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What is Czech?
Czech Culture (Česká kultura) | More on Czechs (Více o Češích)
Slavíková, J.: WHAT IS CZECH? A research paper, Joint Masters of Arts - Migration and Intercultural Relations (JMMIR), Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, 2010.
In the modern globalised world, we encounter
cultures different from ours wherever we turn: we travel to foreign countries
and foreigners travel to ours; we go to exotic restaurants; we buy exotic
products; we surf the borderless Internet; we play foreign computer games and watch
foreign films – in our language, or even in the original ones; we listen to
foreign songs... We encounter foreign factors more and more in our closest
surroundings. However, we may accept different appearances, even different
customs and traditions, but when it comes to something more intimate and internal,
such as routines, values and worldviews; when it comes to foreign factors in
our everyday lives that differ from or even contradict something we are used
to, something "self-evident” and "normal”, then clashes occur.
When a migrant moves to a new country,
whatever the reason and motivation, they come across differences in areas they
would have never thought possible. Nevertheless, every culture and every
individual is different, and so is what they perceive as "different” about the
host country, its nationals and their features.
I decided to find out what is generally
perceived as "Czech” among foreigners from different cultural backgrounds. It
would be preferable if these foreigners could be from different socio-economic
backgrounds as well, but the scope of my research was very small.
There were 22 respondents in my survey: 11
in group discussions and 11 via an online questionnaire. I found the
respondents among my friends and clients, and their friends and acquaintances
(a snowball effect). The group discussions took place in July 2010, and there
were three of them. There were only women in the first one – women who had or
had had a Czech partner; there were only men in the second one – without a
similar condition; and the two participants in the last discussion were
"half-Czech” – they had one or both parents Czech, but grew up in another
country, regularly coming back to the Czech Republic. All of the foreigners had
lived in the Czech Republic for at least a year.
I recorded the group discussions on a voice
recorder and asked a friend to record them on a camcorder as well. In addition,
I asked the participants to fulfil a questionnaire before the discussion, to
collect some background data. The online questionnaire consisted of these
questions as well, plus questions regarding the Czech character, feeling of acceptance,
integration, etc.
In my research, I asked the participants what they
think Czechs are like, what they consider to be typical Czech customs or
traits. So what is it "to be Czech”? What is "Czech”? Is it something
internally inherent to people born in the territory of the Czech Republic? Is
it transmitted in blood? Or is it learned in the process of socialization? Whom
can we call "Czech”? A person who lives in the Czech Republic? A person whose
parents were Czech, even if s/he grew up and lives in another country? A person
who has the Czech passport? A person who speaks Czech perfectly?
There are as many perceptions of "Czechness” as there
are people who have come in touch with anything or anybody "Czech”. On the one
hand, there is the way people who are considered Czech perceive themselves; on
the other hand, there is the view of others. The perception of what is and what
is not Czech is "ethnicist and nationalist” (Wodak et al. 2009: 1), based on
the contraposition between the national "us” and the non-national "others”,
because "every search for identity includes differentiating oneself from what
one is not.” (Benhabib 1996 in Wodak et al. 2009: 2)
I accept the following basic assumptions (from Wodak
et al. 2009: 3-4):
·
Nations are a product of modernity; they "are
mental constructs, ‘imagined communities’, which nationalised political
subjects perceive as discrete political entities.”
·
"[N]ational identities, as special forms of
social identities, are produced and reproduced, as well as transformed and
dismantled, discursively.” Also,
"there is – in an essentialist sense – no
such thing as one national identity. […] [D]ifferent identities are
discursively constructed according to audience, setting, topic and substantive
content. National identities are therefore malleable, fragile and, frequently,
ambivalent and diffuse.”
·
‘National identity’ implies "a complex of
similar conceptions and perceptual schemata, of similar emotional dispositions
and attitudes, and of similar behavioural conventions, which bearers of this
‘national identity’ share collectively and which they have internalised through
socialisation (education, politics, the media, sports or everyday practices).”
