C zechs

Abstract

The Czech nation was born out of a nineteenth‐ and early twentieth‐century “national revival” movement ( národní obrození ) whose proponents portrayed themselves as “awakening” long dormant, primordial Czech identities that had been suppressed through centuries of foreign rule. Two hundred years later, the revivalists' efforts continue to inspire national sentiment but the political–economic, social, and cultural contexts out of which national identities are produced, both in Europe and more globally, have radically changed. Contemporary Czech nationhood is formulated in response to historically new phenomena, such as the legacies of state socialism and the Czech Republic's membership in the European Union, in addition to addressing more enduring concerns over the importance of the Czech language and territorial sovereignty.