Representing Researchers: Issues in Doing Research on Publishing and Censorship in Social Sciences in post-1968 Czech Republic

OATES-INDRUCHOVÁ, Libora. Representing Researchers: Issues in Doing Research on Publishing and Censorship in Social Sciences in post-1968 Czech Republic. In BASEES Annual Conference, Cambridge U. 2008.

Basic information

• Original name: Representing Researchers: Issues in Doing Research on Publishing and Censorship in Social Sciences in post-1968 Czech Republic
• Name in Czech: Representing Researchers: Issues in Doing Research on Publishing and Censorship in Social Sciences in post-1968 Czech Republic
• Name (in English): Representing Researchers: Issues in Doing Research on Publishing and Censorship in Social Sciences in post-1968 Czech Republic
• Authors: OATES-INDRUCHOVÁ, Libora.
• Edition: BASEES Annual Conference, Cambridge U. 2008.

Other information

• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Organization unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• Keywords in English: Conference presentation
• Tags: Conference presentation
• Tags: International impact

Abstract

Conducting research of post-1968 academic publishing and censorship in the Czech Republic brought to light issues of methodology and written presentation originating in the sensitive nature of the project. The research consisted of interviews with academics who had been active in research and published between 1968 and 1989 within official structures and who continued to be respected by their peers also in the post-1989 times. The power hierarchy between the interviewer and the interviewees, the vested interests of the interviewees in the research subject, and the different generational positioning of the researcher and the interviewees produced specific difficulties which had to be addressed during the interviews and, particularly, in the written output. This paper will propose the construction of a polyphonic text with distinct narrative features as a way of preserving the tensions and ambiguities of the interview narratives and the different generational positions of the research participants. Such treatment of the research material will also foreground the research process itself, and thus achieve complex mapping out of research conditions and professional survival in post-1968 social sciences.

Abstract (in Czech)

Conducting research of post-1968 academic publishing and censorship in the Czech Republic brought to light issues of methodology and written presentation originating in the sensitive nature of the project. The research consisted of interviews with academics who had been active in research and published between 1968 and 1989 within official structures and who continued to be respected by their peers also in the post-1989 times. The power hierarchy between the interviewer and the interviewees, the vested interests of the interviewees in the research subject, and the different generational positioning of the researcher and the interviewees produced specific difficulties which had to be addressed during the interviews and, particularly, in the written output. This paper will propose the construction of a polyphonic text with distinct narrative features as a way of preserving the tensions and ambiguities of the interview narratives and the different generational positions of the research participants. Such treatment of the research material will also foreground the research process itself, and thus achieve complex mapping out of research conditions and professional survival in post-1968 social sciences.

Abstract (in English)

Conducting research of post-1968 academic publishing and censorship in the Czech Republic brought to light issues of methodology and written presentation originating in the sensitive nature of the project. The research consisted of interviews with academics who had been active in research and published between 1968 and 1989 within official structures and who continued to be respected by their peers also in the post-1989 times. The power hierarchy between the interviewer and the interviewees, the vested interests of the interviewees in the research subject, and the different generational positioning of the researcher and the interviewees produced specific difficulties which had to be addressed during the interviews and, particularly, in the written output. This paper will propose the construction of a polyphonic text with distinct narrative features as a way of preserving the tensions and ambiguities of the interview narratives and the different generational positions of the research participants. Such treatment of the research material will also foreground the research process itself, and thus achieve complex mapping out of research conditions and professional survival in post-1968 social sciences.