This course focuses on the tension between the enlightenment and anti-enlightenment elements in Polish artistic and intellectual discourse. The students will study and analyze works by prominent poets, playwrights, visual artists and contemporary film and music makers. The main emphasis will be on the 20th- and 21st-century avant-garde and post-avant-garde artists.
We will discuss the Polish tradition of rebellion (the anarchic tendencies in Polish culture) and its place in the post-modern world. We will analyze issues surrounding the following topics:
- Censorship as a “creative impulse”
- Domestication of counterculture in free and open democratic society
- Post-romantic focus on creativity
- Art as a contemporary form of thinking
- Secular responses to religious promises of perfection
This course addresses a wide range of issues related to the study of history, literature, culture, social and cultural transformations, construction and deconstruction of national, social, and gender mythologies and perceptions. It will focus on responses to the imposition of totalitarian structures and survival within them, responses to historical changes, as well as strategies for constructing national consensus and for dealing with a diversity of ideas and attitudes.
Students will be offered opportunities to enhance their talents for persuasive and expository presentations and to become “intentional” communicators and receivers of communication. Students will be exposed to the full range of human experiences in the face of war, human rights abuses, totalitarian rule, revolution, and political, social, and cultural transformation.
Course Requirements:
- Attendance
- Short participation tests
- Regular short writing assignments (journal)
- Two argumentative essays;
- Final exam.
Intended Audience:
Students seeking to improve their writing skills in a content based environment. Students seeking to broaden their understanding of foundational concepts in high and popular culture and their interaction with politics.
This course welcomes entirely online participation. Section 001 is for students who are able to attend in-person class meetings. Students who are unable to return to campus or be present in person should register for section 002.
Class Format:
Additional meetings may be scheduled via BlueJeans as needed. Grades will be based on take-home writing assignments.