·
"[D]iscursive constructs of nations and
national identities [...] primarily emphasise national uniqueness and
intra-national uniformity but largely ignore intra-national differences. In
imagining national singularity and homogeneity, members of a national community
simultaneously construct the distinctions between themselves and other nations,
most notably when the other nationality is believed to exhibit traits similar
to those of one’s own national community, similar to what Freud called the
‘narcissism of small differences’.”
To sum up, the participants of my survey did not have
to be unsure and worried if they were right about what Czechs are like. "A
typical Czech” is an abstraction, an illusion which can more or less be
embodied in a real "Czech” person. And "Czechness” is a construct, continuously
recreated and adapted to current goals and purposes.
Differences between nations are perceived in terms of
"culture”: people either use the name of nationals (such as "Czechs” or "Czech
people”), or they speak about "Czech culture”, as opposed to their own
"culture”. What is "culture”, then, and what is its association with "nation”?
In my research, I tried to identify what foreigners perceive as "Czech culture”
in the following sense:
Hofstede defines culture as "the collective
programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of
people from another. The "category” can refer to nations, regions within or
across nations, ethnicities, religions, occupations, organizations, or the
genders. A simpler definition is ‘the unwritten rules of the social game’. [...]
All human groups, from the nuclear family to society, develop cultures as they
go. Culture is what enables a group to function smoothly.” (From his website)
Hofstede calls culture in terms of "patterns of
thinking, feeling, and acting mental
programs, or [...] software of the
mind.” Culture also refers to "the ordinary and menial things in life:
greeting, eating, showing or not showing feelings, keeping a certain physical distance
from others, making love, and maintaining body hygiene.” An individual human
being acquires most of her or his programming during childhood, before puberty.
However, a "person’s behavior is only partially predetermined by his or her
mental programs.” (From his website and in Hofstede et al. 2010: 5) Culture is
"always a collective phenomenon” and it is "learned, not innate. [...] Culture
should be distinguished from human nature on one side and from an individual’s
personality on the other.” (Hofstede et al. 2010: 6)
"Cultural differences manifest themselves in several
ways,” but Hofstede considers the following four as covering "the total concept
rather neatly: symbols, heroes,
rituals, and values.” (Hofstede et al. 2010: 7) Samovar et al. (2007: 18-9)
highlight another set of components that define and distinguish cultures: history, religion, values, social
organizations, and language. In their view, the best definition of
cultures has been advanced by Triandis (1994): "Culture is a set of human-made
objective and subjective elements that in the past have increased the
probability of survival and resulted in satisfaction for the participants in an
ecological niche, and thus became shared among those who could communicate with
each other because they had a common language and they lived in the same time
and place.” The "subjective” elements include "values, attitudes, beliefs, orientations, and underlying assumptions
prevalent among people in a society.” (p. 20) In addition, they quote
Huntington (1996), who adds that besides language, religion and values, "the
heart of culture” also involves traditions
and customs. (p. 21) (emphasis added)
As far as the "national culture” is concerned, Hofstede
points out that "nation” is a relatively recent construct in the human history
that should not be confused with the term "society”, an organically evolved
social organisation. While we can speak about common culture of societies,
"nation” is a politically created unit. (Hofstede et al. 2010: 20-1) Some
nations are more culturally homogeneous, while others comprise culturally
different regions; and culturally similar areas can belong politically to
different nations. However, "[r]esearch by Geert and others has shown that national
cultures differ in particular at the level of, usually unconscious, values held
by a majority of the population. [...] Because values are acquired in
childhood, national cultures are remarkably stable over time; national values
change is a matter of generations. What we see changing around us, in response
to changing circumstances are practices: symbols, heroes and rituals, leaving
the underlying values untouched. This is why differences between countries
often have such a remarkable historical continuity.” (From his website)
In
order to detect a general idea of what is Czech, I decided to use the method of
a group discussion (focus group), because it would allow the participants to
react to others’ opinions and experiences. I intended to conduct three group
discussions: one in Czech, one in English, and one in Russian. However, in the
end, I decided to conduct the research in English only, as it was easier and I
was able to gather enough English-speaking participants. In addition, to
collect responses from people who were not available for the discussions, I
created an online questionnaire.
