College of Liberal Arts & SciencesUniversity of Florida

Current Courses


EUS 4932/EUS 6932: Capitalism in Europe After 1945

This course is devoted to the analysis of the political economy of Europe after the Second World War. In Europe more so than in the US, post-war capitalism has been built on a compromise between capital and labor, and the effects of markets have been mitigated by generous welfare states and sizable public sectors. In recent decades, this European model of capitalism has however come under stress. The end of the cold war, globalization, the spread of neoliberalism and the current crisis of the Eurozone spell a more liberal and uncertain future of capitalism in Europe. This course traces the domestic and international origins of the European model of capitalism, takes stock of its major institutions, introduces its national varieties, and analyzes the recent challenges to which it has been exposed.

For more information, please contact the instructor(s): Dorothee Bohle, Sheryl Kroen

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EUS 3110: Norse Myth and/on Film

The purpose of this course is twofold. It utilizes film to introduce and explore Norse myth, while at the same time utilizing knowledge of the forms and practices of Norse myth to undertake archaeological readings of modern and contemporary cinema.

Firstly, then, it is an examination of screen adaptations of original texts of Norse mythology, as well as period films and films drawing on the culture of the Viking Age. We will screen films originating from both in and out of Hollywood and ranging in subject from comic-book style action-adventure to Scandinavian art-house works. We will also augment our viewing with close readings of primary texts in translation, investigations of material culture, and reconstructions of ritual practices. Methodologically, we will utilize film to develop a sense of Norse myth not as a single, coherent and unified tradition, but as a constantly evolving, flexible network of meanings and strategies for negotiating wealth, power, and identity and able thereby to respond creatively to distinct historical situations.

Secondly, this course seeks to identify and assess the functions of cinematic representations of Norse mythology within the cultures of modern and contemporary Europe and North America. In addition to films, selected material in other media - Romantic painting, Wagnerian opera, and contemporary Scandinavian metal music - will be discussed as well. This second component of the course seeks to answer the question: what do Viking themes permit films to do, in other words, what areas of contemporary culture are mobilized and spoken of in films drawing on Norse material? Accordingly, the course is divided into five separate thematic units:

  1. irony & masculine anxiety
  2. realism, history, and the politics of individualism
  3. sorcery, ecology, and gender
  4. cultures in contact
  5. music, modernity, and national identity

Methodologically, we will seek not to establish any simple continuities between the mythology of the late Scandinavian Iron Age and contemporary First World cultures, but to identify the transformations which occur in structure, meaning, and form as older stories are adapted for the conceptualization, dramatization, and imagining of new global realities.

For more information, please contact the instructor: Christopher Caes

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EUH 3330/EUS 3930:
 History of Central and East-Central Europe in the 18th and 19th Centuries,
 From the Division of Poland to the Fall of the Habsburg Monarchy

In this course we will study the multiethnic dynastic state from its formation through its revitalization under Maria Theresa, conservative retrenchment under Metternich, and the challenge of nationalism from its peoples, to Austro-Hungary's collapse in World War I.

It fulfills the requirements for Gordon Rule, Historical and Philosophical Studies (H) and International studies and Diversity (I). This course examines the political and cultural history of the Habsburg Monarchy, a multiethnic, religiously diverse empire in the heart of Europe. The area studied comprised present-day Austria, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary, Croatia, and Slovenia, and parts of Poland, Romania, Serbia and Italy. The Habsburgs were a Catholic dynasty, but their peoples included Protestants, Orthodox, Jews, and Muslims.

For more information, please contact the instructor: Dr. Alice Freifeld

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EUS 4930/SYD 4701: Nationalism and Ethnicity in Europe

