Czechia Blog Post 1 by Clayton Ng

 

Czechia’s Identity Crisis

What is National Identity?

The national identity of a group of people can consist of a wide variety of shared values, ranging from complex cultural customs to a few simple colors. To provide a more concrete definition, national identity can be explained as a connection “of the citizens of a country with their own country’s historical and cultural traditions, moral values, ideals, beliefs, national sovereignty, and so on” (Liu & Turner, 2018, p. 1080). The people in the nation begin to feel a greater sense of belonging and validation as a community, forming imagined bonds built on similarities and unity. Loyalty begins to develop between the people and the nation-state, while emotions of pride and patriotism begin to emerge.

Czechia’s Unclear National Identity

After the splitting of Czechoslovakia into Czechia and Slovakia in 1992, Czechia’s national identity has been difficult to distinguish from its Slavic neighboring countries. Much of the culture is closely intertwined and they have not had much time to develop significant differences. Even before the countries had split, “Czechoslovak identity [had] gradually weakened under…the formation of the Slovak state during World War II” and the restricting control of the Soviet Union afterwards (Vlachova & Rehakova, 2009, p. 257). Under the rule of the Soviet Union, drastic measures were taken by Stalin to remove all religion and unity among the people in the territory. Churches were shut down, religious leaders were imprisoned, and a new calendar was proposed to get rid of the religious holidays. Czechoslovakia and the surrounding communist-controlled nations found themselves robbed of their national identity, serving as mere puppets for the Soviet Union. So, it is only reasonable that after the division of Czechia and the redefinition of its national identity, many aspects of Czechia and its neighboring nations were similar.

Diving into the language and culture pieces of Czechia national identity, distinguishing the country’s practices from its neighboring countries becomes even more unclear. With other Slavic nations, Czechia not only shares “similar language and traditions…[but] also similar mentality, appearance and historical experience” (Kolarikova, 2020, p. 76). Starting with language, Czech and the languages spoken in all nearby Slavik nations all originate from the same west Slavic language branch. Also, the most similar language to Czech, Slovak, is so closely related that the two languages are nearly mutually intelligible. These nations all pride themselves on their Slavic roots of origin and hold strong to their ceremonies and social practices.  For example, though the manifestation and preservation of folklore is a major part of Czechia’s national identity, it is also a common tradition shared among all Slavic culture and nations. Czechia’s original Christian religion before the Soviet Union was also a shared trait among Slavik nations, and Czech food was influenced significantly by German cuisine. However, given more time, and a few generations, Czechia’s national identity could develop into more defined and unique characteristics.

What is Othering?

The concept of othering is closely linked to national identity, as it first requires the establishment of an ingroup with a shared identity that then seeks to distinguish itself from foreign groups. According to Triandafyllidou (1998), othering involves “nations or ethnic groups that are perceived to threaten the nation, its distinctiveness, authenticity and/or independence” (p. 594). These groups that are singled out as foreign can then be even further specified as either external significant others or internal significant others. Triandafyllidou mentions that external significant others are an outgroup that possess its own state separate from the ingroup nation. Internal significant others on the other hand coexist in the same state with the ingroup.

Othering in Czechia

In the case of othering in Czechia, the identified “other” foreign group is the internal significant other that coexists with the majority ingroup within the same nation-state. This group is known as the Romani who “face a very specific form of discrimination which securitises their poverty and their identity through processes of racial othering” (Cashman, 2016, p. 597). This form of othering takes the form of school displacement where many Romani children are forced to enroll in practical schools with simplified curriculums and lower education quality. It has become common to diagnose Romani children with ‘light mental disabilities’ and send them to these schools that were soon labeled as ‘Roma’ schools. It has been shown that teachers in Czechia are more likely to suggest psychological testing for Romani children who are struggling in class, compared to their Czech counter parts, instead of finding ways to improve their learning. Standardized tests used in Czechia to assess the intelligence of children are also highly disadvantageous to Romani children who speak both Romani and Czech at home and have slower early development stages. These discriminatory trends against the minority Romani group perpetuate their struggle to compete for high paying employment and forces them to remain in poverty.

This prejudice against the Romani helps bolster Czechia’s national identity by fueling a superiority complex that boosts the arrogance Czechia has in their heavily exclusive education system. Supporting this claim, in 2012, a Eurobarometer survey recorded that “52% of Czech respondents stated that they would feel ‘uncomfortable’ with their children having Roma schoolmates” (Cashman, 2016, p. 598). This form of othering where the “unfit” Romani children are weeded out gives the Czech a united sense of confidence in the country’s education quality. They feel threatened by the “other” Romani people overflowing and potentially dominating their school programs and are reassured knowing that they are suppressed. Czech national identity highly values their education system and “othering” the Romani funnels the educational funding directly to support the growth of the ingroup while the outgroup is given the bare minimum.

Word count: 941 words

References

 

Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. (1999, March 1). Czech Republic: Differences between Czechs and Slovaks, such as culture or surnames. Refworld. https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6accc1c.html

Cashman, L. (2016). New label no progress: Institutional racism and the persistent segregation of Romani students in the Czech Republic. Race ethnicity and education, 20(5), 595–608. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2016.1191698

Frost, N. (2021, April 23). Why Stalin tried to stamp out religion in the Soviet Union. History.com. https://www.history.com/news/joseph-stalin-religion-atheism-ussr

Ivanov, V., & Browne, W. (n.d.). West Slavic. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Slavic-languages/West-Slavic

Kolaříková, V. (2021). Czech national identity and the elements through which is constructed. Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical Journal, 12(2), 66–96. https://doi.org/10.5817/cphpj-2020-023

Liu, Q., & Turner, D. (2018). Identity and national identity. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 50(12), 1080–1088. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2018.1434076

Triandafyllidou, A. (1998). National identity and the “other.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21(4), 593–612. https://doi.org/10.1080/014198798329784

U.S. Department of State. (n.d.). A Guide to the United States’ History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country, since 1776: Czechoslovakia. Office of the Historian. https://history.state.gov/countries/czechoslovakia#:~:text=On%20December%2031%2C%201992%2C%20the,the%20Czech%20Republic%20and%20Slovakia.

VLACHOVÁ, K., & ŘEHÁKOVÁ, B. (2009). Identity of non‐self‐evident nation: Czech national identity after the break‐up of Czechoslovakia and before accession to the European Union*. Nations and Nationalism, 15(2), 254–279. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8129.2009.00379.x