PhD. Topics

Marginalisation of a Selected Group in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Period

Slovak History

2026

Blanka Szeghyová, PhD.

Contact:

Faculty of Arts, Comenius University Bratislava

The aim of the doctoral dissertation is to examine the phenomenon of marginalisation within a suitably defined chronological framework and, where appropriate, within a specific regional context, focusing on a selected group of the population. The research may address socially excluded groups defined by ethnicity, way of life, socio-economic status, occupation, or religious affiliation (such as Jews, Roma, vagrants, beggars, prostitutes, and other so-called dishonourable occupations). The topic may be explored across several analytical dimensions: (1) a normative dimension, focusing on legal restrictions and sanctions as articulated in laws, ordinances, and statutes; (2) the level of judicial practice, examining local strategies and procedural approaches; (3) a discursive dimension, encompassing legal and theological treatises as well as narrative sources; and (4) the reflection of the status of these groups in popular culture, drawing on both written and visual sources. By combining different types of sources, the doctoral candidate will analyse the extent and forms of social exclusion, the diversity of contemporary attitudes, and the accompanying phenomena of marginalisation—such as stereotyping, rhetoric of exclusion, scapegoating, criminalisation, and persecution—as well as their possible transformations over time. The findings may subsequently be compared with developments in Western Europe in order to identify parallels, continuities, and transfers of behavioural and regulatory patterns.
Requirements: a good command of the language(s) of the relevant archival sources (typically Latin, German, or Hungarian) and proficiency in Slovak/Czech or English at a minimum level of B2.