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The Czech Studies Program at the University of Florida was founded in 2005.
It is a part of the Center for European Studies and the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies.
The program focuses on language, culture, politics and society of the contemporary Czech Republic.
At the same time, the curriculum of courses is designed to provide students with excellent language
skills, which should prepare them for independent study in their area of specialization, for the
study in the Czech Republic as well as for other practical and professional use of Czech.
In Milan Kundera’s words, “[t]he entire story of this nation, evolving from democracy, Fascist
subjugation, Stalinism and socialism (amplified by its unique ethnic problem), includes all the
essential features which make the 20th century what it is … In this century this nation has
experienced probably more than many other nations and, assuming that its genie has remained alive,
it probably knows more. This greater knowledge might transform itself into an emancipating
transgression of existing boundaries …” (excerpt from Milan Kundera’s speech at the 4th Writers’
Congress in 1967). What is here evoked by “transgression of existing boundaries” is a return
of the Czech nation to Europeanism. The strong ties of the Czech nation to other countries of
the European Union are traditionally seen in the similarities in their economic, political,
cultural and spiritual developments, reaching all the way back to Antiquity, Christianity,
Reformation, Renaissance and Enlightment up to the society of today.
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September 13, 4pmColloquium - Jonathan Bolton, Harvard University,
title TBA. |
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