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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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Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in postcolonial and gender context
Králová Ježková, Olga ; Jiroutová Kynčlová, Tereza (advisor) ; Havelková, Hana (referee)
This thesis concerns subject of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), ritual commonly - but inaccurately - named female circumcision. In the thesis I analyze two autobiographical texts written by women who got through the FGM/C - Mutilated written by Senegal author Khady and Desert Flower by Somali author Waris Dirie. Aim of this thesis is to analyze view point of two women who have direct experience with FGM/C, to add more information to research of this ritual and to strengthen effort to understand structural reasons for its existence and continuance. I attach myself to the side of opponents to FGM/C and by this thesis I'd wish to help to banish this ritual. My effort is connected with my feminist conviction but also with human rights discourse. ABSTRAKT Tato diplomová práce zkoumá problematiku Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), rituálu u nás běžně - avšak nepřesně - nazývaného ženská obřízka. V diplomové práci analyzuji dva autobiografické příběhy žen, které prožily FGM/C. Jedná se o knihy Zmrzačená od senegalské autorky Khady a Květ pouště od somálské autorky Waris Dirie. Cílem tohoto výzkumu je analyzovat pohled dvou žen na rituál FGM/C, připojit další informace ke zkoumané problematice FGM/C, a tak rozšířit nejen znalosti týkající se rituálu samotného, ale zejména podpořit snahu...
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A. I. Herzen's concept of Russia
Kožíšková, Lenka ; Nykl, Hanuš (advisor) ; Tumis, Stanislav (referee)
The thesis focuses on different conceptions of Russia developed throughout the philosophical- journalistic and prose works of an eminent Russian thinker of the 19th century - Alexander Herzen, who had lived and worked in Russia and later on continued his work as emigrant elsewhere in Europe. Applying E. Said's Orientalism, I. Buruma's and A. Margalit's Occidentalism, and A. Etkind's internal colonization, a representative sample of Hezen's work has been analyzed to embrace the changes of the author's perception of Russia. In particular, Etkind's concept is used to bridge the divergence between a conventional understanding of Orientalism directed upon Middle East and the canonical texts of the Russian 19th century (pre-revolutionary) intelligentsia. Herzen's work has been thus situated within the context of postcolonial studies. The analysis studies the images and scenes used by Herzen to build up his ideas and understandings of Russia and Europe, or more precisely his constructions of East and West, indirectly intertwined with the social characteristics of Russia and his various conceptions, including the imaginary role of Russian intelligentsia and the author's own role in Russia and Europe.
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Hybrid Bodies and Hybrid Identities in the Fiction of Octavia Butler
Korejtková, Adéla ; Veselá, Pavla (advisor) ; Procházka, Martin (referee)
The thesis explores the theme of hybridity in Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy and in her last novel, Fledgling, which both deal with complex relationships between humans and a different species. The main focus is on the characters of mixed origin - offspring of two distinct species and beings whose existence is a result of genetic experiments. These individuals occupy a metaphorical "in-between" space where cultural, racial, sexual and other boundaries meet and blur. The theoretical framework follows two sets of ideas - Homi Bhabha's notion of hybridity and the so-called Third Space, and Donna Haraway's cyborg figure. The second chapter of the thesis is centered on the origins and development of the concept of hybridity and its current use in postcolonial discourse. Furthermore, it introduces the most relevant ideas from Bhabha's The Location of Culture and Haraway's "A Cyborg Manifesto" and compares them. The following two chapters are mainly devoted to Butler's hybrid characters, Akin and Jodahs from Xenogenesis and Shori, the protagonist of Fledgling. This section analyses, among other issues, their physical features and special skills connected with hybridity, the construction of their identity, their relationship with others and their relation to the clash between different species and...
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Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in postcolonial and gender context
Králová Ježková, Olga ; Jiroutová Kynčlová, Tereza (advisor) ; Havelková, Hana (referee)
This thesis concerns subject of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), ritual commonly - but inaccurately - named female circumcision. In the thesis I analyze two autobiographical texts written by women who got through the FGM/C - Mutilated written by Senegal author Khady and Desert Flower by Somali author Waris Dirie. Aim of this thesis is to analyze view point of two women who have direct experience with FGM/C, to add more information to research of this ritual and to strengthen effort to understand structural reasons for its existence and continuance. I attach myself to the side of opponents to FGM/C and by this thesis I'd wish to help to banish this ritual. My effort is connected with my feminist conviction but also with human rights discourse. ABSTRAKT Tato diplomová práce zkoumá problematiku Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), rituálu u nás běžně - avšak nepřesně - nazývaného ženská obřízka. V diplomové práci analyzuji dva autobiografické příběhy žen, které prožily FGM/C. Jedná se o knihy Zmrzačená od senegalské autorky Khady a Květ pouště od somálské autorky Waris Dirie. Cílem tohoto výzkumu je analyzovat pohled dvou žen na rituál FGM/C, připojit další informace ke zkoumané problematice FGM/C, a tak rozšířit nejen znalosti týkající se rituálu samotného, ale zejména podpořit snahu...
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