Browsing by Subject "Czechoslovakia"
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Item Life and death in the kingdom of shoes : Zlín, Bat'a, and Czechoslovakia, 1923-1941(2012-05) Doleshal, Zachary Austin; Neuburger, Mary, 1966-; Crew, David; Wynn, Charters; Lichtenstein, Tatjana; Tuckerova, VeronikaLife and Death in the Kingdom of Shoes is an exploration into the lives of the people of Zlín, Czechoslovakia from 1923 to 1941. During this period Zlín became the headquarters for one of the most successful commercial concerns in the world, the Bat’a Company. Alongside its explosive economic growth, the company attempted to transform its workforce and town into a highly rationalized operating system, which held strikingly new determinants for inclusion and exclusion within the body politic. From planners, architects, and executives to criminals, housewives, and students, Life and Death in the Kingdom of Shoes encompasses high and low to suggest that the conflicts and compromises of those living in Bat’a’s model industrial towns produced a distinct ideology with its own symbols, heroes, and discourse. The ideology, Bata-ism, was part of a transnational project to design, build, and control cities based on scientific principles of rationalism. The project transcended national, class, and religious boundaries to offer a new way of identification: the Bata-man or woman. Work, play, gender, loyalty to the company, and appearance became much more important in deciding one's place within Bat’a’s twenty four towns, and some 3,600 retail outlets, than nation, class, or religion. This dissertation challenges dominant historical narratives of Czechoslovakia and Bat’a in the interwar period, which have focused almost exclusively on national conflict and on the designs of the executives. By turning attention to the debates and implementation of something that radically changed people’s lives - the rationalization of everyday life – Life and Death in the Kingdom of Shoes adds a crucial chapter to our understanding of interwar Czechoslovakia The primary aim is to peel away the facade of the utopian company project to locate, in the words of the historian Richard Stites, “oceans of misery, disorder, chaos, corruption, and whimsicality that went with it.” With the stories of people like Marie Urbašková, a prostitute who led police on a fool’s errand, Life and Death in the Kingdom of Shoes allows disparate narratives to unravel tidy conceptions of Bat’a’s utopian project.Item "Living in truth" : moral and political intersections in Samuel Beckett, Tom Stoppard, and Václav Havel(2011-05) Harger, Jennifer Leigh; Friedman, Alan Warren; Kornhaber, DavidOften considered to be apolitical playwrights, Samuel Beckett and Tom Stoppard each dedicated dramatic works to dissident Czech playwright (and later President) Václav Havel in the late 1970s and early 1980s—during his imprisonment for his role in writing and distributing the dissident document Charter 77. These dramatic works, with a few others, collectively mark simultaneous, parallel shifts in Beckett’s and Stoppard’s careers toward uncharacteristically explicit political engagement. This report examines these works—Beckett’s Catastrophe and What Where, and Stoppard’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favor and Professional Foul—through the lens of Havel’s political philosophy, especially as expressed in his 1978 essay “The power of the powerless.” This report argues that Havel’s model of apolitical resistance to injustice, a model he calls “living in truth,” expresses humanist values that these playwrights had long affirmed in their art. Their shared moral vision, along with sympathy for Havel’s plight under a totalitarian regime that distorted language as a tool of oppression, was the catalyst for their new, direct involvement in political matters. The report establishes the historical context of the Soviet-dominated Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, along with relevant biographical and professional narratives for each figure. It then examines closely this selection of Beckett’s and Stoppard’s dramatic works and their shared thematic concerns, and demonstrates how they artistically embody and communicate Havel’s model of “living in truth.”Item The role of student protests in 1968 : the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia & Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico(2016-12) Gonzalez, Brenda; Garza, Thomas J.; Alexandrova, MarinaThis report delves into the events that occurred on August 21st 1968 in Czechoslovakia and October 2nd 1968 in Mexico. The invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union and the massacre at Tlatelolco are two crucibles that remain a significant factor in the mindset of people from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Mexico today. In my writing I draw parallelisms between these two events, that occurred mere months from each other, on different continents and had students asking one common thing from their respective governments, they wanted to be heard. The invasion of Czechoslovakia came as a surprise; the country’s new leader Alexander Dubcek was relaxing the government’s stronghold on the media and freedom of press was slowly becoming a reality. These advances did not sit well with Leonid Brezhnev and the Soviet Politburo so they made a rash decision to invade; the Soviets believed that losing their stronghold in Czechoslovakia would lead to their demise in other Eastern European countries. 1968 was also a turbulent year in Mexico, the country was poised to host the Summer Olympics and it would be the first time a Latin American country would hold that honor so the pressure was enormous. By 1968 the PRI party held a tight reign on Mexico’s government and the students wanted change, they felt social injustice was on the rise and they felt compelled to speak up. Unfortunately the government was not ready to negotiate and ten days before the inauguration of the Olympics the army marched in on a peaceful student protest and opened fire. Both movements were squashed but they mark the beginning of the end of one party rule in Czechoslovakia and Mexico. The conclusion of the report reaches 1988 when the Velvet Revolution took off in Czechoslovakia and Mexico’s presidential election had to be rigged in order for the PRI to win. After the Velvet Revolution Czechoslovakia eased into democratic elections and it continues to be a full democracy today while Mexico still struggles to obtain a democratic standing in the world.