- Galina Wood, 2015 Lahij, the Living Heritage of Azerbaijan This research explores the various aspects of identity pertaining to the traditional, bilin- gual mountainous community of Lahij. Azerbaijan is little known and its minorities are largely under-researched. Previous work done by Russian and Azerbaijani linguists described grammatical features of the Tat language, and SIL-led linguistic field surveys by J. Clifton addressed some sociolinguistic attitudes, yet the Tat people, particularly the Lahij people, remain unknown. This is the first time the Lahij community, which preserved a relict Southwest Iranian language and a unique culture, is a topic of inter-disciplinary research in English language. Resources such as Russian and Azeri literature and Western works dealing with related dis- ciplines and issues (historical, socio-linguistical, anthropological etc.) are discussed, aiming to reach a balanced and informed perspective. To present the nuances and dynamics of the emic (insider) versus etic (outsider) points of view, anthropological methods of participant observation, structured interview and narrative analysis are used. Research was done while residing long term in Azerbaijan, and spending significant amounts of time in Lahij. The sociolinguistic climate of Post-Soviet nation...

Identity between Memory and Narrative: A Sociological Analysis Abstract of PhD thesis Mgr. Jakub Mlynář Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague 2016 Concepts of identity, memory and narrative are being sociologically employed, whether separately or in combination, but most often in relationship to specific research areas. The aim of my thesis is an explanation of mutual relationship of identity, memory and narrative as well as their meanings in social action. I am taking into account the controversial features of these phenomena, which have been recently discussed, and I offer a compromise theoretical solution. Mutual relationship of identity, memory and narrative are followed in detailed case-study, analysing a selection of oral history interviews from USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive, with an inspiration from narrative analysis and membership categorization analysis. The oral history interview is a social situation, in which the general interactional mechanisms related to memory, identity and narrative stand out in focused shape. Narrative expression of identities in life stories of Holocaust survivors is mainly related to the categories of national, state, political and religious identity, reflected explicitly and implicitly during the interviews. Specific...

Jakob Steinhardt (1887 - 1968) has been ranked among the most significant German-Jewish artists of the 20th century. He became famous for his woodcuts depicting Jewish motives such as his Pessach-Haggada. He was also an important representative of the so-called Jewish Renaissance. The aim of this thesis is to present his persona in the context of German-Jewish history in the first three decades of the 20th century. The thesis tries to reconstruct his circle of artists and to analyse the Jewish constructions of identity. Methodologically, the thesis is based on the concept of cultural transfer; at the same time it also draws from historical analyses of social bonds and from the Visual Turn writings. The primary sources consist of individual pieces of visual arts, Steinhardts` guest books, his diaries, memoires of his wife and the then press. Key words: Judaism, Identity, Sionism, Jewish Renaissance, Expressionism, Jakob Steinhardt

The standard ideology, embedded in discourses of traditional language teaching, has been found to have an influence on non-native speakers' linguistic identities. It manifests itself in their preoccupation with grammatical correctness and accent, and consequently in shaping negative self-perceptions, by focusing on the lacks in proficiency relative to the native speaker model. Some of the recent studies, however, reported contrasting findings. They reveal a weakening of this influence, which stems mainly from the current role of English as a global lingua franca. The ultimate goal of this study is to explore the English non-native students' perceptions of their English, as it served as a main shared resource for socializing within their community, in order to find whether and how this decentralization, combined with the "real life" use of English within an informal environment of an Erasmus community of practice, might impact their linguistic identities. The theoretical part of this study consists of three sections. Firstly, it provides a description of the concept of English as a lingua franca and its development. The second part explicates the relation between ELF and linguistic identity whereas the third part introduces the community of practice approach, which has been employed both as a...

In my diploma thesis I intend to look into the issue of commitment in love relationships. I wonder how it is influenced by the nature of nowadays society enhancing individualism and flexibility. These commitments are based in merging our own identity with identity of our partner. But crucial is to also balance it with our own autonomy and freedom. Commitment means putting certain restrictions to our future choices. I made sixteen semi-structured qualitative interviews based on grounded theory with sixteen women and men in young adulthood and I looked for answers on how they perceive commitments in love relationships, what meaningful partnership means to them and how they cope with comparing potential alternatives and overall which strategies they use in making decision about commitment and behavior for its lasting, deepening or ending them. Keywords Commitment, love, relationship, intimacy, identity, individualism, autonomy

In my diploma work "Read the text as a myth (contribution to hermeneutics and the interpretation of the myth)" I pay attention to the issues of perceiving a text in communion. I worked on the assumption based on theories of deconstruction, poststructuralism, and collective memory. I take into consideration theories of media that are connected with M. McLuhan or W. J. Ong. I deal with the theory of the new orality and methods of the myth perception. The way of writing, I use, is based on the concentration of touches on different approaches of thinkers that I paid attention to. I aim to show, how we read the text, how we orient in narratives, what is the function of myths and how the issues are connected with the communion. Without communion, it is almost impossible to imagine, how these processes take place. I put emphasis on the dynamicity of the shifts of the discoursive perception of the text.

This diploma thesis ?Geographic-ethnographic characteristics of the region Podluží? concentrates on the territorial boundaries of the region Podluží, characteristics of the physical-geographical systems, socio-economic sphere and ethnography of the region. The theoretical part deals with the key terms that are the cornerstones of this thesis. Following practical parts are devoted to the definition of the region Podluží based on a comparison of source maps and questionnaire survey. Geographic and ethnographic characteristics serve as a source of information for didactic transformation, resulting in the production of the billboard. This billboard provides a synthesis of the characteristic features that create the original image of the region Podluží.

The identity of social work profession seems to be inconsistent. This is caused by different concept perception within the profession. One way of building greater stability of social work identity can be put the emphasis on the importance of values in the profession and their uniform definition. These two aspects are the main fulfillment of this Diploma thesis, in which the main aim is to reflect the concept of values in social work in relation to the perception and access to the professional identity of social work. The theme of this paper is built by defining the concept of value, which prevents mismatched importance in defining specific values in social work. The theme of following chapters is the role of values and definitions of individual values of social work based on career goals, code of ethics, foreign and Czech authors who write about the ethics of social work. The work is complemented by opinions of social workers who were involved in the research part of the project of Grant Agency of South Bohemian University No. 117/2013/H investigating the concept of quality of social work in relation to social worker´s selfdefining and his helpful professions.

The thesis points out the important role of fatherhood in the lives of men. The thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part, I draw from available literature, journals, websites and sociological researches, and I focus on fatherhood throughout history, knowledge of male identity, the concepts of father in different scientific disciplines and typology of fathers. The second part consists of a qualitative survey conducted in open and indoor playgrounds in České Budějovice. By means of anonymous interviews with both fathers and mothers I examined how fatherhood affects and completes male identity and how important it is for men. Then I evaluated and compared these interviews.

In my thesis I compare various trans* representations in fiction films, documentary films, TV series and video journals on the internet. I assume, that projections of trans* people differ in stories they tell, depending on media in which they are constructed. Most of the visible trans* stories in media are "being reborn to the right body testimonies (in opposition to the wrong body given at birth)". This is connected to the legislative rules one must follow if he/she wants to have his/her gender reassigned. Trans* activists in global context take steps closer to legislative changes that lead to bigger tolerance and freedom of gender expression. In analysis of characters of seven fiction films, three TV series, four documentaries, one reality show and work of three trans* video bloggers, I demonstrate, that the representation of trans* identities in mainstream media space is reductive and works within strict rules. These rules relate to pathological default setting of the trans* status. On the other hand, the more authentic the material is, the wider variety of stories we see..