This course satisfies three credits of (S) Social and Behavioral Sciences Education. In this course, students will learn the theoretical and conceptual frameworks used by sociologists to understand the role played by national and ethnic identities. Furthermore, students will learn how basic societal processes and structures affect nationalism and ethnicity, and, reciprocally, how changes in nationalism and ethnicity impact various aspects in society. The first objective of this class is to introduce students to a variety of approaches and perspectives that explain nationalism and ethnicity. The second objective is to analyze select cases of national identity and ethnic conflict in contemporary Europe, both West and East. We will look at several important theoretical problems (for example, the modernity of nationalism/national identity as a factor in state formation and dissolution/secession; ethnic politics and conflict management; the post-1989 national contexts and the enlargement of the European Union further East; citizenship issues and the challenges of large-scale migration) and case studies (e.g., regionalisms in Spain; Muslim minorities in Europe; the dismemberment of communist ethno-federations and the process of identity formation in the successor states; the Romany community as a trans-national European people lacking a country of their own). Regarding specific learning outcomes for this course, by the end of this class, students will be able to: (a) identify the main themes in the broad literature of nationalism and ethnicity; (b) make the connection between theoretical debates and recent problems of nationalism and ethnicity; (c) understand how American and European scholarly research articulates the dynamics of nationalism and ethnicity; and (d), distinguish among the varieties of nationalism and ethnic politics in contemporary European states and their role in carving out an identity.

This course also satisfies three credits of (N) International General Education. Students will be instructed on the values, attitudes and norms of European countries, which will lead to an understanding of how geographic location and socioeconomic forces impact the cultures in which nationalism and ethnicity are embedded into. Through a comparative understanding and analysis of the prevalent American values and norms in relation to those held by the Europeans, students will be able to develop a cross-cultural understanding of an increasingly globalizing world. Thus, we will see that Europe is a colorful mosaic of peoples, of which some constitute the dominant majority within a country and others are ethnic/regional/continental minorities, and that national and ethnic identities are not immutable (although "nation-states" are commonly conceived as 'hard historical facts'). During the past two decades, Europe has witnessed fratricidal wars in the former Yugoslavia and Republic of Moldova, a continent-wide resurgence of nationalist discourses, the enlargement of the European Union to a part which was once its nemesis, a rise in xenophobic attacks against immigrants and ethnic minorities, and increasingly vocal minority populations aiming at statehood. Overall, the readings of this course will demonstrate how nationalism and ethnicity interact in the making of 'new Europe.' We will see that a formidable challenge in approaching nationalism and ethnicity in Europe, the United States, or elsewhere, lies in the definition of the terms: whereas for some the two are extremist ideologies of irredentism and secession, for others they function as political vehicles toward clearly-established purposes. The starting premise, therefore, is that nationalism and ethnicity refer to the unique or distinct identity of a particular group of people, especially with respect to common cultural experiences, and the ability to separate them from other people. Learning outcomes for this course include: (a) helping students understand the changing context that is commonly employed in the identification and evaluation of ethnicities and nationalisms in Europe; (b) helping students assess the relevancy of the formal sociological (and scholarly) perspectives on nationalism and ethnicity with their own evaluations of these phenomena; and (c) helping students understand the diverse patterns of national and/or ethnic identity among European peoples.

For more information, please contact the instructor: Alin Ceobanu

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CPO 3614/EUS 3930: East European Politics

This course aims to provide the students with a survey of communist regimes and post-communist evolutions in Eastern Europe, from WWII up to the present day. Since the region transformed itself a lot in the past twenty years, for instance it changed from 9 nation-states before 1989 to 27 today, we will not cover the entire range of cases in this course. Instead, we will focus in detail on a few cases, East Central Europe, the Balkans, and 3 post-Soviet republics - Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, and will address the broader themes specific to comparative politics.

The course is divided into 3 sections:

  1. First, we will delve into the core characteristics and differences of the communist regimes - this way, for instance, you will understand why I, as a Romanian, have a rather negative perspective on what Communism meant, while someone from former Czechoslovakia, Poland, or Hungary may (?) spend a moment trying to assess the regime with a positive eye. In addition, we will consider the 1989 events, where various terms such as 'transitions from below', 'transitions from above', 'revolutions', 'transformation' will be used to distinguish between various regime changes in the region.
  2. The second part will cover in detail a couple of regional patters that we notice across the region. Here we will examine the political and economic developments in particular cases, with the goal of assessing differences within the post-communist region. We will notice that, despite the unique communist legacies, the region differs greatly in terms of "successful" economic, political, and social transformations.
  3. The last part is focused on thematic issues across the regions that are important to comparative politics more broadly. Major themes covered in the last part will consist of EU accession, democratization and political participation, economic development, institutional design and parties, and fringe politics.

