Sociálne a politické analýzy 2-2009

E-book

Zuzana Buráková - Petra Filipová

The canon of American literature has undergone constant revision with many authors who were long excluded from wider recognition now being accepted as significant figures. With the emergence of postcolonial and ethnic studies after the 1960s, the diversity of the literary canon has become greater than ever, and we can now see American literature as remarkably distinctive in this respect.

The question of how to define ethnicity and how far an immigrant should go to preserve their ethnic heritage have always been addressed by writers, together with larger issues such as the definition of national identity and national literature, and where we should draw the lines between local and global identities. We understand that a single course in American ethnic literature cannot hope to answer all these complex questions, but we firmly believe that discussing these questions in classes can help us to be more understanding and tolerant of ethnic diversity.

For this reason, the main aim of this textbook is to provide an interdisciplinary introduction to American ethnic literatures with an emphasis on their historical and cultural background, to expand students’ knowledge of American literatures and cultures at the master’s level and familiarize them with specific features of ethnic literatures in the contemporary USA. The textbook contains information on Native American, African American, Asian American, Jewish American, and Hispanic American literature, history and culture.

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E-journal

Juraj Schenk a kol.

The scientific journal Sociálne a politické analýzy (Social and Political Analyses) serves as an interactive electronic platform for communication and the presentation (publication) of experts and their work in the fields of basic and applied research and analyses within sociological, psychological, political, and methodological contexts. It is a medium focused on intensively supporting research activities and analyses within an interdisciplinary framework, facilitating the exchange of experiences, fostering collaboration, and revitalizing the production of scientific work in this area.

The publication section of the journal offers space for works such as:

- Original sociological, psychological, and political studies and analyses in any areas of social life

- Methodological studies

- Research reports

- Studies from qualification theses Research and analysis projects

- Reviews

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Mária Bačíková - Anna Janovská

The textbook "Foundations of Methodology in Pedagogical-Psychological Research" is primarily intended for students of teaching academic subjects, but it will enrich anyone who needs to familiarize themselves with research methodology focusing on psychological and pedagogical sciences. In the textbook, students become acquainted with the basic principles of conducting research, the process of research implementation, and the basic methods of quantitative or qualitative approaches. The examples used in the textbook are mostly focused on research conducted in a school environment.

By mastering the basic knowledge presented in the textbook, the reader will be able to conduct simple research in school conditions. At the same time, understanding the principles of research methodology helps with the critical evaluation of information from various sources. In preparing the textbook, we utilized our long-term experience with teaching the subject of research methodology, as well as with implementing many research projects. We believe that the simple language of the textbook and the abundance of practical examples will help students understand the basics of such complex issues as research methodology.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the students of the Faculty of Arts and Natural Sciences at P. J. Šafárik University in Košice who attended the course "Foundations of Methodology in Pedagogical-Psychological Research" in the previous academic year for their inspiration, constructive comments on previous versions of the text, and ideas (or mistakes) that we drew upon in the textbook. We also thank other students who allowed us to use examples from their final theses in the textbook. The conclusion of the work is open because, as it turns out, we do not have a common denominator for both concepts that could decide on the correctness of one or the other concept. It is precisely in this that the Socratic question remains a serious philosophical problem today.

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Adriana Jesenková

The ethics of care offers inspiring ways to think about the relationships and connections we are part of. It provides a new and unconventional reading and understanding of human relationships, thereby enabling us to respond in new and appropriate ways to certain empirical challenges (Pettersen 2011, p. 51).

Just twenty-five years ago, thinking about care was associated with women’s decisions in the private sphere concerning their personal dilemmas and problems. Over the last two decades, advocates of the ethics of care have demonstrated that the ideal of care has the potential to regulate not only private behavior but also human interactions in general.

Today, ideas about care have the power to change how we evaluate personal relationships, professional conduct, public policy, international relations, and global issues. The relevance of the ethics of care in such a wide range of areas of life, many of which are characterized by mutual incompatibilities and conflicting interests, is conditioned by several factors. However, one of the most significant is the creativity and fruitfulness of the thinking of the representatives of the ethics of care, who develop ethical concepts, models, and methods capable of grasping and analyzing human relationships in all their diversity (Pettersen 2011, p. 52).

Compared to traditional ethical concepts and theories in moral philosophy, the ethics of care introduces radically different sets of models and normative concepts. Today, it is precisely feminist ethics of care that offers a critical reflection on care within the realm of moral philosophy, ethics, and social philosophy. The aim of this publication is to identify the concept, subject, approach, philosophical foundations and starting points, as well as the possibilities for applying the ethics of care as a specific moral approach and, at the same time, as a specific moral theory in the field of social science and humanities research.

