Journal of Ethnology 2011/2 is focused on changes in the country in the late-20th century. Daniel Drápala pays his attention to the region of Moravian Záhoří (Cultural constants and innovation in life of the villages in the region of Moravian Záhoří within the period of country socialization), Slovakian ethnologist Oľga Danglová concentrates in a more common way on rural location as a symbolic space and on its identity (Country settlement as a space of identity. Selection of case studies in four Slovakian villages). Ingrid Pauknerová writes about the problematics of collectivization in the Czech countryside at the time of communist dictatorship (Phenomenon of agricultural cooperative movement and deformation of its idea in the course of collectivization on an example of the Southern-Bohemian village of Hrejkovice), Václav Michalička presents the research of changes in handmade leather production in the village of Metylovice (Leather belt phenomenon in Metylovice in the late-20th century).
Stopping with Photos with the title „Ethnological Documentation of the Revolutionary Changes in the Country” (by Helena Beránková) submits questionable output of photographer Vilém Hank (1910-1994) and completes herewith the theme of the entire current number, similar to Transferring Traditions column which includes the contribution Traditional Dance Opportunities in the Ethnogprahoc Area of Zemplín and Their Changes in the Late-20th Century (by Dana Kľučárová). Rewiev section includes The Remembrance of Horymír Sušil (1928-2010) in which its author Antonín Bařinka brings nearer the significant personality of folklore movement in Moravia. Interviews section presents ethnologist Josef Jančář, director emeritus of the National Institute of Folk Culture in Strážnice. Regular section Personalia remembers the anniversary of the aforementioned ethnologist Josef Jančář (born 1931) and ethnologist Mirjam Moravcová (born 1931), ethnologist Lydia Petráňová (born 1941) and ethnologist Gabriela Kiliánová (born 1951); it presents also the contribution on not-reached jubilee of ethnologist Richard Jeřábek (1931-2006) and the obituary for musician and singer Luboš Holý (1930-2011). Other columns include contributions to discussion (theme: ethics in ethnology), reviews and reports.
Cultural constants and innovation in life of the villages in the region of Moravian Záhoří within the period of country socialization
The social processes caused by political development in Czechoslovakia after the World War II brought plenty of new initiatives in lives of individuals and smaller and bigger social groups. On the example of the Záhoří region, the author tries to point out the pervasion of elements based on the ethno-cultural tradition of the region with cultural innovations. The analysis of functions, content and form in selected phenomena as well as the monitoring of their lifetime in the course of the second half of the 20th century bring interesting knowledge in the role the selected phenomena played in local community. The traditional events based on annual cycle of habits and customs can include the Shrovetide obchůzka (going round the village) (so-called bear leading) that was maintained in its living form for the entire 20th century. The ceremonial parade of královničky (whitsuntide ritual “The Little Queens”) or the so-called Záhoří right have changed to the occasional or scenic forms. On the contrary, the so-called pre-Christmas parties enriched by the ideologically misapplied figure of Děda Mráz in the 1950s and 1960s, or the lampion parades organized on the occasion of liberation celebrations or the Great October Socialist Revolution ranked among innovations.
Country settlement as a space of identity. Selection of case studies in four Slovakian villages
The contribution is based on field material collected in four Slovakian villages. It analyses the ways in which the inhabitants identify themselves with their own location as a specific space of their social being. Taking into account the wide spectrum of collective “human” identities anchored in different local spaces, it is aimed at those in whose content profile predominate the signs connected with the socioeconomic nature of a village. It focuses on phenomena that accentuated - in the positive and negative sense - the affiliation to a location based on employment and existence models of its inhabitants. The contribution states that the importance of a “community” and the endeavour for quality in social relations, which are based on trust and territorial vicinity, do not peter out in the country even in the situation of “modern life”. Moreover, the local events have maintained some of its uniting features despite the fact that they are strongly influenced and constructed by dynamic, opposing, and changing external forces disturbing the relations to local culture and countryside.
Agricultural cooperative movement and deformation of its idea in the course of collectivization on an example of the Southern-Bohemian village of Hrejkovice
Agricultural cooperative movement was a phenomenon which belonged to the Czech countryside since the end of the 19th century and whose tradition was purposefully abused in the period of collectivization. The idea of cooperative movement took hold also in the Southern-Bohemian village of Hrejkovice where it more times got its concrete form in the course of the first half of the 20th century. On the contrary, the struggle of the authorities to establish a unified agricultural cooperative (JZD) came up against stiff opposition after 1948. As documented by chronicle entries from the 1950s and confirmed by eyewitnesses´ testimonies, the most farmers insisted on traditional private farming and they did not consider changing their statements. Even the JZD foundation after seven long years full of convincing, which resulted in stiff economic pressure and a lot of sanctions against defiant farmers, did not ensure sufficient number of new members for the new cooperative. In all probability, however, it caused four local families to have been deported - three farmer’s and one miller’s families whose lands and buildings were then used by the cooperative for its activities. The problem with scarcity of members was solved by the next pressure wave in 1957 after which only some individuals ran their private farms in Hrejkovice. The JZD foundation did not change just the traditional way of agricultural production but also the lives of all village’s inhabitants; the surrounding countryside was changed significantly as well.
Leather belt phenomenon in Metylovice in the late-20th century
Metylovice used to be a village in which the leather handicraft prevailed since the 17th century, changing the location’s nature at all. The sudden and in fact unexpected decline of leather belt production and group of belt producers meant a great change in the appearance and structure of the village. Metylovice lost its regional exclusiveness and it blended with the nature of surrounding villages to a certain extent. Based on the extinct phenomenon of local leather belt production the process of the village community self-identification began gradually. It resulted in a strong relation to the past reality within a complicated process of forgetting and remembering in the course of the past fifty to sixty years. The specific extinct phenomenon of leather handicraft with whip production gained new qualities in the constructive process of collective memory strengthening. In the above case, the transformed ideal of leather-belts producing Metylovice plays a significant role in the development of strong local identification of the inhabitants with their village and its history.
