Eurovision: Contemporary European History through Popular Culture - JTM503

• Anglický název: Eurovision: Contemporary European History through Popular Culture
• Český název: Eurovize: soudobé evropské dějiny očima populární kultury
• Zajišťuje: Katedra německých a rakouských studií (23-KNRS)
• Fakulta: Fakulta sociálních věd
• Platnost: od 2022
• Semestr: zimní
• E-Kredity: 6
• Způsob provedení zkoušky: zimní s.:
• Rozsah, examinace: zimní s.:1/1, Zk [HT]
• Počet míst: 16 / neurčen (neurčen)
• Minimální obsazenost: 10
• 4EU+: ne
• Virtuální mobilita / počet míst pro virtuální mobilitu: ne
• Stav předmětu: nevyučován
• Jazyk výuky: angličtina
• Způsob výuky: prezenční
• Způsob výuky: prezenční
• Poznámka: předmět je možno zapsat mimo plán; povolen pro zápis po webu; při zápisu přednost, je-li ve stud. plánu
• Garant: Dr. Dean Vuletic
• Vyučující: Dr. Dean Vuletic
• Třída: Courses not for incoming students

Anotace

Poslední úprava: Mgr. Barbora Krempaská (07.09.2021)

This seminar will explore how we can use popular culture to research and study contemporary European history through multidisciplinary and multimedia approaches, and the cultural, economic, political, social and technological issues that this involves. The seminar will take the Eurovision Song Contest as its guiding example. In its sixty-five-year history, the Eurovision Song Contest has been one of the world’s biggest popular music events and one of the most-watched television shows in Europe. The seminar will show how we can analyse the cultural, political and social significance of Eurovision entries through their lyrics, music, costumes and dances, as well as the media commentary that has accompanied the annual event. We will look at how countries have used the contest as cultural diplomacy to define themselves within a European context, be it to assert their national distinctiveness, affirm their “Europeanness” or promote political issues, such as the rights of ethnic and sexual minorities. In critically assessing the problems involved in using popular culture as a source for researching history, we will also consider the commercial motivation of the agents who produce it, as well as issues of social diversity.
The questions that are addressed throughout the seminar include:
• how has European integration been promoted through popular culture, and how has popular music
become one of the prime cultural phenomena connecting Europeans?
• how are Europe and "Europeanness" defined in cultural, geographic, political and social terms?
• how has the Eurovision Song Contest been used to promote political and social issues, and what effect has it had on these in Europe?

Office hours: By appointment

The course is held in English and assignments must be submitted in English.

E-mail address: [e-mail]

Cíl předmětu

Poslední úprava: Mgr. Barbora Krempaská (07.09.2021)

On completion of this course, students should:

·         have improved their ability to analyse, interpret and think critically about multidisciplinary academic literature and multimedia sources and historical narratives, questions and theories;

·         have improved their ability to think critically and express their thoughts clearly through their work;

·         have improved their understanding of the methodologies and presentation of history;

·         have mastered a basic understanding of how to research changes, processes and questions in history using a variety of multimedia sources;

·         be able to recognise works by the principal protagonists of European popular music and understand their political and social significance from a historical perspective.

Podmínky zakončení předmětu

Poslední úprava: Mgr. Barbora Krempaská (05.01.2022)

Attendance and participation: 30%

Research essay: 45% (8-10 pages)

Oral presentation: 25%

 

Attendance is required of all students.  Any absences of more than 2 hours will negatively impact upon the final grade.

All course work must be submitted on time on the date specified on the syllabus. To request an extension on a deadline for an assignment, students must speak to the lecturer at the latest one week prior to the due date.

 

Link for oral presentations on 01/10/2022:  https://cuni-cz.zoom.us/j/91074225780 

January 31: Submission of research papers

Literatura

Poslední úprava: Mgr. Barbora Krempaská (07.09.2021)

The readings are all available on the course website.