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E-book

Alexander Onufrák, Peter Dubóczi, Lukáš Jakabovič

The submitted publication entitled Voľby 2023/2024: výsledky – hodnotenia – dôsledky reflects a wide range of topics related to the electoral processes that took place in 2023 and 2024 in Slovakia and abroad. The publication deals with both the evaluation of the currently valid electoral legislation, including proposals for its further improvement, and the broader socio-political consequences of the elections in connection with democratization and integration processes. The submitted publication is published as an output of the VEGA project No. 1/0474/24 Audit of Slovak electoral and referendum legislation, the project leader of which is prof. JUDr. Ladislav Orosz, CSc. from the Faculty of Law of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice and in which the Department of Political Science of the Faculty of Arts of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice also participates. The authors of the individual contributions analyze all types of elections, from municipal and regional, through parliamentary and presidential, to elections to the European Parliament. While some authors focused primarily on the local or regional level, others chose an approach focused on the national or supranational level, and the geographical scope of the cases examined was extremely diverse. 

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E-book

Renáta Orosová (executive editor)

Stránka časopisu >>>

The scientific and professional journal Edukácia focuses on issues of education and upbringing in primary, secondary, and higher education. It emphasizes the current state and future perspectives of educational practice, the latest aspects of pre-service teacher training, social pedagogy, special pedagogy, as well as pedagogical and psychological aspects of upbringing in basic educational institutions from the perspective of the broader pedagogical community. It is intended for researchers, young university lecturers, doctoral students, as well as professional and pedagogical staff, with the aim of presenting trends in education and sparking discussions on current issues in the areas of education and upbringing covered.

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Renáta Gregová

The book is primary designed for the first-year students of the study programme “English Language for European Institutions and Economy” and its subject “Comparative Phonetics and Phonology”. Following the structure of this subject, the textbook is divided into eleven chapters whose content provides the reader with the essential theoretical information about the given issue from the sound subsystems of the English and the Slovak languages. The structure of each chapter is as follows: (1) theoretical explanation of the topic, (2) Suggestions for further reading recommending additional sources that develop the topic, (3) exercises whose aim is to evaluate students’ theoretical knowledge of the theme presented in the particular chapter, as well as its practical application in the process of communication. Considering the content of the book, it can be also used a study material for the students of all philological study programmes whose content encompasses the sound system of the English and/or the Slovak language.

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E-book

Karin Sabolíková

The monograph provides a brief insight into the theory of news structures in the press and, consequently, the theoretical framework of critical discourse analysis is applied in an examination of the structures of news. Critical discourse analysis following the theory and methodology of Teun van Dijk is used to analyse the representation of an industrial dispute, the Miners’ Strike of 1984-1985 in the UK, in the Czechoslovak newspaper Pravda.

The aim of the monograph is to examine the ways in which a single news item dealing with an international event was presented in a national newspaper based on its ideological perspective. The presented analysis does not cover all possible aspects of van Dijk’s approach of critical discourse analysis. A variety of issues remains to be explored in order to develop a richer, more complex analysis of the text structures. The monograph also intends to demonstrate that critical discourse analysis can complement more qualitatively the traditional method of quantitative content analysis.

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Lukáš Šutor (ed.)

The fifth volume of Doctoral Miscellanea was created as a conference proceedings, returning to the original idea of the entire project: to establish a publication space for contributions from emerging scientists.

The first two issues of Doctoral Miscellanea consisted of outputs from departmental seminars, which involved internal discussions. Compared to direct publication, it proved more beneficial for doctoral students to verify their initial research results in multiple stages and present them in diverse ways (reaching more listeners and readers). The length of the texts in the first two issues was adapted to the duration of the presentations, but this practice was slightly disrupted by the omission of seminars in previous issues. In the current issue, the scope of the studies is somewhat more uniform.

An added value of the fifth volume was the meeting of all contributors at a joint conference, the Autumn School for Doctoral Students of the Faculty of Arts at UPJŠ in Košice, which took place on October 17, 2018, and October 18, 2018, in Danišovce.

We believe that this unique experience—often the first for many—of actively presenting at a scientific event could contribute to a better final version of the submitted contributions. At the same time, it allowed doctoral students to broaden their horizons within the humanities and social sciences, at least within the scope of the currently addressed dissertation research.

