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The Role of Women in the Velvet Revolution
Gese, Taylor ; Szobi, Pavel (advisor) ; Vykoukal, Jiří (referee) ; Matějka, Ondřej (referee)
The Role of Women in Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution Abstract This thesis investigates the role played by women in Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution of 1989. Overall, it finds that despite the marginal role attributed to women in the dominant narrative of the event, women in fact played a key role in every activity of the Velvet Revolution and therefore were a key factor in its success. Drawing on case studies from elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe, it hypothesises about the sources of women's erasure from the historical record and subsequent national memory, arguing that the conservative gender order influenced the type of revolutionary work women did, the lack of visibility they were afforded, as well as their own devaluation of their contributions. Given the similarity in findings, it advocates for the development of an analytical concept to theorise the function of gender in social movements and their subsequent memorialisation. Finally, by documenting the activities done by women, it aims to reorient women as historical and political subjects in the Velvet Revolution, worthy of further historical inquiry. Keywords Velvet Revolution, women, gender, social movements, 1989, Czechoslovakia, historical memory, hegemonic narrative
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The process of the establishment of national Lithuanian historiography in the 19th century
Čeladín, Jindřich ; Švec, Luboš (advisor) ; Vykoukal, Jiří (referee) ; Šeferis, Vaidas (referee)
The Process of Constituting National Lithuanian Historiography in the 19th Century Until the 19th century, Lithuanian historiography was understood as provincial, the national identity of Lithuanians had not been defined yet, and the formation of the modern Lithuanian nation had practically not begun yet. Lithuanian national culture, influenced by the dominant Polish culture, had to gradually develop in the 19th century. The first Lithuanian-written national history was written by Simonas Daukantas. The main work "Būdas senovės lietuvių, kalnėnų ir žemaičių" was published under a pseudonym in St. Petersburg only in 1845. Daukantas can be considered the founder of modern Lithuanian historiography in the national sense. As Vilnius University was closed after the defeat of the uprising in 1832, the center of higher education of Lithuanians moved to Russian universities. One of this next generation of intellectuals was the main thinker of the Lithuanian national revival, Jonas Basanavičius, who in 1883 became the founder of the first Lithuanian enlightenment magazine Aušra. The debate on the meaning of Lithuanian history and its exclusion from Polish historiography took place at the end of the 19th century more on a journalistic level. In my dissertation, I focused on determining the point at which...
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Presenting Prague: Visions of a City through Western Guidebooks
Marcella, Jordan ; Tomalová, Eliška (advisor) ; Zusi, Peter (referee) ; Vykoukal, Jiří (referee)
Over the past 30-35 years, Prague has witnessed significant changes in its government, economics, and social policies. Following the 1989 revolutions, vast swaths of Westerners were allowed to visit the Czech capital for the first time. It quickly developed into one of Europe's most visited cities, boasting millions of tourists each year. This master's thesis is a case study that aims to use English language, Western published guidebooks to determine how Prague is presented to Westerners and how that affects Western perceptions into the city. Perception is not determined by a single factor and is influenced by numerous variables. This study seeks to highlight how guidebooks contribute towards the West's perception of Prague. It analyzes 17 guidebooks published from 1994 to 2019 and uses the various descriptive elements of each. The focus is on the narratives they offer and how those narratives change over time through the use of discourse analysis. The main question of this research is to answer how Prague's presentation in guidebook has changed over time, and how this affects Western perception of the city. What do Westerners think about the city? Is Prague a quirky place that is only notable for its architecture, or is there something else alluring about the Czech capital? How does Prague fit in...
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Was the Polish Operation of the NKVD during the 1930s a genocide?
Kubičina, Štěpán ; Klípa, Ondřej (advisor) ; Vykoukal, Jiří (referee)
This thesis researches the Polish operation of the NKVD, which took place in the Soviet Union during the second half of the 1930'. During this operation mass executions and deportation were committed by the Soviet state against Poles living in the USSR. The aim of this thesis is to determine whether this event constituted a genocide, or not. To get the answer to this research question this thesis focuses on the history and the definition of the word "genocide" a introduces several examples which are widely considered as genocides. Then the thesis describes the events of the Polish operation itself and its chronology as well as the impact it had, and finally the thesis combines these facts with the definitions and answers the research question. The thesis is divided into three main parts. In the first part it researches the emotions the word "genocide" may instigate, the history and codification process of this word in the international law and the relation between genocide and modernity. In the second part the thesis focuses on the historical context of the Polish operation and the "Great Purge" and presents the exact numbers of the dead and persecuted. The third part then uses the selected definition to answer the research question.
