Chad Bryant: “Czechness” Then and Now

What does it mean to be Czech? In this article Chad Bryant argues that “Czechness,” rather than a set of values and ideas, might be seen as a framework for action. Before World War I, to be Czech meant speaking a certain language, attending certain schools, joining certain clubs, voting for certain political parties, and marking the correct category at census time. It meant acting individually within civil and political society. Now, more than fifteen years after the fall of Communism, important questions about identity, nationhood, and multiculturalism have emerged as inhabitants of the Czech Republic come to terms with radical political transformations, a slow influx of migrants, and integration into the European Union. This article concludes that Czechs might take a page from the past and see “Czechness” as something individual, malleable, and chosen as well as something acted out within the structures of a democratic society.

<a href="http://www.unc.edu/depts/history/faculty/bryant.html">Chad Bryant</a> is an Assistant Professor of History at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.