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The Murals of Portico 2, Tepantitla, Teotihucan
Horníková, Lucie ; Kostičová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Křížová, Markéta (referee)
The aim of this thesis is an explanation of the murals of Portico 2 in Tepantitla palace in Teotihuacan on the basis of the scientific literature and the knowledge, that I have gained by studying. Here will be introduced opinions, ideas and theories of diferent scholars about what is depict on the murals, It will be made a try about a critical evaluation and revision, and I will do my best for make out a beneficial conclusion. There is no uniform view of what is depicted on the paintings of the portico 2 of the Tepantitla palace. Alfonso Caso expained the murals like Tlalocan, the paradise dominated by the God of Rain and Storm Tlaloc, Esther Pasztory and Peter T. Furst expained them as an image of the cosmic tree - the axis of the world - that connects the heavens, the earth and the underworld. Annabeth Headrick and María T. Uriart agree that murals represent a ceremony. For Headrick, the top register is the focal point, which is supposed to be the scene of raising of the sacred cosmic tree (the lower register is then a record of the celebrations taking place during the ceremony). For Uriarte, the concept of ball game and the significance of the toponym Teotihuacan, what both is connected with begining of time. Patrizia Granzier interprets the scene as a garden - a place where sacred and profane...
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Ritual Decapitation in Mesoamerica
Baudiš, Adam ; Kostičová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Křížová, Markéta (referee)
This master's thesis deals with sacrifice by decapitation. Its goal is to describe systematicaly this phenomenon which was widely practiced in the Mesoamerican area. To accomplish this there were firstly introduced the main interpretation lines of human sacrifice. The importance of maize for the Mesoamerican culture was described in the next chapter. The third part of this thesis introduces some Aztec festivities which are connected with ritual decapitation in Sahagún's Historia general. Then this thesis deals with the main aspects of the Mesoamerican ballgame and its connection with the story of the Hero twins from Popol Vuh is introduced here and analyzed. The fourth chapter describes the methods of ritual decapitation. It deals with the question of the fixation method described by Sahagún as "espaldas con espaldas" and the question of the ritual instrument which should have been used in this situation. Then it describes this method in the context of Maya sacrifices. The final part deals with the posthumous dealing with the head and the body of the sacrifices. Big part is given to the problem of tzompantli and the treating of the body. Two main techniques are presented here - skinning and ritual cannibalism. Then it describes the Maya techniques of treating the head which include storing skulls...
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"Eastern Europe" in the Mental Map of an English Traveller from the 16th to the 18th Century
Radiměřská, Božena ; Klusáková, Luďa (advisor) ; Kubeš, Jiří (referee) ; Křížová, Markéta (referee)
"Eastern Europe" in the Mental Map of an English Traveller from the 16th to the 18th Century Abstract The thesis aims to interpret the early modern English/British travel writings about (Central) Eastern Europe. It results in the reconstruction of mental maps of the selected travellers with regard to a typology (merchants, professionals, intellectuals, clergymen, and women). The special attention is paid to the images of marginality, such as inconvenience and danger, ignorance and backwardness, exaggeration and pomp, former splendour and present lamentation, pleasant and unpleasant landscape. The primary sources comprise a selection of fifteen travel writings which are read and interpreted with respect to the development of the genre and to the broader cultural and historical context. The covering concept is a mental map conceived as an imaginary representation of space and as a tool for cultural orientation and self-identification. The reconstruction of the mental maps is performed in four steps. Firstly, by defining the subject (a traveller) within the typology. Secondly, the landmarks (centres) in the mental maps are reconstructed. Thirdly, the images of marginality are presented. Finally, the mental maps are concluded. Methodologically, the thesis is based on the interpretation and language analysis of...
