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The issue of the ecclesiastical history of the secondary lands of the Bohemian Crown continues to offer a number of topics for possible research. One of them is the relationship of King John of Luxembourg to the ecclesiastical institutions in Upper Lusatia, which he gradually brought into his immediate possession. He was thus able to fully develop his donating activities there. The aim of this paper is, based on sources of a diplomatic nature, to analyse and interpret the monarch’s policy towards the various ecclesiastical institutions in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the complicated relations between medieval towns and the ruling elites in what is now Belgium and the Netherlands. It is illustrated by the uprising that broke out against the local elected bishop John III of Bavaria in Liège and was bloodily suppressed. Even though John succeeded in controlling Liège by force, he abandoned the town and its surrounding area when he was offered a very uncertain possibility of governing elsewhere a few years later. This is thus one of many examples in which there is no proper settlement of relations between the ruler and the town in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jan of Rabštejn († approx. 1450), the father of Chancellor Prokop († probably 1470), the humanist Jan (1437–1473) and three other Rabštejn brothers, is identified in the literature with Ješek Rabštejn, who was a member of the town council in Žatec multiple times between 1402 and 1414. The aim of this paper is to provide a critical examination of this repeatedly stated yet never confirmed hypothesis. The author places the examined matter in the broader context of research on the settlement of the nobility in Bohemian towns in the late Middle Ages, observes the genesis of the current interpretation and, based on an analysis of relevant sources, reaches the conclusion that the nobleman Jan of Rabštejn and the Žatec burgher Ješek Rabštejn were very probably two different people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with auxiliary verb constructions in Romance, in particular with those that exhibit two auxiliary verbs 'have' and 'be' which alternate, in many Italo-Romance varieties, within one and the same paradigm. It is argued that such an intra-paradigmatic distribution represents a special kind of grammaticalization, traditionally referred to as morphologization. Two aspects are discussed. First, a morphological approach to such 'mixed paradigms' is advocated, the main claim being that in order to explain the distribution of the two auxiliaries within the paradigm, one has to make essential reference to paradigmatic structure rather than to the intrinsic featural composition of the auxiliaries (along the lines of paradigmatic approaches reviewed in Blevins 2016). Second, it is shown that these mixed systems, although they often represent "delicate transitional stages" (Loporcaro 2014: 56, n. 8), also display interesting diachronic convergence typical of various stem alternation patterns, famously referred to as morphomes (cf. Maiden 2018). The paper draws on a dataset that is currently being put together in order to become, in the future, a large database of mixed perfective auxiliation systems. Some space is thus devoted to the description of the main parameters of this project, called 'MIXPAR'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on Arthur Danto's approach to literature. One of the leading philosophers of art in the analytical philosophical tradition, Danto published on art ontology, defining art and art historicity as well as serving as an art critic for the magazine The Nation in the late phase of his career. The essence of Danto's philosophy thus lies in the visual arts, and it seems he was not interested in literature from a philosophical point of view. However, following Garry L. Hagberg, I show that Danto was not only a keen reader but also reflected on literature, its specificity, and its role. In the first part of the paper, I scrutinize what -- in Danto's view -- is a literary work of art, and I compare his position to the view of New Criticism. In the second part, I explore the often neglected dimension of Danto's philosophy of art, i.e., the spectator's emotional response to an artwork. I argue that Danto draws on works of literature to illustrate the nature of this response for the reason that they provide the basis for a deeper understanding in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper draws on environmental history and applies this concept to the issue of air pollution in the Most region in the 1960s. Combustion processes had caused the air in the region to be polluted by both solid and gaseous substances, released into the air in varying amounts. What options did society have to respond to this newly recognised problem in a region that had long been used for industrial production? The paper tries to provide an answer by tracing the evolution of environmental legislation and the reactions of the media and authorities at all levels. It proposes three hypotheses, namely, (1) that the state chose to focus on economic and industrial development rather than environmental protection, (2) that it tried to centralize control of technological solutions to the air pollution problem, and (3) that it attempted to control public discourse and awareness of air quality and the factors that affected it. The results arrived at are as follows: the state did indeed choose to prioritise industrial development over environmental protection, although it had attempted to take several (mainly legislative) measures to mitigate pollution. The hypothesis that there was an attempt to centralise technological solutions to the problem and to