Author of this thesis elaborates the topic of current Polish minority press in the Czech Republic through the media studies view. The thesis describes current structure of the Polish-language press in the Czech Republic. Part of the work consists of content analysis of periodicals Głos Ludu (Voice of the People) and Zwrot (Turnover). These periodicals are playing an important part in the process of emancipation and cultural life of the Polish minority, and thus represent a very specific segment of the Czech media environment. What are the particular specifics is a question the thesis is trying to answer. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

This thesis examines the Swedish speaking minority in the area of Finland. Because Finland had been a part of the Kingdom of Sweden for some centuries, the Swedish language had a dominant position in Finland for quite some time. The Swedish language kept its high prestige even during the period of the Russian rule that began in 1809. In the 2nd part of the 19th century the status of the Swedish language weakened to a large extent and today it is considered to be a minority language of Finland. The purpose of this thesis is in the first instance to define the term of identity and the specifics of minority identity. Subsequently I will focus on the the Swedish speaking minority in Finland, its self- concept, history and literature. In the last part of my thesis I will investigate the work of the Finland- Swedish writer Kjell Westö, in particular his depiction of his own Finland- Swedish identity. KEY WORDS: identity, minority groups, the Swedish speaking minority in Finland, Swedish literature in Finland, Kjell Westö

The topic of my Thesis is ``Gypsies and Interpersonal Relations{\crqq}. I chose this particular topic intentionally. In my opinion, even though gypsies have been a part of our society for a long time, relations between them and other citizen in the society are not on a satisfactory level. Mutual interpersonal relations between the majority society citizens and gypsies are very hot and discussed topic. The co-existence issue is analyzed not only by professionals but also by wide public. My Thesis is divided into two parts, the theoretical and the practical part. The theoretical part deals with the gypsies history, the structure of their society, a traditional gypsy family, traditional family habits, gypsy language, racism and discrimination, mutual relations between the gypsy society and other citizens, and social work with the gypsy minority. In the practical part of my thesis, I have used the method of quantitative analysis. I used two kinds of questionnaire. One of them was addressed to gypsy citizens and the other one was for the rest of the majority citizens. I have distributed 120 questionnaires among the gypsy citizens. The return was about 76 %. The other questionnaire was for the majority citizens. The return was 100 %. The goal of my Thesis was to discover reasons that lead to problems and issues between gypsies and the majority citizens. I was able to establish three assumptions. Firstly, more than half questioned gypsies experienced some kind of discrimination. This assumption was proved to be correct. Secondly, more than half of questioned majority citizens have negative experience with gypsies. This assumption was also proved to be correct. And thirdly, more than half questioned respondents from the majority citizens do not know the basic specifics of gypsies ethnic. And this assumption was again proved to be true. The results of my work will be at disposal to people involved in the gypsy{\crq}s issues and to students of the Health Social University, majoring in a Rehabilitation and Psycho {--} Social care of handicapped kids, adults and seniors. In the future, my findings may serve to create new arrangements that could lead to better the current situation between gypsies and the majority citizens

(in English): The thesis focuses on the Czech sugar factory in Gorna Oryahovitsa in northern Bulgaria, especially on the workers' colony which existed between 1912 and 1948 when the company was being put under state control. The paper provides a comprehensive report on the circumstances of the origin, development and current condition of the sugar factory and the colony. The study puts the specific instance of the Czech minority in Gorna Oryahovitsa into a wider context of the Czech migration into Bulgaria. It also provides a comprehensive picture of the Czech colony and its inhabitants, bringing new insights into their lifestyle, activities and contacts with the major society. The core of this work is to use written and pictorial materials. Therefore, the basic methodological approach was to search, collect and record the materials that in some way affected the Czech sugar factory and the colony, both in Bohemia and Bulgaria. These materials were first analyzed and then organized to create meaningful frameworks for subsequent interpretation.

The dissertation focuses on Vietnamese culture from the perspective of the Hofstede´s model of cultural dimensions and also describes its development and the factors that shaped it. Emphasis is laid on Vietnamese business etiquette, which includes previously discovered evidence of a Vietnamese way of thinking and acting. Attention is also paid to the characteristics of the Vietnamese minority in the Czech Republic, the static data related to this minority and evaluation of its integration. The goal of the research is to reveal the cultural differences between Vietnamese and Czech society and describe the influence of the Czech environment on original cultural values and habits of members of the Vietnamese minority in the Czech Republic.