The main questions the participants in the survey were asked were:
·
What surprised you most when
you arrived and started living in the Czech Republic?
·
What do you miss when living
here, or what do you find better?
·
What do you still find
difficult to get used to / to understand? Why?
·
Do you think that Czech people
welcome / accept foreigners? Why? ·
What are Czechs like? What is
specific about them?
The group discussions were
approximately 90, 60, and 30 minutes long, and they were accompanied by a form
including some background questions, a list of which can be found in the
appendix. The online questionnaire also included these questions, plus several
core questions regarding the perceptions of Czechs, which can also be found in
the appendix.
In
the first discussion group, there were five women, 24 to 35 years old: one from
New Zealand, one from India, one from Kazakhstan, one from Peru and one from
the USA. In the second group, there were four men, 28 to 55 years old: one from
Italy, one from the USA, one from Germany and one from Brazil. In the third
discussion group, there were only two participants, 25 and 30 years old: a
woman born to Czech parents who spent her childhood in Denmark, and a man who
grew up in France, born to French father and Czech mother.
In
addition, 11 people replied to my questionnaire on the Internet. However, two
of the responds were not serious, so I eliminated them. A couple of other responds
were rather short, but there were some interesting points raised. All in all, I
must say that the Internet part of my research proved to be less successful:
direct contact between the respondent and the researcher was missing, and so was
the opportunity for clarification and additional questions or requests. On the
other hand, the replies were already written, so I did not have to spend hours
writing transcripts.
The
age of the respondents from the Internet survey ranged from 27 to their 40s,
there were 2 people from Russia, one from Australia, one from South Africa, one
from Bolivia, one from Thailand, one from the USA, one from Ukraine, and one
who grew up Hungary and whose mother is Czech and father Hungarian. In total,
there were 12 female and 8 male respondents in my research. Only 3 respondents
had a partner of the same nationality at the time of the survey.
As
to the professions represented in my survey, there were 2 students, 5
consultants (4 in the field of finance), 3 teachers, 2 artists, an IT
specialist, an office administrator, an economist, a project manager, a
self-employed, a web developer, a pharmacist, and a software developer. All the
participants except one had a university degree.
6 participants
came to the Czech Republic because of their partner (5 of them were Czech; one
not Czech, but got a job here), 3 participants came "for a change” ("to try
something different, to travel, and look for new career ideas”; "to travel, to
see another country, culture and learn about other people”), 3 came to study, 3
came to work, and 1 for business. 2 of the 3 "half-Czechs” came because they
wanted "to live here; it’s part of what I am”, or for "curiosity, need to
discover my "2nd home” in depth”; one does not actually live in the
Czech Republic, but she comes to regular visits. When the participants came to
the Czech Republic, they mostly intended to stay for at least 2 years, but all
of them have stayed longer than they originally intented. At the time of the
survey, their length of stay ranged from approximately 14 months to 16 years.
9
participants had lived in another foreign country for more than one year before
coming to the Czech Republic; 11 had not. When asked whether they parents were
of the same nationality / ethnicity / religion, 13 respondents answered yes, 7
respondents said no. All of the participants spoke at least two languages, one
of them being English. All except one have also been learning Czech.
For
most of the participants, meeting Czech people took place in shops,
restaurants, etc., or with the family of their partners. For some, it was also
at work, but they mostly only spoke Czech with those who could not speak
English. Only a few of them declared they had Czech friends and communicated in
Czech with them. On the other hand, there were also a few who tried to speak Czech
and complained about the attitude of Czech people: for not being helpful and
patient, and for switching to English. Nevertheless, one participant pointed
out that a foreigner trying to speak Czech tends to be received better
by Czechs.
