Blurring the boundaries or widening the gap? Academic feminism and/versus activism in the Czech context
Abstract
The academic/activist divide is a topic relevant to all leanings of feminism. The debate has been going on in all branches of Western feminism at least since the foundation of women’s and gender as well as feminist studies at universities and colleges.
It is still very vivid as is manifested by the plethora of articles dedicated to the subject, usually pointing to the claims of mainstream (social) science to at least implicit objectivism predicated on freedom from ideology. This is juxtaposed with activist roots of feminism and feminist theories of subjectivity and identity.
The debate has also been reflected in the Czech feminist discourse – a round table was held in 2007 and the issue has been both explicitly and implicitly treated by feminist scholars as well as activists. The proposed paper offers an analysis of this discourse based on a selection of writings produced over the course of the past 20 years by Czech feminists across the spectrum.
Its aim is to reveal the stances of both feminist activists and scholars and their possible change over time regarding affinities of and differences between the two camps. It seems that the two spheres tend to intermingle in the Czech context, partly due to the limited number of both feminist activists and academics.
The analysis should shed some light on whether the blurring of boundaries between the two types of agency is rather interpreted as positive or negative by those concerned. Comparison with international debate of the issue will also be supplemented.
