Cultural Codes of Europe 4003-EU-L36-EKK
The course introduces students to the issue of European culture understood as a network of meanings shared within a community. The classes demonstrate that Europe is not only a political or geographical construct, but also a set of recognisable patterns of life, places, institutions and practices which, although regionally differentiated, constitute a certain cultural and civilizational whole. The course examines how various forms of European collective life generate cultural codes which, in turn, shape European imagination and identity. During the course, attention will also be given to contemporary disputes and conflicts of cultural codes in Europe, related to historical memory, colonial legacies, and arising from current crises as well as debates on the future of Europe.
The course combines analytical and workshop-based approaches: alongside theoretical issues, primary emphasis is placed on working with examples (cultural texts, visual materials and artefacts, media messages) and on discussion. The aim of the course is to equip students with tools for identifying and critically describing European cultural codes, as well as to develop competencies in the conscious presentation of Polish heritage within the broader European context.
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge
Students are able to identify different levels of European cultural codes.
1. Students are familiar with basic concepts related to cultural analysis (including cultural code, cultural heritage, symbol, collective memory, imagined community) and is able to indicate their application to various aspects of European culture.
2. Students possess structured knowledge of selected cultural codes functioning in Europe.
3. Students are familiar with selected examples of European places, events, institutions and practices that function as symbols or “hallmarks” of Europe.
4. Students know the main areas and examples of the contribution of Polish culture to European cultural heritage and to the formation and functioning of European cultural codes.
5. Students understand the historical causes of contemporary disputes and conflicts over memory and cultural heritage in Europe.
Skills
Students acquire skills related to the identification and interpretation of European cultural codes on the basis of selected examples.
1.Students are able to identify, situate historically and analyse selected European cultural codes present in cultural texts, in public space and in institutional practices in Europe.
2. Students can interpret symbols, rituals and everyday practices from a comparative perspective, indicating similarities and differences between various parts of Europe.
3. Students are able to identify and discuss the contribution of Polish culture to the shared European heritage and its functioning within European cultural codes.
4. Students can outline the historical context of contemporary disputes and conflicts over memory codes in Europe.
5. Students are able to formulate coherent, well-argued oral and written statements on European cultural codes, drawing on basic scholarly literature and source materials.
Social competences
Upon completion of the seminar, students deepen their social competences.
1. Student are able to formulate independent opinions on the basis of the knowledge acquired during the course.
2. Sudents are able to articulate their position in debates concerning current phenomena and transformations in culture and in memory politics in Europe.
3. Students are able to participate constructively in discussion and to listen attentively to the contributions of other participants.
Assessment criteria
Grading requirements: attendance in class (max. 2 absences), current preparation for class, i.e. knowledge of the readings for each class, activity in class, presentation of a speech on one of the topics proposed by the lecturer.
Student workload:
classroom hours – 30 h
preparation for the course and for the presentation – 30 h
total – 60 h
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: