Women as Essential Citizens in the Czech National Movement: The Making of the Modern Czech Community

by Dása Francíková

Overview

This study uses the Czech national movement in the Austrian Empire between the late 1820s and the late 1850s to examine the complex set of social, physical, physiological, and moral requirements through which women became crucial social and political actors responsible for the existence of modern national communities. Situated within the larger frameworks of public and private spheres, contemporary Czech discussions of the positionality of women, and an understanding of the categories of gender and “woman” as fluid concepts, this book analyzes how Czech nationalists—in relation to and in comparison with other nineteenth-century nationalist movements—proposed that women become the central agents of the process to guarantee the continuity of the nation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498548090
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	05/31/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	170
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Dáša Frančíková is an independent scholar who previously taught in the Department of Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Negotiating Spaces and the Boundaries of the Public and Private: Women and the Construction of the Modern Czech National Community
Chapter 2: “My Dear Only One”: Women, Nationalist Romantic Friendships, and the Boundaries of Public and Private
Chapter 3: The Queer Story of Kateřina Maršalová: The Female Soldier, the Ideal Woman, and Masculine Femininity
Chapter 4: Women Guaranteeing the Future Existence and Belonging in the National Community
Chapter 5: “A Matter of Physical Health and Strength”: Disciplining the Female Body and Reproducing the Modern Czech Community

Editorial Reviews

This fascinating study draws on rarely consulted Czech sources—novels, private correspondence, and advice literature—to complicate our understanding of the Czech national movement’s first three decades. Contrary to the prevailing myth of gender harmony among Czech nationalists, Dáša Frančíková reveals women’s agency in negotiating their private sphere responsibilities and public sphere aspirations. Most significantly, Frančíková highlights the importance of female friendships in strengthening women’s resolve to become active participants in the burgeoning national movement.

Cynthia Paces

The power of language to construct Czechness is well explored in the book.. . .

Slavic Review