This thesis deals with the phenomenon of sleeping and its variations. It is the outcome of long-term field research and participant observation. At the core of my research is a sleep laboratory from which I freely venture into other fields. I draw not only on a number of interviews and observations but I also reflect upon my own physical experience with various sleeping modes or gained from the position of both the subject and supervisor of sleep medicine. By way of employing qualitative research methods I map the sphere of sleep as a social construct and its embedding as a value. I furthermore try to see how much the social construct of sleep can be influenced. I focus on the issue of the current value of sleep and the impacts on the formation of the social construct of sleep by society and a specific time period. I try to switch the perspective, too: my goal is to identify whether sleep is such a resistant phenomenon on the grounds of its biological essence so that it can withstand or at least moderate these forces. I take a theoretical recourse to medical anthropology and use it as my initial perspective. I employ the concept of biopower and risk society, as well as the methodology of carnal anthropology. Due to its inconspicuousness and hiddenness, I consider the phenomenon of sleep and other...

The subject of this autoethnography is the self-reflection of my own media experience, which I experience daily with a smartphone. The aim of the work is to discover my intimate and individual media experience with the most used technology and to see how this professional self-reflection can lead to the development of media literacy. Current times and society are changing ever more rapidly due to technological developments, which is why we need to adapt to these changes individually throughout our lives. The first part of the thesis thus describes theoretical basis concerning media literacy and self-reflection in the context of post-modern times, the current approach to media education, the concept of dynamic lifelong learning and the new, transformative competences needed for a happy life in the 21st century. The second part of the thesis explains the qualitative methodological process of autoethnography and data collection, which took place over six months through a self-reflective journal. The final part of the work uncovers thematic categories gained from the data set, in which I deconstructed that a smartphone means for me above all security, health, ambivalence, self-fulfilment, but overall the satisfaction of these needs. I noticed that I changed the way of thinking, my opinions, behaviour, emotions,...

This Diploma thesis explores the issue of queer femmes' access to sexual healthcare, and specifically focuses on the current situation of accessibility of sexual healthcare centers in Berlin. Written in constructivist paradigm, it is built on intersectional feminist theory, as well as post-colonial and disability studies. By employing autoethnographic research, the author aims to review local sexual healthcare facilities by describing her own experience, supplemented by questionnaires and interviews. Sharing intimate details of her own visits during which the author was tested or treated for sexually transmitted infections, she attempts to "queer" academic practice and present an approachable and highly personal body of work that embraces the researcher's subjectivity and entangled position. Apart from presenting findings of the research, this thesis also aims to offer possible solutions on how to make sexual healthcare more accessible to queer femmes, and includes the author's plans as a sex educator. Keywords: sexual healthcare, STIs, queer femmes, sexual health, autoethnography

This thesis builds upon ethnography of Apple Watch user experience and explores its connections with Apple's different branding strategies such as official website advertisements for Apple Watch Series 4, Supplier Responsibility Progress Report (2019) and Today at Apple sessions held in Apple Stores. I draw on sociomaterial approaches with special emphasis on John Law's (2004) method-assemblage and the feminist critique of ANT managerial vision that allow me to conceptualize corporate practices as means of enacting singular and coherent commercial out-thereness and absences. The goal of this thesis is to explore possible connections between the user's experience and the corporate branding strategies which craft a series of commercial realities in order to translate the needs of other actants and enroll them in its corporate network. This paper also argues that ambivalence is central to this process as corporate branding is being constantly reshaped and reconfigured by both the branding strategy itself and the actants involved. Chapter I provides a semiotic analysis of advertisements inspired by Woolgar's (1990) concept of moral universe. The second chapter follows with examining the Progress Report which provides information on the production processes that are completely absent in exclusively...

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

The diploma thesis Brass music today - performation, function, reception is focused on brass music in historic-cultural analysis with overhang into form which can be seen nowadays. As a fundamental research method is chosen the method of qualitative and quantitative field research, which author answers the designated research questions. Diploma thesis is set into historic-cultural development of the brass music phenomenon, in order to provide comprehensive view on the examined subject.