Lukáš Šutor

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Dana Kušnírová - Peter Pavonič

Collection of Contributions from the Scientific Conference. Košice, November 18-19, 2020

The collection titled Borders in Space and Time consists of twelve contributions presented at the tenth edition of the doctoral conference Meeting of Young Historians, which is organized annually by the Department of History at the Faculty of Arts, UPJŠ in Košice. In 2020, we commemorated the centenary of the signing of the Trianon Peace Treaty, which definitively established the borders of Hungary, including those with Czechoslovakia, after World War I; therefore, the theme of the conference was chosen to be the history of borders. The individual contributions focus on the development of borders in the 20th century, borders in thought and education, and borders in earlier historical periods.

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Beáta Jurečková - Lívia Barnišinová

The e-Slovak textbook for dentists in practice - case studies is intended for foreign students of dentistry. It is primarily intended for students of the Slovak language as a foreign language, but the knowledge of the grammatical and lexical basics of the Slovak language at the A1, A2 level is needed.

The textbook consists of eight lessons, which are focused on listening comprehension (audio recordings), vocabulary expansion, systematisation of grammar and development of speech skills (case studies). The two lessons consist of repetitive, concluding exercises. The primary goal of the textbook is to connect language training with professional dental practice.

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E-book

Ivica Hajdučeková - Peter Getlík (eds.)

Proceedings of Selected Lectures and Abstracts

Grant project VEGA No. 1/0736/15 Methodological Basis of Literary (re)interpretation in Slovak and World Literature (the head of the project: prof. PhDr. Ján Gbúr, CSc.), whose realization lasted for four years (2015 – 2018) at the Department of Slovak Studies, Slavonic Philologies and Communication of Faculty of Arts of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, brought several lecture events with the participation of experts from Slovak and Czech academical space. The original and progressively accomplishing project goal was to continue the tradition of exactness and support its implementation into our everyday scientific thinking and literary-scientific exploration. Each of fourteen invited lectures was a unique, professionally inspiring and humanly enriching meeting.

On that account there is a nontraditional project output: the proceedings of selected lectures and abstracts (abstracts were translated into English language by Mgr. Dominika Petáková, internal postgraduate student of literary science at Department of Slovak Studies, Slavonic Philologies and Communication) titled Methodological Inspirations in the Research of Literary Science I., which is intended for academical and study purposes at universities. The topics of the lectures were completed successively according to interest and demands of research team and current scientific research of invited guests.

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Ivica Hajdučeková

The anthology was created based on the study of archival volumes of Živena preserved in the Slovak National Library in Martin and the selection of material representing samples of texts that reflect the spirit of the times and contribute to the image of the contemporary modern woman.

The selection of articles from 1919 to 1928 uncovers the cultural atmosphere at the beginning of the 20th century when, thanks to emancipation efforts, doors were opening for women into public and professional life. Students from the 3rd and 4th years of the School of Applied Arts in Košice, under the guidance of teachers in photographic design and Slovak language and literature, were involved in preparing the illustrative component of the anthology, whose artistic interpretations are part of the publication. Their contribution meets the criteria for combining science and practice with a focus on popularizing research results.

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Daniel Dobiaš

The work deals with the evolution in theory and practice of democracy, open society and humanism which is marked by dichotomy of its own progressive and regressive features. Civilization trajectory of human reality, the implementation strategy thought overlaps through a reality in the form of freedom, solidarity and human rights, formulation of normative ideas of man and his/her nature, rationalistic universalism and voluntaristic individualism created preconditions for the political background of modern societies which established democratic order with rules allowing to dispose with freedom to which the individual, as a rational being, is authorized. Moreover, the perspective of awareness of ambiguity and paradoxical content of individual parameters of democracy, open society and humanism, ideologically shaped and fixed by worldviews of economic and political elites, from our point of view, is a mirror image of how those conditions differ from the standard assumptions formulated in theory. 

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Ingrid Madárová -Lívia Barnišinová - Veronika Pálová

Táto príručka priamo prispieva k budovaniu inkluzívneho akademického prostredia, kde sa zahraniční študenti cítia vítaní a pochopení. Zároveň podporuje vzdelávacie a profesionálne zručnosti zamestnancov v oblasti interkultúrnej komunikácie, čo v konečnom dôsledku vedie k zvýšeniu kvality služieb poskytovaných univerzitou a k zlepšeniu medzinárodnej spolupráce.

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