Numerous renowned scientific societies, institutions or whole fields of study have their own codes of ethics.The code defines the basic principles that ought to be respected by members in the course of their work. Czech ethnology lacks this code of ethics; in spite of the fact that numerous activities carried out by Czech
ethnologists (research, publication, archiving and presentation of research outcomes) do present various ethical dilemmas. The
importance of ethics in this field of study is underlined by the fact that the creation of the code of ethics has been defined as one of the goals within the framework of the implementation of the government programme entitled Koncepce účinnější péče o
tradiční lidovou kulturu (Strategy of improved care for traditional folk culture). The issue of ethics in ethnology has been discussed (along with other, rather internal issues) in professional media with almost no real outcome, since most of the contributions to the debate were nothing but short comments and thoughts.Based upon these tips and recommendations, the members of the Czech Ethonological Society decided, in September 2011, to prepare and submit for discussion the Code of Ethics of the Czech Ethonological Society by the next session of the general assembly. This task was assigned to Petr Janeček and Jana Nosková. They presented a draft Code of Ethics in October 2013 at a workshop
Etika a etnologie 2held in Brno. The debate about the document yielded several remarks which have been addressed in the draft. That said, it is necessary that more serious debate on this important document takes place among the general professional audience prior to the adoption of the Cod od Ethics in in autumm 2014. Therefore, it was decided that the draft shall be published in the most important professional journal and representatives of this field were asked to comment and provide their feedback on the final version of the document. and Článek zahrnuje Etický kodex České národopisné společnosti (pracovní verze ze dne 15. 10. 2013)
For more than one hundred years, Czech ethnology has been working on and analysing diverse kinds of commemorative records, chronicles, and ego-documents. Alongside the research field´s extension beyond traditional themes, friendship books from the time of military service can be considered to be a new source for the study of personal experiencing the military service. Surviving exemplars substantiate the popularity of this form of a commemorative document. Friendship books usually consist of a section intended for photographs, and a section for texts or drawings. These can be made by the friendship book´s owner, or by his friends from a garrison where he served. On the example of several available exemplars, the text tries to apply two theses by Aleida Assmann: memory as remembering, and memory as repository. The author exemplifies to which extent the friendship book bear witness to personal experiencing one stage in the life of the man. While analysing particular records, the author points out diverse functions of the written and drawn records, and he indicates possible directions of further research.