Suchergebnisse

This study focuses on the local identities of children living in rural towns of Czechia, Poland and Slovakia. Cognitive maps, drawn by elementary school students in geographically proximate municipalities near international borders, provide a means of investigating the significance of local religious sites in the minds of young people. This research successfully examines everyday interactions between the subjects and their local landscape. It seeks to highlight religious elements of local identities.
The methods employed in this research present a more humanistic and qualitative approach, shedding light on the daily experiences of children in rural settings. Recognizing the inclusion and even the placement and artistic details of a religious site in a child-drawn map is a powerful way to move research "beyond the 'officially sacred'". The methods also allow for a blending of both passive – including a religious site in a cognitive map – and active – ranking a religious site among the top three important places – declarations of a religious element within local, territorial identity.
This study demonstrates how children use elements of the local religious landscape in constructing and re-constructing their community identity. The two Slovak municipalities showed the greatest affinity for religious elements among the expressions of local identity (children's cognitive maps). Poland's municipalities ranked in the middle and the two Czech municipalities scored lowest in terms of religious sites being considered important to the research participants.

Contents -- Editors and Contributors -- 1 Introduction -- Abstract -- 1.1 Currently -- 1.2 Theoretical Framework -- 1.3 Presentation of the Grant Project -- 1.4 Structure of the Book-Thematic Focus -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 2 Changing European Union: The Schengen Agreement -- Abstract -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Changing Context of the European Union: Different Zones of Integration -- 2.3 Schengen Agreement: Gradual Enlargement and Multi-speed Integration -- 2.4 Public Opinion on Free Cross-Border Movement and Control of Schengen External Frontier -- 2.5 Conclusions -- References -- 3 Development in the Border Areas as Part of the European Integration Process -- Abstract -- 3.1 Cross-Border Issues as Part of Regional Policy and Regional Development -- 3.2 A Reflection on Czechia's Joining the European Union by the Inhabitants of the Czech Border Regions -- 3.3 Conclusion -- References -- 4 The Schengen Phenomenon-Fact or Fiction? -- Abstract -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Schengen, Cross-Border Cooperation and the Culture of Border Checks -- 4.3 Perception of Schengen Among the Inhabitants of Internal Borders of the EU Using the Example of the Czech Borderlands -- 4.4 Conclusion -- References -- 5 Euroregions as a Platform for Cross-Border Cooperation -- Abstract -- 5.1 Introduction-Basic Preconditions for Cross-Border Cooperation on the Czech Borderland -- 5.2 The Institutionalisation of Cross-Border Cooperation-The Role and the Typology of Euroregions -- 5.3 The European Dimension -- 5.4 The Central European/Neighbourly and National Dimension -- 5.5 A Subjective Reflection at the (Euro)Regional Level of the Czech Borderlands -- 5.6 Conclusion -- References -- 6 Institutionalisation of Cross-Border Cooperation: The Role of the Association of European Border Regions -- Abstract -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Motives for Cross-Border Cooperation