This dissertation begins with the problem that local church leaders, Sunday school teachers and adult youth leaders do not have a holistic understanding of what youth ministry is or how to start with youth ministry. And there is a wide gap between adults and the youth because they do not have enough information about today’s youth. Youth ministry has been viewed as something separate from the main church. But the inclusive congregational approach is that youth ministry is part of a comprehensive congregational ministry with a differentiated and focused way, to, with and through youth as an integral part of the church. This dissertation looks into the literature on theories of child development, today’s youth, family, mentoring, and confirmation to understand youth in the church. Church leaders and teachers need enough information about the youth and must be aware of the youth’s developmental needs. Especially church leaders and teachers must work with the parents of the youth to focus on strong Christian education to connect the generations. They have to respond to the youth’s crucial questions and issues of today. Then the youth can find what God intends them to become. This research focused on 73 church leaders and teachers in 11 WEMI (World Evangelical Mission International) churches in South Africa. A high percentage of the respondents understood the concept of youth ministry. But their main problem or difficulty remained the lack of training to understand youth and the biblical text. The results of empirical research presented the actual condition of youth ministry in WEMI churches in South Africa. The churches have to prepare intentional and strategic training for teachers to get enough information about today’s youth, teaching and communication skill, leadership development, counselling and knowledge of the Bible. When the church leaders and teachers are equipped and trained for God’s work, the youth ministry will be built up strongly in the local church, and the youth will find themselves as the body of Christ. / Dissertation (MA Theol)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Practical Theology / unrestricted

This work uncovers perceptions of the Czech society concerning cultural and social role of a digital entertainment (computer games and videogames) as a relatively new interactive media form. The author tries to verify validity of a presumption that the digital entertainment is an object of a cultural stigma that was formed by combination of various factors which are closely specified in the work. According to the author, present perception of the digital entertaiment in society is formed by a media panic that repeated itself regularly in the course of history. Amongst other significant determinants one can find certain stereotypical viewes, efforts of a ruling class to sustain status quo and struggle of various social groups over cultural dominance which leads to hierarchization of cultural tastes. Suggested cultural stigmatisation of the digital entertainment probably leads to a social stigmatisation of players, who submit to social pressures and often adapt their behaviour to general tastes. Essential part of the work is formed by a research based on qualitative and quantitative data collected from teachers and gymnasium (high schools) and elementary school students. The research supports a presumption that the negative view on the digital entertainment is subject to specific generational...

Diploma thesis "Media representation of Czech Sci-Fi Fandom in the Press in 2001-2006" deals with the ways in which science fiction fans are represented in Czech newspapers. For most people the media remain the most important source of information about the specific subculture of the fans. This thesis employs the qualitative analysis method to uncover the regularities of the fans' media representations. It concentrates on the portrayal of the fans' relationship with the primary texts, as well as relationships within the fan community and relationships with the wider society.

Hübner, P.: Graffiti - Nonkonformní konformita aneb Role graffiti ve výuce výtvarné výchovy, [Diplomová práce] Praha 2013 - Univerzita Karlova, Pedagogická fakulta, Katedra výtvarné výchovy, 94 s. Abstract The diploma thesis independently follows on the author's bachelor thesis. It briefly describes the substance and the history of the graffiti phenomenon with the focus on current situation and local scene. Then, it points out less frequent questions and problems that are based on the substance of graffiti itself. The text tries to give important information and impulses to the teachers of art lessons, who often have misinterpreted and partly idealized idea of graffiti. The thesis also focuses on the state of current Prague street art that is on the decline at the moment. The text combines particular examples with consideration passages that deal with general topics like non/conformity, freedom, safety, creativity, ilussions, relationship to surroundings or private property. The research that was done among the teachers at lower and higher secondary schools is compared with the author's opinions, even by means of two dialogues with graffiti artists themselves. In the didactic part, the author summarizes possible conceptions of art lessons in connection with the graffiti topic that are supplemented with the...

This work deals with ideological trends in Czech hardcore scene. In the theoretical part it reflects the historical development of concept of subcultures from the beginning until now. Following with an explanation why it is preferable to describe hardcore with the concept of the scene. The next chapter is dedicated to the history of hardcore and tries to explain the specific ethos of the times in which hardcore was born. It also serves as a contextualization of the whole phenomena. The empirical part focuses on specific themes of hardcore ideology in Czech environment without losing sight of their roles in the past. This method tries to present hardcore more like a process than some closed phenomena stuck in time. The evolution and reflection of individual themes is important if hardcore should still be considered relevant, and thus critical and able to perceive social processes. Hardcore has started as a certain reaction to reflect the era and these characteristics are considered its roots. It was not a homogenous movement, and still is not to this day. We need to be well versed in hardcore to see its potential as a critique of the society, and the concept of "the little underground" provides a good starting point. Key words hardcore, punk, ideology, subculture, scene, society, identity,...

