Rokosová Magdaléna: Plastic Age - plastic as a legitimate part of the arts and art education [thesis], Prague 2015 - Charles university in Prague, Faculty of education, department of art This diploma thesis is focused on mapping the potential of synthetic or semi- synthetic polymeric materials as specific means for fine art and art education. The theoretical part summarizes the crucial moments and the possibility of using plastics in applied arts (design) as well as in free creation and their everyday use in various fields and the resulting significant determination of our lives with these materials, including adverse effects on human health and our planet. Didactic series uses the appropriate means with regard to addressing the topics and the target group of pupils in second level primary school. It gently draws attention to the amount of plastic waste produced, and also presents the possibility of using these materials for creative work. The artistic section is focused on original works of fine art with the use of synthetic materials and verifying their expected potential. Its content is mainly engaged in the contrast of artificial and natural world and the question of whether these two seemingly distant worlds are really separable.

This diploma thesis is focused on a time period between 1945 and 1948 also known as the Third Republic. The main aim is to describe life of children and teenagers in this particular time through old-timers' narration. The thesis is focused on people's everyday life after the Second World War. Narrators - people who experienced that time - were chosen from clients of Rezidence Rosa. There is also a short overview of Czechoslovakian history at that period. Various technics of oral history and literature have been used for this thesis. It is based on the interviews with old-timers as well as the topics come from the stories of these narrators. The topics cover culture, politics and social life described from children's and teenagers' point of view. Merit of this thesis is to record their unique stories. A result might be a possible way to understand contemporary seniors' behaviour and to describe narrators' everyday lives in Prague at the time of the Third Republic.

In this diploma thesis, I deal with the everyday life of military personnel stationed in the main American bases in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War (1965-1973). The research is based on the analysis of oral history interviews with veterans that served in various occupational specialties in the rear of American armed forces. I'm describing specifics of the military service of witnesses from their entry to the armed forces, training, Vietnam experience, to their homecoming. I'm trying to analyze specific topics that are connected with the experience of military life in Vietnam, especially off duty hours of personnel. Finally, I deal with the creation of the popular culture image of the conflict. Keywords Oral history, everyday life, Vietnam War, American bases, off duty hours of military personnel

The Aesthetic Dimension of playing Videogames Abstract The Thesis is divided into two main parts. The first part follows the beginning of the discussion which considers computer games as Art. Selected theories are analyzed and critically reviewed. Specifically, these are theories considering the emotional potential of games, their narativity, or their cluster definition. In the second part are computer games seen as aesthetic experiences. In a short diversion the similarities between computer games and sport are shown. Also the role of winning and rules is contemplated. Subsequently, John Dewey's theory is used to interpret the phenomenon. The text is interwoven with examples of old and current computer games. Key words: Videogames, Aesthetics of Everyday life, New Media Art, an Experience, Pragmatism, John Dewey

The aim of this study is to highlight inequality among elderly. The study increase the understanding of poverty and financial vulnerability in elderlies life. This study describes what their living conditions look like for themselves and what their financial situation can have in their everyday lives and consequences. The aim is to understand the patterns and paths that lead to financial vulnerability in retirement. Seven retired people in the age between 65-80 years were interviewed. The result shows that there are large differences in income between men and women when retired. Some of the main reasons for this are that the women have worked unpaid by living as housewives and taking a bigger responsibility for children and the home. The unpaid work has had an impact on the income when retired and affected their living conditions. The majority of the respondents answer that planning and limitations are needed to cope up with everyday life as retired person. Some of the respondents have to continue to work extra after retirement to succeed financially. Generally the finances of the elderly are worse after retirement than before and this has negative consequences, it will not get better when they are retired as many of them thought, but they still manage to get their lives to work out even if they have limitations in their everyday life. Gender, individualization and social exclusion are used to analyze the results in the essay.

The main aim of this thesis is identification of a new type of time-space constrain related to everyday life of young women aged 18 to 26 years. Semi-structured interviews and mental maps were recorded in the city parts Praha 15 and Petrovice with the aim to identify the perceptual barrier, whose temporal definition applies in particular to the evening hours and drkness. Space exposure of this barrier is registered through using the routine paths especially in avoiding certain places in night time. Dangerous places of this area were discussed too. Identified barrier women overcome by using special strategies - movement, mind and security, which works together in certain situations. Perception of sense of danger is factor, which influences quality of life, thereby should be a wide interest in this issue.

The presented work focuses on the history of Russian America, the only Russian overseas colony located in the territory of today's American state of Alaska, specifically it is concerned with the middle period of its existence, i.e. between the years 1784 and 1818. After a brief introduction of the beginnings of Russian presence in the North Pacific, the thesis deals with its main topics. The first one is the organization of voyages to the islands and the mainland of Russian America. Commercial hunting companies are introduced in this context as a subject representing eastern Russian expansion and the characteristics of hunting expeditions are analysed in detail. The second, key part of the thesis is the analysis of the Russian colonization of Alaska in terms of the relations between Russians and the indigenous people, the creation of base structures and the competitive struggles of Russian traders. Comparison with colonization practices of other colonizing states in this area - Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America - is also included. This chapter is followed by the analysis of the administration of Russian America and its development since the times of hunting-and-trading companies, to the activities of the Russian-American company, a semi-governmental organization with the...

