The Prague Underground: Youth, Art, and Alternative Culture - YBAU080

• Title: The Prague Underground: Youth, Art, and Alternative Culture
• Guaranteed by: UPCES, CET Courses (24-AJ EXT)
• Faculty: Faculty of Humanities
• Actual: from 2025
• Semester: summer
• E-Credits: 6
• Examination process: summer s.:
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:0/4, MC [HT]
• Capacity: unknown / 2 (2)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: Mgr. Nikola Skladanová; Veronika Havlištová
• Class: Courses available to incoming students

Annotation

This course offers a critical introduction to the key currents of Prague’s alternative and subcultural life, including autonomous venues, graffiti and street art, punk music, political art collectives, human-rights initiatives, and queer cultural festivals. Students will engage with the distinctive legacy of Czech pre-1989 underground culture and trace how samizdat practices evolved into contemporary zine production. ‍ Through seminal readings on the intersections of art and politics, subcultures, and protest movements, the course examines how “alternative” urban lives are formed and sustained in post-industrial society. Particular attention is paid to the political interpretations of youth subversion and to the mechanisms of power that such cultural practices expose or resist. Lectures are complemented by visual materials and field trips to graffiti hotspots, autonomous spaces, and other significant subcultural sites, offering students an embodied understanding of Prague’s dynamic alternative scenes.

Last update: Skladanová Nikola, Mgr. (13.01.2026)

Syllabus

This is one of the courses of the AEP programme (previously UPCES - the Undergraduate Program in Central European Studies); 
the comprehensive information is available at: https://bakalar.fhs.cuni.cz/SHV-211.html or https://fhs.cuni.cz/FHSENG-1016.html. It is designed for US students participating in the programme while Czech and international students of the Faculty of Humanities are welcome to select single courses from the programme.

Students are required to follow the instructions and requirements specified in the course syllabus, available at https://aeprague.org/academic-life/upces-courses-a-z

The AEP coordinators will inform enrolled students where to obtain the reading materials.

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Attendance is mandatory. Regular attendance is necessary in order to get credit and grade.

Courses are scheduled either twice (2x90 min.) or once (1x180 min.) a week in the CERGE-EI classrooms (Politických vězňů 7, Praha 1).

Exam Dates

Winter Semester: beginning of November (midterm exams); before the middle of December (final exams) according to the course syllabus

Summer Semester: end of March / the first half of April (midterm exams); the middle of May (final exams) according to the course syllabus

Last update: Skladanová Nikola, Mgr. (15.01.2026)

Registration requirements

The teaching period in the AEP courses begins on February 16, 2026, according to the schedule of the particular course.

• Enroll in the SIS (registration in the SIS is required before attending the first class) & show up to the course within the first and/or second week (at least) of the AEP teaching period according to the schedule of the course. 

• Students can enrol in up to 2 AEP courses (YBAU coded ones) per semester in total.
• Degree students can attend these courses from the second semester of their studies onwards.
• For students enrolled at other CU Faculties, the AEP courses are available only if the course capacity allows (i.e. not all the places are used by FHS students); thus enrolment cannot be guaranteed in advance. Availability to be checked in the SIS when course registration opens.

Please note:

Organized in cooperation with a partner institution and programme, the capacity in this course might be low.

In order to allow other students to enroll, please do not forget to unregister from all the courses you decide not to take as soon as possible.

Please be aware that regular class attendance is mandatory.

Last update: Skladanová Nikola, Mgr. (15.01.2026)