Dr Jan Culik
- Senior Lecturer in Czech (School of Modern Languages and Cultures)
telephone: 01413305588
email: Jan.Culik@glasgow.ac.uk
Research interests
Award:
"Dr Jan Culik and Dr Mirna Solic, School of Modern Languages and Cultures, received the International KE Commendation for their partnership with the Human Rights Watch. The project uncovered the abuse and intimidation of Syrian refugees which was extensively reported in the European media and within 48hr hours, led to the Czech government reversing its policy of marking refuges with numbers and detaining them in camps at the refugees expense. Whilst the refugee crisis is far from resolved, this project has made an significant difference to large number of individuals and families."
6th October 2016
More information here: http://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_488711_en.html
Research interests:
Emigré Czech Literature 1971- 1989, Contemporary Czech Literature, Czech Cinema, in particular since 1989, contemporary Czech media, society and politics.
Recent book publications:
- Čulík, J. (2013, second edition 2014) A Society in Distress: The Image of the Czech Republic in Contemporary Czech Feature Film. Sussex Academic Press, Brighton, UK. ISBN 9781845195519
- Čulík, J. (ed.) (2013) National Mythologies in Central European TV Series: How J.R. Won the Cold War. Sussex Academic Press, Eastbourne, UK. ISBN 9781845195960
Editorial work:
- in cooperation with Professor Jiří Holý of Charles University, holder of the European 2008 Humboldt Prize for Academic Excellence, JČ co-translated, edited and published Holý´s Writers Under Siege: Czech Literature since 1945 (2007) – first English language history of Czech Literature published in 35 years.
- Jan Čulík is Editor of the Czech entries on 20th century literature for three volumes of the American Dictionary of Literary Biography, New York, London and Boston (vols. 215, 232, 353).
- Jan Čulík provided editorial assistance to Richard Askwith, award-winning journalist from the Independent newspaper, for his book Today we Die a Little: The Rise and Fall of Emil Zátopek, the Olympic Legend. Yellow Jersey, Press, London, 2016, ISBN 978-0-224-10034-2
A member of the Glasgow University Centre for Russian, Central and East European Studies.
Jan Čulík´s article on Czech President Miloš Zeman, Meet Miloš Zeman – the Czech Republic’s answer to Donald Trump, published in The Conversation on 9th December, 2015, has been quoted and referenced in Patrick Kingsley´s high profile publication The New Odyssey: The Story of Europe´s Refugee Crisis. Guardian Books and Faber and Faber, Ltd., London 2016, ISBN 9-78183-351053
Jan Čulík´s monograph chapter on Václav Havel, published in the Dictionary of Literary Biography, vol. 232, pp. 110-130, and his critical assessment of Václav Havel´s film "Leaving" (2011) , published in Britské listy, are referenced in Kieran William´s monograph Critical Lives: Václav Havel (Reaktion Books, London, 2016, ISBN 978-1-78023-665-0) as are several other articles on Václav Havel from Britské listy, a Czech language cultural and political website edited by Jan Čulík
Czech philosopher Martin Škabraha in his publication Sokrates vrací úder (Socrates hits back, Novela Bohemica, Prague, 2015, ISBN 978-80-87683-50-7) thanks Jan Čulík and the Britské listy website for "giving me freedom to write without censorship at the beginning of my writing career" (p. 12).
