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Creatures of Science, Living Models and the Construction of Scientific Communities
Stella, Marco ; Hermann, Tomáš (advisor) ; Tinková, Daniela (referee) ; Janko, Jan (referee)
Creatures of Science. Living Models and the Construction of Scientific Communities. Marco Stella The present thesis, which is to be understood as a contribution both to history and anthropology of science, deals with the relationship of the construction and emergence of scientific communities and the use of models in science, or construction of new forms of knowledge. We deal primary with the history of life sciences, especially behavioral sciences, which formed in the beginning of the 20th century as a relatively independent a scientific field and a rather heterogeneous platform for a common research of life utterances and cognition of man and other animals. The thesis focuses mainly on living models, often used biological and psychological research. Using Latour's concepts of modernity and hybridity, the thesis points at the hybridizing effect of behavioral sciences (the model always shapes and creates the modelled) and also at their ways of human and animal images. The second often serve as a basis for constructing the second. I also discuss some the ways how implicit model properties, which influence the (seemingly) isolated sphere of science, affect the chances of a community for becoming a discipline. On three examples from the history of life sciences, i.e. the unsuccessful institutionalization of...
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The Construction of "Dangerous dogs" in Blesk and Lidové noviny in the years 2001 and 2011
Stýblová, Hana ; Stella, Marco (advisor) ; Vandrovcová, Tereza (referee)
At the end of the 20th century the issue of so called "dangerous" dog breeds has become increasingly discussed in some European countries. These dogs are considered so threatening that some countries have decided to regulate or restrict their breeding by law. This thesis looks at the articles in Blesk tabloid and Lidové noviny daily newspaper in the years 2001 and 2011 and explores how the dangerous aspect of these breeds was constructed there. Through discourse analysis it investigates the image of "dangerous dogs" presented in these newspapers and what these representations imply. The results of the analysis confirm that all the selected materials explicitly construct the image of dangerous dogs and at the same time implicitly suggest the existence of their "positive" counterparts which helps drawing the line between "good" and "bad" dogs, and hence also between "good" and "bad" owners of the dogs. In all cases, it is apparent that the issue thematised on the level of dog breeds in fact charaterises the relation of man to the animal as well as the society. The representation of the dog witnesses far more about a man than the dog itself. Keywords: dangerous dog, representation, media, human-animal relationship, discourse analysis
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Representation of "disabilty" and strategies of popularisation in pages of newspaper "Úchylná mládež" 1925 - 1938
Satinová, Gabriela ; Storchová, Lucie (advisor) ; Stella, Marco (referee)
The thesis deals with discourse analysis of a texts published in the magazine "Úchylná mládež". I focus above all on ways, in which bodily "ab/normality" was represented and produced within the Czech eugenic discourse in the first half of the 20th century. The goal of this work is to find out how eugenics influenced the period understanding of ab/normality and how it contributed to perception of ideas of productivity of disabled body. In the work I develop the thesis, that eugenic largely contributed to the incorporation of the disabled body into the productive "collective body" of the national community by supervising and controlling acts, when the "individual body" became a part of "social" and "political" body in the public discourse. Using the conceptual framework of "biopower", I aim at ways in which healthy body was constructed by means of definition of "risky groups". In the work, discursive practices are analysed that made possible to discuss bodily and mental abnormality and to define it in connection with eugenic doctrine and how productivity of disabled body was referred to. In the work, speech agents are analysed that define categories or imaginings about ab/normality.
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Zoo here and there: Observation of Visitor Behavior in the Prague and Reykjavík Zoos
Vysopal, Ondřej Věnek ; Stella, Marco (advisor) ; Halbich, Marek (referee)
In my diploma thesis I deal with the perception of the modern zoological gardens by observing visitor behavior. The thesis captures the emergence of zoos in Europe in the late 18th and 19th century gardens and their role as a source of knowledge and as a representation of the relationship between man and animal. Based on the observations of visitors I present two European zoological gardens - Prague Zoo and Reykjavík Zoo & Family Park - as spaces reflecting a certain culture. Reykjavík as a place with a simple mission dedicated for the education of small children in several fields, not only in zoology, and Prague as a complex universe, a merge of several different places with different meanings, such as a place for education, relaxation, photographing, standing against the contemporary western critical theories of zoological gardens. Key words: Zoological gardens, visitors, animals, humans, culture, looking at animals, behavior of visitors, Reykjavík, Prague, Iceland
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The Role of Aggression in Human Evolution, 1963-2000. Authors, theories, contexts
Mydlová, Miriama ; Stella, Marco (advisor) ; Hroníková, Linda (referee)
Presented work is an overview of contemporary evolutionary biological theories of aggression, since the breakthrough works of Robert Ardrey and Konrad Lorenz from the 1960s and ending with contemporary evolutionary ethics of Robert Wright and Frans de Waal and also evolutionary anthropology, represented for example by Richard Wrangham. Work is highlighting the continuity of development of the theories and their placement into the context of evolutionary biology. In addition, it is dealing with critical analysis (in terms of discourse analysis) of these theories and their language, taking into account sociocultural influences acting on authors during their formation. It is the analysis of patterns of thinking, argumentation elements and strategies of authors, who deal with issues of the evolutionary background of the origin of human aggression. However, ambition of the second part is not the deconstruction of the theories. Contrarily it strives for positive, integrative approach. By categories of class, gender, race, etc. conditional misrepresentation (bias) of acquried data (e.g. by observation), their interpretation by authors themselves and their popularization, will be understood there as a factor entering into the assessment of theories, but it is not a priori considered as evidence of...
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