Supplemental Texts:

 

·         Dean Vuletic, Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest (London: Bloomsbury, 2018)

·         Karen Fricker and Milija Gluhovic, eds. Performing the ‘New’ Europe: Identities, Feelings and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest (Basingstoke, Hampshire, and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)

·         Ivan Raykoff and Robert Deam Tobin, eds. A Song for Europe: Popular Music and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest. (Aldershot, Hampshire, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007)

 

A selection of songs from the Eurovision Song Contest is played in each class, and students can also access recordings of the contest and its entries on www.youtube.comand their 

lyrics and translations on www.diggiloo.net. The careful use of internet resources for research is encouraged, and it is necessary to cite internet and other non-traditional media sources in written work.

Metody výuky

Poslední úprava: Mgr. Barbora Krempaská (09.12.2021)

The didactic approach will involve a variety of multidisciplinary academic literature and multimedia sources. We will begin our readings with studies that focus on the historiographical issues concerning the research of popular music and television. Throughout the seminar, the readings will include key academic studies on the Eurovision Song Contest that have been published in journals and volumes, as well as media commentaries from a variety of European countries. A selection of songs from the Eurovision Song Contest will be played in each class and analysed together by the students and the instructor. Students will also monitor media reports about the impact of the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest and the preparations for the 2022 edition and discuss them in class.

The assessment for the course will be based on one oral presentation and a research essay, and students will receive detailed, personal feedback on each of these. The oral presentation will be based on the research paper, and the topic of these will be decided by the student in consultation with the instructor. Students will additionally be assessed on their course attendance and participation, and they will be encouraged to participate actively in class discussions and to ask critical questions. As the seminar will be held in English, students will have the opportunity to develop their English-language oral and written presentation skills.

Last block: ONLINE https://cesnet.zoom.us/j/95906689066 

Sylabus

Poslední úprava: Mgr. Barbora Krempaská (07.09.2021)

Session 1: October 11 and 12 - Popular Music andTelevision as Historical Sources

Readings:

·         Dean Vuletic, Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest (London. Bloomsbury, 2018), introduction.

·         Andreas Fickers, “The Birth of Eurovision: Transnational Television as a Challenge for Europe and Contemporary Media Historiography,” in Transnational Television History: A Comparative Approach, eds. Andreas Fickers and Catherine Johnson (Abingdon, OX, and New York: Routledge, 2012): 13-32

·         Catherine Armstrong, Using Non-Textual Sources: A Historian's Guide (London: Bloomsbury, 2015), chapters 2 and 3.

 

 

Session 2: November 8 and 9 - The Cold War

Readings:

·         Michael Baumgartner, "Chanson, canzone, Schlager, and Song: Switzerland's Identity Struggle in the Eurovision Song Contest," in A Song for Europe: Popular Music and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest, eds. Ivan Raykoff and Robert Deam Tobin (Aldershot, Hampshire, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007), 37-48

·         Simon Frith, "Euro Pop," Cultural Studies 3:2 (1989), 166-172

·         Dean Vuletic, " The Intervision Song Contest: A Commercial and Pan-European Alternative to the Eurovision Song Contest”. In Beyond the Borders: Eastern European Pop-Rock as an International Phenomenon. Eds. Ewa Mazierska und Zsolt Győri (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019): 173-190

 

Session 3: December 13 and 14 - Post-1989

Readings:

·         Vuletic, Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest, chapter 4

·         Miyase Christensen and Christian Christensen, "The After-Life of Eurovision 2003: Turkish and European Social Imaginaries and Ephemeral Communicative

Space," Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture, 6:3 (2008), 155-172

·         Milija Gluhovic, “Sing for Democracy: Human Rights and Sexuality Discourse in the Eurovision Song Contest,” in Performing the ‘New’ Europe: Identities, Feelings and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest, eds. Karen Fricker and Milija Gluhovic (Basingstoke, Hampshire, and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 194-217

Assignment:

·         Oral presentations