Department of Social and Cultural History

The major research focus of the department is society in the former Czechoslovakia in the context of the socio-political changes that took place during the period of communist rule and the period of transformation after 1989. The phenomenon of power or governing, the interpretation of day-to-day life, and the themes of political-cultural changes and mental shifts are given particular attention. The research is interdisciplinary, and many diverse social scientific approaches are used; it does not limit itself to traditional historical methods,but takes impetus from related scientific branches. The basic research focuses on the recognition of individuals’ motivations, their stances and opinions and retrospective interpretations. Furthermore, it concentrates on the mechanisms of informational and decision-making processes functioning within certain conditioned groups or on wide issues relating to the history of everyday life and ‘everydayness’.

The Oral History Center of  plays an important part within this department. On the basis of oral-historical sources, it seeks general knowledge of the past with the help of reflections of ‘history from the bottom-up’.

Members

head: Vilímek Tomáš
Bortlová#Vondráková Hana, Černá Marie, Devátá Markéta, Fikarová Lucie, Hlaváček Jiří, Holečková Marta#Edith, Houda Přemysl, Krátká Lenka, Mücke Pavel, Rameš Václav, Schindler-Wisten Petra

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