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The Journal of Ethnography 4/2003 is dedicated to the ethnographic photography. In his article Jiří Pátek focuses on the relationship between ethnographic photography and the history of photography in general (Photography, Ethnography, and Traditional Culture - Intersections and Inspirations). Daniel Luther writes about specific moments of the existence of ethnographically valuable photos and their authors in Slovakia (From the History of Ethnographic Photography in Slovakia; and about Czech-Slovak connections). Jarmila Procházková in her study explores activities of music composer Leoš Janáček and his original ideas concerning photo documentation in his research of folksongs and dances at the turn of the 20th century (Janacek's Effort to Make Photo Documentation within the Folksong in Austria Project). Barbora Gergelová introduces photographic collections from the Institute of Ethnology of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic (An Overview of the Documentary Photo Collection of the Institute of Ethnology of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic; a Profile of the Entertainment Fund of the Ethnographic Society of Czechoslovakia). The Photo column introduces 20th century photos of weddings in the region of Luhačovické Zalesí.
The Looking Back column commemorates the 95th anniversary of the Slovak Circle in Brno, and the 50th anniversary of the existence of the Slovenský národopis (Slovak Ethnography) journal. The Social Chronicle column is devoted to the anniversaries of two ethnographers, Miroslava Ludvíková (born 1923) and Jiřina Veselská (born 1943), choreographer Libuše Hynková (born 1923), and it also carries an obituary notice for music composer Emanuel Kuksa (1923-2003). Other regular columns of the journal deal with conferences, exhibitions, festivals, professional news (for instance about the preparation of Biografical Lexicon of European Ethnology) and book and CD reviews.
The Journal of Ethnography 3/2003 focuses on various associations and societies and their attitude towards folk culture. Karel Altman deals with the position of Czech associations in Moravia (Czech Associations in Moravia and Folk Culture); Eva Večerková uses the same issue and offers a specific answer (Folk Culture in the Activities of Young Republicans in Moravia as Reflected in the Period Press). Irena Štěpánová in her study writes about a Prague women's physical exercise association in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Feminity in a Female Activity. The Origins of the Exercising Girls and Ladies Association). Lenka Nováková is interested in the late 19th century activities of the Vesna Society in Brno (The Vesna Society and its Ethnographic Activities). The final article on associations is by Karel Pavlištík. He writes about social functions of the volunteer fire-fighting squads in the traditional rural environment at the end of the 19th and during the 20th centuries (The Volunteer
Fire-Fighting Squad as an Important Phenomenon in the Community Social Life Formation and in the Transformation of Customs and Traditions in Zlínsko.
The Looking Back column includes articles by Alena Schauerová (An Ethnographical Backward Look at the Double Anniversary of Teréza Nováková) and Michaela Benešová (On the 50th Anniverary of the Establishing of the Pilsen National Ensemble). The Social Chronicle column remembers the anniversaries of Ladislav Vašek (born 1928), dancer and dance pedagogue, and Anna Maděričová (born 1943), folklore movement personality. Other regular columns deal with conference and exhibition news, foreign travel reports, concert, festival and book reviews. The Istanbul Deklaration is repriented in the final pages of the journal. The declaration concerns the non-material cultural heritage and was agreed on by the UNESCO countries ministers of culture in 2002.
The Journal of Ethnography 2/2003 focuses on issues of dance anthropology. The introductory essay is written by Daniela Stavělová (How They Dance in Bohemia Today. Some Questions of Dance Anthropology). Klára Davidová deals with the dance scene, which is a phenomenon of urban dance parties of the last decade. It has developed into a certain subculture with its own fashion, digitally made music, magazines, mass-media programmes and shows, and the style of experience including the drug use, etc. (A Ritual Party of the Postmodernist Period). The next two studies focus on specific dance manifestations which were made popular with the help of various workshops especially in bigger Czech cities over the few past years. Zdeňka Lammelová offers an insight into the belly dance (The Czech Orient. The Belly Dance: A Way How to be a Woman). Veronika Švábová deals with the African dance (In the Sign of Drums. The African Dance in Africa and in the Czech Lands).
The Photo column presents masks from a dance game performed around a dead body. The pictures were taken by Amálie Kožmínová (1876-1951), teacher and writer in Carpathian Ruthenia in 1922. The Transforming Tradition column includes an article The Tinker's Trade Metamorphosis by Daniel Drápala: it deals with the present and history of the tinker's trade. Social Chronicle introduces the life anniversaries of Emanuel Kuksa (born 1923), composer; Dušan Holý (1933), ethnomusicologist; Jiří Tesauer (1933), folk song collector and hammer cimbalom player; and Míla Brtník (1928), the artistic leader of the Vysočan folklore ensemble from Jihlava.
The obituary commemorates the life and work of photographer Jan Beran (1913-2003). Other regular columns bring news from competitions, exhibitions, and conferences; there are book and CD reviews as well. In the supplement, an extract from the official document called Culture Politics in the Czech Republic is published. The issue is completed with the list of books and magazines which the Institute of Folk Culture in Strážnice gained through an international exchange system.
The Journal of Ethnography 1/2003 deals most of its part with the issue of ethnic minorities. Václav Štěpánek provides a picture of a Czech minority, which in the 1820s settled in southern Banat, the most eastern part of the Austrian army border of that period (The Vanishing Minority. The History and Present of the Czechs in the Serbian Banat). Daniel Luther in his article focuses on the inter-ethnic relations in Bratislava after the establishing of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. (The Czechs and the Origins of the Ethnic Transformation of Bratislava. A Historical Ethnological Excursus). Martin Šimša finds interesting themes in the history of economic life of the Jews in the Vsetín region (Economic Activities of the Jews in the Vsetín Region). Peter Salner deals with issues of Judaism as well (The Present Forms of Judaism. An Example of Resurrection of a Jewish Cemetery). The last two studies on ethnic minorities are written by Jan Oriško, who supplied an article on an ethnographic group of so-called Moravci in Silesia (Silesian Moravci. A Less Visible Ethnographic Group of the Czech-Polish Border Area), and by Petr Kaleta respectively, with an article on cultural and scholarly activities of Lusatian Sorbs (The Lusatian Sorbs and their Cultural and Scholarly Activities).
The Transformation Tradition column offers notes from a vacation stay at the Czech minority in Romanian Banat (by A. Dunajová), and notes from a research of the present-day Easter (by J. Blahůšek and P. Šindelář). Social Chronicle remembers anniversaries of two outstanding female representatives of contemporary folklorism: organizer, narrator, and painter of decorated Easter eggs Marie Pachtová (born 1932), and folksinger Vlasta Grycová (born 1943). Obituaries are looking back to the life and activities of teacher, collector and folk song arranger Zdeněk Kašpar (1925-2002), and the life and work of musicologist Jiří Fukač (1936-2002).
Other regular columns bring conference and exhibition news, information on professional activities, and reviews of new books.