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Czechoslovakia, Mexico and Cental America 1945-1989
Majlátová, Lucia ; Opatrný, Josef (advisor) ; Křížová, Markéta (referee) ; Barteček, Ivo (referee)
The doctoral thesis Czechoslovakia, Mexico and Central America 1945-1989 analyses political, economic and cultural relations between that country of the called Iron Curtain and the Mesoamerican countries during the Cold War in the twentieth century. The research is based mainly on unpublished archival materials, mainly of Czech origin. It is also complemented by fewer materials obtained at the Central American countries' official archives. The wider context of international politics is primarily outlined in the introductory chapters, which aims, on one hand, to inform readers about the development of the Czechoslovak diplomacy and foreign policy and how it was influenced by the Soviet Union and, on the other hand, to describe the unstable political situation prevailing then in the Central American countries, which were also under the constant scrutiny of the United States of America. Thereafter, the analysis focuses on the Czechoslovak-Mexican relations, which is thematically divided into political, cultural and economic sections. A special chapter is dedicated to the activities of the Czechoslovak secret service in Mexico, as a country conveniently located near to the United States. Other chapters study the bilateral relations between Prague and the individual capitals of Central America. The work...
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From monasteries to men. The significance of monastic architecture and its art in the New Spain of 16th century
Brenišínová, Monika ; Křížová, Markéta (advisor) ; Štěpánek, Pavel (referee) ; Marek, Pavel (referee)
In my dissertation, I inquire into the phenomenon of monastic architecture and its plastic decoration in 16th century New Spain. The aim of this work is to present Mexican monasteries and their artistic significance. In my analysis, I build on the interpretation of monastic architecture from the perspective of early colonial society, I also reflect on the individual level, assessing its impact on the conquest and colonization of America. The methodology of this research project combines analysis of historical (e.g. study of historical sources) and art historical processes (iconological analysis of E. Panofsky) with analysis of anthropological concepts (e.g. rituals of transition of A. van Gennep, thick description of Cl. Geertz, concepts of liminality, structure and communitas of V. Turner). During my PhD studies, I conducted a field trip in Central Mexico (2013), supported by a grant from the Government of Mexico. I visited and documented one hundred and sixteen monasteries and the photographic documentation is the main empirical source of my analysis which further draws from the study of historical sources and academic literature. My research primarily focuses on three aspects: 1. the monastic architecture and art; 2. the role of the monastery in the process of European conquest and colonization...
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Spanish-Dutch relations in the New World during the existence of the West-Indische Compagnie
Kubátová, Eva ; Křížová, Markéta (advisor) ; Skřivan, Aleš (referee) ; Marek, Pavel (referee)
Spanish-Dutch Relations in the New World during the Existence of the West Indische Compagnie Eva Kubátová Abstract This dissertation is dedicated to the Spanish-Dutch relations in the New World during the existence of the first Dutch West India Company (1621-1674). On base of an imagological analysis, this thesis presents elements of mutual relations, reflected in hetero-images, together with self-representation of both analyzed parties (thus self-image) within the ongoing conflict of the Eighty Years' War. The imagological analysis is applied on archival material, chiefly the Dutch pamphlets and Spanish Relaciones de sucesos (which can be translated as "Treatises of Successes"). The result of this thesis is then an analysis of development and changes of mutual images, upon the historical events of the Spanish-Dutch war conflict: thus since the beginnings of the Dutch Revolt, passing through the Twelve Years' Truce, until the signature of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. A special emphasis is put to the final phase of the Eighty Years' War, in this thesis delimited by the years 1621-1648, which was marked by the official entrance of the West India Company into the Spanish waters of Greater Caribbean. An important watershed in mutual relations is afterwards represented by the Peace of Westphalia, which...
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The attempts of Spain at Power Recuperation int the sixties of the 19 th Century
Hertel, Petr ; Opatrný, Josef (advisor) ; Křížová, Markéta (referee) ; Barteček, Ivo (referee)
The thesis The Attempts of Spain at Power Recuperation in the sixties of the 19th Century analyzes five actions of military and naval character undertaken by the Spanish Monarchy out of its territories roughly between the years 1858 and 1866, along with their preconditions, circumstances, course, and results. In the comparison with two actions realized or initiated by Spain as early as towards the close of the 1850s (her participation in the French intervention in Vietnam in 1858-1863, the war against Morocco in 1859-1860), an profounder attention is paid to three interventions effectuated from 1861 in the American countries which still approximately four decades before had been creating components of her great overseas empire (the reannexation of Santo Domingo in 1861- 1865; the participation in the so-called Tripartite Intervention in Mexico in 1861-1862; the naval expedition towards the South America's Pacific watersides that culminated in Spanish-Peruvian controversy of 1864 and afterwards, in the so-called First Pacific War, managed in 1865-1866 by Spain against the South America's Pacific republics, primarily against Chile and Peru). After all, just the Hispanic American emancipation, consummated in the 1820s (and thus, the decomposition of the great Spanish empire in continental America, after three...
