Project information
Beyond the Village. Folk Cultures as Agents of Modernity, 1918-1945

This project examines folk cultures as active participants in and agents of political, economic social and cultural change in Czechoslovakia between 1918 and 1945. Examining the political, commercial and emancipatory roles of folk cultures (i.e. ceramics, garments, textiles, costumes, toys and furniture), the project views them as an organic phenomenon capable of engaging with the challenges of modernity.
The project is innovative in three aspects. 1. It interrogates local cultures which include not only Czech and Slovak but also Ruthenian, German, Hungarian, or Roma art and design. 2. It focuses on the transfer of folk cultures between geographies by looking at the roles it had for the diaspora in the USA. 3. It addresses the intensely gendered nature of folk cultures and analyses women’s role as producers, consumers and promoters of folk modernity.