Abstract
The article is an attempt to probe the social reality of marginal groups in the Czechoslovak countryside of the 1930s and 1940s through a content and discursive analysis of the magazine Bezpečnostní služba, published between 1931 and 1945. The study approaches the magazine as a period medium that on the one hand captures social reality, but also participates in shaping the social discourse of its time.
In particular, the research focuses on the assumed social scientific erudition of the gendarmes by reflecting on the academic contributions published in the magazine. It looks primarily at the author base of the academic community, as well as at publications by gendarmes that relate to anthropological topics (e.g. the three top-ranked papers in the Biology of Gypsies in the Czechoslovak Republic competition).
It is also interested in data from the field - other contributions by gendarmes (their own observations, official records, etc.) that reflect the relations between majority and marginal populations in the Czechoslovak countryside, while also explaining the adaptive and economic strategies of itinerant or marginal groups.