Grants
A British Academy grant to produce the publication "National Mythologies in Central European TV Series" (2011-12). The monograph came out in 2013: Čulík, J. (ed.) (2013) National Mythologies in Central European TV Series: How J.R. Won the Cold War. Sussex Academic Press, Eastbourne, UK. ISBN 9781845195960
"Examining Patterns of Representation in Literary Discourses" (OPVK CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0125), financed jointly by the European Social Fund and the State Budget of the Czech Republic (2012-2014)
Supervision
Supervision:
Kenneth Ward, PhD, Czech Cinema (start date 01/10/2017) (Madeleine Albright Scholarship in Czech Studies)
Sam Beaton, PhD, Czech documentary cinema (Start date: 01/10/2012) (Madeleine Albright Scholarship in Czech Studies)
Kirsteen Anderson, PhD, Post-communist reforms of the Czech Educational System (Start date: 01/10/2014) (Josef Fronek MPhil scholarship)
Gareth Storrie, PhD, Czech attitudes towards African immigrants (Start date 1/1/2017) (Madeleine Albright Scholarship in Czech Studies)
Earlier Supervision:
Kenneth Ward, MPhil, Czech Cinema (completed September 2017) (Josef Fronek scholarship)
Beatrice Michalovska, MPhil, German emigres in Prague in 1989 (Completed October 2017)
Metodi Metodiev, PhD, Relations between writers and politicians in Bulgaria and Czech Republic during the communist era (Start date: 09/09/2011, doctorate awarded 2016)
James Alan Cathro Smith, MPhil, Czech popular music in the period of "normalisation" (Completed November 2014)
Julia Secklehner, MPhil, Photographic work by Irena Bluhova and Tina Modotti (Completed September 2013) (Josef Fronek MPhil scholarship)
Jitka Perinova, PhD The novels of Emil Hakl and Jan Balaban (Completed, doctorate awarded June 2015)
Hana Tomsu MPhil, The Winter Guest and Of Children and Parents, a comparison of the value system of a Scottish and a Czech feature film (Completed Feb. 2013 )
Jakub Žytek, MPhil, Old Czech books of travel (2009)
Marta Filipová, PhD, The construction of national identity in the historiography of Czech art (Completed 2008)
Jan Matonoha, MPhil, Outside of a logocentric discourse?: the case of (post)modern Czech "women's" writing (2007)
Teaching
Teaching:
- Comparative Literature programmes dealing with Central and Eastern Europe: Heroism in Russian and Central European Cultures (Level 1), Central and East European Visual Culture (Level 2), a block on Czech Writer Bohumil Hrabal (Comparative Literature 2)
- Text/Image Cultures: Theory and Practice - Honours; a section on Prague Structuralism and Jan Mukařovský
- Poland and its Neighbours - Honours; a strand on the cultural history of the Czech lands in 1000-1795 (History)
- The Mediaevalists - Honours, a course examining the impact of mediaeval cultural concepts on politics and culture of Central Europe in the 20th century
- Literature/culture topics at Honours level - Czech Media; Czech Cinema; Poland and its Neighbours; Cultures of Committment (Czech and Polish 20th Century literature in comparison); Central European anxieties (early Czech and Polish literature in comparison); Milan Kundera; History of Censorship, Byzantine and the Slavs (History)
- Censorship in Western Culture
- Central European Anxieties (Czech and Polish Literature from the Late Medieval to the Romantic Era)
- Mass Media in Communist and Post-Communist CEE
- Economic, cultural and political developments in Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic since 1989 (MLitt option, CEES),
- Reading the New Europe: Communist/Post-Communist Perspectives A Central and East European Block in European Studies, Societies and Languages (MLitt option, SMLC)
- Marketing and Translation across Media: Journalistic Principles across Cultures: New Europe Versus the Old Europe (a section within an MLitt option, SMLC)
- Poland and Its Neighbours (1000-1795)
- Byzantium and the Slavs
- The Deep Medieval Structures of Eastern Europe and Russia
- Via the Socrates/Erasmus exchange programme - courses in Czech Literature, media and cultural studies at Charles University, Prague, Masaryk University, Brno and University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice
- Dr Culík runs a Socrates/Erasmus student exchange for students wishing to study at Charles University, Prague
Additional Information
Topical information on the refugee crisis, as it is seen in Central Europe
Apart from analytical articles on this topic by Jan Čulík, which can be found in his bibliography, continuous information in English about the developments of the discourse on the refugee crisis, particularly in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, can be found HERE.
(Jan Čulík is frequently interviewed by Slovak public service radio on developments in British and Scottish politics, recently especially about Brexit, the weak UK government and issues concerning possible Scottish independence.)
On 21st August 2018, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, Jan Čulík was interviewed by the English Service of Radio France Internationale about his experiences of the invasion:
On 1st March, 2018, the Independent newspaper quoted Britské listy, a Czech cultural and political website edited by Jan Čulík:
“Despite causing no injuries, the crashes triggered a wave of xenophobia and Islamophobia on social media in the central European country, Czech news website Britske listy reported.”