Comments
on relationships with Czechs included: "Relationship is generally good but
always with the language barrier there, even with fluent English speakers.”
"People are people, I get on with some Czech, I don’t like some, as any other
people.” "It’s good. I’d like to be able to get closer to some of them.” "Yes –
both easy going and liberal.” "Yes, people like everywhere else!” "I would say
it’s good. Mostly because I speak the language and am partially Czech, so I
guess they don’t treat me as a total stranger.”
Some
of the replies as to whether they speak Czech were: "It is hard sometimes to
get them to speak slowly, clearly and simply.” "No. It’s difficult.” "Yes,
always with Czech people. I like to fit in.” "Yes – respect the culture /
nation.” "No. No point, they try in English.” "Yes, all the time.” "I try to
speak Czech when meeting Czech people but I don’t like them to expect when
knowing the length of my stay and the level of my Czech.” "Yes—it’s still
difficult and awkward, but it’s helping! Czech people are more willing to be
patient and help me when they see that I am trying.” "I never need to use much.
The conversation generally switches to English.” "Yes. I have to as most of my
colleagues don’t speak English and as I want to communicate with them, I have to
speak Czech. Also with older people and with shopkeepers etc. I can’t expect
them all to speak English. With my friends at times, although most of them like
to practise their English, so we end up speaking English.” "Yes, I always speak
Czech to Czeck people. But they never correct my mistakes :(”
When
asked whether they feel integrated, only a few (3) participants replied yes
without any reservations. Language was mentioned as the main barrier, but some
also mentioned their foreign origin, e.g. being Russian (negative attitude to
this particular nationality in the Czech Republic), being "not White”
(eliciting staring), or simply not being Czech (e.g. being referred to as "the
French” despite proficiency in Czech and Czech mother).
Some
of the responds were: "Almost. I think to fit in I need to understand what’s
happening around me – announcements, conversations etc. and I don’t yet.” "In
most of times. However, I feel sometimes some barrier due to language and also
the fact that I’m Russian.” "No, there is a big cultural gap and many Czech
people are shy to talk to foreigners.” "Somewhat. I have many more
acquaintances / friends than I did when I first came. I still feel bad making
Czech people with low levels of English communicate with me.” "Partially. I am
foreign and not very fluent in the language.” "Ehm... Yes and no – starting to
understand them, but far from...” "No and probably never will.” "Yes (and no).”
"Yes, but some time I am referred to "the French” which hurts me a bit...” "Still
not much as long as I cannot speak with them as much as I want. There are some
unfitted things that needed to be clearified.” "Not yet. Arrived too recently,
staying working abroad for too long.” "No – I am not Czech.” "Difficult
question. Sometimes. partly because I’m not White, so I can’t blend in. People
always notice me and stare. I’m like so obviously a foreigner. But at other
times, with my friends, I feel comfortable. I know them, they know me, so we
can even forget that we come from different countries and just be good friends
and that’s great.” "Integrated enough.” "Not really. It’s difficult. The only
place for me to get to know people is the office. But Czech don’t make friends
at the work place.”
Before summarizing the main results of the
survey, a few points should be raised: The participants did not quite represent
the composition of foreigners in the Czech Republic. All of them were highly
educated and residing in Prague – and all of them therefore speak of their
experience with Czechs they encounter in Prague. Only one of the participants
observed a difference between the attitude of Czechs from Prague and from
Moravia – in her experience, Prague people were more open and friendly. Reasons
were suggested by other participants: there are many foreigners in Prague, and
they do not live in segregated areas, they meet and "melt”, because Prague is
still not as huge as other capitals. Also, the knowledge and use of English
might be better and more frequent in Prague – people are more used to
communicating with foreigners. Nevertheless, Prague is a city, and that is also
the reason why some of the characteristics the participants (especially those
without a Czech partner) describe might apply to Czech people living in the city,
but not to those from the countryside. Those with Czech partners might have
greater insights from meeting Czech relatives or friends from other parts of
the Czech Republic.
