The article presents the results of the social-anthropological field research realized in the town of Tachov and several adjacent villages (especially Lesná, Mýto). It focuses on the mapping of the so called small history, identified through the biographical method, that is, stories related to the lives of the interviewed persons. It analyzes the situation during and after the return migration and final settlement of the region, as it is presented in the memories of the participants of the provesses of settlement, as well as their descendants. The article is structured into several blocks according to the priorities of the narratives, ascertained during the field research. These priorities are: memories of the industry of the pre-war era, the theme of return migrants and settlers, their integration and mutual relations with other ethnic groups. At the same time, it was possible to create an image of the spontaneous tale-telling repertoire. The main purpose of the research was to follow-up with the researches of the region realized in the 1970s and 1980s and to supplement them with new data.
This study aims to describe, analyze and interpret culinary culture of today´s Balkans ethnic minorities in the Czech Republic – Bulgarians, Serbians, Greeks, Albanians, Macedonians, Bosnians and Croatians. The analysis is based on empiric materials from fieldwork held in 2009–2018. The author demonstrates specific examples of processes of enculturation, adaptation and acculturation, and mainly focuses on the issue of cultural persistence. Migrants from the Balkans living in the Czech Republic perceive and categorize their food, drink and eating habits through their ethnicity. They apply the elements of their national cuisine especially in the family life, at informal social meetings, and organized minority events. Their diet combines meals and eating habits of both: their national, and Czech cuisine. The national gastronomy remains part of their everyday lives and second most common way of ethno-cultural self-presentation during their organized minority events. The existence and intensity of national cuisines in minority culture is no longer determined by the length of their stay in target country. Instead, it is determined mainly by individual ethnic identification and the relationship to the national cultural heritage of the country of origin. The author put this phenomenon into context of postmodern revitalization of ethnic groups. and Obsahem studie je deskripce, analýza a interpretace kulinární kultury dnešních balkánských etnických minorit v České republice – Bulharů, Srbů, Řeků, Albánců, Makedonců, Bosňáků a Chorvatů. Východiskem je empirický materiál z terénních výzkumů z let 2009–2018. Autorka demonstruje na konkrétních příkladech procesy enkulturace, adaptace a akulturace, a hlavně se věnuje otázce kulturního přetrvávání. Čeští Balkánci vnímají a kategorizují své jídlo, pití a stravovací zvyklosti etnicky. Prvky své národní kuchyně uplatňují zejména v rodině, při rodinných a přátelských neformálních setkáních a při organizovaných akcích menšin. V rodinných jídelníčcích kombinují pokrmy a stravovací zvyklosti vlastní národní a české kuchyně. Národní gastronomie v rodinách zůstává součástí každodennosti; na organizovaných setkáních je druhým nejčastějším prostředkem etnokulturní symbolické sebeprezentace. Existence a intenzita národní gastronomie v kultuře minorit se dnes už neliší generačně podle doby příchodu do cílové země. V současnosti je závislá hlavně na individuální etnické sebeidentifikaci a vztahu ke kulturnímu dědictví mateřského národa. Autorka to dává do souvislosti s postmoderní revitalizací etnických skupin.
Transport and communication are phenomena which are based on significant human needs and which play a serious role in human life. The theme was also accepted in the course of research conducted for the needs of the Polish Ethnographic Atlas. Fieldwork made it possible to gather large source materials which were analysed using the ethnographical method. The display of information gained from memories registered on the maps of ethnographic fragments created (re)constructions of the former reality. (Re)constructions that did not take into account the context of common or individual involvement of the users. Such a picture of the past does not make a multi-dimensional view of the phenomena concerned. The application of new interpreting methods offers new knowledge to the researchers.