|
|
Not surrendering your power": Freebirth in the Czech Republic
Jiřičková, Barbora ; Hrešanová, Ema (advisor) ; Hájek, Martin (referee)
This thesis addresses the issue of unassisted childbirth from the perspective of medical anthropology, or the anthropology of childbirth. Particular attention is paid to the question of why some women choose to give birth this way, taking into account the (Czech) social and legal context in which this choice is made. The work is based on qualitative research, and draws primarily on in-depth interviews with nine women who have had their own experience of at least one birth without professional medical assistance. The main findings of this thesis are primarily based on thematic data analysis and its interpretation, which identified five main thematic categories: own (emic) conceptualization of childbirth; following one's own needs; distrust of doctors and the bio-medical system; authoritative knowledge; and care during childbirth. The overall overarching theme is women's desire to 'not give away (surrender) their power', which corresponds with their effort to establish and maintain agency within the pregnancy and birth process. In addition to the particular factors that influence the decision of the mothers, the thesis also presents structural barriers that may influence their decision, which is mainly the unavailability of community (certified) midwifes, caused to a large extent by the Czech legal...
|
|
|
Lék nebo hrozba? Antropologické perspektivy samoléčby konopím v České republice
Bláhová, Barbora ; Horák, Miroslav (advisor) ; Halbich, Marek (referee)
This diploma thesis focuses specifically on the phenomenon of self-medication with cannabis (Cannabis Sativa L.) in the Czech Republic exploring subjective perception of this treatment by ill persons and its sociocultural framework. It describes a situation when the state fails to effectively regulate medical cannabis and patients often seek practices of self-medication, which remains illegal. Theoretical part of this thesis aims to explain the self- medication and cannabis use in the sociocultural context. Practical part is based on an anthropological research, which was implemented in the Czech Republic from January 1, 2017 to May 1, 2017 in a form of the on-line qualitative questionnaire survey. The research sample consists of 107 subjects, who used cannabis and its derives for self-medication. The analysis was done by the Grounded theory method. The results demonstrate that people who seek cannabis self-medication in the Czech Republic consider current legal regulation of cannabis objectionable. Cannabis plants for self-medication are usually grown at home and people find information about specifics of the treatment on-line. Looking at experience of patients, this thesis describes specifics of the practices of cannabis self-medication and it could be useful for organizations working with...
|
|
|
Becoming a doctor from the viewpoint of anthropologist
Rebendová, Eva ; Halbich, Marek (advisor) ; Hrešanová, Ema (referee)
This paper is about a process of a nascency of new doctors, and how it is possible to approach this topic from the viewpoint of social anthropologist. As a starting point, I use actor-network theory, which is one of the social science paradigms focusing on materiality. I consider it (on the basis of work by Bruno Latour and other scholars, who are dealing with this field), to be a remarkable actor in matters connected with human action, and thus an appropriate subject for an anthropological inquiry. Since the topic concerns medicine in the Czech Republic nowadays, I contribute to the knowledge of medical anthropology, which does not have such a strong academic base here as in the Anglo-Saxon world. Special attention is dedicated to a detailed description of activities leading to the formation of the text of this thesis. Reflexivity, on which I put emphasis, shall serve as the foundation of the context of genesis of an anthropological knowledge and also to describe the ethical concerns of the research. The main methods are observation and semi-structured in-depth interviews with twelve informants, who were medicine students or medicine faculty graduates.
|
|
|
Total Home: Care and Social Life in Psychiatric Institution
Tichý, Mikuláš ; Abu Ghosh, Yasar (advisor) ; Klepal, Jaroslav (referee)
The thesis is based on three months of participant observation in a long-term care facility in 2010 and interviews conducted during next three years. It draws from a perspectives of medical anthropology and anthropology of institutions. The focus is on an ethnography of institution for clients with chronic mental disease, dementia and substance abuse. The thesis is mapping institution's components and actors, their social life and relationships in the institution. The analyses is based upon the concept of total institution by Erving Goffman, and draws from thoughts of Josef Pieper, Martin Buber, Emanuel Lévinas and Michel Foucault. A long-term facility is an institution, which shares clients and some of problems with classical examples of total institutions, but recent reforms aimed to minimalize features of total institutions. Still it does not seem to be a vital institution and new aspects of social situation of staff and clients are recognized. Among new problems is non-existence of therapy for the inhabitants, their marginalization through poor financial situation in an institution, where lot of services are paid and little continuity to other forms of care of more community and ambulant character. Key words: total institution, long-term facility, psychiatric care, medical anthropology,...