On 27th January 2018, Jan Čulík was interviewed for an article published in Wall Street Journal, USA, on the second round of the Czech presidential election:
https://twitter.com/JanCulik/status/964167529118818304
On 13th January, 2018, Jan Čulík was interviewed by the programme Good Morning, Scotland on BBC Radio Scotland about the Czech presidential election. Audio here:
www.blisty.cz/video/Slavonic/radioscotland1.wav
On 11th January, 2018, Jan Čulík was interviewed by the Daily Express about the forthcoming Czech presidential election:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/903402/Czech-election-2018-plunge-EU-Czech-Republic-chaos
On 18th December 2017, the second article quoting Jan Čulík was published by the Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune: https://tribune.com.pk/story/1586884/3-far-rights-eu-politicians-band-together-islam-encourage-trump-style-travel-ban
On 15th and on 17th December 2017, Jan Čulík was interviewed by Al Jazeera in connection with a congress of European extreme right wing activists which took place in Prague:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/leaders-meet-prague-171215191614697.html
On 30th November 2017, Jan Čulík was interviewed by Vice News about death threats on Facebook in the Czech Republic, which the social network is not removing from its website:
“Facebook has a problem with death threats in the Czech Republic and is failing to fix it”
On 31st October, 2017, Jan Čulík was interviewed by BBC World Service "World Business Report" about the recent election victory of Andrej Babiš.
On 4th April, 2017, Jan Čulík was interviewed by The National newspaper about the separation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. The interview is HERE.
On 12th March 2017, Jan Čulík was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live about Central and East European attitudes to Brexit. The other participants were Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, a Polish research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, and Stefanie Bolzen, a German journalist for Die WELT & WELT am Sonntag newspapers. The programme is here: http://blisty.cz/video/radio5live_12.03.17.wav
On 18th January, 2017, Jan Čulík was interviewed by BBC Radio Scotland about Theresa May´s speech about her Brexit strategy. He was interviewed by Slovak public service radio on the same topic on 17th January, 2017.
On 8th October, 2016, Jan Čulík was interviewed by BBC Radio Scotland in the "Good Morning, Scotland" programme about the Czech graphic artist and painter Alphonse Mucha on the occasion of the opening of a Mucha exhibition at the Kelvingrove Gallery and Museum, Glasgow. http://www.blisty.cz/video/muchaPiece.mp3
On 29th June, 2016, Jan Čulík was interviewed by BBC Radio Scotland about the impact of Brexit on Scotland and its Universities. http://blisty.cz/video/JC_sikorski_29.06.16.mp3
On 14th May, 2016, Jan Čulík was interviewed by The BBC World Service “Newshour” programme about the 700th anniversary of the birth of Charles IV (1316-1378), the Czech Holy Roman Emperor http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03tbwg1 (from minute 11.18) also see http://blisty.cz/video/charlesIV_onBBC.mp3
On 6th May, 2016, Jan Čulík was interviewed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation about contemporary Czech politics https://radio.abc.net.au/programitem/pglxVL4aRV, also see http://blisty.cz/video/australianCzechiaPiece.mp3
On 16 April 2016, Jan Čulík was interviewed by the "PM" programme on BBC Radio Four about the proposed adoption of the name "Czechia" for the Czech Republic. www.blisty.cz/video/czechia.mp3
On 26 October 2015, Jan Čulík was interviewed by the "World Business Report" programme on BBC World Television about the results of the general election in Poland. The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_uVLLs1YiY
On 26 October 2015, Jan Čulík was interviewed by the "Business Daily" programme on BBC World Radio about the results of the general election in Poland. Audio here: http://blisty.cz/video/Voice0004.aac
On 15th September 2015, Jan Čulík was interviewed by the BBC TV News Channel about the European refugee crisis. The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnDuzA5sv7A
Regular television interviews. Jan Čulík has been asked to broadcast regular weekly 15-minute television interviews on current Czech political and social issues for the Regionální televize cable and satellite television station. The interviews are available here:
http://blisty.cz/topics/464-rozhovory-britskych-listu
In 2014-2015, Jan Čulík worked as a script and editorial consultant for Dominika Švecová´s longitudinal two part Czech Television documentary Pouť důvěry (A Pilgrimage of Trust) about the international ecumenical meeting organized by the Taizé community, which took place in Prague between 29th December 2014 and 2nd January 2015. Part One of the film was broadcast by Czech Television on Sunday 1st March 2015, Part Two was broadcast by Czech Television on Sunday 8th March 2015. Both films are here:
http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/10964914294-pout-duvery/314298380100001
http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/10964914294-pout-duvery/314298380100002/
Kopecký, Čestmír, and Špaček, Radim, et al "Pod dlažbou je pláž"("There is a beach under that pavement", 2013, Czech TV documentary, 52 mins.). Along with former BBC Chief Executive Greg Dyke, Jan Čulík is one of the media specialists interviewed here. The film is available here:
http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/10558218896-pod-dlazbou-je-plaz/
Jan Čulík interviewed for Czech TV documentary "Národ mystifikace". ("The Mystification Nation". 2012, Czech TV documentary, 52 mins.) The film is available here:
http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/10388792415-narod-mystifikace/31129434016/video/
Jan Čulík on films at the 47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. An interview with Czech Public Service television. An article and a video is available here:
An interview with Jan Čulík on the death of Czech President Václav Havel. Sky News, 18th December 2011, 17.20. The interview is available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95yoQ9Uh5hU&feature=youtu.be
An interview with Jan Čulík for Czech television. The "Pred pulnoci"("Before Midnight") programme, 4th May 2010, 28 minutes. The interview is available here:
http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/10095690193-pred-pulnoci/410231100252034/
An interview with Jan Čulík in the "Tonight" programme with Trevor McDonald, in "Stags in the City", a documentary film, ITV, 9th September, 2005, 28 minutes. The programme is available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3ZFI4B81LU
An interview with Jan Čulík for Czech Television, "Klub Netopýr", 3rd December 2002.
