[academic event report] Prague and its Myths, CEFRES, Prague 2024

Upozornění redakce / Notice of the Editorial Board: Redakční rada neodpovídá za obsahovou náplň jednotlivých příspěvků a také za jazykovou a stylistickou úroveň článků otištěných v cizích jazycích. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily shared by the Editorial Board. The authors are responsible for language in case of articles printed in foreign languages. Od roku 2009 jsou abstrakty článků Slovanského přehledu uveřejňovány v databázi The Central European Journal of Social Science and Humanities (CEJSH)-http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl společně se jménem autora, adresou zaměstnavatele a e-mailovou adresou. Časopis je také registrován v databázi SCOPUS a European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences (ERIH PLUS). Since 2009, all abstracts of Slovanský přehled are published in The Central European Journal of Social Science and Humanities (CEJSH)-http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/, along with the author's name, institutional affiliation, address and e-mail. Slovanský přehled is also registered in SCOPUS and in European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Scien ces (ERIH PLUS).

METU Studies in Development, 1995

One of my earliest attempts to formulate the argument developed in my books The Coasts of Bohemia and Prague, Capital of the Twentieth Century was in a keynote lecture I wrote for the conference New Directions in Writing European History at the Middle Eastern Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, on October 25-6, 1994. I was one of three keynote speakers, along with Paul Langford and John Hall. My lecture was titled “Prague as a Vantage Point on Modern European History. ” The conference proceedings were published in English in METU Studies in Development, vol. 22, no. 3, 1995. I reproduce my paper together with Fuat Keyman's comments and the transcript of the discussion here. My lecture, along with those of John Hall and Paul Langford, has now appeared in Turkish translation in Huri Islamoglu (ed.), Neden Avrupa Tarihi (Istanbul: Iletisim Yayincilik, 2014).

Prague historical ethnology in the beginning of the third millennium, 2019

Philosophy & Social Criticism, 2017

Already during my undergraduate studies in South Africa (Stellenbosch 1982-4) I encountered the tradition of critical theory and the name of Ju ¨rgen Habermas. During my master studies in Pretoria (on philosophical hermeneutics and postmodernism) I touched upon the Habermas-Gadamer debate. Hereafter I had the wonderful opportunity to study for two semesters in Germany. In a magical summer semester (Frankfurt 1989), I did not only attend the lectures and seminars of Ju ¨rgen Habermas, Karl-Otto Apel and Hubert Dreyfus (guest professor), but also the seminar of the young Axel Honneth (Habermas' assistant) where I also met Rainer Forst. When I returned to South Africa to do my doctorate on Habermas' aesthetics in Port Elizabeth, I stayed in contact with Honneth and Forst. It was through their goodwill that I got my first invitation to Prague in April 1994. That first Prague conference is still vivid in my mind. The old city with its cobblestones, mysterious alleys, the Charles Bridge in all its splendor and the castle on the top of the hill was just emerging out of the cold war years. The metro took one among the beautiful people of Prague, with their soft Slavic tongue, to the different underground stations -with Hradcanska Station the one that leads you to the conference at the Villa Lana in the Bubenec ˇsuburb.

Heritage at Risk, 2015

New Perspectives, 2019

The Prague Address, for the European International Studies Association (EISA) 12th Pan-European Conference on International Relations, Prague, September 12, 2018. An early version of what became the introduction to my book Postcards from Absurdistan: Prague at the End of History (Princeton University Press, 2022).

Prague and Bohemia: Medieval Art, Architecture and Cultural Exchange in Central Europe, 2009

Museum History Journal, 2022

From the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, Prague transformed from the provincial hub of Bohemia to a modern metropolis, head of the Czech nation, and capital of the new Czechoslovak state. This article explores what place Prague City Museum inhabited during this process. In particular, it looks at how the role of the museum was debated concerning its location and construction, in the meaning-making practices related to its collections, and in reflections on its somewhat weak outreach to the larger public. Analysis of the museum’s permanent exhibitions as well as four temporary exhibitions organised in 1895, 1916, and 1934-35, shed further light on how the city was conceptualised and its national historical narrative interwoven with that of its urban past, while also discussing various modes of representation and signification used in promoting its existence.

Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture, 2017

Our work concerns the study of the ancient Jewish Quarter Josefov, the urban center of Staré Mĕsto, in Prague. This Quarter represents a well-defined urban fact, recognizable within the fabric of the historic city. Over the centuries, it has influenced the shape of the city and has become one of the most important and characteristic elements through its structure and spaces, its geography and its architecture (the Synagogue or the Jewish cemetery). However, this quarter also represents a fundamental social fact for the city of Prague as it is born from and organized around a very strong and historically rooted cultural identity. This cultural identity is characterized by uses, social customs, and traditions of a Jewish community that has been part of the history of the city over the centuries, helping to create myths and legends around it. The aim of this research is to preserve and recognize that cultural identity, using a strategic vision that starts from the reconstruction of pieces of this cultural testimony via the recovery of small parts of the urban fabric in the center or on the edge of this urban island.

2019