control them was not borne out; instead, the choice of solutions (if any) was left to companies. Control of the flow of information on air pollution was minimal during the 1960s, and only changed after 1968 with what is known as Czechoslovak normalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Czech immigrants in America played an important role in the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia after World War I, and even today more than one million Americans claim Czech ancestry. Czech Americans understandably kept a close eye on the young democracy in the centre of Europe during the interwar period. Their reflections are recorded primarily within regional periodicals, which, although being available at least to some extent, are still not sufficiently reflected in the academic literature. Generally, the most researched period is the “peak” of the Czechoslovak immigrant community’s activity in the US around World War I, but there are large gaps elsewhere, especially in the interwar period. The paper attempts to compare the views of Czech immigrants in America on the stock market crash in New York in the autumn of 1929. It focuses specifically on Czech periodicals published in three locations — Chicago, Nebraska, and Texas. The comparison of these three perspectives provides the opportunity to explore the perspective of Czech Americans in urban and rural areas in three different states across the United States. It also focuses on periodicals from a period that researchers have so far shown little interest in. Additionally, comparing these three locations allows for an examination of social, religious, demographic, and other differences, as the Czech immigrant community in the US has never been homogeneous, although it is often presented as such. The paper thus aims to provide a fresh perspective on one of the key moments of interwar history through the eyes of the Czech immigrant community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to explore the forms of official and unofficial negotiation, using the rescue of the Staré Hrady castle, renovated between 1949 and 1993, as a case in point. The paper first outlines the earlier history and current situation of this monument, then the cultural and legal context, the actors and, lastly, the history of the rescue itself. It then proceeds to examine the final phase of the rescue to provide an illustrative example of a castle renovation project that was financially and ideologically supported by the regime and where the rescue went hand in hand with its cultural use, which served as an argument for the renovation in the first place. The paper discusses the forms of communication formally required for the official negotiation related to this project, as well as the informal level of the negotiation, which existed outside the written sources. It concludes that both of these negotiation levels were equally important for the preservation of the Staré Hrady castle: they were used as dictated by the situation and ultimately aimed at achieving the same goal: to preserve a cultural monument whose restoration had been considered impossible and pointless a little more than two decades earlier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historie Otazky Problemmy is the property of Charles University Prague, Faculty of Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Linguistica Pragensia (Charles University Prague, Faculty of Arts) is the property of Charles University Prague, Faculty of Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Although Anglicisms1 have been the subject of research for quite some time now, their definition in the literature sometimes tends to be somewhat inexplicit, and there are points of disagreement, especially regarding their classification and the distinction between their types. This paper advocates a uniform, consistent approach to defining loans (Anglicisms) and their typology in terms of an interplay between three criterial features which are transferred in, and thereby constitute, (lexical) borrowing: concept, model, and form. Their combination results in seven feature patterns or loan types (both mono- and bilingual), which the paper correlates and compares with standard categories of Anglicisms found in the literature and illustrates using examples from Czech. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on the principles of inquiry-based education and on a curatorial approach to working with sources. It presents two practical examples of how materials, such as those from the collection of the Museum of the Working Class Movement, can be used. The paper explores not only the benefits, but also the limitations of the collection given the needs of school teaching. Finally, the potential of the collection is discussed from the point of view of different approaches to interpreting the period in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After losing the war in 1945, Japan was in ruins -- both physical and mental. Although it was gradually rebuilding itself economically since the late 1940s, the lost war, occupation, change of system and the upheaval of values caused mental trauma and identity crisis for many of its inhabitants. Motifs typically associated with Franz Kafka -- especially his existentialism, absurdity, avant-garde methods and dream imagery against the background of everyday reality, create an interesting parallel to this situation and seeped into the works of post-war authors. This paper focuses on two postwar authors, Shimao Toshio (1917-1986) and Ishikawa Jun (1899-1987), and examines how "kafkaesque" writing and reality of post-war Japan intertwine in "Everyday Life in a Dream" (Yume no naka de no nichijō, 1948) and "The Raptor" (Taka, 1953). