The aim of the diploma thesis is to map and evaluate the availability of social services in the Ústecký Region. Special attention is devoted to Šluknov -- an area, which is known as the northern-Czech end of the world and which is also facing social and ethnic problems. Theoretical part of the thesis introduces social services as a part of a social policy, describes their contemporary significance and concept and further confirms their impact on quality of life. It also presents the typology of social services with focus being placed on two selected users groups -- elderly citizens and ethnic minorities. The theoretical part further addresses the legislative grounding of social services in the Czech Republic and introduces a key process of community planning. The practical part of the thesis, based on publicly available data and interviews, analyzes the availability of each type of social services in the Ústecký Region and more deeply maps available social services in Šluknov area according to users groups which were established in the community plan. With respect to the specifics of the district, the thesis concludes that social services are provided in adequate structure. Nevertheless, most of them are situated in central part of Šluknov area, which leads to poor accessibility to residents in marginal areas of the region.

This thesis further analyses the question of political representation of ethnic minorities. Its main theoretical framework is created by theory of cleavages by S. Rokkan and S.M. Lipset, which describes conflict lines within the society and its influence on the party system. Further on, different definitions and approaches to the topic of ethnic identity, ethnic conflict and and ethnic and regional parties are introduced. Second part of this thesis is composed of four case studies of selected European cities with relevant ethnic minorities. These are Leicester in United Kingdom, Espoo in Finland, German Frankfurt am Main and Romanian Cluj-Napoca. These cases are firstly analyzed by context of political representation of ethnic minorities. That is in the first place the share and nature of minority population and in the second place attributes of local political systems within both horizontal and vertical dimension. Factors with direct impact on political representation of ethnic minorities like electoral system, election right and any other special measures are analyzed further on.

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The Young Adult novel Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe portrays the coming out stories of two queer Mexican American boys who struggle with their ethnicity and sexuality, which leads to internal conflicts. The focus of the analysis in the essay is to investigate how the novel can be taught in Upper Secondary classrooms through queer pedagogy and anti-oppressive approaches focusing on silenced discourse. When teachers allow their students to work with the coming out story in the novel within this framework, teachers can engage their students in exploring and finding meaning in the silences that the protagonists Aristotle and Dante speak through. The anti-oppressive practice of reading for silences allows students to look beyond what is being represented in the novel in regard to Aristotle’s and Dante’s sexuality and ethnicity and thereby find meaning in what is unsaid.

The paper analyzes the role and place of the Ainu in Japanese society at the end of XX – beginning of XXI century. The author explores Japan’s policy towards ethnic minorities and а development of the Ainu people's national movement. The author also investigates changes in living conditions of Japan’s indigenous people in recent decades, defines a current state of the Ainu language and culture. / Работа посвящена анализу места и роли айнов в японском обществе в конце XX – начале XXI вв. Автор раскрывает особенности политики Японии в отношении этнических меньшинств, определяет динамику развития национального движения айнов, а также прослеживает изменения условий жизни коренного народа Японии в последние десятилетия и дает оценку современному состоянию его культуры и языка.

Based on the surveys in Cat Tien National Park (CTNP), this paper explored the situation of forest land use among ethnic minorities (EMs). Overall, 170 households in 6 sampled hamlets of CTNP were interviewed. In-depth interviews and the Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) method were implemented to obtain the data. The result showed that the more the EMs participated in natural resource management and conservation activities the less they extracted the forest land resource (Pearson Chi-Square Test, p = 0.002). Moreover, the ratio of the natural resource use in terms of encroached forest land differed significantly between indigenous EMs and migrant ones (Pearson Chi-Square Test, p = 0.000). It is recommended that more participation of the EMs in forest management or environmental services may be one of the effective strategies for sustainable management of the forest land in CTNP, especially in the CZs. Additionally, different management arrangements between two groups is necessary. / Kết quả nghiên cứu đã cho thấy được thực trạng sử dụng đất rừng trong cộng đồng người dân tộc thiểu số tại Vườn quốc gia Cát Tiên. Phương pháp đánh giá nhanh nông thôn và phỏng vấn sâu được vận dụng để nghiên cứu 170 nông hộ mẫu thuộc 6 thôn tại vườn quốc gia. Kết quả cho thấy đồng bào dân tộc thiểu số càng tham gia các hoạt động quản lý và bảo tồn tài nguyên thì họ càng ít lấn chiếm đất rừng. Hơn nữa, tỉ lệ sử dụng đất rừng nhóm dân tộc thiểu số bản địa và di cư là khác biệt. Thu hút thêm sự tham gia của đồng bào dân tộc thiểu số trong quản lý tài nguyên hay dịch vụ môi trường rừng là giải pháp hữu hiệu cho công tác quản lý tài nguyên bền vững ở Vườn quốc gia Cát Tiên, đặc biệt đối với vùng lõi. Nghiên cứu cũng đề xuất cần có những giải pháp quản lý thích hợp cho từng nhóm đồng bào dân tộc thiểu số tham gia quản lý tài nguyên hay dịch vụ môi trường rừng.

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Yes / It is argued in this paper that: ethnic minority population and their enterprises, predominated by South Asians, are growing faster than their mainstream counterparts in the UK; past research paid more attention to either South Asian ethnic minority SMEs based in and around London only or owned by Indian entrepreneurs only than South Asian ethnic minority SMEs elsewhere in the UK or owned by Pakistani and Bangladeshi entrepreneurs. Further, scholarly investigation is needed to explain: the relationship between educational levels and entrepreneurial orientation; and intra-ethnic minority entrepreneurial differences between South Asian ethnic minority entrepreneurs in the UK by expanding the research scope both geographically and contextually.

This study, located in the disciplines of human geography and demography, explores the socio-spatial boundaries encapsulating Britain’s Jewish population, particularly at micro-scales. It highlights and challenges key narratives of both Jewish and general interest relating to residential segregation, assimilation, partnership formation, exogamy and household living arrangements. It presents a critical exploration of the dual ethnic and religious components of Jewish identity, arguing that this ‘White’ group has become ethnically ‘invisible’ in British identity politics and, as a consequence, is largely overlooked. In addition, the key socio-demographic processes relating to Jewish partnership formation are addressed and a critical assessment of data pertaining to the decline of marriage, the rise of cohabitation and the vexed topic of Jewish exogamy, is presented. The analysis culminates by linking each of these issues to the micro-geographical scale of the household and develops a critical assessment of this key unit of Jewish (re)production. Jewish population change is contextualised within the framework of the second demographic transition. This deliberately quantitative study is designed to exploit a recent glut of data relating to Jews in Britain. It interrogates specially commissioned tables from Britain’s 2001 Census as well as four separate communal survey data sources. It highlights and challenges recent geographical critiques of quantitative methodologies by presenting a rigorous defence of quantification in post-‘cultural turn’ human geography. It emphasises the importance and relevance of this fruitful shift in geographical thought to quantitative methods and describes the role quantification can now play in the discipline. Above all, it synthesises two disparate sets of literature: one relating to geographical work on identity and segregation, and the other to work on the identity, demography and cultural practices of Jews. As a result, this thesis inserts the largely neglected ethno-religious Jewish case into the broader geographical literature whilst developing a critical quantitative spatial agenda for the study of Jews.

Domestic, not foreign affairs drove Soviet policy on Jewish emigration during the period of 1968-1989. This study challenges the prevailing view that fluctuating levels of exit from the USSR were correlated to the climate of relations between the USA and the USSR. The analysis also considers Soviet-German emigration for comparative perspective. Extensive historical background, with special emphasis on Soviet nationality policy is provided.