Abstract
This chapter discusses resistance towards communist regime and ideology as experienced by a 13-year-old daughter of a protestant minister, growing up in a small town in socialist Czechoslovakia during the 1980s. Using anthropological lens and drawing on autoethnographic material, I critically reflect and comment on my original diary entries and letters to a Russian penfriend. The essay is set against theatre framework of Marc Abélès and the perspective of a serious play by Pierre Bourdieu. Socialist childhood is perceived as a play; the school is portrayed as a stage, where acts of resistance take place; school personnel as well as pupils and parents are envisioned simultaneously and interchangeably as protagonists, directors, and spectators of the play, in which theatre is often perceived as reality and vice versa.
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Notes
- 1.
The town is a part of the Czech Republic today.
- 2.
Velvet revolution, which set off the change of a socialist regime into a democratic state, took place in November 1989.
- 3.
Since they were in foreign language, I have always composed a draft first, to avoid mistakes.
- 4.
During the 1980s, education was compulsory for children from age 6 (grade 1) up to 14 or 15 (grade 8). After this period, children sat entrance exams for high school (4 years), or apprenticeship (3 years).
- 5.
Emic narrative represents a personal memory, while etic narrative describes the event from the perspective of an authority—a historian, politician, and so on. The author shows on several examples that it is the latter which changes more dramatically over the time, copying the changing ideological framework of a society.
- 6.
Pavel was a fellow minister, a friend of my father, who visited our family often.
- 7.
The ‘unemployed’ status did not exist during the communist time.
- 8.
Other two possibilities were (A) to achieve only As (1st grade) on all school reports throughout the entire school history (such child was accepted for higher education of his/her choice without having to sit entrance exams) and (B) to pass talent exams and to be admitted into a conservatoire. In the 1980s, in this segment of schooling, talent was considered more important than political profile of students.
- 9.
One of the most frequent child’s commands in Czech is ‘nežaluj!’, which translates as ‘do not tell on other children!’
- 10.
Example of such behaviour can be seen in a Czech film Cesta to hlubin študákovy duše from 1939.
- 11.
The other being compliance.
- 12.
Prominent communist pop singers and actors regularly performed at foreign socialist variety shows, broadcasted over the communist bloc. The most famous being Ein Kessel Buntes from East Germany.
- 13.
Literary character from the book of Karl May. Winnetou is a headman of Apache Indian tribe, Old Shatterhand is his brother-in-blood, coming originally from Germany. Together they attempt to keep piece between American Indians’ tribes and settlers from Europe. Karl May’s books were also a source of screenplays for numerous films, popular in the East-European block since 1960s.
- 14.
Catalogues of mail selling company called Burda Moden, originally from West Germany. Used and dated catalogues were much treasured by Czech women and tailors.
- 15.
Stepanova Ljudmila from Kiev was my penfriend during my childhood; this is an extract from a letter to her.
- 16.
Most foreign films had Czech dabbing.
- 17.
In original, it was called Kronika města Kocourkova by Ondřej Sekora.
- 18.
Here meaning the central area of the country and cultural cities and sites where tourist travelled.
- 19.
See Vejražka (2012).
- 20.
Winnetou was filmed in Yugoslavia by a German director.
- 21.
In his speech on Červený Hrádek, General Secretary of the Communist Party Milouš Jakeš called students who started the Velvet Revolution in November 1989 ‘some children.’ This terminology was used in order to diminish reasonability of their action, as well as an appeal to the general and political public to take counteraction, since nobody wants to live in a country, where children rule the adults. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkVvPLXN2xo (21.1.2016).
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Kašparová, I. (2018). Growing Up as Vicar’s Daughter in Communist Czechoslovakia: Politics, Religion, and Childhood Agency Examined. In: Silova, I., Piattoeva, N., Millei, Z. (eds) Childhood and Schooling in (Post)Socialist Societies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62791-5_5
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