Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology

The paper presents the analysis of ethnographic research in a village in eastern Slovakia. My aim is to consider the narratives of people from countryside who witnessed socialist period and to present their view of land which they cultivated. I explore two sources: people’s life stories; and a local chronicle which was written during the 1960s. I argue that (1) both kinds of narratives serve as cultural tools for members of a collective as they recount the past in certain context; (2) in this, expression of moral emotions indicates narrative conventions related to social norms. I demonstrate that the semi-official context of the local chronicle demands expression of moral emotions in evaluation of the big-scale political events, but the chroniclers are rather cautious in assessment of local people’s behaviour. On the other side, in informal settings people summarize life periods using moral terms and freely express positive as well as negative attitudes toward other people and social conditions, to make sense of the past events in relation to the present time. Thus, the language of emotions indicates the specific narrative context as well as social rules. At the same time, emotional expressions should be read considering a narrator’s personality and social background; in this, the local historical and cultural setting is essential.

This article presents results of an analysis of life stories told by the women from a village in eastern Slovakia, who were born before 1940. I address the use of the concepts of memory in Slovak ethnology and present a brief outline of the concepts of cultural life script and life story schema, which can be used in the design of ethnographic interviews and analysis of obtained data. According to the dichotomy traditional/modern societies, as described in scholarly literature, my respondents were born and socialized in a traditional society; therefore, their life stories are supposed to gain coherence and consistency through stability of place, roles and relationships. In opposition to this, in modern industrialized cultures, one's autobiographical narrative is supposed to create a sense of individual consistency and coherence across time. I argue that my respondents' life stories, obtained in real-life settings, display features of both traditional and modern cultural models of biography. I conclude that, on the one hand, psychological theories can inform ethnographic research on autobiographical narratives, because they explain in what way cultural context influences people's memories; and they also provide suitable methodological tools for gathering and analysing empirical data. On the other hand, ethnographic research, in comparison with experimental psychological studies, has the advantage of participant observation, open questions and an interpretation of narratives, based on the scholar's knowledge of the local context.

The text is a report from a 2012 international festival called Etnofilm Čadca. It presents and awards ethnographical, mostly documentary movies. Etnofilm takes place every second year in a northern Slovak town Čadca and lasts for a few days. This event is crucial for get - together of various slovak and european ethnographs and its students that are active on the visual and popularizational field. There are simultaneous interpretors present, what creates an ideal grounds for interdisciplinary and international contacts. For its attendants there is always an accompanying cultural life program representing slovak or regional folk culture.

This 4 page article unveils selected stories of holocaust survivors, both of Romani and Jewish origin. The aim was to detect how do members of these ethnic minorities think about the counterpart group that have suffered through the same second world war times.
Available also at: http://ufal.mff.cuni.cz/cvhm/pdf/Sbornik-3_vyroci_CVHM--2013.pdf

Theoretical study focuses on questions concerning ethnic identity, identification processes, specifically interethnic contacts and mutual perspectives (bilateral images) of two ethnic groups. It deals with ethnic group members as the active carriers and the constructors of ethnic identity. Its aim is to suggest the most suitable conceptual framework helpful for the identification and the analysis of these ethnic group relations in my PhD. thesis.
Key words: identity, ethnic group, social relations, research, Roma, Jews