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper focuses on the strategies for adapting the specific Buddhist plot (the story of the two brothers travelling beyond the sea in search of a magical pearl) that has been recounted over the course of centuries in classical Korean literature. The objective of the article is to examine the adaptation of this plot through a comparative analysis of similar narratives, highlighting the distinctive features and changes determined by the various genres and philosophical ideas under the influence of which these texts were written, the purposes of creating these narratives, the target audience, etc. The comparison is based on three texts: Ten Stages of Tathagata Shakya's Practices (1328), Worin Sokpo (1459) and the vernacular fiction Story of Chyok Syongŭi (19th century). Furthermore, the article lists all relevant previous Buddhist manuscripts containing the plot of interest, provides a brief outline of Korean Buddhist literature tradition, and emphasizes literature as a universal medium connecting Confucian and Buddhist cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reflects on the absurd humour contained in Kafka's novel The Trial in two selected works of Russian literature. Using the example of two texts representing different genres (a short story and a poem) by Daniil Kharms and Vladimir Yermolayev, it shows how these two authors were inspired by this aspect of Kafka's work: in the case of Vladimir Yermolayev, the source of inspiration is completely unquestionable and is already referred to by the direct allusion in the title. The entire poem is then constructed as a lawsuit that originates, unfolds and concludes within the lyrical subject, which is the metaphorical Kafka himself. For Daniil Charms, the source of inspiration is unacknowledged, though obvious: Charms was inspired by one particular passage of Kafka's novel, which he altered in accordance with his poetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper inquires into the phenomenon of repetition in the works of Franz Kafka and in what ways it might characterize his way of writing (and his understanding of writing). I begin by making a distinction between three different planes of repetition, or repetitiveness: (1) as a 'method' of production; (2) as a symptom of the characters' situations; and (3) as a representation technique. First, there are different versions of the same text, equivalent in terms of finality, but perhaps also a certain existential rhythm (as exemplified by Kafka's famous 'schedules'). I suggest that a comparative reading of Heinrich von Kleist's Michael Kohlhaas (1810) could provide an insight into this feature of 'productivity'. Second, repetitive characters' situations create certain patterns and beg the question of their complex reader effects. Finally, and in addition to 'classical' discursive repetitions, there are minor textual recurrences (as in his 'breakthrough' story, "The Judgment") and the question whether these can be related to an analogy in technical reproduction. Are they part of an experimental narrative method? Is there a 'sense' to repetition in Kafka and can these provisional distinctions help us understand it? How should their entanglement be described? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the intriguing phenomenon of mesoclisis in Old Occitan. Mesoclisis, the insertion of an object clitic pronoun within the verbal form rather than before or after it, is explored particularly within the context of future and conditional tenses. While mesoclisis is evidenced in both the future and conditional tenses in Old Catalan and Old Spanish, in Occitan, it is exclusively observed in the future tense. Notably, all clitics may feature in this construction, with a higher prevalence observed in the first person singular, especially with class I verbs. Furthermore, there appears to be a lexicalized association with verbs of speech, likely due to discourse-related factors. This investigation not only sheds light on the differential grammaticalization between the future and conditional tenses but also unveils an intermediate stage in their grammatical evolution, bridging the gap between Catalan and French linguistic contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a long time the world has campaigned against child labour, both with local and global efforts. These initiatives however tend to ignore contextual forces such as, specific socio-cultural contexts and societal interpretation of child labour. Scholarship on this subject uncovers several circumstances, reasons, consequences, processes, and challenges of child labour among different communities in Africa. Extant literature also reveals information regarding the complexities of sociocultural dimension in examining child labour practices. Building on the already existing evidence, this paper uncovers sociocultural complexity in explaining child labour practices among semi nomadic pastoral Wataturu communities in Igunga. The paper exploits various information collected through library and archival research, participant observation, and oral interviews to demonstrate how sociocultural set up of Wataturu challenges the mainstream approach to the claimed child labour practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to the brilliant Czech logician and philosopher of language Pavel Tichý (1936-1994) who, after emigrating to New Zealand in 1970 and spending half his life there as a political refugee, committed suicide shortly before returning to his alma mater, Charles University in Prague, as Chair of the Department of Logic in the Faculty of Arts. After tracing a biographical profile of the Czech logician, the paper explains some of the central ideas of Tichý's highly original theory, called Transparent Intensional Logic, while