Sugarcoating Socialism

I had an interesting conversation yesterday. After church, a group of us went to lunch and one man, let's call him Leo, asked me what I do. So after I explained my research, he boiled it down to a few keywords, healthcare, migration, 21^st century…to which I added "and post-socialism." Which led him to question my use of the word "socialism" instead of communism. I explained that we use them essentially as synonyms, although that we know – "we" meaning in academia – that although there is a difference that we are talking about the same time period. To which he asked why we don't just call a spade a spade? And I just said that I use a variety of terms, including post-socialism, -communism, -Soviet, -Cold War, -1989…and that it's really about a time period. He pauses and says "okay, you're an anthropologist…I'm just trying to figure out who would want to sugarcoat this." At this point, I was getting a little offended and said "we do not sugarcoat it." I tried to explain that first, we weren't sugarcoating anything and that other people in fields such as history, economics, political science, sociology, etc use the term post-socialism. That the term is more neutral. That many of our organizations and journals use "socialism" rather than "communism." That in my view, we can all agree that these governments were socialist, especially when they called themselves socialist republics, they were run by the socialist parties, etc. But that not everyone agrees that we can use the term communism because true communism was never met. He agreed that he had heard that argument before but he seemed to want to put it in the same category that I would put comments that the Holocaust never happened or that the 1969 Moon landing took place in a Hollywood backlot. I was basically trying to make the claim that we use a neutral term because we are scientists but he just kept accusing me – and I'm not overreacting because his tone and words indicated this – of belittling the terror and trauma that people went through during the Soviet era (he liked the term post-Soviet era). He also said that by using "socialism" that we are painting the Western socialist with the same brush – to which I countered that it's about context and that any educated person knows (yes, I was getting a little catty here) that we don't mean the same type of socialism when we talk about the former Eastern Bloc, or even China or Cuba, that we do about France or Sweden. But that I understand how that word can be used as a boogeyman, like it has recently in our own Congress while debating the bailouts. I guess what bothered me about this conversation was that I felt that I could not influence him to see my way and if not was it my fault? That at the end of the conversation he seemed to think that what I do is try to erase the bad times…Was I not making my argument strong enough? Or was it him? Oh, and I forgot to mention that this is an American. I believe his wife is Czech. I know that words have power. And we have discussed the use of terminology in our classes. So, maybe this conversation helped me to justify to myself why I lean towards certain terms and not others.

Fieldwork Magic

Some days you just have the best interviews. This had happened to me a few times. Last month, I met a woman who is doctor and a little older who within 3 minutes of talking to me started to tell me what it was like to be a woman and a doctor during communism (her word not mine…maybe I need to rethink my last post…). We have emailed each other and now she has offered to show me pictures from her family – dad and uncle were also doctors – and invited me to her house…hopefully, we'll get together in a few weeks.

Then, about a week ago, I had one of those interviews that just revitalized me. I had been in a bit of a slump. Procrastinating. Lazy. Tired. Okay, mostly just lazy. But then, chatting with one of my nurses, trying to think of something to talk about, she told me about a phone call that she had received from a hospital trying to recruit her…essentially trying to poach her from the recruitment firm! It was awesome! I was able to get into some issues that I had been trying to get at and this was the door that I needed. I can't go into too much detail because I'm not through with this topic yet and I have to analyze it, so you'll just have to wait until the book comes out I guess J. Regardless, you just never know when that little piece of information will turn into something amazing. We hear about these experiences from other fieldworkers, but it is just so good to have it happen to me! So if you want to know how fieldwork is going…it's going pretty darn good these days!

Olomouc and Poet’s Corner

In the summer of 2006, I spent 7 weeks in Olomouc, a lovely city in Moravia. Sometimes called a smaller version of Prague, it is a quiet little city with a lot of history and culture. While I spent the last month of that stay at language school and lived in the dorm, the first 3 weeks I stayed at the Poet's Corner hostel. It is one of my favorite hostels. Not that I'm as widely traveled as some, it is the most comfortable place I have stayed and Greg and Francie, the owners, make sure of that. They really work hard to create a fun and comfortable atmosphere, they know their residents and appreciate their returners or regulars. Recently, I've had the chance to return to Olomouc and Poet's. I'm actually writing this sitting in their common room.

