Report from the 11th Conference of the “Biograf” Journal ****************************************************************************************** * Markéta Vaňková ****************************************************************************************** 19th-21st June, 2009, Hoješín u Seče, Czech Republic, http://www.biograf.org/konference/ The 11th conference of the "Biograf" journal brought several surprises. The first one was itself because in the past year the working session of the authors and friends of the Biog place and the continuation of the long and popular tradition could have been endangered. F opinion at least) these fears were baseless and the 11th working session of the Biograf jo in the last third of June. The second surprise was the place since the conference was relocated from Borek u Suchomas friendly environment of the village of Hoješín u Seče where the cloister of the School Sis Francis hosted professional discussions and conference festivities. The third novelty was of a personal character: the post of general organizer as well as of the journal Biograf has been assumed by Barbora Spalová. The conference did not have one general topic; the participant researchers were connected interest in qualitative methods and their critical re-thinking, which was more or less ver conference papers and discussions. The conference started on Friday evening with the discussion of the article "Konstrukce no a vědění o těle v těhotenství: příklad prenatálních screeningů" (The construction of norma knowledge of the body in pregnancy: the example of prenatal screenings) by Jaroslava Hasma vá, published in the last volume of the Biograf 2008/47. The discussion was directed by Id and Eva Stehlíková, who worked out discussion rules to prevent the discussion from degener personal narratives of prenatal care experience. The main aim of the discussion was to inv sociological concepts the topic can be connected with and how the topic can be developed r as well as the research itself." (Rules for the moderated discussion). Many of both presen readers read the text as an activist one, giving a voice to the less powerful side of wome for medical examinations of controversial importance. Nevertheless, the article lacks the and therefore a great part of the debate concentrated on the question of whether an articl way is defendable as a social science text. The Saturday conference marathon was opened by Alice Červinková and her paper "Vědci v poh akademické mobility" (Scientists on the move: Geopolitics of academic mobility). Her resea showed that academic mobility is a part of both systematically created Euro-American scien a consequence of the transnationalization of the work market. The biographies of academics academics understand this type of work-mobility as work as well as a migration experience. experience is not only solving the problems of leaving for abroad but also thinking about The following panel of two papers touched from different angles the topic of continuity an Štěpán Ripka in his paper "Limity kontinuity: Může se stát divoch křesťanem?" (Limits of c Can a savage become a Christian?) thought about the willingness of anthropology to researc discontinuity seriously, in this case the discontinuity of faith (and culture as well) at religious conversion of the Calderash Roma in Mexico. He showed that anthropologists tend some of the external symptoms before and after conversion as a sign of un-confessed contin of "underlying structures" of culture or society - an anthropologist then states that ther conversion and change in an individual but only a re-labelling of the original practices. Anna Pokorná spoke about keeping the continuity: in her paper "Domov pod pokličkou: K antr jídla" (Home under the pot-lid: On the anthropology of food), she concentrated on the mech and transmission of "national" identity during migration. She described how the Czechs who (then Palestine) after the war have been keeping the consciousness of group identity and c home by means of food and how they have been transmitting the relationship to the Czech Re Czechness (actually somewhat abstract nowadays) to their offspring - in a situation of evi discontinuity. The topic of re/presentation and public space connected the following pair of papers. Usin of the discourse analysis of online discussions in the discussion forum of the daily paper Lindbloom in her paper "Stratégie prezentovania väčšinového a menšinového názoru v online dotáciách do poľnohospodárstva" (The strategy of majority and minority opinions' presentat discussions of subsidies in agriculture) showed different argument strategies of critics a agricultural subsidies' politics. The core of her argument lies in understanding the onlin a local social situation where not only power and persuasiveness of the presented opinions but also their position in the situationally and locally given opinion. The discourse stra expressing a major opinion moreover supported by the media differs diametrically from the minority opinion speakers. Kateřina Pulkrábková was also concerned with representation str her paper "Romské ženy v českém veřejném prostoru" (Romany women within Czech public space all called attention to the varied representational strategies of Romani women activists. differ when aimed at majority women activism, at the majority, or, on the contrary, at the Romani women activists are always in the situation of negotiating their positions while th influenced by both the manifold discrimination they feel and their personal biographies. In her paper "Posudky: Z kádrové práce komunistického Česka" (Personal files: From the bac practice of communist Czech lands) Marie Černá used materials from the ongoing research of pro soudobé dějiny (Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences). On the one academic who "did not cope with religious delusions," she showed exactly how the backg practice representing an ever-present part of the communist regime proceeded. Although the of personal files were written by people inclined to be friendly to this academic, the pow tools - the personnel files - was not "tamed" and infiltrated the society at all the level religiosity of one academic was profiled in the personnel files, nobility as an identity c profiled in interviews with six Czech noblemen in the paper by Josefina Borecká"Kolektivní šlechty" (Collective memory of the Czech nobility). Borecká tried to show the specific use identity signs as descent, family, wealth, homeland and moral credit in noblemen's biograp participants then proposed that the author should complete the text analysis with an analy nobility expressed itself. The last Saturday panel was devoted to explicitly qualitative research and its possibiliti In his theoretical paper called "Výzkumný rozhovor: Monolog vs. dialog" (Research intervie dialogue), Pavel Nepustil accented the specificity of the research interview situation tha all a relationship, a space where meaning is or can be created. Starting from Harlene Ande psychotherapy and her concepts of dialogue conversation and "collaborative practices," Pav discussed possibilities of the