locating it in the wider context of the analytic philosophy of language. The paper concludes by highlighting the role played by Tichý's intensional theory in advancing various disciplines, including artificial intelligence, with the aim of shedding light on the significant contributions of the Czech logician, who has yet to gain due recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper traces the genesis and development of post-Stalinist Marxist eschatology, particularly in relation to its tendency to capture and describe aspects of extra-sensory, metaphysical and parapsychological experience. With its subject defined this way, the paper seeks to chart a continuity between the reformist period of “post-Stalinist” philosophy and the period of Czechoslovak normalization. It aims to highlight some lesser-known aspects of 20th-century Marxist utopianism within the broader context of the intellectual history of Marxism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the clash between State Security (Státní bezpečnost) and political dissent during Czechoslovak normalisation, or rather one of its aspects: the expert knowledge that both sides used in the conflict. While State Security was making an effort to improve in the field of psychology and also in its use of technology, especially during surveillance, the dissidents gradually acquired a perfect knowledge of the Czechoslovak legal system, which helped them to defend themselves, at least to some extent, against the harassment by the security apparatus. The paper discusses the approaches taken by both sides as well as how they actually worked in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how attachment theory was adapted and further developed in socialist Czechoslovakia. It analyses the scientific discussions and the influence of the theory on state care policies, especially in residential childcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scanderbeg is the main constitutive figure in the collective memory of Arbereshs in particular and of Albanians in general. As such he also is the main figure in the history of Albanians that inspired many artistic and scholarly works in different disciplines including oral tradition, history, literature, ethnology, etc. The main aim of this paper, as indicated in the title, is to see how songs on Scanderbeg could be acertained as an expression of collective memory, longing, and belonging up to the present times. In order to comprehend better this process authors will give information on who was Scanderbeg, who were Arbëresh and how did they establish and maintained awareness on their distinctive cultural and ethnic identity. What was the role of Scanderbeg in this process? Beside this the role of folk songs and historical data on remembering Scanderbeg and in constructing Arbwresh/Albanian national identity will be juxstaposed. As a tool will be used three folk songs collected by Arbëresh intellectual Jeronim De Rada, which are related to two main events of Scanderbeg's life, namely marriage and death, and these will be compared with historical data as found for same events in the Harry Hodgkinson's historical book about Scanderbeg. This juxtaposition will be analysed in the context of Anthony D. Smith's concept on ethno-symbolism in order to enlighten the initiation of Arbëresh/Albanian ethnic identity. The final attempt of this paper will be to theorize on how historical facts, transformed in both oral tradition and scholar interpretations, are used in shaping collective memory-(ies) that forge identity-ies of groups in different temporal and spatial levels, i.e. local, regional, ethnic and national, in which case construction process and selectivity are quite prominent. The method used here is comparison of different literature resources (historical, literature, ethnographies) and interpreting them in different theoretical frameworks such as ethnosymbolism, collective memory and constructivis national building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to understand how communities hold onto memories through ballads and folk songs, especially when they relate to social issues, and will use a Portuguese narrative song based on a true event to examine this and other related matters. On 13 September 1914, a boy and girl from different socio-economic classes enacted a suicide pact because their families disapproved of their love. The violent death of these youngsters imprinted a strong impression on the small Portuguese community where it happened. The case was perpetuated in the narrative song, 'José Pina e Maribela', that spread throughout the years to various regions where it was collected. Based on fifteen versions of this song, this paper analyses how and what facts of the event were kept by the collective memory of the community and identifies the narrative invariance of the song and the variants that occur in these versions. The paper also refers to the appropriation of 'José Pina e Maribela' by some regional entities, creating a constructed memory as a touristic product, as opposed to the natural process of transmission of traditional literature, which accepts variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on Lamy's reflections on literary fiction and theatre as displayed in his Nouvelles réflexions sur l'art poétique (1678). Bernard Lamy (1640-1715) was a prolific writer, a major Augustinian thinker and a member of the French Oratory. Today, he is mostly known for his La rhétorique ou l'Art de parler (1st edition dates back to 1675), and his numerous works continue to elicit contributions from specialists on rhetoric and literary fiction. Lamy's reflections on literature, theatre and aesthetics are based on rigorous moral and religious grounds, hence his overriding aim to dismantle