Kulturní dějiny II seminář
Osnova sekce
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Colonial beginnings: Anglo-Saxon North America
PŘÍPRAVA (na další setkání):
- questions pending from our first session:
1/ What does the concept of New England stand for today?
2/ What exactly is said about God in the one poem and a piece of another, by Anne Bradstreet? What do (posted below the metaphor/s in the 1st two lines of "O Bubble blast..." mean?
- read the ppt "North America in the 18th century" (posted below in study materials of this first week), prepare questions about anything unclear in it and/or comments about aspects that are worth mentioning in relation to it: The ppts posted on this MOODLE page contain basic facts and you are supposed to research them further...
- read : “The Speech of Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim” by Benjamin Franklin. Prepare one question for the class about it - about anything unclear in its sense, in facts it contains, about possible interpretation/s. E.g. at https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N20581.0001.001/1:34?rgn=div1;view=fulltext
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North America in the 18th century. Benjamin Franklin - : “The Speech of Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim”
PŘÍPRAVA:
- read The Declaration of Independence, 1776 (find the link to the copy we´ll discuss in the ppt about North America - 18c., above). Pay close attention to the preamble so that you are able to interpret its meanings in your own English words. Choose two from the accusations in the list following the preamble, get their exact sense (with the help of dictionaries and other sources) and be ready to explain them in your own English (or Czech) words.
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The Declaration of Independence, 1776
PŘÍPRAVA:
- read the essay "Self-Reliance" (1841) by Ralph Waldo Emerson (accessible on the internet). On the basis of your own understanding, choose 1-2 passages from it which you´ll be able to interpret in your own words. Be ready to share the chosen passages on screen with the class. If you hesitate in interpretation, prepare one concrete question for the class.
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Transcendentalism. R. Waldo Emerson: Self-Reliance.
PŘÍPRAVA:
- read the ppt "The South" (see below); prepare comments, questions about it, research facts that are not explained in depth - be ready to share some of these with the class
- read a short story by Richard Wright, "Big Boy Leaves Home" (from Uncle Tom´s Children, 1938): http://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR/w_right.html
Prepare written notes on the theme, the plot, the language of the narrative (of the narrator, of the characters).
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The South. Civil Rights Movement. "Big Boy Leaves Home"
PŘÍPRAVA:
- The Progressive Era (see ppt and the Word document below)
- What happened in relation with the Progressive Era, and/or followed after it in the US modern history up to the present? This task is open to your own interests and research. Prepare 7-minute short presentations based on written notes or other document forms that you´ll be able to share with the class on screen. If there´s not time for your presentation, please be ready to submit it in writing to me, into MS teams (see "Zadání").
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The Progressive Era: discussion based on the study material (see above), and presentations about facts, situations and happenings in modern US history up to now.