Czechs and Slovaks in Svalbard: Entangled Modes of Mobility, Place, and Identity












            ******************************************************************************************

            * Zdenka Sokolíčková and Eliška Soukupová
            ******************************************************************************************
            Abstract

            The article is an anthropological study of how Czech and Slovak nationals reflect on their
            explorations in Svalbard. We ask what kind of Czech and Slovak “presence” in Svalbard can 
            ethnographically, and what can we learn from people’s stories about the context in which t

            unfold. We profile four people as representing modes of relating to Svalbard (the globetro
            seeker, the pragmatist, and the sportsman), and complement this with a summary of findings
            from the data created through various methods. Pre–COVID-19 pandemic, there were a few hun

            and Slovaks who travelled to Svalbard every year, thanks to its accessibility, but also be
            reasons: research, tourism, and employment in the service industry. In line with studies c

            delineated identities such as “tourists” or “researchers”, we discuss factors resulting in
            repercussions of visiting and/or settling in Svalbard. Citizenship and residential status,
            and work contract, and language competence have implications regarding the living possibil

            personal rights of Czechs and Slovaks in Svalbard. Mapping ethnographically the lives of t
            in Svalbard confirms some findings of earlier studies on tourism, transnational identity, 
            mobility. Czechs and Slovaks come to Svalbard attracted by the place’s appeal, which range

            environment and adventure, through tempting job opportunities, to establishing a potential
            Relatively young, educated, skilled, and affluent Czechs and Slovaks in Svalbard develop n
            and identity shaped both by global processes and local specificities.


            Keywords: Svalbard, Czechs, Slovaks, mobility, identity, tourism, place


            Download PDF [ URL "LM-1196-version1-sokolickova.pdf"]

            Zdenka Sokolíčková [ URL "LM-1193.html "]

            Eliška Soukupová [ URL "LM-1194.html "]



            Note: the online pdf version of this article contains a couple of minor typographic correc
            not included in the printed version.