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

The study deals with the problem of applicability of two anthropological theories, structural functionalism and interpretive anthropology of Clifford Geertz. By applicability is meant what concrete difference using of one or the other theory brings about in ethnography. Each of the theories is at first thoroughly examined with emphasis on its possible aims, assumptions, and consequences for an ethnographer. Then each theory is put to test in examination of one particular ethnography associated with the theory. Evans-Pritchard's The Nuer serves as an instance of structural functionalism. Clifford Geertz's Negara as an example of interpretative analysis. Structural functionalism is shown to provide an ethnographer with a much more definite guidance which contributes to better possibilities of verification and comparability of the results than interpretive anthropology. Apart from the main subject, the study is concerned with more general questions, especially related to non-existence of a paradigm in anthropology and some of its causes.

The diploma thesis deals with the ethnological contribution and the extensive academic publishing activities of Professor Alois Musil, a remarkable Czech Arabist and Orientalist, especially with scientific pieces published in New York in the six-volume edition of the American Geographical Society between 1926 and 1928. The special attention is given to the sixth edition of the 'Oriental Explorations and Studies' entitled 'The Manners and Customs of the Rwala Bedouins' and this Musil's fieldwork is compared with later anthropological field surveys of the Bedouins ar-Ruwallah. The main part of the thesis is an analysis of Professor Musil's works and its contribution to the ethnographic and ethnological studies of manners and customs of traditional tribes and clans of the Arabian Peninsula and surrounded areas (such as modern Syria, Iraq and Jordan). The diploma thesis is also focused on a brief outline of the life of Professor Musil in a cultural-historical context with regard to his political activities on the Arabian Peninsula and his research of the North-Arab Bedouins ar-Ruwallah, the Banú Sakhr of Jordan and the Shammar tribe. The main aim of the thesis is a comprehensive evaluation of the ethnographic and ethnological contribution of Alois Musil's works in the social and historical science. The...

The dissertation is a biographical ethnography of an individual, ordinary musician and Mamelodi township dweller, Lesiba Samuel Kadiaka (*1962) in South Africa. It is based largely on fieldwork totalling more than 12 months conducted in five periods over six years between 2006 and 2011. It examines the possibilities of studying an average (rather than 'leading') musician ethnographically and their implications and consequences for wider ethnomusicological and South African music research. It makes a practical contribution to the wider debate about the relationship between individual, social, and cultural structures, and breaks new ground in its focus on the previously little known music and practices of Mr. Kadiaka's church, the Zion Christian Church. The research consisted mainly of ethnographic observations of various kinds of musical activities in which Mr. L. S. Kadiaka was involved in as a solo musician (songwriter and song singer) and as a member of the ZCC, on the one hand, and of deep interviews over the time span of six years, on the other. It consists of a biographical part dealing with his narratives about childhood in rural Ga-Mphahlele and his later life in Mamelodi township. Iconographic historical sources of a private nature are use too. The second part describes in three large...

In this dissertation we are dealing with the current situation of children{\crq}s folklore and with its influence on the development of child's personality. It is based on individual components of public performance and on ethnographical knowledge, which we put into consequence with the problematic of children free-time activities. In that way we offer an insight on the potential of children{\crq}s folklore and its impact on the children{\crq}s personality development. The dissertation is divided into two parts. In the theoretical part, we put the emphasis on the opinions of notable persons of our ethnography and partial disciplines of public performance. It is also based on experiences and opinions of people, who work with children and youth in the areas related to the children{\crq}s folklore. The second part is a practical part. It contents the description of practical activity of children{\crq}s folklore group Šafránek and interviews with its members. To the dissertation belongs an audiovisual attachment.

Hierdie verhandeling bestaan uit die ongepubliseerde manuskrip (gedigte) ʼn blaar hierdie boot, ʼn mini-verhandeling en ʼn tuisvervaardigde CD met ʼn paar gedigte. Die studie bespreek teoretiese terme en begrippe soos outoëtnografie, individuasie en vaslegging (imprinting), uit die vakgebiede van Sielkunde, Sosiologie, Opvoedkunde en Kommunikasiekunde. Die toepaslikheid van hierdie terme ten opsigte van geselekteerde literêre tekste word genoem en geïllustreer aan die hand van spesifieke skrywers. Daar word kortliks gekyk na die verstradisies van Sjina en Japan om die verwantskap met die Afrikaanse gedigte vas te stel. Sogenaamde “close reading” word geteleskopeer op geselekteerde verse uit ʼn blaar hierdie boot. ENGLISH : This dissertation consists of an unpublished anthology of poetry, ʼn blaar hierdie boot and a dissertation of limited scope, together with a home-recorded CD of poems. The study takes stock of theoretical terms and concepts like autoethnography, individuation and imprinting from the disciplines of Psychology, Sociology, Education and Communication. The relevance of these terms regarding selected literary texts is illustrated by the mention of specific authors and poets. A brief view on poetry traditions in China and Japan is offered, to illustrate the relation to Afrikaans poetry in general and the candidate’s poems in particular. So-called close reading is applied to selected poems from ʼn blaar hierdie boot Additional information available on a CD, stored at the Merensky Library on Level 3 Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Afrikaans / unrestricted

My thesis focuses on the problems of ecotourism, or more precisely its borders from an anthropological perspective, using example of a typical Cambodian community named Chambok. Based on five months of research, together with ethnographic methods of research I found out that boundaries of ecotourism are complex, multi-layered, problematic and negotiated and also that there are so called "grey zones" encompassing them. It is the conceptualization of these zones and boundaries, which is my contribution to current anthropological debate about ecotourism, which has been largely left out until now.

This thesis deals with the conflict of nature and the landscape protection with recreational use of nature. This conflict is examined in relation to "conservationist subject" and "bivouacking subject" in the context of ecogovernmentality, i.e. the shift of nature to the government sphere. The aim of this thesis is to introduce more of cosmology of nature protection, besides the dominant one - conservational, and to understand their relation. The thesis is divided into two parts - a theoretical part and an empirical part. The theoretical part is devoted to the theory of subjectivity and the concept of ecogovernmentality in the context of chosen ethnographic studies. The empirical part is dedicated to ethnographic research of bivouacking subjects. The results of the research are based on the comparison of data acquired from the ethnographic research with abstracted figures of "conservationist subject" - as defined by visitor rules of the protected areas and the law of nature and landscape protection and "bivouacking subject" - made by stays in nature or scout education. The result of this thesis is the discovery of similarity of both subjects, which in large extent overlap, however not completely. Bivouacking subjects get into conflict with tourists, against which they delimit themselves, rather than...

This thesis deals with some aspects of the religiosity of the members of the Czech community, who claim to be a part of a Messianic Judaism movement. The text is based on the field research I did within the congregation. In the introduction, I attempt to present definitions of this type of religiosity, describe the historical development of the movement, make connection to evangelical religiosity, outline its basic pillars, clarify the role of non-Jewish believers in this movement, and ultimately outline possible forms of worship. Next, I describe my journey into the field, the development of my relationships with the informers and then I evaluate my insider-outsider position in the community. In the practical part of the thesis, I try to reveal the path of individual church members to this type of religiosity, relying on Kaell's concept of "born-again seeking". Based on testimonies from individual believers, I try to uncover why the congregation does not accept more elements of Pentecostal religiosity, as can be seen in many Messianic communities, especially in the United States and England. On the contrary, the church's aims seem to be a counterweight to emotional Pentecostal religiosity. On the phenomena of the celebration of Jewish holidays, the observance of the Sabbath, the relations to the...