The first impression a foreigner gets when
arriving to the Czech Republic is probably that Czechs are unsmiling, distant
or even rude people. This impression is reinforced by generally horrible
service provided in restaurants and shops. The respondents see several possible
causes: a relic of the communist era, an unfavourable system of wages and
management, or the tendency to separate work and private life, behaving
differently in each of them. While Czechs might be unhelpful in shops and
restaurants, a foreigner might be pleasantly surprised by their helpfulness in
the streets. In business contact, however, they do not seem to be quite
reliable.
Almost all the respondents have mentioned
another feature: there are two sides of Czechs. When they do not know you, they
are closed and reserved, but once you gain their friendship, you can rely on
their help, they are sincere and loyal, and they invite you to their families.
The respondents appreciated this feature especially in comparison with the
"easy love” of Latin cultures, such as French, Spanish, Italian, or South
American, where you get accepted immediately, but these ‘friendships’ can be
fake and short-lived.
Many participants also pointed out that the
ties and mutual support within families seem to be stronger in the Czech
Republic. However, some counter-opinions also appeared, e.g. from Italy, or
India. Language was a very important factor, as well as cultural background and
differences, especially with respondents from Asia. Some participants have
observed that gender distinctions and gender roles were stronger in the Czech
Republic than for example in the USA, or in Denmark. Czech parents also seemed
to be stricter to their children.
Another significant feature all respondents
agreed on was the unwillingness of Czech people to interfere. Some thought it
was associated with the formal and polite behaviour in public. While it was
regarded positively in certain areas by some, it was generally disapproved,
because it entailed lack of mutual interest and help in situations of distress,
and lack of assertiveness and defending one’s rights.
Prague was prevailingly appreciated for
general safety in the streets. However, the feeling of security was mostly not
caused or helped by the presence of the police, whose attitude and behaviour
was strongly criticized by the respondents: for pettiness, unhelpfulness and
susceptiveness to bribery. Bribery was also mentioned in connection with the
politicians and bureaucracy. On the other hand, some participants appreciated
the flexibility of Czechs, compared with rigid following of rules for example
in Britain, and their ability to come up with creative solutions to problems.
Some participants believed that there was
greater freedom and tolerance of different appearance in the Czech Republic.
While some of them praised that, some felt there should be more decency and
social control in this respect. Unfortunately, some of the respondents with
darker skin or Asian appearance have experienced encounters with skinheads and unacknowledged
general racism. Respondents felt foreigners were in general not quite accepted
in the Czech Republic, for language reasons or simply their ‘outside’ origin.
In addition, one participant noted an enduring negative perception of the
Russians. Nevertheless, another participant pointed out that the situation
might change as the Czech Republic hosts more foreigners and Czech children get
used to mixed collectives from a very young age. Thus, not only knowledge, but
also practical experience with intercultural communication will improve.
A few participants noticed that Czechs show
great appreciation for education and their culture. Some have also considered
the level of general knowledge as higher than in their home countries. Other
observations regarded Czechs’ love of sales and things given for free, or their
generally relaxed approach to life.
All in all, despite not feeling quite
included or integrated in the Czech society, most of the respondents managed to
adapt. Those who felt their cultural background, personality or lifestyle were
irreconcilable with the Czech reality might have actually already left the
country (such as the Indian, Australian, or one of the Americans). As the
Indian respondent complained, foreigners in the Czech Republic are required to
adjust, but what about the Czechs? "If they would have at least tried to
understand that this is a person from a different culture, that they have
different thinking of certain things and try to adjust...”
Wodak,
R., et al. (2009). The Discursive
Construction of National Identity. Second edition.
Hofstede,
G. Culture. Personal website. http://www.geerthofstede.nl/culture.aspx
[accessed 4 April 2011]
Hofstede,
G., et al. (2010). Cultures and
Organizations: intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival.
Third edition.
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