and deconstruct the core of what some continue to call the "classical doctrine". Lamy systematically treats topics such as embellishment, respect for the unities (time, place, action), paradoxes of aesthetical pleasure, verisimilitude, morality of literary and theatrical fiction, etc., all to demonstrate their radical incompatibility with the principles and values of an exemplary pious person. Lamy's rigorist moral and religious views might well seem shocking to a modern reader, but we aim to show that his analysis of various creative strategies (especially intricacies of rhetorical adaptation and procedures of arousing an emotional/intellectual response) has a great potential to enrich our understanding of early modern fiction and theatre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The British Expedition to Tibet of 1903-1904 represented the last major military operation of the Great Game, the broad cultural confrontation between the British and the Russians that contested the geopolitical space of central and high Asia for almost the entire nineteenth century, up until the St. Petersburg entente of 1907. The role assumed by the then Tongsa Penlop, Ugyen Wangchuck, as a mediator between the British and Tibetans during the Expedition, was critical. Among the Bhutanese nobles, Ugyen Wangchuck had emerged victorious from the Battle of Changlimithang in 1885 and in 1907 he was crowned as the first king of Bhutan. In the period between the military victory and his accession to the throne, the power of Ugyen Wangchuck had to be consolidated definitively in a country that was simultaneously involved in the geopolitical space of the Raj, to which it was linked by the Treaty of Sinchula of 1865, and in the cultural sphere of Tibet, its most profound and ancient spiritual heritage. This paper reconstructs through British archival documents an attempt carried out by the Bhutanese with the British -- in anticipation of Anglo-Tibetan negotiations -- to try to resolve the last internal tensions of Bhutan. Although strongly downsized, some ancient rivalries, like underground rivers, continued to run across the balances of power and the international role of the small Himalayan country at the beginning of the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a passage from Manuscript No. 9350 of the Austrian National Library, which, to the author’s knowledge, has not yet attracted scholarly attention, the paper deals with an interesting description of Upper Lusatia, which probably originated in the second half of the 17th century and offers some remarkable insights into the religious and cultural situation in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historie Otazky Problemmy is the property of Charles University Prague, Faculty of Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper proposes an innovative approach to the analysis of fiction texts through the combined means of three points of view, viz. FSP, discourse subjects (DSs) and their cohesive chains, and cohesive ties. It explores the theme of metamorphosis of the characters as it appears in all the three examined aspects, and the influence the metamorphosis exerts on them. Three main problems are discussed in the paper. Firstly, it deals with unexpected tokens in the identity chains of the DSs undergoing the metamorphosis and the cohesive ties through which they are incorporated in these cohesive chains. Secondly, it addresses seeming abrupt switches between two thematic progressions which in fact form just one progression. Lastly, the paper discusses the function of the features detected in the texts in relation to the complexity of the idea of metamorphosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discourse regarding intentionality and interpretation in analytic philosophy of art, although ample and lively, has concerned itself almost exclusively with the literary medium. Starting from a paper published by Hans Maes, I discuss the complications that may arise in straightforwardly applying current intentionalist strategies to the realm of the contemporary visual arts. I first present a detailed account of the difference between hypothetical intentionalism and moderate actual intentionalism which will help to better understand the nature of Maes's arguments in his paper. I then argue that the characteristics which shape the approach of moderate actual intentionalism cannot be accommodated by certain contemporary visual artworks. I will demonstrate how in certain contemporary artworks, should a viewer be interested in accepting actual intentions within her interpretation, she will have to do so with an extreme intentionalist posture rather than a moderate actual one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the position of the British institutions, of the embassy in Peking and of the consulate general in Kashgar, before the attempt of the Afghan ruler Amānallāh to establish diplomatic relations with the Chinese Republic in 1920. Amānallāh, who ascended the throne of the emirate in 1919, rejected the British protectorate over Afghanistan and his victory in the Third Anglo-Afghan War certified the country's full independence. The provisional nature of the 1919 Treaty of Rawalpindi, followed by the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1921, left many doubts still open about the international status of Afghanistan. Moreover, the proximity between Afghanistan and the Russian Bolsheviks introduced a further ideological element of difficulty in the geopolitical picture of Central Asia after the First World War. Central to the diplomatic dialectic was also the status of Afghan subjects in China, particularly in Hsin-chiang, and to whom their possible consular protection should be entrusted. The last part of the paper is dedicated