Institutionalisation as a point of controversy? The impact of dominant sociological institutionalisation of gender and feminism on the Czech feminist discourse
Abstract
The feminist and gender scene that has formed in the Czech Republic over the past twenty years is highly diverse. Besides a number of NGOs targeting various sectors of society and a wealth of topics, it also contains several academic institutions - Gender & Sociology at the Czech Academy of Science, an undergraduate programme in GS at the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University in Brno, a postgraduate programme in GS at the Faculty of Humanities at Charles university in Prague (in chronological order).
Predictions from the late 1990s by some scholars (Johnsson, Šmídová) claimed feminism would rather thrive in Czech academia than elsewhere in society forming a specific kind not so much based in grassroots activism. In my paper, I will first outline the overall framework of the Czech feminist scene focusing on the role institutions have played in its development.
I will then move on to a discourse analysis of interviews with actors on the scene. These come both from the academia and beyond, many defy any clear affiliation as they keep moving between different settings employing different subjectivities.
I am interested in seeing how these actors reflect (or do not) on the importance of feminist theories and institutions for their work and life taking into consideration their own institutional background. The aim of the paper is to show whether the predictions mentioned above fit the actual shape of the scene today.
In addition, I am also trying to outline what are the influences (both positive and negative) of the dominance of sociological discourse on gender within the scene, especially in its academic form.