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Transformation of the Post-Socialist Identity in Eastern Europe: A Comparative Analysis on the Cases of the Czech Republic and Belarus
Pyatkevich, Aryna ; Hrůzová, Andrea (advisor) ; Pergl, David (referee)
Once the Soviet Union ceased to exist, its subjects and dominions gained the ability to determine their course of political, cultural, and economic development. The never-ending transition to democracy, described by Boris Buden, is one of the key elements of post-communism. Yet, while the countries that had been the part of Eastern Bloc but not part of the Soviet Union itself were reasonably successful on their path to democratic capitalistic development, the former dominions struggled to incorporate the values that came with what Madina Tlostanova describes as a process of forced westernization. The following paper explores the problem of post-socialistic identity transformation in Central Europe in the case of the Czech Republic and post-soviet identity transformation in Eastern Europe in the case of Belarus. The qualitative research is built on the accessed collective memory of those who work within institutions of memory on the level permitted by the governing regimes in both countries, all born after 1989. The similarities and differences that clearly emerged during the comparative analysis of the findings suggest that being post-socialistic and post-soviet should no longer be interchangeable in the academic literature. Those were and continue to be homological yet different processes, as...
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Transformation of the Post-Socialist Identity in Eastern Europe: A Comparative Analysis on the Cases of the Czech Republic and Belarus
Pyatkevich, Aryna ; Hrůzová, Andrea (advisor) ; Pergl, David (referee)
Once the Soviet Union ceased to exist, its subjects and dominions gained the ability to determine their course of political, cultural, and economic development. The never-ending transition to democracy, described by Boris Buden, is one of the key elements of post-communism. Yet, while the countries that had been the part of Eastern Bloc but not part of the Soviet Union itself were reasonably successful on their path to democratic capitalistic development, the former dominions struggled to incorporate the values that came with what Madina Tlostanova describes as a process of forced westernization. The following paper explores the problem of post-socialistic identity transformation in Central Europe in the case of the Czech Republic and post-soviet identity transformation in Eastern Europe in the case of Belarus. The qualitative research is built on the accessed collective memory of those who work within institutions of memory on the level permitted by the governing regimes in both countries, all born after 1989. The similarities and differences that clearly emerged during the comparative analysis of the findings suggest that being post-socialistic and post-soviet should no longer be interchangeable in the academic literature. Those were and continue to be homological yet different processes, as...
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The late socialist Czechoslovak ethnography and folklore studies and its influence on the Czech tradition of sociocultural anthropology after 1989
Balaš, Nikola ; Bittnerová, Dana (advisor) ; Janeček, Petr (referee) ; Woitsch, Jiří (referee)
This thesis is an attempt to provide an account of the late socialist discipline of Czechoslovak ethnography and folklore studies and provide a basis for understanding of ethnography's post socialist transformation into anthropology and ethnology. The main theoretical framework of the thesis is the critical sociology of science of Pierre Bourdieu. The thesis focuses especially on two ethnography institutions - the Department of Ethnography and Folklore Studies at Charles University in Prague and the Prague branch of the Institute for Ethnography and Folklore Studies of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in the late socialist period, which covers the 1970s and 1980s. Apart from providing some intellectual dimension of ethnography, the thesis aims to uncover other dimensions of ethnographers' practices such as research methods, language competences, writing habits, academic hierarchies or attitudes to mutual criticism. The thesis argues that whereas ethnography as a label disappeared in the 1990s, ethnographers' practices continued to shape the nascent Czech anthropology and ethnology. The thesis makes an intensive use of ethnographers' scholarly writings, interviews with former ethnographers and also uses some documentary evidence and secondary literature as its sources. Keywords: history of...
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The Age of Draci doupe: New Concept and Commercialization of Leisure Activities during the Early 1990s.