En 2004, Michael Burawoy, alors président de l’Association américaine de sociologie (ASA), faisait un plaidoyer pour une sociologie « publique ». Ses considérations portaient sur l’orientation de la pratique de la discipline. Il avançait que le domaine devait réengager un dialogue avec des préoccupations plus proches d’un public « non-sociologue ». Dans ce mémoire, je propose des pistes de réflexion sur ces préoccupations en me penchant sur la pratique journalistique à travers deux genres : le fait divers et le feuilleton. Je mets en parallèle les deux genres en les approfondissant et en analysant leur traitement respectif de certains procès. C’est sur ce thème que je souligne leurs apports possibles pour une sociologie « en dehors de la sociologie ». Le fait divers, genre largement lu dans les journaux d’aujourd’hui, porte son attention sur l’environnement proche de ses lecteurs et sur des événements prenant naissance dans leur quotidien, mais qui ont pris des tangentes hors de l’ordinaire. Alors qu’on peut le qualifier de sensationnaliste et de genre exploitant la peur, il démontre cependant un intérêt pour des événements ordinaires pouvant apporter de nouveaux thèmes à la sociologie. Le feuilleton, un genre journalistique allemand foisonnant des années 1920-1930 et plus précisément le type qu’écrit Siegfried Kracauer, s’intéresse à de « petits faits » du monde urbain et assemble ses observations sous la forme d’une mosaïque. Le feuilleton tente de révéler l’implication de ses lecteurs dans les phénomènes qu’il observe, produisant un effet réflexif à sa lecture qui apporte une dimension possible à l’écriture sociologique. Suite à l’analyse d’exemples des deux genres, je propose trois pistes de réflexion pouvant répondre aux préoccupations de Burawoy : 1) la sociologie peut avoir un aspect « sensationnel », 2) la sociologie peut s’inspirer davantage du quotidien, 3) la sociologie peut prendre exemple sur une écriture journalistique. C’est en tentant de générer un effet par la lecture, à s’investir dans une forme d’écriture stimulant la réflexivité et à adopter une posture qui tienne compte de la contingence et du point de vue de l’auteur dans l’interprétation que le journalisme peut apporter des éléments d’orientation de la pratique sociologique afin de permettre à celle-ci de s’ouvrir à un plus large public. / In 2004, Michael Burawoy, then president of the American Sociological Association (ASA), made a plea for a “public sociology”. His considerations focused on the direction of the discipline's practice. His concerns were for a re-engagement in a dialogue with concerns closer to a “non-sociological” public. In this master thesis, I propose avenues to reflect on these concerns by looking at the journalistic practice through two genres: the “fait divers” and the “feuilleton”. I open up a dialogue between the two genres by exploring them in depth and analyzing their respective treatment of trials. It is through this theme that I underline their possible contributions to a sociology “outside of sociology”. The “fait divers” is a genre that is widely read in today’s newspapers. It focuses its attention on the environment close to its readers and on events that take origin in everyday life, but which have taken paths outside away from the ordinary. While this genre can be described as sensationalist and fearmongering, it nevertheless shows an interest in ordinary events that can bring new themes to sociology. The “feuilleton” and more precisely the type written by Siegfried Kracauer, is a German journalistic genre that flourished in the 1920s and 1930s. This author is interested in “small facts” of the urban world and assembles his observations in the form of a mosaic. The “feuilleton” tries to reveal the involvement of its readers in the phenomena it observes, thereby producing an effect of reflection after being read that brings a possible dimension to sociological writing. Following the analysis of examples from both genres, I propose three avenues that can respond to Burawoy’s concerns: 1) sociology can have a “sensational” aspect, 2) sociology can draw more inspiration from daily life, 3) sociology can take the example of a journalistic writing. By being interested in generating an effect through reading, investing in a form of writing that stimulates reflexivity and adopting a posture that takes into account contingency and the author's point of view in interpretation, journalism can provide elements of direction for the sociological practice in order to help it open up to a wider public.

INTRINSIC RELIGIOSITY PRACTICE Psychological aspects of intrinsic religiosity of Catholic women - mothers of small children. Key words: Intrinsic religiosity, Prayer, Spirituality of an Everyday Life, Motherhood, Catholic Faith, Identity, Narrative Analysis Secularisation of the current post-modern Europe represents a collapse of Christianity in the sense of an integrating power of the society; however, it does not mean extinction of Christianity as such. The largest European church has been responding to the changes in the post-modern society by moving the emphasis from Catholicism (institutionally - as a doctrine attitude of the church) to Catholicity (openness and universal attitude of the church). Despite this inner movement, the Roman Catholic Church is losing numbers of their members and frequently it does not satisfactorily address, among the competition in the 'religious market', agnostics or even the 'searching' ones. From another point of view, however, it is obvious that for many people it still remains a 'home' in which they develop their faith as an individual expression of existential needs. The symbolic universe of the traditional Catholic religion provides these people with factual as well as symbolic tools to develop spirituality. Significant changes in religiousness and...

The aim of this thesis is to affect opinions and attitudes of residents of a small town in the east Slovakia to the society during the period of normalization and transformation. These aims are achieved by exploiting the method of oral history and using mainly data obtained in biographical interviews with eight locals as a primary source of information. Their statements are thoroughly analysed and interpreted in two counterparts. Regarding the normalization period, social security was the main subject for analysis, namely the phenomenon of labour, housing, and social services for families with children, while in respect of the period of transformation, personal freedom of expression, movement, and religion has been analysed. Finally, all the obtained conclusions are compared with the available scientific literature in the given field. This thesis aims to affect mainly how the mentioned phenomena were perceived by the individual narrators and how this perception has changed after the year 1989. As part of the conclusion and using all the findings this work provides a comparison of the studied periods; however, an imaginary battle between social security and individual freedoms remains undecided. Moreover, beside the actual analysis the thesis contains a methodological section as well as a section...