My data set comes from eighteen one on one interviews that I conducted and the written responses and group discussions from the six high school classes (sixty four students) that I lead through this activity in the Moravian town of Uherské Hradiště. My interviewees were mostly young Czechs in their twenties and a handful of older individuals: Czech professors, academics, and professionals related to my topic. I interviewed professors who taught about the Czech Republic in European History, a theology professor and a translator of Buddhist texts, and a medieval manuscript curator who worked at a monastery. The one on one interviews were based in Prague, although not all of my interviewees were from the Prague area. I used contacts from friends who studied abroad in Prague as well as some of the connections and friends I made while living in Prague. Once I started interviewing people, my interviewees connected me with other people that were willing to speak with me and even advertised what I was doing on their Facebook pages to gage levels of interest among their social networks. I met with a Czech student at Bates, his friends, and even the Czech friend of a friend who gets her haircut by the same woman as I do in Denver. I contacted professors and asked for other suggestions of who to contact. By the time I was in Prague and interviewing I was overbooked with more messages of interest flooding my email mailbox; I had to turn interviewees down for lack of time.
I interviewed people from Northern Bohemia, Moravia and from central and outlying Prague. Moravia is typically more traditional and more religious. I was aware of this difference when I interviewed students in Uherské Hradiště. Some of my Prague interviewees were from
Northern Bohemia; several were even originally from Slovakia but had been living in the Czech Republic. While collecting data that would be equally representative for all regions in the Czech Republic was not possible, I was happy with the regional diversity of my interviewees. I also made a point of discussing with interviewees which regions they thought to be more religious, secular, or traditional and why. Generally my interviewees identified Moravia as most religious and traditional and Bohemia in general as less religious and less traditional. Some interviewees pinpointed Northern Bohemia as most secular since the people living in that area have
continually struggled economically. I was aware that interviewing English speaking Prague residents may have influenced my data set. In Prague, like most other city dwellers around the world, people tend to be more liberal and have exposure to more different ideas and people, which may have influenced their responses.
The fact that I was interacting with proficient English speakers might indicate that my interviewees were more educated since they were proficient in a non-native language. The level of English fluency of my interviewees and the students I surveyed also gets back to my point that I am also unintentionally confronting how my Western comprehension of different concepts like spirituality are understood and accessed in Czech society. I was aware that the generally young population that I interviewed (aside from the older professors and professionals that I
interviewed) had a post communist perspective, which could increase their exposure to Western ideas and culture. I sought out this young perspective because as the Czech Republic becomes increasingly more secular overtime, I was curious to interact with the most recent generation of Czechs. Initially I intended to interview young Czechs and an older family member of friend but I soon realized that under time constraints and language barriers this might be logistically impossible. I attempted to reconcile this change by asking my interviewees how their beliefs
compared to older family members so that I could get some of the same perspectives that I would have if I interviewed their older family members or friends that were from a different generation.
When interviewing high school students in Moravia there was a clear language barrier, and social setting that may have influenced my responses. I interviewed students ages 16-19 in their English classes. These students had a varying degree of English language knowledge and the dynamic of each classroom influenced how students responded. Some students were nervous and shy to speak in English about this topic, while other groups of more confident students spoke out in the class discussion and asked clarifying questions about the wording and meaning of the questions I posed. This dynamic could have been a result of many different things, maybe the culture difference inherent in my questions was as unarming as a language barrier or maybe students were unprepared to think about these ideas on a whim. I quickly realized that certain normative ideas in American culture were not as present in Czech culture. For example the idea of community is a concept ingrained in American culture that is not present in Czech culture and might even be negatively connoted because of its similarity to the word “communism.” I found myself explaining the idea of community to the student groups and to my individual interviews. I will tap into these cultural differences that could have affected my surveying and interviewing in more detail later when I discuss the responses and results from my interviewing.
The last element of my research while in the Czech Republic was my general awareness and observations of Christmas displays in Prague. I used Christmas as a case study for potential evidence of secular, spiritual, or religious elements in Czech culture since I was in the Czech Republic leading up to Christmas, from the 10th to the 23rd of December. I went to various
Christmas Markets, walked through the several shopping centers in Prague, attended a Christmas party with my hosts, and was aware of infiltrating Christmas themes and details throughout
Prague. I wanted to see if there was a heightened sense of commercialism present during the Christmas period. Likewise I searched for the presence of Santa Claus (a potential indicator of creeping Western influence) and looked for marketing potential for Czech culturally based Christmas traditions like devils or angles from St. Nicholas’s day or even a commercialization of Ježíšek. Since I was only in Prague during these two weeks I was unable to compare what I observed to the commercial activity during other times of the year. However, I could compare what I saw and experienced to the types of Christmas festivities, advertisements, and
commercialism that I have experienced living in the United States. I was also able to match up anecdotal information and extrapolate from my interviews and surveying what sort of Christmas time activities that might relate to commercialism, like cookie selling and baking, were important in Czech culture.