Since not all of my interview participants live in Prague, I have offered to travel to them. A few weeks ago, I came to Olomouc for an interview and spent the weekend. It was my first time back since 2006 and when I got off the train I smiled. Despite some really crappy experiences I had here, I really adore this city.

So, what crappy experiences? Well, many of you reading this will remember the eye infection I got while here, or Stupid Eye as it was named by my friend Karen, who incidentally was working at Poet's at the time.

Karen and I post-Stupid Eye.

Word of caution. If you are going to an outdoor music festival, where there is no running water, and you have an itchy eye, DO NOT STICK A DIRTY FINGER IN YOUR EYE. I ended up with a scratched cornea full of bacteria. Luckily, Poet's folks knew where to send me, plopped me in cab and sent me to an English-speaking eye doctor. She gave me a prescription for eye drops (every 15 minutes) and told me that when I return the next day to bring a book to read and my house shoes because they may have to keep me overnight. When I left the eye doctor, I had no idea where I was because I really couldn't keep my eye open to see where the cab was going so I was essentially mostly blind (I couldn't keep my left eye open) and lost. I finally found a bus that was going to the train station, from where I could navigate back to the hostel, going by the one pharmacy open on a Sunday. When I got back to Poet's, they were concerned and friendly and hooked me up with a private room for a few nights while I got through the worst part of the infection. For the next 2 weeks, I was the resident gimp and it was fine. Before, Stupid Eye struck, I has having a blast. Wake up in the morning, find people in the kitchen and have the following conversation:

What are you doing today?

I don't know yet. What are you doing today?

Oh, I was thinking of

…exploring Olomouc

…visiting a fairy tale castle – Bouzov – which we did and even though we studied the instructions on how to get there, still go the bus schedule mixed up but got there and back anyway.

...watching the World Cup semi-finals...at a bar

…going to the music festival, where I discovered a great Czech folk band, Jarrett….

and made friends with some guys from Ostrava who made really good gin…

Of course, Stupid Eye put a stop to that but evenings at Poet's involved all sorts of random fun. Sometimes it was a game of Settlers of Catan, other times it was an impromptu concert/singalong.

As for the other crappy experience, let's just say that not only did I not learn a lot at language school, I did not have a very good time either and leave it at that.

But coming back was wonderful. I ate at some of my favorite restaurants. Visited some of my favorite spots in the city.

Got to see the square without the outdoor café seating.

Now, I'm not complaining about that – I've spent many hours myself in the outdoor café seating but it is nice to see them put away for a while and the square in a more "natural" state – I know, what is "natural" or "authentic" or whatever…today's natural is yesterday's unnatural. Anyway, it was nice to come back and relax a bit. Yesterday I went to Ostrava for a few interviews. It took almost 4 hours on a train and, well, even people who live in Ostrava tell me not to visit because there is nothing to see. It's an industrial town. So, I 'obviously' wanted to spend the night in Olomouc. After the interviews, I hopped on the train for the hour and half (back towards Prague) to Olomouc. I checked in at Poet's, went to Caesar's for a bowl of creamy pasta and a glass of wine and then crashed back at the hostel. This morning, I'm relaxing before having lunch with a friend and heading back to Prague on the Pendolino…which is another story for another time…

