The Journal of Ethnography 2/2004 focuses on local activities in the development of rural environment. Andrea Zobačová has gathered information concerning regional monographs, and she comments on their social importance (Regional Monographs as the Expression of Self Identity Yesterday and Today). Oľga Danglová introduces one of the newly established micro regions in the Slovak district of Topoľčany (A Regional Union and its Place in the Development of the Countryside: An Example from the Topoľčany Region). In her article, Natália Veselská works with the results of the field research of the Slovak countryside (An Importance of the Authority in the Process of the Transformation of a Local Rural Community). Václav Štěpánek focuses on the development of the populated landscape (Landscape and the Reconstruction of the Countryside).
Under the heading of the Transforming Tradition column, you will find articles by Jarmila Pechová (Payments at the Blacksmith' in the Turn of the 20th century), and Kateřina Plochová and Zdeněk Uherek (A Survey of the Visitors of the Horňácké slavnosti Highland Festival). The Social Chronicle focuses on two anniversaries: the ethnologist Zdenko Hanzl (born 1944), and ethnologist Běla Minaříková (born 1944). There are also two obituaries there: the collector and choreographer Věra Šejvlová (1919-2004), and musician and dancer Jiří Pospíšil (1927-2004). Other regular columns inform about exhibitions, festivals, concerts, new books and CDs. In the final pages of the journal you will find the results of the Czech Ethnographic Society questionnaire concerning the 2003 Most Important Event.
