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1

Human Enhancement and Transhuman Technologies in Slovak Media Discourses

100%

Petrjánošová M.

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nr 2

50–61

EN

In this article we report on and discuss our initial insights from a media analysis, whose goal was to map media discourses around human enhancement and transhuman technologies in the Slovak media. The main timeframe for material collection was 2009-2013. We conducted a search of the Slovak Press Agency (SITA) media outputs database, using thematically chosen keywords. Based on a critical discursive analysis of the material collected, we suggest that three basic discourses (with several subvariations) can be found in the Slovak press: A) Transhuman technologies and the survival of humans as a species; B) Transhuman technologies and superhumans; C) Transhuman technologies and changes in basic human nature (with consequences for ethics, morals and religions). We decided to concentrate on the closely related, intertwined discourses A and B. We included all the kinds of media targeting the general public because we were interested in the whole spectrum of potentially different ‘renderings’ of the topic aimed at all possible audiences. However, the differences found were smaller than expected. Our findings do not indicate that certain kinds of media (according to ‘seriousness’ or preferred themes) favour a specific presentation of transhuman topics, nor that they favour some discourses and completely ignore others. But we did find an appalling lack of any critical discussion from different morally anchored perspectives that would provide specific answers to dilemmas around prohibiting / regulating some technologies, at the national or international level, which are already partly relevant now and may become extremely relevant in the near future.

2

Social identities, societal change and mental borders

63%

Petrjánošová M. , Lášticová B.

Human Affairs

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2011

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tom 21

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nr 2

196-212

EN

In this paper we investigate the relations between cross-border mobility, national categorization and intergroup relations in a changing Europe. It focuses on young adults (N=34) commuting on a regular basis between the city of Bratislava (the capital of Slovakia) and the city of Vienna (the capital of Austria). Our study draws on the social identity perspective, however, we consider social identity as a discourse of (not) belonging, similarity and difference, which is continually (re)negotiated within a given social context. Semi-structured qualitative interviews, focus groups and drawings of the border area were used as research instruments. We have identified different types of experience in various subgroups of participants framed by (1) age at the time of arrival in Austria; (2) different mobility motivations and goals; (3) interaction setting; (4) the political and economic situation in Slovakia at the time of arrival to Austria linked to perceived status differences. On the individual level, the motivation to integrate or its lack seems to be a crucial element in the ingroup construction and perception of intergroup relations.

3

Do we know what we are asking? Individual and group cognitive interviews

63%

Popper M. , Petrjánošová M.

Human Affairs

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2015

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tom 26

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nr 3

253-270

EN

The paper deals with cognitive interview, a method for pre-testing survey questions that is used in pilot testing to develop new measures and/or adapt ones in foreign languages. The aim is to explore the usefulness of the method by looking at two questionnaires measuring anti-Roma prejudice. The first, the Stereotype Content Model (SCM), contains questions that are dominantly used to test two dimensions of social perceptions of various groups: warmth and competence. The second, Interventions for Reducing Prejudice against Stigmatized Minorities (INTERMIN) consists of the items most frequently used in contact research to measure attitudes, social distance, anxiety, trust and behavioural intentions towards outgroups. Two rounds of cognitive interviews were held on both questionnaires to verbally evaluate participants’ understanding and/or interpretation of the draft questions. The first round was attended by university students, while the second round (with improved versions of the questionnaires) was done with high school students, as they are the target group for planned interventions based on the contact paradigm. The paper explains the problems/difficulties the participants had answering some of the questions and our attempts at improving the questionnaires. The problems can be grouped around six issues: The first two deal with the strategies participants used to answer our questions – whom exactly did they have in mind when answering the questionnaires and whose viewpoint did they represent in their answers. The next four problems are around nuances in the formulations of our questions and generally have to do with how the participants interpreted our questions – they concern assumptions that distinct items were logically interconnected, the period of time and locality referred to in our questions, translation and transferability of meanings from one language to another and double negation.

4

How they made us believe their truths: Monumental art in public spaces before and after the fall of communism (the case of Slovakia)

63%

Jankovičová S. , Petrjánošová M.

Human Affairs

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2011

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tom 21

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nr 4

367-381

EN

This paper is concerned with monumental art in Slovakia before and after the fall of Communism in 1989. Generally, art in public spaces is important, because it influences the knowledge and feelings the people who use this space have about the past and the present, and thus influences the shared social construction of who we are as a social group. In this article we concentrate on the period of Communism and the formal and iconographic aspects that were essential to art at that time. We also look at the political use of art-the ways in which explicit and implicit meanings and ideas were communicated through art to the general public. We touch also on the present situation regarding the perception of “Communist art”. In the final section we discuss the state of affairs of the last twenty years of chaotic freedom in the post-socialist era. On the one hand, since there is no real cultural politics or conception for artworks in public spaces at the level of the state many artworks simply disappear, often without public discussion, and on the other hand, some actors use their political power to build monuments that promote their private political views.

5

SOCIÁLNE INOVÁCIE A SOCIÁLNE IDENTITY: PRÍPADOVÁ ŠTÚDIA KOMUNITY SLOVENSKÝCH MIGRANTOV A MIGRANTIEK V ÍRSKU

63%

Lášticová B. , Petrjánošová M.

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tom 61

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nr 3

273 – 288

EN

The aim of this paper is to provide a basic information about the life cycle of the Slovak migrant community in Dublin in 2004 – 2013. The empirical material is presented from three theoretical perspectives: theory of social innovations (Mumford, 2002), theories of social identity (Turner et al., 1987) and theories of transnational migration (Glick Schiller et al., 1995). The first part of the paper describes the creation and development of two social innovations: the migrant NGO Slovak Centre – Ireland and the magazine Slovak in Ireland. The second part analyses whether and how these innovations create space for everyday practice of (national) identities of migrants. The third part analyses the transnational aspects of the Slovak migrant community. The paper is based on empirical material gathered through semi-structured interviews with leaders of the Slovak community in Dublin (N=7, 2009, since then contacted continually via e-mail and Facebook), analysis of media and websites dedicated to Slovaks in Ireland (2009 – 2013) and short-term participant observation (2009). Our data suggest that social innovations described in this study are successful and sustainable especially if: 1) they are based on real needs of the community and created from below; 2) they are taking place in the context of existing systems and are financially independent of grant schemes funded by the Slovak government; 3) there is a favourable environment in the host country. It is concluded that the social innovations described in this paper have identity and community building potential and allow Slovak migrants not only to strengthen their social capital (Putnam, 2007), but also to function transnationally.