This diploma thesis deals with what one must do in order to become an ayahuasca neo-shaman, or what specific ayahuasca neo-shaman habitus one must acquire in order to be considered a neo-shaman and to be able to perform ayahuasca rituals. For this the author used methods of carnal ethnography and autoetnography. Ayahuasca rituals are embedded in a broader anthropological theory of rites of passage and are examined in the framework of carnal ethnography by the method of observed participation, while semi-structured interviews with neo-shamans are used also. As part of the autoetnography, the author experienced a neo-shaman habitus on himself, which allowed him to easily look into the otherwise non-transferable structure of the neo-shaman habitus. This research has shown that there are three key parts for the ayahuasca neo-shaman habitus, ie the "ecstatic", "didactic" and "material", but their forms are different for each neo-shaman, due to their specific life trajectories. The resulting ritual is then the product of the specific bricolage of each neo-shaman and mixes elements and techniques of different traditions and cultures. Keywords shaman, shamanism, neo-shaman, neo-shamanism, ayahuasca, habitus, carnal ethnography, autoetnography, ritual, rites of passage

Progression of human civilization in fields of technology, culture and media is closely tied to the creation of remains known as a cultural heritage. These artefacts and knowledge are testimonies of human cultures of distant and recent pasts. In last two decades, a trend of creating and living in synthetic worlds has emerged with social media and vast digital games being prime examples of such synthetic worlds. To better understand human culture, a new, yet undeveloped and academically unestablished (even though suggested by texts in past 30 years) interdisciplinar field has emerged: archaogaming. Its mission is researching distant and recent past through cultural heritage in and of digital games, connecting archaeology, game and media studies, using methods and tools inspired by archaeological practice. Among such methods belongs digital ethnography and on-site research, methods used in this Master's thesis' research. Its aim was to describe artefacts used and left in game worlds by gamers of three chosen digital games: GTA Online, Fortnite Battle Royale and Soul Calibur VI. Moreover, other goals of this research were to identify factors influencing such relics and their lifespan. Analysis of data collected during 60 gaming sessions throughout the trio of synthetic worlds suggests that artefacts...

(in English) The master's thesis The Chinese Collection of Ludvík Kuba in Historical Context and the Context of his Oeuvre is focused on works, ethnographic interests and contacts of Czech painter Ludvík Kuba in connection with his collection of Chinese art and the context of the popularity of Chinese culture amongst Czech modern painters. The author will also pay attention to the history of collecting Chinese art in former Czechoslovakia and to some objects collected by Kuba in particular. The thesis aims to reconstruct the collection of Chinese art amassed by Ludvík Kuba, using period photographs and information from institutions that house the artist's estate (Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures, National Gallery in Prague, Polabské muzeum v Poděbradech, and others.) The artist's book Moje Čína (My China), as well as other sources (period articles, correspondence), will be used as source material, too. The information gathered about Kuba's former collection of Chinese art will serve the purpose of deeper reflection of the extent of Chinese influences in Kuba's art, as well as his role in the process of establishing of Asian art collecting by modern Czech artists of his day.

Diploma thesis "The Czech Senate and its role in international relations of the Czech Republic" deals with the Czech Senate, its style of functioning and influence on international relations of the Czech Republic, with special attention to the relation between the Czech Republic and European Union. First, we shall deal with the role of the Senate in the international relations of the Czech Republic, as regards the relations between The Czech Senate and European Union and parliamentary diplomacy as well. After that will come our empirical research. We shall deal with the same questions as in the previous part, however, we will use a different method and compare the results of our research with concepts introduced in the theoretical part. As a result, we will identify the differences between theoretical possibilities of the Senate in this area and its real working. In the part about the style of the Senate, first, we shall show the style of functioning of the Senate according to the chosen literature. We will be interested in the following questions: the atmosphere in the Senate, the relations among senators, hierarchy of the senators and particular committees. In more detail we will focus on two committees, the Committee on EU Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security. One...

This thesis is based on a 10-month field work conducted in a retirement home. The empirical part is rooted in the fact that the author of this work actually became a part of the institution for a several months as its employee at the position of a certified nursing assistant. This perspective naturally enabled him to focus on a description of daily routines, taking place within the mentioned institution, from a perspective of a certified nursing assistant as well as on his interactions with the clients, which occur during these daily routines. Paying attention to the mutual interactions of both enables us to perceive how the dominant discourse in public health care works. It is particularly revealed through disciplinary techniques. The analysis of the disciplinary techniques follows the theory of power by Michel Foucault, which seems to prove that not only the clients but also the certified nursing assistants are being disciplined during the everyday practices of the given institution. Their position is at the lowest level of the hierarchy of health care system and this - in a way - dooms them to being disciplined since they are a part of the same routines as are the clients. Moreover, the analysis of the mutual power relationships between the certified nursing assistants and the clients shows that...