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European diplomacy and attempts at a cease of Polish-Lithuanian dispute
Kosina, Robert ; Švec, Luboš (advisor) ; Vykoukal, Jiří (referee)
This work is focusing on attempts of the European diplomacy to cease Polish - Lithuanian dispute. By using the scholar literature, it describes realities of the first years after first world war and the renewal of independency of both states. Following is the Vilnius question which is the most important theme of the work. By describing the context and situation in the region, it analysis possible reasons of why the attempts failed. Work also contains the final state of the dispute and how it affected the future of Polish - Lithuanian relations.
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Central European Nostalgia and its role in creating the collective identity of Central Europe
Strejčková, Barbora ; Žíla, Ondřej (advisor) ; Vykoukal, Jiří (referee)
This thesis analyses the phenomenon of Central European nostalgia through essays by Milan Kundera and Yuri Andrukhovych. It examines the ways in which the nostalgic imaginations of the Central European space contribute to the creation of the collective identity of Central Europe. The first part of the thesis outlines the historical context of thinking about Central Europe, which is then used in the analysis of the examined texts. The second part deals with the method of the analysis and the theoretical background, the theory of nostalgia. It maps the academic debate concerning both nostalgia in general and Central European nostalgia in particular. In the following analytical part of the work, the method of critical discursive analysis is used to examine for what purposes and in what ways the authors in their essays relate nostalgically to Central Europe at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and how they construct Central European space through this narrative. The thesis argues that although the nostalgia of Kundera and Andrukhovych differs in its manifestations, both authors set their homeland in Central Europe through their nostalgia. In continuity with historical thinking, they anchor them in Europe itself. Nostalgia in the examined texts acts as a counter-discourse, a resistance to...
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Comparison of the relationship of the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party and the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in the postwar years 1945-1948
Kočí, Jakub ; Kocian, Jiří (advisor) ; Vykoukal, Jiří (referee)
This bachelor work compares the relationship of the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party and the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in the term of the third Czechoslovak Republic, that implies in the postwar years 1945-1948. The aim of this text is to interpret the examined relationships in the context of selected internal political event, in which proved the similarities and differences among these three socialist parties. First, the text sketches the postwar restoration of the activity of political parties, the approval of the Košice government programme and the creation of the National Front. Then follows a passage devoted to the Czechoslovakian parliamentary elections to the Constituent National Assembly in 1946 and an analysis of the debates on the nationalization and the land reform. Another part of this text deals with the disputes about the millionaire's taxes, that caused not only the internal political conflicts, but it escalated even more the contradictions within social democracy, which subsequently changed the party chairman on the Brno congress. The last part of the text concerns the events of February 1948, which became fully apparent the dissension of the National Front, where then took place opinion collisions especially between the...
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Differences Between National Memory of Communism in Poland and the Czech Republic
Bush, Graham ; Vykoukal, Jiří (advisor) ; Matějka, Ondřej (referee) ; Klautke, Egbert (referee)
This work aims to demonstrate differences in national memory of Communism in the Czech Republic and Poland. It looks into the principles surrounding the practice of collective memory and then uses this to create a working methodology for the study of it in these two nations. In evaluating memory in these countries it relies upon the "Three Pillars" of past events, cultural output and popular opinion and stresses the interconnected nature of these academic areas. A further emphasis is placed upon the role of belief in shaping personal and group self-identity. The overall conclusions stress that both of the national memory of these countries has been shaped by their history, culture and popular opinion, and that this has created a divide between the Polish and Czech views of events during the Communist period. The divide is seen as characterised by particular "Czech" and "Polish" viewpoints which are the product of discourse on previous aspects of what it means to belong to these respective groups. National memory in essence builds upon itself, and will continue to do so. Future perceptions of what it means to be Czech or Polish will be shaped by this latest chapter in national memory.
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