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Revolutionary Amoebas: Political Versatility as the Art of Resistance in Contemporary Germany
Kuřík, Bohuslav ; Abu Ghosh, Yasar (advisor) ; Barša, Pavel (referee) ; Feinberg, Joseph Grim (referee)
This dissertation is interested in what kind of self and techniques of resistance are acquired in order to be a revolutionary in the contemporary West. While I was conducting an ethnographic research between 2008 - 2015 following young activists from Germany in urban spaces of demonstrations, riots, direct actions, jails, the Internet, universities, housing projects, parent's homes in Germany as well as during solidarity trips to Mexico, Argentina, Israel/Palestine, Denmark or Italy, it was discovered that a concept of political versatility may be helpful here. Young revolutionaries are what I call revolutionary amoebas. Revolutionary amoebas acquire capacities to discuss at universities or public debates, write texts, talk, but they manage to argue beyond the discourse by throwing stones or burning cars in riots, organizing direct actions, smashing corporate properties, beating neonazis, attacking ultranationalists, or actively defending themselves against the police. As citizens of advanced liberal democracy, they enter public discussions of contested opinions, persuade people with their critical arguments and a few of them even vote, but they as well explore the political terrain considered illegal. Many of them know how to get funded from the state, The EU,...
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National Myth and Folklore Authenticity in Slovak Folklore Talent TV Show Zem spieva (2017)
Moravčíková, Dominika ; Havelková, Tereza (advisor) ; Feinberg, Joseph Grim (referee)
This master's diploma thesis discusses the mechanisms by which the Slovak public television talent show Zem spieva (2017) creates the concept of folklore perfor- mance as a means of building and expressing national identity. This thesis also discusses the mechanisms by which the show creates a platform for negotiating the criteria of high standard folklore performance which should present a consistent reconstruction of tradition. These two effects of the show Zem spieva are in this thesis perceived as conceptually conflicting: on the one hand, there are essentialist ideas about the genetic predisposition of members of the Slovak nation for folklore performance; on the other hand, there are doctrines focused on the reconstruction of the tradition on the folklore stage. These doctrines are followed by an expert jury composed of prominent members of the folklore community. This thesis argues that the concept of performing folklore on stage perceived as an intellectual problem of the reconstruction of tradition is in the show subversive and therefore gradually replaced by emotionally and patriotically defined criteria of high quality folklore performance. This preferred measure preserves cultural cohesion in terms of sa- tisfying the needs of the mass audience. Following the conflict of the mentioned...
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Revolutionary Amoebas: Political Versatility as the Art of Resistance in Contemporary Germany
Kuřík, Bohuslav ; Abu Ghosh, Yasar (advisor) ; Barša, Pavel (referee) ; Feinberg, Joseph Grim (referee)
This dissertation is interested in what kind of self and techniques of resistance are acquired in order to be a revolutionary in the contemporary West. While I was conducting an ethnographic research between 2008 - 2015 following young activists from Germany in urban spaces of demonstrations, riots, direct actions, jails, the Internet, universities, housing projects, parent's homes in Germany as well as during solidarity trips to Mexico, Argentina, Israel/Palestine, Denmark or Italy, it was discovered that a concept of political versatility may be helpful here. Young revolutionaries are what I call revolutionary amoebas. Revolutionary amoebas acquire capacities to discuss at universities or public debates, write texts, talk, but they manage to argue beyond the discourse by throwing stones or burning cars in riots, organizing direct actions, smashing corporate properties, beating neonazis, attacking ultranationalists, or actively defending themselves against the police. As citizens of advanced liberal democracy, they enter public discussions of contested opinions, persuade people with their critical arguments and a few of them even vote, but they as well explore the political terrain considered illegal. Many of them know how to get funded from the state, The EU,...
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