|
|
|
Therapeutic Heroism: Enacting Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among War Veterans in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Klepal, Jaroslav ; Abu Ghosh, Yasar (advisor) ; Muhič Dizdarevič, Selma (referee) ; Hrešanová, Ema (referee)
Based on longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork in Bosnia and Herzegovina I trace ontologies of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and their enactments among veterans of the 1992-1995 war. My aim is to problematize and rethink social constructionists' approaches in medical anthropology that discuss war trauma and PTSD in relation to naturalistic models and treat them as constructed realities not determined by the nature of things. I argue that such a standpoint produces a particular epistemological/ontological side-effect: it allows medical anthropologists to craft a purely social ontology of trauma and PTSD by claiming that the realness of these "constructs" is a result of psychiatric discourse, moral economy of contemporary societies or Western (intellectual, political, and medical) hegemony. Considering the ontology of PTSD as an empirical question I analyze the enactments of PTSD in four settings: the ethnographic genre itself, the organization of war veterans with PTSD in the city of Tuzla, the veterans' welfare system in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Bosnian public arena. I argue that PTSD is practiced as a heterogeneous and multiple reality that cannot be situated solely either in the realm of human organism (and explained by naturalistic models) or society and culture (and...
|
|
|
Homebirth: intimate partners' perspectives
Jiřičková, Barbora ; Hrešanová, Ema (advisor) ; Ezrová, Magdaléna (referee)
This bachelor thesis addresses the topic of a planned home-birth from the perspective of the father of the child and investigates his role in the decision-making concerning the birth place and the birth itself. The experience of the man is examined in the context of the whole couple. The thesis is based on qualitative research which examines the above-mentioned topics in the Czech context using semi-structured interviews with women who gave birth at home and their partners. The empirical chapters represent the results of the thematic analysis and their interpretation, supported by relevant literature. The thematic categories that frame the respondents' statements are three: decision-making process, presence at birth and the presence of the father from the mother's point of view. The study indicates that men are often not fully integrated into the decision-making process itself. The reasons for the low level of integration of men into the decision-making process can be found on the part of both women and men. The work presents which factors might determine the male experience with home birth, as well as which circumstances might affect the degree of involvement in childbirth itself. Furthermore, the work presents strategies by which men overcome the fears associated with childbirth at home and...
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
Therapeutic Heroism: Enacting Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among War Veterans in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Klepal, Jaroslav ; Abu Ghosh, Yasar (advisor) ; Muhič Dizdarevič, Selma (referee) ; Hrešanová, Ema (referee)
Based on longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork in Bosnia and Herzegovina I trace ontologies of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and their enactments among veterans of the 1992-1995 war. My aim is to problematize and rethink social constructionists' approaches in medical anthropology that discuss war trauma and PTSD in relation to naturalistic models and treat them as constructed realities not determined by the nature of things. I argue that such a standpoint produces a particular epistemological/ontological side-effect: it allows medical anthropologists to craft a purely social ontology of trauma and PTSD by claiming that the realness of these "constructs" is a result of psychiatric discourse, moral economy of contemporary societies or Western (intellectual, political, and medical) hegemony. Considering the ontology of PTSD as an empirical question I analyze the enactments of PTSD in four settings: the ethnographic genre itself, the organization of war veterans with PTSD in the city of Tuzla, the veterans' welfare system in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Bosnian public arena. I argue that PTSD is practiced as a heterogeneous and multiple reality that cannot be situated solely either in the realm of human organism (and explained by naturalistic models) or society and culture (and...
|
|
|
Lék nebo hrozba? Antropologické perspektivy samoléčby konopím v České republice
Bláhová, Barbora ; Horák, Miroslav (advisor) ; Halbich, Marek (referee)
This diploma thesis focuses specifically on the phenomenon of self-medication with cannabis (Cannabis Sativa L.) in the Czech Republic exploring subjective perception of this treatment by ill persons and its sociocultural framework. It describes a situation when the state fails to effectively regulate medical cannabis and patients often seek practices of self-medication, which remains illegal. Theoretical part of this thesis aims to explain the self- medication and cannabis use in the sociocultural context. Practical part is based on an anthropological research, which was implemented in the Czech Republic from January 1, 2017 to May 1, 2017 in a form of the on-line qualitative questionnaire survey. The research sample consists of 107 subjects, who used cannabis and its derives for self-medication. The analysis was done by the Grounded theory method. The results demonstrate that people who seek cannabis self-medication in the Czech Republic consider current legal regulation of cannabis objectionable. Cannabis plants for self-medication are usually grown at home and people find information about specifics of the treatment on-line. Looking at experience of patients, this thesis describes specifics of the practices of cannabis self-medication and it could be useful for organizations working with...
|
guest ::
