Authors

Roman Baron¹;  ¹ Historický ústav AV ČR, v. v. i., Czechia

Discussion

The aim of the conference paper is to introduce the participants to the main currents of Czech philological and historiographical research on Slavic people. Special attention will be paid to the different concepts based on understanding of Slavicness in modern Czech society. These views were subsequently reflected in the scientific discourse - either in the form of the organizational provision of science or in the research itself (the issue under study, its overall relevance, international scientific cooperation, etc.). From a chronological point of view, the division of the material into three time periods seems most justified: 1. From the establishment of Czechoslovakia to the German occupation of the Czech lands (1918-1939), 2. From the restoration of Czechoslovakia to the end of the communist regime (1945-1989), 3. From the Velvet Revolution and the establishment of the Czech Republic to the present (1989-2025). The first period was characterised by the attempt to make Prague, which became the capital of the newly established state of Czechs and Slovaks (the most numerous minorities included Germans and Hungarians, but also, for example, Ruthenians and Ukrainians in Subcarpathian Ruthenia), a scientific centre of research on the Slavs. This was also true of the two then newly founded universities in Brno and Bratislava (Masaryk University and Comenius University). In this context, the Czech Charles University (the German Charles University in Prague existed at the same time until the end of the Second World War) and the Slavic Institute, which was divided into departments of Slavic languages and literatures, played a key role. At the same time, the history of the Slavs was also cultivated. The second period was characterised by a persistent and increased scientific interest in Slavic issues, which, however, was subordinated to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, consequently, state interests. On the one hand, a number of expert studies were produced at that time, focusing on the language, culture, literature and history of individual Slavic peoples, as well as the Slavic world as a whole, while on the other hand, this research had obvious limits, given by the political situation of the time and Marxist ideology. The third period brought, above all, a general liberalization in the form of free research. Although the ideological barriers disappeared, problems of a financial nature, changes in the structural security of university research and the teaching of Slavic languages and literatures began to emerge. Over time, this was compounded by changing expectations on the part of students, who had to take increasing account of their future employment in the labour market. Classical philological teaching thus began to move towards interdisciplinary area studies.