precisely to the analysis of a specific case, the arrest of a man considered an Afghan by the Chinese, but subject of the princely state of Chitral according to the British. The case helped to better define the boundaries of the matter. The paper is essentially based on British archival sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kathleen Stock has recently argued that Gregory Currie's account of fiction is beset by two patchwork puzzles. According to the first, Currie's account entails that works of fiction end up being implausible heterogenous complexes of utterances that furnish a fictional world and utterances that aim at representing the actual world. According to the second, competent engagement with a fiction can implausibly result in switching from one mental attitude to another -- namely, belief and make-belief. In this paper, I argue for two main claims. First, that a few alterations to Currie's account make it immune to Stock's puzzles. And, second, that such a modified account presents clear advantages over the alternative one offered by Stock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As this introductory study argues, state socialist experts dispatched for Africa during the Cold War were an important current in global transfers of knowledge. The paper introduces the scholarship on socialist experts and their relations to international organizations, modernization theory and the concept of development. Furthermore, it also delves into the personal experience of the experts in the place of their positioning and how they affected and were affected by the environment they were sent to. The paper thus summarizes the state of art and explores the possibilities of where the research might go from here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Svet Literatury: Casopis Pro Novodobé Literatury is the property of Charles University Prague, Faculty of Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The literary poetics of Mexican writer Juan José Arreola (1918-2001), one of the great figures of 20th century Latin American narrative, rests on three pillars: his inscription in a specific literary tradition, an authorial position as a "cultural megaphone" and his preference for fantastic literature. Within that literary tradition, for Arreola Kafka, perhaps like no other author, provides a possible literary lens to examine in depth the human being of our time. The purpose of this paper is to traverse this Arreola-Kafka literary bridge and to read some edges of the Kafkaesque in Arreola's work, paying special attention to the possible communicating vessels between the two literary projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with Petr Rezek's philosophy in relation to two of his central themes, matter-of-factness (Sachlichkeit) and conflict, through the prism of the problem of non-matter-of-fact (unsachlich) quoting and its manifestations. According to Rezek, these point to the defective forms of intersubjectivity. The dialectic of quoting reason begins with a critique of these forms in order to become a true dialectic of matter-of-factness, through contrasting structures and techniques of analysis, such as the so-called boundary approach or the method of repetition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on two so-called rock castles (Sloup and Jestřebí in northern Bohemia) and their presentation in the early modern topographies written by Mauritius Vogt. While today they are both perceived as former castles, for Vogt, only Jestřebí was an abandoned castle, while Sloup was mainly a hermitage. The relationship between both places leans on their bizarre appearance and connection to the underground. They both were rocks upon a lowland described as saxum vivum. Vogt's view is contextualized by Athanasius Kircher's Mundus subterraneus and other works on the underground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the descriptions of the Catalan language provided by foreign travellers who journeyed through the Catalan-speaking territories in the second third of the 19th century. It examines their observations and linguistic perceptions of the Catalan language and the language spoken by the inhabitants of these regions. Additionally, the study delves into the names used by travellers to refer to the Catalan language, its origins, its relationship with other Romance languages, and its status among them. While some travellers may not have provided detailed descriptions of the language due to the diverse purposes of their journeys, their various accounts and statements allow us to deduce their positions and opinions in addressing these questions. This analysis takes place during the 19th century, a period in which Romance philology was still an emerging area of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the initial findings of a research project that investigates the origins of Italian ATAP NNs, such as parolaN chiaveN (keyword) or luogoN simboloN (place.symbol -- symbolic place). This study is based on a meticulously chosen sample of 1,924 NN types that include 47 different modifiers as their rightmost constituent, sourced from Google n-grams frequency lists (2020), which represent the most extensive diachronic linguistic data currently available. While recent literature suggests that Italian ATAP NNs emerged in the latter half of the 20th century and gained significant productivity only after 2000, our data indicate that this process occurred approximately 50 years earlier, particularly for a notable subset of N2-based semi-schematic constructions. With respect to the theoretical frameworks of Construction Morphology, Relational Morphology, and Diachronic Construction Grammar, the analysis of the data provides an insight into the interaction between