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The Semiotics of Han Tombs
Laštovková, Andrea ; Šafaříková, Radana (advisor) ; Nešpor, Zdeněk (referee)
The master thesis called "Semiotics Han Tombs" does not only deal with the semiotics view of space of Han dynasty tombs, when we are examining the number of structures, which are permeating Han graves, we find structures of the world of man living in China, but this process also points to problems of culture interpretation which cultural semiotics helps to eliminate. Problems associated with the sign plays an important role in shaping the very cultural and social identity. The issue of understanding and interpretation of cultures occurs at the time when we select certain features or characters from the structure of a culture to freely create a system without having analyzed the real culture. Always all these elements must be considered in the context of the overall system or structure, or we only deal with empty concepts or definitions. In other words, we do not see the whole picture. Han tomb as a text is polysemous and in many respects incomprehensible. However, the creation, reading and semiosis takes place in it and it is the statement of understanding of this world. So revealing the speaker's worldview depends on the process of interpretation, because the statement may involve a degree of ideological connotations which determined the interpretation independently on the previous coding. Key...
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Enverism - Belief in one God, the religious Situation in Socialist Albania
Vinš, Přemysl ; Nešpor, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Chrobák, Tomáš (referee)
The subject of this thesis is the religion situation in Albania between 1946 and 1990. It is a period, in which the communist party - lead by Enver Hoxha till 1985, had rule over the country. This work deals in detail with the legal development of religion in Albania after the Second World War and after 1967, when all the religious institutions were outlawed and free religious belief was proscribed. However, this thesis focuses mainly on the analysis of Albanian written sources (press and literature) and it presents the antireligious arguments of the Albanian communist state and the role which the religious issues played in the propaganda of the Albanian state against the inner and outer enemies, in the legitimisation of politics of high Albanian political representatives and in the construction of the historic tale of the Albanian state and nation. We applied the theory of political religion (Voegelin, Aron, Maier) on the Albanian case.
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Jonáš club as an intelectually cultural platform in the times of (the lack of)freedom
Praibišová, Eva ; Horský, Jan (advisor) ; Nešpor, Zdeněk (referee)
This thesis deals with history, evolution and the activity of the cultural club of kindred spirits: Jonas club. Deeper attention is laid upon the question of mechanisms by which the so-called islands of freedom were constituted in the 1970s and 1980s. As it seems, Jonas club worked as this kind of free platform, therefore the aim of this thesis is to trace the phenomena which lead to the formation of these islands of freedom. From the methodological perspective the thesis is a qualitative work, which collects the data using the method of oral history. The work is time-framed by the years 1967-1989, therefore from the era of the establishment of the club until the Velvet revolution. The chosen witnesses usually remember most of the so-called normalization period. And the apriori given topics are followed with the aim to comprehend their subjective emic perspective. When it comes to the sources, the work draws upon the magazines which the club publishes from the very beginning of its existence until nowadays. As for the structure of the work, the text is divided into three larger sections, outside of the introduction and conclusion. The first theoretical section presents to the reader the theoretical-historical context. It is followed by the methodological section which not only provides methodology,...
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Unusual Spiritual Experiences in the context of Occulture
Horská, Kateřina ; Nešpor, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Pokorný, Vít (referee) ; Václavík, David (referee)
This work studies the environment of contemporary alternative spirituality in the Czech Republic, specifically unusual spiritual experiences and techniques for inducing them. It is based on long-term field research utilizing the method of participant observation carried out primarily in the environment of neo-shamanism, but also the use of psychedelics, dark therapy, and other movements and practices. I perceive and analyze these practices both as psychotechnologies - i.e. techniques through which their users strive to alter their thinking - as well as spiritual techniques aimed at establishing and cultivating a relationship with the spiritual world. The focus of this study is a comparison of neo-shamanism and other practices in three main aspects: the induction of experiences, the connection between spiritual experiences and the actor's life as a whole, and the changes in the perception of reality brought about by long- term practicing. I point out that in all these areas, techniques traditionally thought of as closely related exhibit fundamental differences. A non-negligible part of this study consists of methodological and theoretical considerations. I show that the field of alternative spirituality has many specifics compared to other religious environments, and that mainstream methodological...
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Religious Identity of Afghani youth in Czechia in a historical perspective
Rahimi, Fatema ; Nešpor, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Černý, Karel (referee)
The thesis will examine the role of religion among young Afghans in the Czech Republic. The Afghan "exodus" began with the overthrow of Zahir Shah in 1973 and was followed by massive waves of emigration during the 1980s and 1990s. Even in the last decade, Afghans remained one of the largest groups of refugees in Europe. The destination for most Afghans in Europe is the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands or Scandinavia. However, a significant number of Afghan refugees also live in the Czech Republic. The thesis first maps the history of migration from Afghanistan to Europe in general and to the Czech Republic in particular. Given that Afghans are often understood as Muslims, the work will also analyze the history of Muslims in the Czech Republic. Then the work will focus on the role of religion in shaping the identity of young Afghans in the Czech Republic. The analysis of secondary sources will be complemented by my own qualitative research in the form of in-depth interviews with young Afghans. Keywords: identity, religion, ethnicity, migration, Afghans, Muslims
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