The presented work deals with certain aspects of catholic monastic life; it has been elaborated on the basis of a field research carried out in a female monastic community of an active order in the Czech Republic. In the work, I focus primarily on the topic of prayer and I am trying to answer the following questions: what is the nuns' attitude towards prayer like, which activities we can consider a prayer in the monastic community and what is the influence of these activities on actors in this setting? On theoretical level, the thesis is based especially on the concept of total institutions by E. Goffman and on Pierre Bourdieu's conception of habitus. The text consists of four major parts. In the first, introductory part I describe methodological and ethical issues relevant to my research. In the second part, I concern myself briefly with monastic life in general, its origins and development, and also with stages of monastic life of an individual. The following empirical part based on ethnographic data from my field notes is presented as a description of "a common day" in the monastic community. The last part is theoretical and analytical at the same time; here I deal with the main topic of the thesis. Firstly, I present Goffman's concept of total institutions and I explain how according to this...

This master thesis focuses on contemporary hunting customs and their use in practice. It shows attemts by hunting clubs and societies as well as individual hunters to maintain Czech hunting customs. The thesis aims to present and evaluate various hunting habits and ceremonies in order to make assessment regarding current practice. The thesis has goal of finding how the social control of contemporary Czech game management is being executed in relation to the basic values of said society, respect for the nature and its animals. Above all this work tries to find out if the social control is maintained with hunting customs. Theoretical part of this thesis analyzes normatively the ideal procedures and forms of hunting practice as prescribed by the hunters code and professional guidelines, it also analyzes hunting from the perspective of existing legal framework. Research aimed at gaining real-life experience with hunting practice had been conducted between 2015 and 2016 among selected hunting clubs and societies. Data collected in the field will provide basis for comparison between hunting theory and practice.

The Russian food stores in the Czech Republic can be considered representations of the food practices for the Russian-speaking immigrant community. Despite the common notion that financial gain is a primary focus, I would like to argue that these food stores are the public spaces that link the immigrant's past and present surroundings and plays the role of the communicative bridge with their native's social network. The thesis studies the Russian food stores in Prague as a way of public space that is crucial for maintaining their cultural identity and presents as a medium during the cultural shock for the Russian-speaking immigrants represented by a common theme - nostalgia. By employing an ethnographic approach along with the discourse analysis, I attempt to demonstrate the ways of the mentioned public space being a part of the food practices for this community. The findings should contribute to the understanding of the processes and ways of assimilation in Russian-speaking immigrants, along with their national identification. Furthermore, the thesis opens a discussion regarding the accessible tools of cultural and social involvement of immigrants into the Czech community.

This thesis is based on a qualitative research which followed the construction process of a self-sustaining house Earthship that is located in the larger centre of Prague. I am making use of Tim Ingold's approach of ecological anthropology which allows me to track the lines of the material flow and the exchange of materials which take place within the house and during the construction process of the Prague Earthship. Apart from humans there are other actants involved in these construction processes, that is non-human materials and elements of the natural environment which the building is an integral part of and which it is embedded in. With the help of the Ingold's concept of meshwork I interpret the Earthship as a living and dynamic organism, which is connected to its environment and which is through its becoming involved in various social processes. The materiality of the building navigates actions of its builders and residents and directs them to changing their life style and everyday practices towards more sustainable consumption.

The aim of this musical anthropology thesis focuses on "medieval music" as practiced by fans of historical fencing in the form of living history on the example of two Czech bands - Subulcus and Medieval Open Band as part of project Prácheňská manství. In my thesis I focus not only on sound and musical instruments, but also on the behavior of actors and their conceptualization of the Middle Ages, according to the concepts of music as culture of Allan Merriam, resp. of music as social life of Thomas Turino. I combine here the basic ideas of ethnomusicology with the ideas of musical memory in connection with the contemporary concepts of social memory and, last but not least, with the concepts of "golden age", nostalgia, staged authenticity and invented traditions. The point of this work is to bring about the origin and form of music that the actors understand as medieval, although not always comes the repertoire from the Middle Ages.