An interview with Jan Čulík for Czech Television, "Klub Netopýr": "Je nezávislost České televize ohrožena?"("Is the Independence of Czech Television under threat?") 16th May, 2000. Full transcript is here:
http://www.britskelisty.cz/0005/20000518f.html
The programme is available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ2u0nAh0N8
An interview with Jan Čulík for Czech Television, "Klub Netopýr": "Co není v novinách"("What the Papers do not Write about"), 9th September, 1997. Full transcript is here:
http://www.britskelisty.cz/9709/19970915a.html#01;
http://www.britskelisty.cz/9709/19970916b.html
The programme is available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJJk44solBs
In 1995, Czech Television broadcast a report on Czech Studies at the University of Glasgow, video is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBdWrqyaA9Y
In 1995, Czech Television broadcast a film about the island of Iona, which includes an interview with Jan Čulík. The video is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4AvLEZCVKs
In June 1995 Jan Čulík made a report about the danger of asbestos for Nova TV in the Czech Republic. The video is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4InTXgGA1tw
In 1984, Jan Čulík wrote, produced and partially filmed a Channel Four documentary Orpheus through the Ages, which was first broadcast by Channel Four in January 1985. The documentary formed a package with Lesley Keen´s animated film Orpheus and Eurydice (1984), which was invited for screening in the main programme of the 1985 Cannes Film Festival as the only British short that year. In 1986, the documentary Orpheus through the Ages and the animated film Orpheus and Eurydice received the TRIC award (the Scottish equivalent of BAFTA) for the best television work that year in the Music and Arts category.
The animation Orpheus and Eurydice is here:
http://www.totallyimmersed.com/orpheus/index.html
Educational and information videos:
Four video interviews on Czech history, literature and economy, made for Humbox
- A video interview with Martin Pilař, Ostrava University, on 19th century Czech literature HERE, also available for download from Humbox HERE
- A video interview with Martin Myant on Czech economics since the fall of communism is HERE, also in HERE
- A video interview with Jan Čulík on Czech history is HERE, also in Humbox HERE
- A video interview with Jan Čulík on twentieth-century Czech literature is HERE, also in Humbox HERE
Public lectures:
On Saturday 28th April 2018, Jan Čulík chaired a session at a conference devoted to the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Prague Spring, which took place at Jesus College, Cambridge University. Pictures here: https://blisty.cz/art/90796-konference-k-50-vyroci-prazskeho-jara-na-cambridgske-univerzite.html
Jan Čulík took part in a debate on Brexit: The View from Europe at the Wighton Book Festival. The debate took place on 22nd September, 2017.
On 8th December, 2016, Jan Čulík have a presentation "EU citizens in the UK and Brexit" to the meeting dealing with "The Legal and Human Rights Implications of Brexit on EU Migration" organised by JUSTICE Scotland and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The event took place at The Lighthouse in Glasgow, Scotland.
On 20th May, 2016, Jan Čulík gave a paper entitled "New Media as a New Source of Censorship?" at the Catholic University in Budapest as a part of an annual research forum devoted to issues of censorship.
On 14th April, 2016, Jan Čulík gave a lecture to the "Secondos" conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia, which was organised by Zagreb University and by Graz University, about how "small" languages and cultures might be effectively taught at commercially-minded universities in the English speaking countries.
"Recherche et transmission des cultures étrangères : quelle utilité dans l’université d’aujourd’hu ?" / "The uses of teaching and researching foreign cultures in today's universities: what seems to be the problem?"
