Imre Kertész Kolleg Jena

Staff Publications

Bookcover We did not Make it Yet: Imagining the Others and Historical Memory during the Postcommunist Transformation

Stanislav Holubec

Ještě nejsme za vodou

Obrazy druhých a historická paměť v období postkomunistické transformace

Nakladatelství Scriptorium
ISBN 978-80-88013-07-5
Praha 2015
312

Defining one's own history and demarcating one's place in the world are the primary tasks of identity-building for modern nations. Every ethnic community asks these questions: What was our past like, what is our present condition, and what kind of future lies ahead? Who are our neighbours, and what kind of world surrounds us? The monograph offers readers a picture of the collective identity of Czech post-communist society as it emerged in the media in the 1990s. It focuses on two categories in particular-the memory of modern Czech history and the perception of the country's neighbours-and attempt to show how they are interconnected. The second aim of the monograph is to place Czech post-communist identity within the broader framework of identity formation in twentieth-century Czech society. The third aim is to compare Czech representations of the world and of their own history with those of other post-communist countries.