For more information, please contact the instructor: Magda Giurcanu

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RUS 4905:
 Subversive Russian Fiction: Chukovskaya's Tale of Political Terror

This one-credit FLAC offering can be taken either independently, or concurrently with my General Education course, "Violence and Terror in the Russian Experience" (RUT 3503), which the FLAC offering will complement and reinforce. Thus part of the assigned readings for the Gen Ed course, taught in English translation, will be offered in the accompanying FLAC course in the original Russian. While the Gen Ed course focuses on literary and cultural dimensions, the one-credit FLAC course will devote more attention to the "letter" of the selected texts or, in other words, its linguistic details and nuances in the original language of Russian.

The broader thematic title of the proposed FLAC course, "Subversive Russian Fiction," provides a convenient general framework for the many well-known examples of socially critical, dissident, or otherwise oppositionist Russian literary classics that proved controversial and in many cases unpublishable, either in their own time or subsequently. Virtually all of the texts selected for "Violence and Terror in the Russian Experience," for example, exposed tyranny, injustice or destruction in Russian society in a manner that led to censorship and repression.

The text selected for my proposed FLAC course, Lidia Chukovskaya's story Sofia Petrovna, is a quintessential example of subversive Russian fiction, and one particularly suited for the goals and methods of foreign-language acquisition. Based on a true incident in the author's own experience, Sofia Petrovna describes the deep anxiety, suspicion and fear generated by the mass arrests during Stalin's Great Terror, which resulted in one of the largest waves of mass murder of a citizenry by its own state in modern world history. The Russian text of the story engages the reader not only thematically, but also linguistically, thanks to its use of predominantly everyday, conversational language of the first-person narrator to convey events and developments. Although completed in 1940, for obvious reasons Chukovskaya's revelations about Stalin's terror remained unknown and "underground" until well after Stalin's death. Since 1988, however, when it was finally made legally available to readers in Russia, Sofia Petrovna has become one of the most popular and widely read fictional works of the Stalin period.

For more information, please contact the instructor: James Goodwin

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RUT 3503: Violence and Terror in the Russian Experience

This course will examine the representation of violence and terror in well-known works of Russian literature and visual art (fiction, essays, historical narratives, images and films). Readings, viewings, lectures and class discussions will explore important episodes in the Russian experience, including:

  • the struggle to build and secure a Russian state
  • popular resistance against autocratic tyranny
  • the Bolshevik (Communist) revolution of 1917
  • the Russian civil war of 1918-21
  • Stalin's Great Terror against his citizenry in the late 1930s
  • World War II and Russia's "Cold War" with the west
  • the revival of ethnic separatism and nationalist extremism in post-Communist Russia

For more information, please contact the instructor: James Goodwin

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ENG 4133/EUS 4930: Youth in European Cinema

Children, teenagers, and young adults have always been a central preoccupation in European filmmaking. The course "Youth in European Cinema" will focus on recent European films that prominently feature youthful perspectives and allegorically address young European citizens during crucial transitional moments in European history. Cinematic depictions of youngsters will be explored as representational devices for processing and coping with turbulent sociopolitical situations, cultural concerns, and ethical crises in contemporary Europe. The theme of youth will provide a starting point for interdisciplinary inquiry regarding "the capacity of film to represent different aspects of history, and potentially to explore dimensions which are beyond written history," as Roger Hillman has argued. In addition, cinematic youth will motivate discussion on past and present opportunities offered to young people in Europe, and invite students to assess some of the initiatives available in the contexts of inter-European relations and globalization.

The course will analyze recent films in which the aesthetics of youth function as unapologetic political satire, inject pacifist messages into grave situations, exude a feeling of nostalgia, challenge and/or solidify collective memory, help cope with national trauma, and/or project Utopian visions of past and future histories. The focus will be on influential and controversial European youth films that have managed to transcend their "entertainment" value and spark debate through their metacinematic reflexivity. To navigate the complexities of these films, the course will begin by introducing cinematic subgenres that revolve around child development and upbringing (such as coming-of-age narratives and teenpics), in order to discover the ways these motifs create tropes for issues that extend beyond the realm of the cinematic.

