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Lilliputians.Representations of the bodily "difference" in the Prague's freakshow culture 1820-1940
Herza, Filip ; Storchová, Lucie (advisor) ; Kolářová, Kateřina (referee)
In the following essay, I focus on the representations of bodily "difference" in the Prague's freakshow culture, particulary on the displays of the so called "Lilliputians", which were popular among the public from the beginning of the 19th Century to the 40's of the 20th Century. Firstly, I introduce the Prague's curiosity exhibitions as a specific social praxis and I compare them with similar displays in Europe and the United States. In the second part of this essay, I try to analyse those exhibitions critically, using the concepts from the present disability studies discourse. I deal with the bodily "otherness" as a category of difference, which arises from the intersection of different ideologies. According to the point of view, this category shaped the individual and collective identities and fostered the social hierarchies of the time. Throughout the essay, I focus on the dis/continuities in the imagination of bodily "difference" and I try to describe the specificity of the Czech freakshow tradition. Key words: 19th Century, body, representations, bodily difference, abnormality, ideology
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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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Representation of sexual violence in the public space of interwar Czechoslovakia
Sychrová, Adéla ; Storchová, Lucie (advisor) ; Baloun, Pavel (referee)
This thesis deals with the representations of sexual violence in public space of the interwar Czechoslovakia. Developing the conceptual framework of the Critical Discourse Analysis, it particularly concentrates on newspapes and periodic journals.. The thesis shows how complex and heterogeneous was the discourse of sexual violence, since itwas connected to many periodʼs imageries. Most of the interwar Czechoslovak newspaper were owned by political parties which caused different representation of sexual violence based on their political background. Special attention is also paid to representation of offenders and victims of sexual violence. Key words: sexual violence, representation, The First Czechoslovak Republic, czech periodic press
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Representations of Animals in the Czech Travel Literature on Sub-Saharan Africa from the end of the 19th till the Beginning of the 20th Century
Řičář, Josef ; Storchová, Lucie (advisor) ; Baloun, Pavel (referee)
The diploma thesis deals with the issue of animal representation in Czech travelogues about sub-Saharan Africa at the end of the 19th and 20th centuries. Special emphasis is placed on the representation of different ways of hunting and on the meanings that these ways of hunting had for contemporary actors. The theme is placed in the context of the colonization and "conquest" of African nature by Europeans and its symbolic appropriation through the process of representation. The emphasis is also placed on the representation of indigenous people in the context of negotiation of their rights to appropriate African nature and to hunt animals. This negotiation took place e.g. in pointing out the primitive nature of the indigenous inhabitants and their comparison to animals. Czech authors describe their participation in the colonial system from their specific position of citizens of a European state without its formal colonies. The thesis uses the methods of postcolonial studies in order to reflect their specific position. The methods of the interdisciplinary field of animal studies are used for the analysis of animal representations. The shows the relationship of these representations towards European biological and colonial discourse. Key words Czech travel writing, representation of animals, hunt,...
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Imaginations of "Otherness" and Freak Show Culture in the 19th- and 20th-Century Prague
Herza, Filip ; Storchová, Lucie (advisor) ; Hanulík, Vladan (referee) ; Sokolová, Věra (referee)
in English Dissertation deals with the freak show culture in Prague and the Czech lands in a broader context of the modern discourses of dis/ability and the imaginations of the collective body of the Czech nation. Exhibitions of "Lilliputians", "Giants", "Siamese twins" and other "extraordinary" bodies are analyzed here as a part of the history of an international entertainment culture in the 19th-century Europe. The emphasis lays on the turn of the century, the decade that witnessed rash development both of the capitalist entertainment industry and the expert disciplines that dealt with the "ab/normal". I claim, that the popularity of freak shows in this period rested in their ability to articulate fears and ambitions of their visitors, both in their individual embodied experience and their imaginative belonging, notably their belonging to the collective body of the Czech nation. In four case studies, I focus on individual freak figures and analyze how the intersections of different axes of difference - ethnicity, gender, class - within the representation of "the extraordinary", coproduced certain notion of social order and power hierarchies that were closely intertwined with the imagined collective body of nation.
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Discussion of abortion legalization during the first Czechoslovak Republic
Šefrna, Vivian ; Storchová, Lucie (advisor) ; Baloun, Pavel (referee)
This paper focuses on the discussion concerning legalization of the right to abortion on demand during The First Czechoslovak Republic. It uses the approach to discourse of Norman Fairclough and analyzes the discoursive types that were present in the discussion, with giving special attention to the communist discourse. Heterogenity of the communist discourse is revealed as well as the considerable change which took place after banning of abortions in Soviet Union in 1936. The analysis specially focuses on the role of arguments about individual human rights, specifically the right to make decisions about one's own body. It concerns further with the approach to the developing human life as well as women's sexuality and the role of women in the reproduction of the nation. Key words: abortion, communist discourse, Rozsévačka, The First Czechoslovak Republic
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The Representation of the Other in travelogues of Zikmund and Hanzelka
Chejnová, Anna ; Storchová, Lucie (advisor) ; Herza, Filip (referee)
My thesis deals with the representations of differences in the travelogues of Jiří Hanzelka and Miroslav Zikmund. Despite the two men being a couple of very well-known travellers, such an analysis of their travelogues has not yet been done. Consequently, my research concentrates precisely on the representations of differences in the travelogues written by Hanzelka and Zikmund on their travels. In the shorter introductory part of the thesis, I outline the context of Hanzelka and Zikmund's time period in Czechoslovakia when it comes to travelling and politics. Here, I also introduce the methodology and the newest research of travelogue representations both in Czech and foreign historiography. In subsequent chapters I pay attention to several topics laid down by my initial research questions: How do the authors present differences in relation to 'us' and 'them' and how do they represent themselves in their texts and with their car. I base my analysis on the first editions of Hanzelka and Zikmund's travelogues, specifically editions from the years 1952-1969. I treat the travelogues as texts, which through the medium of a shared language create not only images of the 'others' (Africans, Indians, Arabs or the Orient in general), but also present the criticism of capitalism and colonialism as well as the ideas of...
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The Velvet revolution in a small town - Microhistorical perspective of the revolution in 1989 in Kolin
Mejzrová, Anežka ; Storchová, Lucie (advisor) ; Wohlmuth Markupová, Jana (referee)
The events at Národní třída in Prague at the end of year 1989 set off outrage which led to the Velvet revolution that resulted in the fall of communist regime in Czechoslovakia. This diploma thesis studied the Velvet revolution and following period of social and political changes that arised from downfall of communism. These issues were viewed in perspective of microhistory which means that research looked away from Prague and other big cities and focused on events and actions in the town of Kolín. The events and actions in Kolín were presented day by day. The following period was described through various areas which were affected by transformation. The source of the thesis were town chronicles, local periodicals and interviews with witnesses. Key words: the Velvet revolution, Kolín, microhistory, transformation.
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