individual monographs and comparative topics, and also discussion over issues such as periodization of Belarusian literature (with particular emphasis on literary periods from the beginning of the twentieth century: a period of "Nasha Niva", interwar, war and occupation literature, the great Belarusian prose od 1950's, works of "Tutejshi" generation and generation of Bum-Bam-Litm), the Polish-Belarusian literature relations (Filomats and Filarets activity, the position of Adam Mickiewicz in the Belarusian literary discourse, the influence of Polish positivists on the formation of Belarusian prose, the Polish-Belarusian and Belarusian- Polish translational contacts ), the state of research on the work of the main representatives of Belarusian literature (the main cross-sectional studies - for example, "Historya Belaruskay litaratury dvatstsataha stahoddhia", "Shypshynavy kray", monographic works, bibliographic works, major research centers and the main literary researchers).
Linguistic Preparation will include: nature and method of description of language (diachronic and synchronic approach, the subsystems of language), the characteristics of Belarusian language (the free and floating accent akannie, yakannie, dhekannie, tsekannie, long consonants et al. Coexistence and interdependence of the two systems of spelling), the major issues of lexicography and related sciences (lexemes classification, basic phraseology, etymology, onomastics and semantics), the state of research on different areas of Belarusian linguistics (Polish contribution to the study of Belarusian language - studies created in Warsaw and other centers of research, basic Belarusian language grammar , the main fields of research, principal researchers of Belarusian language).
During cultural preparation, students learn about: cultural implications of Belarusian folklore (folk influence on contemporary theater, music and art, the role of the rural environment on the formation of the Belarusian culture - also in sociological terms, the separateness of the Belarusian folklore), the main phenomena of contemporary Belarus (the ambivalence of contemporary culture , development and status of Belarusian media, cultural links with the policy), the state of research on the culture of Belarus (the main scientific publications and major representatives of this science, the role of journalism and sociological research in the development of Belarusian culture studies).
Within classes, students will be obliged to work independently on selected scientific texts (scientific articles, books and student self-development work from previous years) and the presentation of the effects of this work (summaries, reviews) to others.