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Utopia, or Paradise Lost? The Texts of Danish Immigrants in Argentina and Latin American Immigrants in Denmark and Their Imgaes of Denmark
Vrbová, Daniela ; Humpál, Martin (advisor) ; Křížová, Markéta (referee) ; Gáborová, Margita (referee)
Univerzita Karlova v Praze - Filozofická fakulta - Ústav germánských studií - germánské literatury Dissertation: Utopia, or Paradise Lost? The Texts of Danish Immigrants in Argentina and Latin American Immigrants in Denmark and Their Images of Denmark Daniela Vrbová 2015 Abstract The thesis explores the texts of Danish immigrants in Argentina in the period ca 1844-1990 and Latin American immigrants in Denmark in the period ca 1973-1990 and it follows particularly the conditions and the purposes of their creation. The texts are considered as representations of migration and exile literature in the body of Danish literature. Both groups of authors were producing the texts independently of one another. However, one can identify a joint effort to create or retain an active relationship to Denmark in all texts. This effort has an existential dimension, too, as one can view it as an act of (re)formulation of their personal identity in exile. The thesis then analyses the texts with a help of postcolonial reading in order to find images of Denmark that are being established in the text. Terms adopted from postcolonial studies (and partially also from New Historicism) about migration and migration literature are explained in a separate chapter. The hypothesis of this dissertation is a possible identification of...
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Bernardino de Sahagún and Pre-Columbian Understanding of the World
Trčková, Helena ; Křížová, Markéta (advisor) ; Binková, Simona (referee)
(in English) The aim of this thesis is to document the Pre-Columbian understanding of the world based on the early colonial text Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España. The author of this book is a Franciscan Friar Bernardino de Sahagún, for that reason I also focus in the introductory chapters of this thesis on the Franciscan activity in the area of the former "Aztec Empire" straight after the conquest. To provide a complete introduction into the context I also include basic information about the Aztec civilization before the arrival of the Spaniards and about the dramatic encounter of these two cultures. The core of my work is a summary and an analysis of Historia general. In this thesis the Pre-Columbian culture is presented throught its two aspects - the spiritual and the "mundane". The content of the thesis provides information about the singificance of the gods in the life of the Aztecs, the rituals dedicated to them, political administration of the "empire" but as well for example the education of the young girls and boys in the Aztec society. Based on the analysis of the Sahagún's text I also mention the distortion of some parts of the text and I point out the necessity for critical reading of his work.
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Communication STrategies of Zapatist Movement in Chiapas
Šmausová, Veronika ; Křížová, Markéta (advisor) ; Opatrný, Josef (referee)
(in English): In this thesis I present the Zapatista movement and its media strategy. Further I describe its visual communication by means of a case study. After evaluating the significance of media strategies of the zapatista movement, I will prove that Zapatistas' media communication played a crucial role in the transformation of Mexican society in the late 90s and directly influenced the process of transition to democracy in Mexico. In the introduction I will explain how news photographs can be a source of exploration of the Zapatistas and I will introduce the basic hypotheses of my research. In the historical part of my introduction I will put the movement in the context with the political, social and historical development of Mexico and the state of Chiapas, where the uprising broke out in 1994 and I will explain the causes of the rebellion and introduce its goals. Before I describe the aspects of Zapatistas' communication, I will focus on the Mexican media environment so that I can link it with the media outlets of the Zapatista movement. I will describe in general terms media strategies and myths created by the movement. In the case study I will examine photographs of EZLN published in the magazine Proceso in the years 1994 and 2001, I will compare the Zapatistas' visual communication with...
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