the fully schematic ATAP NN construction and various semi-schematic constructions (N2-based families). Moreover, the study attempts to identify key diachronic stages in the development of the pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper offers an analysis of history curricula in lower secondary schools. It looks at the independence (vs. integration) of history as a subject, the time allocated to it and the presence of modern history in the curriculum. The results are compared with previous findings and placed in a wider context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the approaches to analysing learning tasks explored in Czech and international didactics of history, focusing on tasks in history textbooks. It proposes quality criteria/attributes to characterise the didactic and discipline-specific quality of tasks. It also briefly discusses history textbooks and international research, with emphasis on German-speaking countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides a theoretical reflection on the concept of counterfactual history in relation to school education and historical thinking. It shows how counterfactual history, which is widespread in popular culture, can be used to promote historical literacy among primary school children. In addition to theoretical analysis, the study includes a practical demonstration consisting of one model counterfactual history lesson based on the popular counterfactual scenario in which the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich did not take place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russia's aggression against Ukraine is perceived by many as simply an adventuristic endeavor of Vladimir Putin and the result of his desire to maintain his personal power in Russia itself and extend his influence beyond its borders. Proponents of such views try to explain Vladimir Putin's appeal to Russian chauvinism and its ideologues as purely situational and populist, and present the current regime in Russia as opportunistic and lacking a clear ideology and ideological goals. This paper however argues that Vladimir Putin's policy towards Ukraine, including the war unleashed against it, stems from his doctrinal views, which have been unequivocally outlined by him over the years in various speeches and articles, but ignored by the world due to a flippant attitude towards them. These views have not only a historical dimension, but also an ethnological one, as they are based on a certain and very specific understanding of Russian and Ukrainian ethnicities, which is an arbitrary combination of primordialist and constructivist arguments. Along with the presentation of these views themselves, the article demonstrates the discrepancy between the propaganda myths resulting from them and the actual facts about Russian and Ukrainian political and ethnic history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to its character of totalitarian regime and through the major changes imposed in the society, the communist regime in Romania between 1945 and 1989 represents a distinct period in the history of the country. A series of inflicted macrosocial processes, such as the strictly centralized economy, collectivization and nationalization, as well as some phenomena such as the control of citizens' lives, the impossibility of free expression, censorship of the press and culture, the lack of consumer goods, restrictions on utilities, and so on, negatively marked the fate of many Romanians during this period. However, many people remember this period with nostalgia. The present paper deals with the popular culture in Romania during the communist period (1945-1989), as seen, considered, and remembered by people who lived in that era, or at least in a period of it. The research was based on the method of life histories and focussed on the viewings of the subjects regarding the practices, rituals, artefacts, and products of popular culture in the communist time. Both folk culture and mass culture are discussed and analysed, as well as the elements of lifestyle, as described by the subjects. Moreover, the influences on the popular culture in that period are outlined, such as those of some large-scale phenomena like industrialisation and urbanisation, Western trends, Soviet propaganda, or the different impositions of the Romanian authorities, according to the various stages the communist regime has been going through in this period. The gathered data show that, while many memories of people are sorrowful and bitter, other recalls and considerations regarding the cultural practices of that time, and especially the human relations built by the means of these practices, are full of nostalgia. These aspects concerning popular culture in a particular historical period and nostalgia related to it are discussed in detail in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Croatian magazine Start, "a misbehaved child of the sexual revolution of the sixties"2 was created in 1969. Its visual identity has been marked by nude women throughout its existence. The magazine's editorial board sometimes presented it as ideological opposition to socialist puritanism, especially exemplified in so-called 'our girl' ideology and, therefore, as contributed to women's emancipation. In order to explore how (some) Yugoslav men reacted to and repackaged the socialist gender agendas, this paper will examine the magazine's contents through a gendered lens. It will particularly focus on their approach to the imagery of the People's Liberation Struggle. It will examine a number of articles dealing with the Yugoslav theatre of the Second World War and women's participation in it. By taking into account textual contributions as well as their visual representations, this paper will