is a research fellow at Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín. He is a doctoral graduate of sociology at Palacký University in Olomouc with a dissertation thesis based on ethnographic research of knowledge networks in free and open source software development. In his work, he addresses the relationship between digital technologies and knowledge dynamics. The topic of knowledge production and transmission represents a general research interest which navigates his work into areas such as technology development or collective memory. He gained experience with qualitative research strategies while participating in several research projects funded by the Internal Grant Agency of Palacký University or by the Czech Science Foundation.

Abstract:The paper focuses on reflection of the First World War in presidential speeches in years 1990-2013. This period delimits mandates of former Czech presidents Václav Havel and Václav Klaus. Ways in which both presidents referred to the historical event and in which they utilized its interpretation for legitimization of their political goals are compared. As its theoretical framework, the study utilizes an approach that has been developed by Jeffrey Alexander and Philip Smith as part of their program in cultural sociology. The study aims to identify the most significant cultural codes and narrative strategies of the analyzed speeches and to relate them to (supra)nationalistic metanarratives that they help to maintain. The study also points to the fact that presidential speeches represent an important case of utilization of past for the purposes of legitimization of state policy while also being a practice with which states are established.

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In general terms, this study is concerned with the use of political memory in the processes of creating, maintaining and transforming symbolic boundaries and the role political memory plays with regard to legitimization of state policies. The aim of the study is to show on both theoretical and empirical levels how the concept of political memory could be fruitfully combined with that of symbolic boundaries. To achieve this, the study draws on analysis of various types of material related to a historical event that in the Czech context bears special relevance – World War I and the establishment of the independent Czechoslovak state after its end. The focal point for analysis was presidential speeches from the period 1990 to 2013, but the analysis also included their media coverage to indicate contextual information. The study identifies basic oppositions present in political memory related to the war events and shows how these oppositions serve as basis for drawing symbolic boundaries, which eventually translate to particular state policies.