Scripting Refugees: Historians and Narrations of Refugeedom in Czechoslovak History

0567027 - MÚA 2023 RIV DE eng J - Journal Article
Frankl, Michal
Scripting Refugees: Historians and Narrations of Refugeedom in Czechoslovak History.
Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung. Roč. 71, č. 4 (2022), s. 555-586. ISSN 0948-8294
EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 819461 - UnRef
Source of funding: R - Framework programmes of European Commission
Keywords : Czechoslovakia * refugees * historiography
OECD category: History (history of science and technology to be 6.3, history of specific sciences to be under the respective headings)
Method of publishing: Open access
https://doi.org/10.25627/202271411254

The article analyses the current state of historical research on twentieth-century refugees who fled to Czechoslovakia. By highlighting parallels in the narratives of different types of migration, it demonstrates how methodological nationalism influences historiographic writing about refugees. It argues that most of the published research can be attributed to one of two broadly conceived scripts, one of which focuses on political refugees while the other addresses mass displacements due to war or ethnic cleansing. Political refugees are portrayed as active participants in cultural and political struggles, while the masses of refugees tend to be viewed as passive recipients of aid. The study illustrates how the production of historical sources by elite members of refugee groups on the one hand, and nation-states on the other, influences the structure of historical narratives, both in terms of what is emphasized and what goes unsaid or unheard.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0338294