From the Bronze Soldier to the “Bloody Marshal”: Monument Wars and Russia’s Aesthetic Vulnerability in Estonia and the Czech Republic

Author(s):  
Aliaksei Kazharski ◽  
Andrey Makarychev

The article analyzes historical monuments as instruments of Russia’s attempts to impose its aesthetic hegemony in the post-Communist world. Drawing on case studies from the Czech Republic and Estonia, it argues that this hegemony is precarious and vulnerable due to inability to deal with the inherent ambiguity and complexity of historical events and figures. The Russian approach regards historical truth in absolute terms and is underpinned by a zero-sum game understanding of historical narratives. It does not tolerate a multiplicity of perspectives on history and has no appreciation for postmodernist deconstruction of historical symbols. This conflicts with a more diverse, reflexive and inclusive politics of memory as an intrinsic element of cityscapes of Prague and Tallinn where some of the controversial monuments connected with the Soviet occupation have been removed. Russia’s reaction to these changes reveals an inherently vulnerable nature of its aesthetic hegemony which is deeply dependent on recognition of the absolute nature of its historical truth that the monuments are supposed to embody.

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-70
Author(s):  
Petr Kopečný

This paper concentrates on the area of special educational support provided to individuals living in homes for people with disabilities in the Czech Republic and presents partial research results illustrating the state of the provision of speech therapy to users of social services facilities falling under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. The subject of the research is an analysis of support for the development of the communication skills of pupils living in social services facilities. The partial results of the research outline the approaches employed by the managerial staff of the given facilities in implementing special educational procedures, describe forms of speech therapy provision in homes for people with disabilities, and compare the attitudes of teachers and social services staff to the development of communication with the importance attributed to it by speech therapists and demonstrated by the case studies performed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filip Berger ◽  
Šárka Bernatíková ◽  
Lucie Kocůrková ◽  
Radka Přichystalová ◽  
Lenka Schreiberová

Adeptus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Witkowska

A New Singer-Songwriter: The Songs and Activity of Tomáš Hnídek in Czech Extreme Right-Wing DiscourseThis article aims to present the songs and activity of Tomáš Hnídek and their reception among extreme right-wing sympathisers in the Czech Republic over the last decade. The study analyses the use of selected elements of collective imagery related to the singer-songwriter convention, with particular reference to the figure of Karel Kryl. It also draws attention to persuasive techniques of creating an image and to their influence on the reception of the singer-songwriter genre in the context of hate speech and struggle over a new politics of memory in the Czech Republic, pursued by extreme right-wing politicians and their followers. Nowy bard. Twórczość i działania Tomáša Hnídka w dyskursie czeskiej skrajnej prawicyZadaniem artykułu jest przybliżenie twórczości i działań Tomáša Hnídka oraz ich recepcji wśród zwolenników skrajnej prawicy w minionej dekadzie w Czechach. W artykule podjęto analizę zjawiska eksploatacji wybranych wyobrażeń zbiorowych łączonych z nurtem bardowskim ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem odwołań do postaci Karela Kryla. Zwrócono szczególną uwagę na występujące zabiegi z obszaru kreacji i autokreacji o niezwykle perswazyjnym potencjale oraz ich wpływ na kształtowanie się dalszej recepcji twórczości bardowskiej w kontekście mowy nienawiści oraz walki o nową politykę pamięci w Czechach, podejmowanej przez polityków skrajnej prawicy i ich sympatyków.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 431-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Seidenglanz ◽  
Tomáš Nigrin ◽  
Jiří Dujka

Abstract The article analyses railway transport markets in three neighbouring Central European countries: the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany (specifically Bavaria and Saxony), with a focus on regional transportation. It examines the organisational form of public transport resulting from regionalisation and provides comparative case studies of regional train services in these countries. The article points out the organisational differences in public transportation between the studied regions and tries to connect these results with the supply of regional train services on various types of lines and in different geographical areas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-328
Author(s):  
Hana Skokanová ◽  
Renata Pavelková ◽  
Marek Havlíček ◽  
Aleš Létal

1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Bohatá

The paper focuses on the conditions influencing the diffusion of technological innovations and R&D strategies in the CR. First it deals with the main principles of the transformation of R&D and of the legal framework. Attention is paid especially to privatization and the reform of R&D financing. Using evidence from case studies, companies innovation strategies as well as their views on governmental R&D policy are discussed.


Author(s):  
Lee Bidgood

Bluegrass music has taken root all over the world but thrives in unique ways in the Czech Republic. Ethnomusicologist and bluegrass musician Lee Bidgood writes about what it is like to live and work playing bluegrass in the heart of Europe. The chapters trace Bidgood's engagement with Czech bluegrassers, their processes of learning, barriers to understanding, and the joys and successes that they find in making bluegrass their own. After providing a general cultural and historical background, a set of case studies convey ethnographic detail from Bidgood's participatory observational research: with a Czech band as they work abroad in Europe; with banjo makers seeking an international market; with fiddlers wrestling with technical, social, and aesthetic hurdles; with a non-Christian seeking to truthfully sing gospel songs. Bidgood's analysis of songs, sounds, places, and speech provide insights into how Czech bluegrassers negotiate the Americanness and Czechness of their musical projects. This study poses bluegrass not as a restrictive set of repertoire or techniques, but as a form of sociality, a discourse with local and global resonances—and in its Czech form it is clearly a practice of in-betweenness that defies categorization, challenging narratives that limit music to a certain time, place, or people. Includes orientation notes on language, and a glossary of Czech terms.


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