The Czech Team landscape of meanings: an interpretative study

Mgr. Natalia Onofrei, BA

Master's thesis

Abstract:

This study aims to approach the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe from a fresh perspective. The point of departure are not the refugees, but the volunteers assisting at various waiting stations on the Balkan route and specifically the volunteers within the group initiative called the ‘Czech team’. The assumptions at the basis of this study are those of the strong program in cultural sociology: that culture is autonomous and that it can be accessed by uncovering the deep meaning structures of (groups of) individuals. Six individual and two focus group interviews were analyzed through the interpretative method and its corollary techniques (binary codes, metaphors, structural and linguistic analysis, narratives, non-verbal and emotional cues, etc.). The analysis points to at least three grounds of meaning that put together provide a more nuanced understanding of the Czech team's fervent volunteering. Specifically, the volunteers' landscape of meanings consists of at least three grounds: a shifting narrative framing from first waves of volunteers to the later ones, the understanding of the act of volunteering as a rite of passage, and the Czech team spirit as a version of Durkheimian collective effervescence. The findings of this study suggest that academic research on the topics pertaining to the civil sphere can gain significantly from a cultural sociological approach.

Abstract:

This study aims to approach the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe from a fresh perspective. The point of departure are not the refugees, but the volunteers assisting at various waiting stations on the Balkan route and specifically the volunteers within the group initiative called the ‘Czech team’. The assumptions at the basis of this study are those of the strong program in cultural sociology: that culture is autonomous and that it can be accessed by uncovering the deep meaning structures of (groups of) individuals. Six individual and two focus group interviews were analyzed through the interpretative method and its corollary techniques (binary codes, metaphors, structural and linguistic analysis, narratives, non-verbal and emotional cues, etc.). The analysis points to at least three grounds of meaning that put together provide a more nuanced understanding of the Czech team's fervent volunteering. Specifically, the volunteers' landscape of meanings consists of at least three grounds: a shifting narrative framing from first waves of volunteers to the later ones, the understanding of the act of volunteering as a rite of passage, and the Czech team spirit as a version of Durkheimian collective effervescence. The findings of this study suggest that academic research on the topics pertaining to the civil sphere can gain significantly from a cultural sociological approach.

Keywords

Czech team, landscapes of meaning, interpretative analysis, narrative analysis, volunteering, communitas, collective effervescence, binaries

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 4. 1. 2017

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 23. 1. 2017
• Supervisor: Dr. Werner Binder
• Reader: doc. Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky, Ph.D.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Social Studies

Master programme / field:
Sociology / International Joint Master's Degree in Cultural Sociology