The indirect of direct influence of the Bible has to be seen as an important aspect of the process of modernization in relation to Chinese literature at the beginning of the twentieth century. The present article discusses one of the earliest fictional narratives in the modern literary vernacular, Lu Xun´s short story "Medicine" (Yao, 1919), as an example of the reception and assimilation of Biblical motifs in a work written by the founder of China´s modern literature. The discussion focuses not only on various biblical motifs and their sources but also on the distinct roles individual motifs play in the semantic structure of the short story under scrutiny. Among other observations, the article suggest that one of the most prominent recurrent elements in Lu Xun´s belletristic work, the motif of the loner and the crowd, has its roots in the passion narratives of the New Testament, Dušan Andrš., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The goal of this paper is not only to explain the history of the little known affair of the British citizen William N. Churchill that occurred in the vicinity of Scutari (Üsküdar) in 1836 but also, and in particular, to demonstrate that as part of its course and outcome the European Powers utilized similar not very serious and largely insubstantial abuses of their citizens in other parts of the world in order to justify their own imperailistic conduct, and thus far exceeded the gravity of the alleged abuses through their own actions. To introduce this issue within a wider perspective, the present article links the Churchill Affair with another event from the same epoch, the so-called Fly Wisk Incident of an Algerian Dey in 1827, which enabled the French government to justify its subsequent occupation of Algeria, thus initiating the European conquest of North Africa in the 19th century., Miroslav Šedivý., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Czech is a typical inflecting language. This brings numerous problems in accommodating foreign names in Czech texts (both written and spoken), Chinese personal names being no exception to the rule. The present article begins with a discussion on the structure of Chinese names, explaining the components xing and mingzi. The names used by the Chinese living abroad (the usage of an inverted order of the components, the usage of Western first names etc.) are addressed as well. The ways in which foreign personal names are accommodated within the context of the Chinese language are also briefly introduced. A substantial part of the article deals with the morphological accommodation of Chinese personal names within the context of the Czech language, namely through the declension of Chinese male names according to Czech nominal paradigms, and the derivation of feminine surnames from masculine surnames adding the suffix -ová, which is partly questionable in the case of Chinese female names. The problem of latinization are discussed (the options being either to utilize the Chinese Pinyin alphabet or the Standard Czech Transcription), as well as the proper reading of names within the context of spoken Czech (the absolute phonetic accuracy is neither possible nor desirable). The article closes with a declension table for Chinese male names (the recommended forms are given both in the Pinyin alphabet and in the Standard Czech Transcription)., Hana Třísková, Zdenka Heřmanová., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
This text deals with the issue of the political systém of Botswana in the wider historical context. The paper seeks to describe the main features of Botswanan democracy and attempts to provide an analysis of the political reality in Botswana. The text is divided into three basic parts. The first section provides a discussion on the historical circumstances, identifying the main features of Bechuanaland during the period of colonial rule and focusing on the particular local conditions. The second section focuses on the contemporary political reality, influenced as i tis by the presence of rich natural resources. The final section deals with the limitations of the political systém and its future prospects., Linda Piknerová., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
This article seeks to reveal the circumstances of the recent crackdown by Abkhazian and Russian security forces on the members of the Abkhazian jamaat, an alleged subgroup of the Caucasus Emirate. Focusing on the role of infamous Gitsba brothers in the military campaign against the Georgian Army in the early 1990s, their relationship to Shamil Basayev´s Chechen insurgents, and Abkhazia´s increasingly vocal Muslim community, among whom Salafi ideas have gained momentum recently, the article scrutizines the issue of the Abkhazian jamaat within the overal context of the security triangle of Abhkazia, Georgia, and Russia., Emil Souleimanov., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
This paper compares and contrasts two of the few radical political artistic groups of late socialism in Hungary. Through an analysis of the Orfeo and Inconnu groups we highlight their patterns of politicization and de-politicization to show that the critique of existing socialism was not free floating but was embedded in social structures. By going against the current of individualizing and moralizing artistic biographies, we give a historical materialist account of the two groups. Firstly, the paper shows how the anti-systemic mobilization of the two groups was conditioned by changes in Hungary’s world-economic integration and the subsequent restructuration of its field of cultural production. Secondly, it analyzes the tension between two groups’ critique of the oppressive nature of state-socialism and their politics of everyday life, by paying special attention to their uneven gender-relations. The analysis places the political ideas of the two groups not only in the changing landscape of late-socialist dissent, but we link them to class positions and social biographies. The article also highlights how radical, left-leaning criticisms of the state-socialist regime were co-opted into the competing liberal and nationalist cultural-political-economic complexes of the post-socialist order, and how the ways of incorporation were the products of individual but socially situated biographies of the intellectual actors. By combining class analysis and comparative historical research with a sociology of culture and intellectuals, this article draws attention to the role of determinate and contingent historical processes in the formation of anti-systemic mobilizations in late-socialist Hungary.
The current text deals with the Japanese Seven Gods of Fortune, the shichifukujin, deities of combinatory nature that are believed to bring luck, prosperity and longevity to those who venerate them. The primary emphasis of this article is to introduce the seven lucky gods as part of a New Year ritual in the mountain village of Shimofukuzawa in rural Japan, addressing, therefore, the issue of contemporary Japanese folk religion. I tis based upon an anthropological documentary recorded in a village where local traditions are being perpetuated by the performance of community rituals, during which all members of the village take part. The article is intended to provide an introductory text to the delineation of the ritual proper, which will be introduced under the name Fertility Rituals in Japan and their Symbolism: Fertility rituals under the protection of Dōsojin., Zuzana Kubovčáková., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The article deals with one of the traditional Sufi rituals, hadra, in the context of the religious practice of the successful contemporary tariqa, or Islamic mystical order, Naqshbandiyya Haqqaniyya. The article is based primarily on my own observations and experiences from field work realized in various Haqqani communities between 2008 and 2009. Apart from the actual ritual of hadra, attention i salso paid to another, rather exceptional ritual connected with a relic of the Prophet Muhammad., Daniel Křížek., and Obsahuje seznam literatury