THE TOWN TO THE UNIVERSITY - THE UNIVERSITY TO THE TOWN (Mesto univerzite - univerzita mestu - pripadova studia vztahu vysokoskolskej institucie a spolocenstva mesta Zvolen)

• Authors: Kostialova Katarina
• Languages of publication: SK

Abstracts

EN

This paper is concerned with researching the existence of a university and its influence on a small town. The object of investigation was the Technical University (formerly the University of Forestry and Woodworking) and the town Zvolen. The author studied where, how, and by means of what and whom the university was presented in the town and perceived by the town's inhabitants. She investigated the university in the broader context of the town, with emphasis on the university versus town interaction. The author focused on the 'inner' and especially the 'outer' life of the university, its cultural, economic, social capital and their presentation. In this paper the university is perceived as an institution which apart from its inductive-educational, scientific-research and cultural-social functions also fulfils a function of cultural reproduction. Simultaneously it is a bearer of socio-cultural values and traditions, status rankings, and the most varied bonds, communicative relations and meanings. The paper also points to the reasons for the emergence, preconditions, formation and establishment of the university in the town, which are reflected not only in the town's socio-spatial structure but also in the cultural capital of its inhabitants (for example, the educational structure). Contacts and social networks of the town's inhabitants with the university are constructed also through the medium of the TU's employees, who are themselves mainly Zvolen inhabitants, and by a dynamic group of students. An important indicator is also the economic capital which the university represents in a small town. It is expressed in employment opportunities and in the form of other material resources. The existence of the university also brings the town's inhabitants a specific cultural-social and educational dimension which is, as regards the school's orientation, different from other towns. The activities which the school and the students carry out (erecting maypoles, the folk festival, lectures, exhibitions and sporting activities) are not realized exclusively on the university grounds but are rather part of the urban space, and the town's inhabitants take part in them deliberately or casually. The urban society views them positively, as characteristic and typical of Zvolen, which is identified with them.

Keywords

EN

CITY; CULTURE; INHABITANTS; INTERACTION; RITUALS; SLOVAKIA; SOCIAL LIFE; STUDENTS; TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY; TOWN; ZVOLEN

Discipline

• ETHNOLOGY: ETHNOLOGY

• Publisher: Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Slovenský národopis (Slovak Ethnology)
• Year: 2010
• Volume: 58
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 176-194
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Kostialova Katarina

• PhDr. Katarina Kostialova, PhD., Ustav vedy a vyskumu UMB, Cesta na amfiteater 1, 974 01 Banska Bystrica, Slovak Republic

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

11SKAAAA10097