Around 1900, Vienna became the city with the greatest number of Czech-language speakers. Members of the Czech minority founded important community institutions and engaged in a wide range of cultural activities - music among them. The most important markers characterizing the contemporary Czech minority in Vienna are (1) several variously motivated and differently politically determined waves of voluntary, but also involuntary, migration, (2) presence of descendants of those Czechs who stayed on the territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, and (3) coexistence of several generations and groups of people with different political orientation and attitudes towards integration into Austrian society. At present, the Czech Viennese minority is a heterogeneous community with different "culture cohorts". Using fieldwork, thus the participant observation of musical events together with the semi- structured interviews and combining the theoretical perspectives of ethnomusicology and diaspora studies, this dissertation deals with the three interrelated questions: How do the musical creativity and participation at musical events reflect the heterogeneity of the contemporary Czech Viennese minority? How does the migrant situation determine the creativity, respectively the participation at musical events? And how...

Slovak national minority are among the largest minority in the Czech Republic. The work offers an analysis of the political and cultural framework aimed at Slovak minority in our country. Slovak question is presented on the basis of minority rights in a historical perspective, but the emphasis is on analysis of the current situation. The work is complemented by field research that maps the real situation of implementation of minority rights, cultural and political rights in the Czech Republic in relation to international and national standards.

The goal of the thesis Language biographies and social networks of the Czech minority members (on example of Czech-Croatian and Croatian-Czech bilingualism of Czechs in Croatia) is to contribute to the knowledge of language behavior of the Czech minority members from Czech or mixed Czech-Croatian families living in Croatia. Language is one of the basic identity attributes of both individual and group of individuals. Being a social phenomenon, language has got two basic functions: the communicative function (as a communication device) and the identifying function (an individual identifies themselves with a group through the use of a certain language). The author of the thesis strives to describe the language processes that are going on in compatriot families, and the factors which affect maintaining the language within the national minorities, on the example of the Czech minority in Croatia. The first part of the thesis introduces the Czech minority in Croatia since the times of the Czech's moving into Croatia, their organizing within the minority or founding of Czech associations and schools, up to the present form of existence, minority organization and Czech minority status in the laws and statutes of the Republic of Croatia. The author also describes the Czech minority language and summarizes...

The diploma thesis is based on a seven-month research of a family of Czech re-emigrants from the Romanian Banat. The aim of the research was to find out how these people understand the term home, how they negotiate it and what they related to it; the method employed here consisted of qualitative interviews. The researched sample does not represent the whole population, but rather the studied issue. The main focus was to gather as much exhaustive (and therefore related to understanding, negotiating and constructing of the meaning of the concept home) data related to the issue of home as possible within the given family rather than any universal application or generalization of the collected data to the whole of the Czech re-emigrants from the Banat. The author defines the term home as multidimensional, stemming from an individual and group experience, and from the current situation of an individual person; and as such she tries to depict it through different theoretical concepts. The thesis also presents an outline of a historical-sociological context of the existence of a Czech minority in Romania and its re-emigration. In relation to the main topic of home also emerged other topics, such as motivations for re-emigration, perceptions of Romania and the Czech Republic, response of the majority...

The following thesis outlines the situation of the Jewish minority in the czech society in 1945-1948. It follows the political situation and the social atmosphere in the postwar period and focuses on the specifics of the Jewish minority. By analyzing interviews with survivors of the Shoah describes how the period saw Jews themselves. It is especially focused on interpersonal relations that prevailed during the return of the survivors back to their homes. Chronologically describes the situation since the liberation of concentration camps, travel home, arriving back where it focuses on a reunion with loved ones, family support, relationships with friends, neighbors and acquaintances behavior and reactions of majority society. It describes how Jews coped with the return to normal life. Interpersonal relations in the postwar period depended mainly on the personality characteristics of people. But one can point out that the greatest support for returning were their relatives and friends who provide support to them in situations where they met with the negative attitude of Czech society. Keywords: post-war society, Jewish minority, interpersonal relations, Shoah witnesses