Jan Čulík gave a key-note lecture at the conference entitled "Recherche et transmission des cultures étrangères : quelle utilité dans l’université d’aujourd’hui?" at the University of Orléans, France, on 11th-13th June 2015. The video of this lecture is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1uVoYrSaes
Seventh CRCEES Annual Research Forum, Glasgow University, 4th-5th June, 2015
Jan Čulík, The Impact of current Russian foreign policy on developments in the Czech Republic
A Prague Writers´s Festival debates, The Upper House of the Czech Parliament, 2nd and 3rd October, 2014
On 2nd October, 2014, during the Prague Writers' Festival, Jan Čulík took part in a public debate with the Morrocan writers Salah El Ouadie and Bensalem Himmich discussing the theme "Love and Hate".
On 3rd October, 2014, during the Prague Writers' Festival, Jan Čulík chaired a public debate with Moroccan authors Mahi Binebine and Fatéma Chahid, with the former Czech Foreign Secretary and United Nations Chairman Jan Kavan and the Czech writer Tomáš Zmeškal.
The two gala evenings, which were televised, are available in video from the Czech public service TV website from here:
Debate of 2nd October is available from approx. minute 88, Debate of 3rd October is available from approx. minute 60.
"The Role of kitsch in the mythology of contemporary Czech politics". Karel Havlíček Summer School of Journalism, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Havlíčkův Brod, Czech Republic, 23rd August 2014
A lecture by Jan Čulík, given at the Karel Havlíček Summer School of Journalism, sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. A video of the lecture is here (instructions and the lecture are in Czech:)
http://www.blisty.cz/art/74533.html
"The Role of kitsch in the mythology of contemporary Czech politics". University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic, 9th June, 2014
A lecture by Jan Čulík, given at the summer school "Representation, Literature and Power", which took place as part of the research project "Examining Patters of Literary Discourses" funded by the European Social Fund and the Government of the Czech Republic (OPVK CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0125)
"Karel Čapek: A Writer for our Times?" Czech Embassy, London, 15th May, 2014
A lecture by Jan Čulík given at an event, organised by the Karel Čapek Memorial, Strž, Czech Republic and the Embassy of the Czech Republic, London, on the occasion of the anniversary of the publication of an English translation of Čapek´s Letters from England. The other participants included Daniel Herman, the Czech Culture Secretary, and Monsignor Tomáš Halík, the holder of the 2014 Templeton Prize.
Scottish Ensemble, OneTouch Theatre, Eden Court, 21 February 2014
A lecture by Jan Čulík on composers Antonin Dvořák, Josef Suk and Pavel Haas
CRCEES, Glasgow University, a research meeting in Prague, 10-11 February 2014
A research meeting to discuss the current state of affairs of research into the value system of Czech and Slovak TV series, organised and chaired by Jan Čulík, with participants from Charles University, Prague, Palacký University, Olomouc, The Film and TV Faculty of the Fine Arts University, Bratislava, Czech Television.
British-Czechoslovak Society, UCL, London, 28 January, 2014
"Ostalgie in the Czech Republic". A lecture by Jan Čulík, based on his recent research of this issue.
AUTOR-VIZE-MEZE-TELEVIZE". The Film and TV Faculty of the Fine Arts University, Bratislava, 28th November, 2013
"Television in the United Kingdom in the multiplex era". A lecture, given by Jan Čulík at a conference dealing with aspect of Czech and Slovak television broadcasting, organized by the Literary Academy, Prague, The Film and TV Faculty of the Fine Arts University, Bratislava, and by Czech Television.
"AUTOR-VIZE-MEZE-TELEVIZE". Literary Academy, Prague, 9 October, 2013
"Television in the United Kingdom in the multiplex era". A keynote lecture, given by Jan Čulík at a conference dealing with aspect of Czech and Slovak television broadcasting, organized by the Literary Academy, Prague, The Film and TV Faculty of the Fine Arts University, Bratislava, and by Czech Television.
University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, 17-18 June 2013
"The Construction of Reality in the communist TV series Žena za pultem", a paper given by Jan Čulík at an international conference organised by the University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic, within the research project "Examining Patters of Literary Discourses" funded by the European Social Fund and the Government of the Czech Republic (OPVK CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0125)
How do selected post-communist countries construct the image of the communist era?
CRCEES, University of Glasgow, 21-22 February 2013
An international seminar, organised and chaired by Jan Čulík
http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_249363_en.pdf