Please be aware that some of the assigned films and readings deal with controversial topics and contain graphic subject matter. Students are asked to keep an open mind and be respectful of others' opinions at all times.

For more information, please contact the instructor: Marina Hassapopoulou

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ARC 4930/EUS 4930: Architecture & Modernism: The Theory of the Surface Mine

The intent of the course is to examine the role of the all-sided façade of the 20th century through the thematic study of the surface mine, a theoretical condition of architecture where there is no distinction between side, geometry, or unit; surface becomes both monumental to the point of inescapability yet essential to its creation. The course is interdisciplinary in approach, combining architectural analysis with cultural history, theory, and digital design techniques to develop a more comprehensive view of the surface mine. Students will investigate the social, political, material, technological, and cultural aspects of the surface mine and the significance of its global environment. Special attention is given to the analysis of Utopian architectures in the state of regression found in Central, Northern, and Eastern European countries.

For more information, please contact the instructor: Kimberly Nofal

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CZE 1131: Introduction to Czech Language & Culture 2

CZE 1131 is the second semester of UF's two-semester elementary Czech sequence. This course aims to develop your communicative abilities in Czech - reading, writing, listening and speaking - while acquainting you with various aspects of Czech life. Whether your interest in Czech is social, academic or professional, knowledge of the Czech language will enrich your interaction with Czechs and Czech culture. After this semester, you be able to converse with Czechs about your daily life, opinions, and interests. You will also gain the skills and strategies to begin studying sources related to your academic or professional interests.

Since UF offers study abroad opportunities in the Czech Republic, you can continue your study of Czech here or overseas. UF's new International Studies major or minor and certificate programs in East Central European Studies will also allow you to combine your interest in Czech with a number of disciplines.

For more information, please contact the instructor: Holly Raynard

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CZE 2201: Intermediate Czech II

Vítám vás zpátky! [Welcome back!] This course is intended for students who have studied Czech at the college level for three semesters or who have spent a significant amount of time interacting in Czech (i.e., with family members in the U.S. or while living abroad). In this class you will increase vocabulary, solidify knowledge of Czech grammar, and refine all four skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) while exploring central issues of Czech culture. This semester you will also be introduced to the standards of written and colloquial Czech, and, schedule permitting, you'll have a brief overview of Slovak (in comparison to Czech) in the last week of class. We will use traditional textbooks and prepared materials as well as a great deal of authentic materials (internet, film, print sources) to sharpen your communicative abilities as well as your cultural proficiency; you will interview Czechs (and Slovaks) as part of your assigned work.

After completing the second-year sequence, you will be able to communicate comfortably in Czech about various topics from everyday life, read numerous authentic materials like news articles, literature and understand many song lyrics and dialogue from contemporary film.

For more information, please contact the instructor: Holly Raynard

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ENG 4110/EUS 3100:
 Eurotrip: Road Movie, Narrative Journey & Cross-Cultural Traffic

Like its American predecessor, the European road film has typically served as a powerful vehicle for cultural criticism, personal introspection and transformation. Yet the European map - replete with national borders, linguistic differences and imposing barriers like the Berlin Wall - hardly evokes the "open road" of America's mythical frontier, where a traveler can venture some 3000 miles without waiting for a train connection; consulting a foreign phrasebook; or obtaining passports, visas and police permission to travel. Migration, deportations, social inequity and discriminatory laws have further complicated the notion of European mobility even as globalizing forces seem to promise increased cross-cultural traffic. In sum, European travel narratives offer a new perspective on the journey as such and the cultural issues engaged by travelers. This course will explore Europe's dynamic cultural terrain from the 1950s to the present as it maps the essential coordinates of European travel and the road genre as such.

For more information, please contact the instructor: Holly Raynard

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CZE 3401/EUS 3938:
 Least Commonly Taught European Languages: Advanced Czech

Vítám vás zpátky! [Welcome back!] This course is intended for students who have studied Czech at the college level for three semesters or who have spent a significant amount of time interacting in Czech (i.e., with family members in the U.S. or while living abroad). In this class you will increase vocabulary, solidify knowledge of Czech grammar, and refine all four skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) while exploring central issues of Czech culture. This semester you will also be introduced to the standards of written and colloquial Czech, and, schedule permitting, you'll have a brief overview of Slovak (in comparison to Czech) in the last week of class. We will use traditional textbooks and prepared materials as well as a great deal of authentic materials (internet, film, print sources) to sharpen your communicative abilities as well as your cultural proficiency; you will interview Czechs (and Slovaks) as part of your assigned work.

