Vstupní otázkou textu je, existuje-li specificky romská kriminalita. Ve své studii, která je primárně odpovědí na uvedenou otázku, autor danou problematiku nahlíží programově v perspektivě sociálně-kulturní, kdy jako „Romy“ chápe nositele specifické (tj. romské) kultury a romskou kriminalitu pak následně jako specifickou součást této kultury, respektive jako výsledek kontaktu nositelů této kultury s kulturou majoritní (zde české) společnosti. V této poloze je celý text kritikou všech – v české a slovenské populaci doposud převládajících – představ o tom, že kriminální jednání mají Romové/Cikáni vrozené („v krvi“). V úzké vazbě na centrální otázku se autor snaží odhalit příčiny romské kriminality. V základním plánu pak identifikuje dva základní typy těchto příčin – jednak příčiny vyplývající z determinace specifickou (tj. romskou) kulturní tradicí, za druhé pak příčiny vyplývající z adaptace Romů (v uvedeném smyslu) na současné podmínky české společnosti. Podložím celé studie jsou autorovy výzkumy prováděné jednak v tzv. romských osadách na Slovensku a jednak v tzv. romských ghettech v České republice., The main question of the article is whether there exists a specific Roma criminality. In his study, which primarily answers the above mentioned question, the author examines the issue from the socio-cultural perspective, that is he considers “Roma” as bearers of a specific (i.e. Roma) culture and Roma criminality as a specific part of this culture, or more precisely, as a consequence of the contact of the bearers of this culture with the bearers of the culture of the majority (in this case Czech) society. In this sense, the paper represents a criticism of all the conceptions of Roma criminality based on a presumption that criminal behaviour is part of the Roma nature (“it is in their blood”). In this connection, the author makes an attempt to discover the causes of Roma criminality. At a general level, he identifies two types of these causes: 1) causes determined by a specific (i.e. Roma) cultural tradition and 2) causes resulting from the adaptation of the Roma (in a given sense) to the contemporary situation of the Czech society. The empirical data come from research conducted by the author and his fiancée in Roma settlements in Eastern Slovakia and in the so called “Roma ghettos” in the Czech Republic., Marek Jakoubek, and Literatura
The goal of the text is to sum up the existing works on religion and religiosity of the Gypsies in the Czech Republic and, to a certain extent, also in the Slovak Republic. We summarize the tendencies to be found in the academic texts on this topic and propose the positive way for the future studies and texts, which consists in the clear definition of the subject matter, and explicit use of the conceptual tools and theories.
The text describes the history of the first Czech village in Bulgaria – Sesek. It is the first attempt to present systematically all known information about this village scattered in publications, unpublished materials and archives. One of the main purposes of the study is to prove that “Sesek” was de iure as well as de facto standard village inhabited by (primarily though not exclusively) Czech families – migrants from the Czech village Svatá Helena in Rumanian Banat, not just a “place” these went through on their way to later founded Vojvodovo (usually presumed to be the only Bulgarian Czech village).
In the tradition of imagology, as it was elaborated in the works of V. Todorov and Z. Urban, the author presents an image of the Czech community living in a village of Vojvodovo in Bulgaria from the beginning of the 20th century till 1950, as it was seen through the eyes of their neighbors. As a source the author uses published texts as well as unpublished memoirs dealing with Vojvodovo, and testimonies gathered during his fieldwork in Vojvodovo in a period 1997–2009. Derived from the mentioned sources, the final image of the Czechs in Vojvodovo is very positive. It presents them as a noticeably united group of puritans, who were industrious in an exemplary manner, primarily peasants, nevertheless very good traders, neat and culturally advanced, honest and willing, which made them good neighbors, except the fact that they were not very hospital to strangers.