The Social Meanings of Abandoned Mental Hospitals. A Cultural-Sociological Analysis of Visual Culture and Social Media

Olga Kurbatova

Master's thesis

Anotácia:

The work is dedicated to the mythology, social emotions and attitudes connected to abandoned mental hospitals. The study is focused on the phenomenon of tourist interest to these architectural objects. It is based on the narrative and content analysis of narratives published on the Internet. The work interprets photos and videos and defines narrative patterns, which represent ideas, which serve as the cultural background for these narratives. The conclusions are based both on the analysis of the available online content assessed in scope and on the results of detailed case studies, which explore the narratives related to four abandoned mental hospitals in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with special emphasis on transformations of symbolic and material identities of the places in question.

Abstract:

The work is dedicated to the mythology, social emotions and attitudes connected to abandoned mental hospitals. The study is focused on the phenomenon of tourist interest to these architectural objects. It is based on the narrative and content analysis of narratives published on the Internet. The work interprets photos and videos and defines narrative patterns, which represent ideas, which serve as the cultural background for these narratives. The conclusions are based both on the analysis of the available online content assessed in scope and on the results of detailed case studies, which explore the narratives related to four abandoned mental hospitals in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with special emphasis on transformations of symbolic and material identities of the places in question.

Keywords

mental hospitals, abandoned spaces, madness, urban explorations, dark tourism, cultural sociology, case study, narrative patterns, visual patterns, stigmatization, mythology

Jazyk práce: English

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 30. 5. 2018

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Obhajoba proběhla 25. 6. 2018
• Vedúci: Dr. Werner Binder
• Oponent: doc. Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky, Ph.D.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Social Studies

Master programme / odbor:
Sociology / Cultural Sociology (Eng.)