After completing the second-year sequence, you will be able to communicate comfortably in Czech about various topics from everyday life, read numerous authentic materials like news articles, literature and understand many song lyrics and dialogue from contemporary film.

For more information, please contact the instructor: Holly Raynard

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EUH 3931/EUS 3930:
 Ethnicity, Migration, Identity: Turks and Islam in Europe and the U.S.

This course offers an understanding of Turks and Islam in the West by focusing on the Turkish migration, a transnational agency that has linked the Turkish World to Europe and the United States. It is divided into three parts: introduction to migration studies, the making of migrant communities, and contacts and conflicts between immigrants and host nations. Throughout the course, the following topics will be covered: the rise of anti-Turkism and Islamophobia, the status of Turks and Muslims in Germany, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, and the legal treatment of these migrants in broader Europe and in the United States. Discussions will address major questions including, were Turkish migrants transplanted or acculturated? To what extent have they been assimilated? In what ways do Turks reconstruct collective identity and manifest Islamist religiosity in European and American contexts?

In addition to secondary sources, the course presents a range of primary source materials such as documentaries and archival papers. This will allow students to reinvent historical, social, and cultural roots of Turkish and Muslim presence in the West. It will also help them develop skills in research and writing, and will serve as an introduction to further study in European, Turkish, and Migration Studies.

The course is a general introductory survey with no prerequisites. Therefore, all Arts and Sciences students are welcome. The instructor will accommodate Science students coming to their first Arts course.

For more information, please contact the instructor: Emrah Sahin

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EUS 4213/POS 4931: Turkey and the European Union

Attempts by Turkey to become a member of the European Union (EU) began in the 1960s and continue to this day. The slow progress is often attributed to cultural concerns over Turkish religion and culture held by segments of European societies. These debates have led to increasing contestation over exactly what it is to be European and a member of the European Union. Further analysis reveals that while cultural elements are important, there are other issues or dimensions that contribute to Turkish prospects of acceding (joining the EU). For instance, Turkish political history since the 1960s has done little to build the confidence of European leaders that Turkey would be a stable member. More recently, major policy disagreements regarding Cyprus, Kurdish rights, and the status of the military all serve to slow the advance of Turkish membership. Setbacks aside, Turkey has advanced to the final stages of the accession process and has seen massive and rapid policy and constitution reform to meet European demands, particularly post-2000. There is at once reason for optimism and concern. The goal of this class is to understand the nature of the accession process generally, and the debates around Turkish accession specifically from both Turkish and European perspectives and to analyse how the accession process has influenced the operation of both. Some of the questions that this course will address towards these ends are.

  • How do we define Europe? Where does it end? Start?
  • What have been the traditional antagonisms between European and Ottoman/Turkish leaders and societies prior to Turkey's attempt to join the EU?
  • How do different cultural, economic, and political factors contribute to the pace and trajectory of the accession process?
  • How does Turkish accession compare to previous accession rounds? What factors are unique, which are similar?
  • How would the European Union with Turkey as member function differently than it does now? Similarly, would Turkish political, economic, and social conditions be significantly different if they were not attempting to join the European Union?
  • Would Turkey joining be a positive or a negative impetus for greater European integration?
  • To what extent do Turkish and European citizens want accession to occur?
  • To what extent is religion a salient and important factor in accession negotiations?

The course starts by attempting to situate the discussion over Turkish accession within a broader historical context of the relationship between European states on the one hand and the Ottoman/Turkish state on the other. Following this, the history of Turkish accession will be examined from both actors' perspectives and in comparison to the accession process for previous enlargement rounds. This section of the course will identify the relevant interests, identities, and institutions that frame the accession process as well as general arguments for and against membership from EU and Turkish perspectives. Finally, the course will also focus on the impact that this process has had on political, economic, and social factors in the EU and Turkey.

For more information, please contact the instructor: Tristan Vellinga

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