Houha, Libor ; Storchová, Lucie (advisor) ; Ducháček, Milan (referee)
In my Master's degree thesis I'm dealing with the phenomenon of role-playing games in the Czech republic in the first half of the 1990s. Role-playing games came to the Czech republic in the form of a game called "Draci doupe" with an active community of players being established immediately. The main aims of this study are analysis and contextualisation of subculture of these players in the first half of the nineties and also publisher "Altar", who released "Draci doupe" at the end of the year 1990. "Draci doupe" and commercialization were inherently bound together. In my thesis I'm dealing with the description of development of publisher "Altar" with regard to his commercial strategy and influence on the subculture of role-playing game players. The rest of the study is dedicated to the community of players with the focus on development, form and spreading through fanzines (non-professional and non- official publication produced by community of players), magazines and community conventions (called "cons"). Struggles in the community of players regarding commercionalization of this leisure activity are analysed further in the study. These struggles led to degradation of the whole community of players. The view of public is added to the thesis to complete the whole picture of analysis of subculture...
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"The other" geography of alternative food networks: farmers' markets as a travelling concept
Fendrychová, Lenka ; Chromý, Pavel (advisor) ; Kostelecký, Tomáš (referee) ; Pauknerová, Karolína (referee)
Boom of the farmers' markets in 2010 represented a brand new phenomenon in the so far rather calm development of the Czech alternative food networks (AFNs). Unprecedented was the extent of political support at the local and state level as well as the interest of media and consumers. My PhD project originates in the desire to understand this phenomenon. I realized qualitative research of practice and discourse of the farmers' markets in the territory of Prague metropolitan area (PMA) during the years 2011 and 2012. The main research methods included interviews with organizers, observation at the markets, and the content analysis of the mass media. In the course of the research it became obvious that the current academic discourse, rooted primarily in the Anglo-American context, cannot be applied to the Czech reality. Also, the specific features of the farmers' markets in the PMA could only partially be explained by the differences between the Czech post-socialist context and "the West". An interpretation of the boom of farmers' markets in the PMA, consistent with the results of my research, was only enabled by an innovative approach which combines the concept of the travelling theory, postcolonial sensitivity to the mutual relations between source and target contexts, and the findings of the studies...
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Civil and political sphere from the perspective of local actors in České Budějovice
Bílková, Lucie ; Navrátil, Jiří (advisor) ; Pospíšilová, Tereza (referee)
Post-socialist states are often linked to low political participation and weak civil society. Simultaneously, there is a visible rise in the phenomenon of urban movements. They serve not only as a platform for mobilization of citizens but also as a platform that builds a bridge between politics and society. Therefore, there is a need to study this phenomenon as an intriguing opportunity for research into the relationship between the civil and political sphere on a local level. The goal of this thesis is to show how city activists look at the civil and political spheres in comparison to the definition offered by theoretical conceptualizations. Research has demonstrated a transition in spheres, where activities are indicated as nonpolitical by activists. These findings are not supported by the presented theory which considers them political, and therefore, this study suggests that the boundaries of the spheres are shifted. Moreover, activists constantly engage in both spheres and therefore enter local politics through their activity. They prefer conventional methods to political actions, which they are not estranged to, but they do not frame them as political.
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The Age of Draci doupe: New Concept and Commercialization of Leisure Activities during the Early 1990s.
Houha, Libor ; Storchová, Lucie (advisor) ; Ducháček, Milan (referee)
In my Master's degree thesis I'm dealing with the phenomenon of role-playing games in the Czech republic in the first half of the 1990s. Role-playing games came to the Czech republic in the form of a game called "Draci doupe" with an active community of players being established immediately. The main aims of this study are analysis and contextualisation of subculture of these players in the first half of the nineties and also publisher "Altar", who released "Draci doupe" at the end of the year 1990. "Draci doupe" and commercialization were inherently bound together. In my thesis I'm dealing with the description of development of publisher "Altar" with regard to his commercial strategy and influence on the subculture of role-playing game players. The rest of the study is dedicated to the community of players with the focus on development, form and spreading through fanzines (non-professional and non- official publication produced by community of players), magazines and community conventions (called "cons"). Struggles in the community of players regarding commercionalization of this leisure activity are analysed further in the study. These struggles led to degradation of the whole community of players. The view of public is added to the thesis to complete the whole picture of analysis of subculture...
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