This study is concerned with the role of contemporary Czech geographic and travel writing and its involvement with the creation and reproduction of spatialised identities and imaginative geographies as they relate to the 'developing world'. It employs the method of discourse analysis (mostly research tools taken from Critical Discourse Analysis) to examine the contents of articles from all issues of the magazines Koktejl and Lidé a Země for the year 2012. This is done in order to analyse the portrayals of such spaces within the context of imaginative geography and the post-development critique and bring attention to the kind of popular geopolitics that is being created. The main topics covered includes the construction of identity between the authors, readers and the objects of writing, the linear understanding of the flow of history and progress and the relationship between the writers and their objects (both places and people). The main findings of the research consist in the identification of the continued prevalence of the perception of linearity of history which constitutes the developing places as subjected to a universal historical process whith the European civilisation as the current endpoint of history. These places are therefore considered a legitimate domain of knowledge, appreciation...

L’objectif de la présente étude est d’explorer la « géographie imaginaire » du roman Le Ventre de l’Atlantique, écrit par Fatou Diome. Le concept de la « géographie imaginaire » décrit les rapports de domination spatiale et la construction d’un « Autre », entièrement différent de « nous » (Saïd, 1980). Les deux pays du roman, la France et le Sénégal, sont analysés comme deux sphères inconciliables, associées aux oppositions comme nous – l’Autre, individualisme – collectivisme, rationalité - superstition. Deux images spatiales sont discutées dans ce mémoire: l’île Niodior au Sénégal et l‘océan Atlantique. L’isolation de l’île Niodior renforce la séparation en deux espaces opposés, alors que l’Atlantique constitue un élément parfois chargé de forces magiques, lié à la vie et à la mort. Evoquant l’idée d’hybridité, le roman montre également des espaces et des identités alternatifs, qui transgressent la structure coloniale. / The object of this study is to explore the « imaginative geography » in the novel Le ventre de l’Atlantique, written by Fatou Diome. The concept of « imaginative geography » describes relations of spatial domination and the construction of the « Other », entirely different from « us » (Saïd, 1978). The two countries in the novel, France and Senegal, are analysed as two irreconcilable spheres, associated with oppositions such as we – the Other, individualism – collectivism, rationality – superstition. Two spatial images are discussed in this study: the island of Niodior in Senegal and the Atlantic Ocean. The isolation of Niodior reinforces the separation into two opposed spheres, while the Atlantic Ocean constitutes an element charged with magical forces, connected to life and death. Referring to the idea of hybridity, the novel also presents alternative spaces and identities, transgressing the colonial structure.