In my Master's degree thesis I'm dealing with the phenomenon of role-playing games in the Czech republic in the first half of the 1990s. Role-playing games came to the Czech republic in the form of a game called "Draci doupe" with an active community of players being established immediately. The main aims of this study are analysis and contextualisation of subculture of these players in the first half of the nineties and also publisher "Altar", who released "Draci doupe" at the end of the year 1990. "Draci doupe" and commercialization were inherently bound together. In my thesis I'm dealing with the description of development of publisher "Altar" with regard to his commercial strategy and influence on the subculture of role-playing game players. The rest of the study is dedicated to the community of players with the focus on development, form and spreading through fanzines (non-professional and non- official publication produced by community of players), magazines and community conventions (called "cons"). Struggles in the community of players regarding commercionalization of this leisure activity are analysed further in the study. These struggles led to degradation of the whole community of players. The view of public is added to the thesis to complete the whole picture of analysis of subculture...

The thesis' aim is to explore the changes of the anarchofeminist zine Bloody Mary and how it was influenced by the Internet, as well as by the specific blogging platform and computer graphics software used in the zine's production. The chief sources of data used in my research are the specific issues of the zine, articles and archived documents published on the blog. Moreover, I have undertaken several interviews with the zine's authors and readers, giving me insight into the zine's production. The theoretical section of the thesis focuses on the function of zines as alternative media, as well as describing zines within the larger context of the key feminist views on the media industry and the history of independent feminist publications. The following section describes the formation of the Riot Grrrl movement, which has led the proliferation of zines within feminist discourse, as well as serving as a chief inspiration to Bloody Mary's authors. The next chapter describes the context of Czech anarchist activism and names some of the key groups such as the "Feminist Group of the 8th March" or the "Anarcho-feminist Group", which Bloody Mary's authors belonged to. The empirical section of the thesis focuses on the changes within Bloody Mary as a publication. The developments and transformation of the...

Graffiti is a game in which heroic courage and great tension are applied. It is an unusual and risky activity beyond the law, associated with dangerous and illegal intrusion into the secured areas of the underground metro system or climbing the roofs of buildings and high walls. All this means for the writer to write his name on the wall and reap the recognition of his colleagues from the subculture for it. The work looks at graffiti from the perspective of their representatives. Its aim is to answer the question whether the writer's motives to remain in the graffiti subculture change over time, how the writers perceive the sanctions of their surroundings, and whether the sanctions of the institutions affect the end of the writer's career. Data collection will take place through semi-structured interviews with respondents from the graffiti environment, participatory observation and qualitative content analysis of printed materials and websites, used for the exchange of information, especially between active members of the subculture. Keywords Graffiti, subculture, art, vandalism, subcultural career, criminal liability, social sanctions Title The End of Writer's Career: Urban Folklore Which Breaks the Law.

The following thesis titled Zavedené nepořádky: Českoslovenští fotbaloví fanoušci v letech pozdního státního socialismu thematises Czechoslovak football hooliganism from a historical point of view with a special emphasis on the contextualisation of the whole phenomena into the field of the Czechoslovak contemporary history. It is specifically concerned with detailing various aspects of this specific community's everyday life but it also thematises broader questions about the community's members relation to the social order in which they themselves lived and were surrounded by. On one hand, the thesis accepts some basic aspects from the subcultural theory, but at the same time it offers interpretative alternatives inspired by the concepts of socialist everydayness. The whole thesis is thus not only a description of a very specific community of football hooligans in the era of late state socialism but also a contribution to a broader discussion on the character of late state socialism in the last years of its duration. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

This thesis presents the basic principles of the functioning of the heteronormative order: in what way heterosexuality is constructed as the norm and in what way it is maintained as such. The thesis simultaneously examines the possibilities of disrupting the heteronormative order, creating queer spaces, and defining the term queer and queer politics in the framework of a queer subculture. The aim of the research carried out within the thesis is to contribute to the visibility of queer subculture, present ways in which the term queer is used in queer subculture and show to what degree the examined queer subcultural spaces are created as open spaces and to whom they are accessible. In the Czech Republic the term queer is used as a synonym for LGBT identities or as an umbrella term for LGBTI people and activities. Nevertheless, as follows from the analysis of semi-structured interviews, the term queer can have even other meanings. It can express criticism of heteronormativity, homonormativity, mainstream LGBT politics and culture, and the attempt to overcome the norms connected with gender and sexuality. In this regard, the term queer can refer not only to an identity and also to a political position. The interweaving of queer and feminist theory can be inspiring not only for the development of gender...