The topic of my thesis is conning in the Czech Republic. Conning stands for actions, which take place at conventions of fans of the fantasy genre called cons. Ethnographic study consist of two circuits. The first one focuses on cons, and their different aspects of realization, as well as services, including mechandising. The second on is dedicated to participants of this kind of event. The research focuses not only on their activity at conventions, but also reflects the consumption of the genre and partecipation of related activities. The theoretical part was based on the specialist literature. Theoretical bases served to define research questions. Methods used for data collection include participant observation, semi-structured ethnographic interviews, analysis of documents, informal and unstructured ethnographic interviews and questionnaires. Timeframe for data collection is the period from June 2015 to April 2016. For analysis were used the grounded theory principles, namely open and axial coding. The output is an paradigmatic model. Research identifies characteristic elements of conning in the Czech Republic, differences between domestic and foreign cons and experience of the participants. Also illustrates the role of a fantasy genre fiction in the life of participants, and their perception of...

The popularity of wearing costumes and masks has a long tradition. The phenomenon called cosplay began to be discussed for the first time in the 1980s. Cosplayers are fans of media content that not only wear costumes, but they also try to imitate the character's character on festivals. Some individuals, thanks to their activity, become celebrities themselves within the community. Fans may not always be just a passive group of recipients of media content. This thesis focuses on how these positions can be achieved and how the hierarchy is shaped in the Czech cosplay community. The theoretical framework is based on findings of fan studies. Methods used for data collection include participant observation and semi-structured interviews. The timeframe for data collection is the period from May 2018 to October 2018. For analysis were used the grounded theory principles, namely open and axial coding. The output is a paradigmatic model. This research has brought new information related to the topic of hierarchy in fan communities. Not only has the high activity of the individuals but also the social ties had an influence on hierarchy formation. This work also reflected the Czech cosplay community.

This master thesis addresses issues reflecting the socio-natural aspects of draught, one of the devastating consequences of climate change which increasingly affects the Czech Republic. This work uses a field research facility located around reservoirs Nové Mlýny and views it within the waterworlds concept, a term established by authors Kristen Hastrup and Fridy Hastrup. Ethnographic research shows the impact of water and its scarcity on the landscape, local inhabitants and their relationships and practices. A particular focus is given to wine growers and their understanding of draught, climate change and ways for adopting good practices in an area which is gradually drying out. Furthermore, it captures the transformation of practices related to the maintenance of a vineyard and maps individuals affected by the problems of draught in that area. Key words: Ethnography, draught, climate change, waterworlds, water, reservoirs Nové Mlýny, viniculture

PRENATAL AND PERINATAL LOSS ENTANGLED IN CZECH INSTITUTIONS Marie Hintnausová ABSTRACT An ethnographic research among women who experienced a loss of child during pregnancy or postpartum aims to expose contexts and backgrounds in which prenatal and perinatal loss emerges in the Czech Republic. This life event is delineated not only by unique biographies of affected mothers, but also by the societal understanding of prenatal life and institutional definitions of human reproduction. This thesis highlights various notions and meanings entangled in the event of prenatal and perinatal death and shows which trajectories women follow in the terrain of societal expectations and governmental and biomedical institutions when they lose a promised assurance of raising a new child.

The dissertation completes research that began in late 2007. It presents research findings concerning ways and methods of (re) construction of gender identities of Czech children placed in facilities for institutional and protective education. Based on ethnographic research in Diagnostic institute Ark there are examined practices and techniques shaping gender roles and contents, which are rooted in the so-called helping professions discourses. Psychology, special education, social work, pedagogy, education and health education are specializations that converge are under the roof of the institutes and create a discursive field for the exercise of power-colored procedures disciplining the children who are placed (cf. Laan, 1998). These procedures are directly linked to the concepts of socially desirable sex-gender order. The research objective was to capture the processes which have been neglected by the Czech professional community so far and which may become potential disciplination instruments in the hands of professionals in a wide range of helping professions, including social and special pedagogy.