Dancing in the Streets

Friday night, I got to see Gipsy.cz again, for free, at a festival on Wenceslas Square. It was "Taste of Europe: A Festival of European Regions in Prague" coinciding with EU talks on European regions. At the foot of Wenceslas Square, they had food and craft booths from countries like Holland, Romania, France, Croatia, Greece, and a variety of Czech areas. There was some food and crafts, but mostly wine. They also had a stage set up for musicians from Europe, including Gipsy.cz. I got there early and wandering around a bit. Had a glass of wine from France. Listened to the Greek rapper do his show. Sniffed a little paint…on accident. I couldn't figure out why I was smelling paint thinner until I saw a homeless man walking near me with an open can of paint thinner. Then, I found a place close to the stage. Next to a bunch of homeless guys. I think they were, or at least some of them were, Romani. In addition to their coloring – most people with darker complexions living in the Czech Republic, who are extremely poor, are Romani – they also heckled Gipsy a bit and at one point yelled for a czardas, traditionally a Hungarian folk music style, it has been popularized in Roma music. I think they got it – although I know their music, I can't necessarily tell the rhythms that each song is based on – because they started to dance very excitedly. Throughout the concert, they were having a really good time.

A few highlights of this performance, was the Michael Jackson beat boxing. Gipsy had to fill a few minutes so he hit the mic with his Michael Jackson routine. I found a video of him doing it on youtube, so if you're interested.

Then, I noticed that he was wearing a Houston Astros baseball cap! I wasn't sure at first, but at one point I saw the emblem on the back used on the MLB paraphernalia and I kept watching until I got a good look and yes, it spelled A-S-T-R-O-S. Being that this is the only pro team that I have followed my entire lifetime, I was pleased. Next stop, Eurovision!

ADDENDUM: Nope, no racism here! An extremist group is protesting Gipsy's nomination for the Eurovision competition. Their main argument is that Gipsy.cz was nominated without a nation-wide competition (although their latest album was #3 on the World music charts) but they are a well-known anti-Roma party. ARGH!

Last night I went to a small theater for an usual but brilliant play, Chaplinův Proces, or Chaplin's Trial. The following is from the writer/director, Miřenka Čechová, who actually played the lead last night.

Chaplin´s Trial

An existential nonverbal slapstick bringing together two great artists who knew how to expose the absurdity of the world – Charlie Chaplin and Franz Kafka – with a live blaring punk concert peeling the plaster and exposing what should have remained concealed.

In this production by Spitfire Company, Josef K. – the harrowed protagonist of Kafka's The Trial, an archetype representing us all, someone who can and probably will be eaten by the System – is replaced by a kind of Everyman in whom we gradually identify the features of Chaplin. The upstanding man is replaced by an anarchist, blind faith in truth succumbs to reality. At times skeptical, at times exceedingly idealistic, contradictory, alternating aspects of ordinary human existence with a slight dose of hyperbole.

Chaplin was no random choice, of course. His life and work sufficiently justify his role as an adversary to the System, a defender of the "discriminated majority." And The Trial, this "metaphor for the battle against worldly individualism," offers the performance a timeless story whose antihero could be anyone at anytime.

First, it was different. No "real" dialogue. Some words, here and there, but mostly gibberish or made up words (or from a language with which I am not familiar), so it was much like a silent film. It was extremely physical and abstract but even with my limited knowledge of Kafka and Chaplin, I was able to generally follow along. I admit that I have not read as much Kafka as I probably should and most of what I know about Chaplin, I know from the biography about his life that I saw many years ago. That being said, I have always been moved by the way that Kafka wrote about totalitarianism. Watching last night, the scholarly part of my brain kicked into high gear and I started thinking about Foucault's subject formation and the power of the panopticon, and self-censorship. What I found most powerful, though, is the lead being played by a woman. If I understand correctly, she filled in for a man who was the lead previously. I cannot imagine the role being played by a man. I am looking at this through a post-socialist perspective and maybe I am adding a layer. During the Soviet era, men were emasculated while women were masculinized, in many ways. By having a woman, not only be created as a subject of the system but to also have her become a man, an androgynous character was even more powerful for me. In one scene, she is trying to prove that she is a woman although she looks like a man – or at least that was my interpretation. The punk music was perfectly suited to the genre and added a raw, industrial feel to the play. Overall, I thought it was brilliant and while I know that I did not get it all and it is the type of theater that I don't usually attend, I was wow'ed and glad that I went. The Czechs are known for doing different and innovative theater; I'm glad that I am getting a chance to experience it.