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This doctoral thesis deals with problems of identification of people who 1) consider themselves as Iroquois, or 2) are considered as Iroquois. The Iroquois are original inhabitants of North America living predominantly in the northeastern part of the U.S.A. (namely the State of New York) and in adjacent parts of Canada (provinces Ontario and Quebec). The thesis concentrates mainly on the process of identity or identities formation in the context of policies of the U.S. (and individual union states) and Canada (and individual Canadian provinces) which stipulate the legal framework for definition of membership of the group, rules for border crossing and jurisdiction in the reserves. Further the thesis examines the selfidentification of the Iroquois on the basis of kinship, place of residence, recognition or rejection of own political representatives and consequently fractioning of communities, religions, native languages, symbols, oral traditions and specific matters such as the game of lacross. A special emphasis is laid on boarding schools which formed the part of assimilationist policies of the U.S. and Canadian governments and exerted enormous influence on the shape of identity of the Aboriginal peoples. The position and activities of the Iroquois on the international scene are also discussed as part of...

This master thesis is focused on the phenomenon of cultural appropriation and the use of American Indian imagery in American and European culture. In both cultures are American Indians represented by distorted image of the universal White Man's Indian, which leads to the perception of them only as relicts of the past. In the United States, Native Americans try to point out the negative impacts, which the distorted image has on them, but the dominant white society refuses to acknowledge the inappropriateness of such images. The master thesis focuses on the historical evolution of the Native American image in American and European cultures. The author explains why the image was distorted and why the distortion still remains in both cultures. Then, the master thesis examines examples of appropriation of the American Indian in contemporary culture. Considering the extensiveness of this topic, the author focuses only on one example of cultural appropriation, which is the issue of Native Americans mascots and sports logos. On the American continent, the author chose the most controversial case of the Washington football team - the Washington Redskins. Despite the long history of Native American activism against the Redskins brand, the team refuses to change their racist name and logo. In Europe, the...

The Concept of Duality in Culture and Myths of Lakota Indians The purpose of the dissertation is to explore and research the broad topic of culture of Lakota Indians from the perspective of secondary abstraction inspired by the structuralist approach to anthropology. The concept of duality is perceived here as a general concept which is - as it is our belief - present across various categories and areas of Lakota culture, both in the past and in the present. The dissertation is conceived as a set of chapters each of which deals with a different area of Lakota culture from the perspective of this secondary abstraction. First, we specify and define our understanding of duality and show how the original approach of structural anthropology has been modified in the course of time by postmodernists' critique. The theoretical introduction is followed by studies of four areas of Lakota culture in which the concept of duality is shown. The first two topics - Lakota myths and traditional visual art of the Lakota - are based primarily on ethnographical data collected by other researchers of the area. On the other hand, the other two areas - Lakota identity and the phenomenon of contemporary summer powwows in Lakota reservations - are based largely on the author's research in this area in summer 2014 and 2015....

This master thesis deals with the period of radicalization and militarization of North American Indian activism during the 1960s and 1970s. For this period we use the term Red Power Movement. The thesis describes the history of Indian federal policy of USA. Outlines the Red Power Movement as a important actor in political process and focus on the role of the Movement in the shaping the Indian identity.

ANTROPOLOGICKÝ SERIÁL - Kognitívne a semiotické modely kultury Abstract /english version/: The author of the thesis has developed a methodological framework of visual anthropology by collecting relevant information concerning the subject and by verifying this knowledge practically in an authentic living environment. This interconnection represents the main twist in the methodology, which turns away from the informative and interpretative version of ethnographic (anthropological) film and moves towards its functional, socio-cultural analysis. The subject of the thesis is an interdisciplinary research and possibilities of applying cognitive and semiotic analytical schemes into the process of directing an anthropological series. The entire project of an authentic ethnographic research and the film tumenge (I., II., III.) attempt to display the interethnical relations in the village Palota in the North-East of Slovakia, particularly bringing the life in the local Roma settlement and its individual members into sharp focus.