research interview as a "sharable inquiry" when researcher set up meanings to an equal extent and this way they both participate in the research proc Slepičková and Michaela Bartošová concentrated on a different aspect of the research inter asked themselves in their paper "Proč s námi mluví? Motivace k účasti na kvalitativním výz vliv na průběh rozhovoru" (Why do they talk to us? Motivation for participation in qualita and its influence in the course of the interview) of why people are willing to participate especially in research aimed at intimate, personal topics, and what is the influence of th on the course of an interview. The researchers summarized their experience from three piec - research on childless women over 30 years of age, primiparas over 30 years of age, and s women. According to their findings, the most common motivation for participating in resear to help the researcher - woman-student - with her work. Other identified motivations were experience with an uncommitted person, getting new information on the topic, use of the in self-reflection. The important point is that just as the relationship changes during the i the motivations for its continuation change as well as the participants' notions of what t brings them and what it can (or could) bring. Personal characteristics of the male or fema (gender, age, student status, childlessness etc.) are important in the course of the inter expectations, motivations and results of it. The question of what the researcher and what expect from the research interview, if and how much the power disbalance given by the rese itself can be disturbed, or who in the course of the interview is really the "more powerfu the researcher or the informant - became the topic of discussion and fluently transformed unmoderated entertainment. Radek Tichý opened Sunday morning with his paper "Restrukturalizace pražské arcidiecéze: S katolické církve na začátku 21. století" (Restructuring of the Prague archdiocese: A fragm church functioning in the beginning of the 21st century) Radek Tichý summarized his resear with the beginning of restructuring of the parochial system, declared by the bishops and t also to be a renewal of the church. The researcher himself expected strong discussions at church hierarchies, priests and laymen, members of particular parishes. Restructuring went significant measure without active participation of churchgoers in the processes of decisi similarly marginal role was also played by priests of particular parishes. The topic of th describe the mechanisms of decision-making inside the Catholic Church conceptualized as an with the characteristics of a bureaucratic system with limited possibilities of its member influence the decision-making process - though the decision-making process was not only de also communicated as a part of a renewal process of the whole organism of the church. The also concerned with research into organization and the possibilities and results of its re In his paper "Internacionalizace ekonomické kultury v jednom českém pivovaru" (Internation economic culture in a Czech brewery) Kamil Mareš presented a case study of economic and co changes of a middle-sized Czech brewery taken over by an owner who lived abroad. To what e a brewery and its beer become a "global" product and to what extent does it keep "local" c Do the changes in communication of workers, management of the company, and in some product represent a step in losing its local specific characteristics and in internationalizing th global spread of one particular original Czech beer? These questions were not only the top but also the topic of the following unsurprisingly passionate discussion in the Czech cont The next bloc was devoted to the topic of gender, which was more or less explicitly presen papers. By means of biographic interviews, Ivan Vodochodský researched the process of the pictures of manhood by men who started their families at the end of the 1960s and beginnin in socialist Czechoslovakia. He concentrated on the aspects of self-presentation of men, w self-picture in a prism of current time and in the specific context of a research intervie is one generation younger. The paper strongly accented the fact that a meaningful and cohe manhood is created situationally and also under the influence of particular patterns which Gabriela Spector-Mersel conceptualized as "screenplays of hegemonic manhood." Conditionali actors' images of gender roles were also captured in the title of the next paper - "Mužstv ‘dnes': Dělání genderu ve vyprávěních o životě za socialismu" (Manhood between "then" and gender within the narratives of life under socialism). Another presentation "Kdo je v pohy - aktivní stárnutí jako genderovaný diskurz" (Moving, she does not grow old - active agein discourse) by Jaroslava Marhánková thought over the discourse of "active ageing" and its g On the basis of research into leisure-time centers for seniors, the author discussed the f this discourse is presented today universally, in real situations it is adjusted to women the only visitors to senior centres. Participation in activities of leisure-time senior ce bound to the activities offered, but also to gender-conditioned images of growing old orig senior biographies. The research shows that the discourse of an active old age comes from image of growing old and of womanhood/manhood and that first of all it specifically discip bodies. The conclusion of the conference belonged to Zdeněk Konopásek and his reflection over a se his five-year old son: "This is the first time I am doing it for the second time." The Kon attention to the fact that uniqueness and regularity do not exclude each other but, on the they always go hand in hand. Everything happens from certain points of view both uniquely According to Konopásek, this quality of reality is often ignored by sociologists who diffe research-field into the unique and thus suitable for qualitative research and the regular quantitative research and statistics. Konopásek invited balance of this discord by sensiti sides. The participants asked the author to concretize this extraordinarily theoretical pa discussion leader, Ida Kaiserová, then likened what was said to a work of literature which only several possible genres but its uniqueness resides in an individual working-out of th I must conclude this report with saying that the working session of Biograf kept its name. papers were thought over, discussed and criticized by the participants. Mostly the discuss sometimes not so serious. The atmosphere of the conference was not academically sterile - mixed with cries of the participants' children, for whom a parallel program was prepared; also coloured by the arrival of a Franciscan nun who came to ask for what time to prepare Of course not all papers were of equal quality and with regard to the scope of the topic n presentations were interesting for every participant. Nevertheless, in my opinion. varied both scientific and non-scientific, and the friendly and open atmosphere of the conference environment rich in ideas to which it is a pleasure to return. Markéta Vaňková [ URL "LM-411.html "]