The Influence of On-line Identity from the World of Damokles on Everydayness Abstract The doctoral thesis focuses on on-line world Damokles and its users. It investigates how their on-line identity influences their everyday off-line life. It also focuses on the way the social ties and networks are created among its users and how on-line community is constructed. I especially focus on the mutual impact of on-line and off-line activities of Damokles users. I based the research on qualitative methodology, especially engaged observation of members of Damokles community in the on-line realm as well as during their off-line activities; informal, semi-structured dialogues with the members of the community; and analysis and interpretation of texts from the world Damokles and about the world Damokles. I classify my work under the new anthropological sub- discipline, cyberanthropology, which studied humans and changes of human existence in the context of modern computer information and communication technologies (Soukup 2009, 138). I also deal with the specifics of this anthropological sub- discipline and issues connected with research in the on-line realm. Key words: cyberanthropology, on-line worlds, everydayness, on- line community, ethnography, time, identity

Communication of the European Parliament with the public takes place within various means and on different levels. This thesis offers an analysis of the European Parliament's communication strategy through the role-play game in the Brussels Parlamentarium. A role- play game simulating the legislative procedure of the European Union is available in all the EU official languages and it is targeted primarily at the youth between 15 and 18 years. The analysis is based on the political communication and political marketing theory, as well as on the concept of the role-play game as an educational tool. The methodological background of the analysis is embedded in the ethnographic research and its constituent methods, especially a participant observation and questionnaires survey, further completed by qualitative analysis of the visual and textual materials of the game. First, the advertising tools of the RPG are presented. Second, the course of the game is described and its transcript analysed. Third, the ways of reception of the activity by the participants are illustrated. The goal of the thesis is to show whether the role- play game is a successful communication tool of the European Parliament with the youth.

This diploma thesis traces the changing human, animal and technology assemblage after the recent emergence of wolf packs in Broumov region. As the return of wolves coincides with ecological transformations gaining in strength, the central research focus are the possibilities - and impossibilities - of local multispecies coexistence in the conditions of Anthropocene. The research draws upon methods of multispecies ethnography, building on the literature that examines the ontological aspects of multispecies coexistence, including primarily the work of Donna Haraway, Eduardo Kohn, Annemarie Mol, Anna Tsing and Rane Willerslev. The thesis analyzes several modes of situated multispecies coexistence which have been reconfigured or made possible by the return of wolves: administrative and sensual practice of shepherds, methods of mimetic empathy of wolf trackers, emergence of new actors interfering with local events (satellites, subsidy programmes, drought) and the translation of processes on pastures into politically engaged activities of local farmers. The thesis develops the employed concepts in such a way that they enable analyzing the situation in Broumov region as situated making of more-than-human sociality. Key words: multispecies ethnography, wolfs, pastoralism, trackers, more-than-human sociality

Panelstories: Ethnography of Space (Re)production at Černý Most Modernist Housing Estate. Mgr. Michal Lehečka Abstract: The dissertation focuses on spatial environment of socialist modernist housing estates. Based on data collected during a 10year long fieldwork in multiple modernist housing locations, it explores dominant ways of spatial (re)production of Černý Most housing estate in Prague. Thanks to its ownership and ethnic structure Černý Most represents an ideal fieldwork site where both long term and contemporary phenomena resulting from the post-socialist transformation can be detected, described and analysed. After 1989, former socialist modernist cities have undergone a plethora of political, economical and social changes and disruptions. These changes continuously uncover an ongoing interaction between the initial egalitarian and collectivist heritage of the housing estate as well as its ambiguous and fragmented property structure. Spaces of the estates are continuously (re)produced through various manifestations of actors' territorial claims. The spatial changeability is best described by Henri Lefebvre's notion of socio-material (re)production of space and his widely used concept of spatial triad (Lefebvre 1991). Transformation of housing estates is therefore (re)produced through (in)visible...

Pomahač, Matěj. 2011. Headhunting: etnografie utváření osoby jako zboží. Nepublikovaná diplomová práce. Praha: FHS UK. Key Words ethnography; human resources consulting; headhunting; economic anthropology; economization; commodification; structural holes Summary This thesis is based on more than a year-long research which took place in a private human resources consulting company focused on the search for highly skilled workers (known as headhunting). The research focus was based primarily on the fact, that the author worked in the reference field as human resources consultant. This perspective enabled to focus on description and perception of everyday activities ongoing in the company in relation to its clients and candidates, from the headhunter's point of view. The data collected during the course of participant observation have been analysing with the use of Michel Callon's studies of economization and commodification in major part, and through the Ronald S. Burt's theory of structural holes in minor part. The analysis reveals the economic and political factors determining the field of headhunting practices and procedures, which headhunters use in order to face up their position of intermediary party between clients and candidates. The study also focuses on processes and technologies, by means of the...