study how Western influences participated in the portrayal of the women's emancipation project, as well as the Yugoslav gender order, during the 1970s. It will highlight how it validated the journalists' adherence to tradition-bound gender hierarchies, which they mapped onto their supposedly liberal discourse of sexual liberation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional storytelling has been an essential constituent of Indigenous cultures in North America, including contemporary literary production. The perception of storytelling in Indigenous theories might, however, in some aspects differ from its Western literary critical understanding. This paper outlines the conceptual frameworks which shape and are reflected in Indigenous storytelling and examines relationality as the core principle of Indigenous knowledge system. Relationality does not only represent a frequent theme in Indigenous works, but it is also manifested in their narrative structure, and simultaneously can be used for their interpretation. In addition, the paper focuses on the equal role of the storyteller and the listener in Indigenous views on storytelling, the necessity to internalize a story to derive meaning, the power and animacy of stories and the importance of this for Indigenous typologies of stories, and on the issue of cultural appropriation, which stems from the different approaches to stories and knowledge as such in Indigenous and non-Indigenous perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper presents the results of a qualitative analysis of speech errors made during the L2 picture-naming task in the context of two mutually intelligible languages. The task was performed by native speakers of Slovak and its target language was Czech. The errors demonstrate that production is partly based on the so-called interlanguage analogies and interiorized rules derived from them. Such issues have been rather overlooked in the previous literature. Our qualitative findings offer a viable starting point for formulating novel hypotheses for quantitative studies on lexical access in bilinguals. The evidence discussed here shows that examining less commonly studied languages in their specific contexts can substantially enrich the research that has traditionally focused on better studied languages, such as English, French, German or Dutch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Established in 2008, the Council of Europe's Intercultural Cities Network "supports cities in reviewing their policies -- and developing comprehensive intercultural strategies to help them manage diversity positively and realize the diversity advantage" (ICC, 2018). According to their website, the ICC approach "helps build trust between members of the community through policies which encourage mixing, interaction and participation" (ibid). More than a hundred cities are now members of the ICC network, but their discourse -- based on dialogue and trust -- is challenged by another apparently contradictory discourse. According to Asa and Yaari (2014), two Israeli military experts, the era of wars between nationstates has passed, but has not brought about a kind of 'world peace' as expected. What has emerged are the 'new wars' -- which are conducted within a civilian environment, between the authorities and enemies who are citizens of the state or its residents. Unlike the 'enemy of the past', who could be identified by means of his uniform, language, appearance or simply being a foreigner, the new enemies are hard to recognize, as, in the age of globalization, the cosmopolitan city is full of aliens -- most of whom, of-course, are not enemies at all. (Asa and Yaari, 2014). According to Arjun Appadurai (2006) the globalization process makes it very difficult to define who 'we' are and who 'they' are, thus creating feelings of constant uncertainty. This is the discourse of mistrust and suspicion, which challenges the ICC's discourse of trust and dialogue. The current paper is part of a PhD research done in the years 2015-2018 for the Haifa University Anthropology Department, supervised by Prof. Amalia Sa'ar. It was based on about 20 interviews with integration officers in European cities which are members of the ICC network, as well as observations in different conferences and trainings held by the organization. The paper examines the complex and fascinating ways these two discourses challenge each other, contradict, react or get entangled with one another in trying to deal with the reality of these years of terror. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching the thousand-year period of medieval European literature and six-hundred years of Old Czech literature in Czech secondary education is often confronted by two interrelated challenges: the subjects are traditionally taught through a chronological approach to literary history in the first year of school, while presenting language, literary genres, themes, and ideas that are distant and difficult to understand for contemporary readers, particularly the target student group (15--16 years of age). A majority of teachers are unwilling to deal with old literature in their lessons. Can we find a way to modify and improve this practice? In this paper we try to grasp the perceived difficulty and otherness of this corpus in a constructive way and show that it can be productively used, for example, by moving away from the traditional chronological framework and focusing on probing texts (especially narratives) that link the present to the past. We show this possibility through the example of the story of Bruncvík, comparing its medieval version to a more recent version by Alois Jirásek in his Staré pověsti české (Legends of Old Bohemia). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]