"Home, a nice place to visit but I Wouldn' t want to live there": Discussing diaspora and Americans living outside major cities in the Czech republic

Mgr. Courtney Margaret Nicolaides, B.A.

Master's thesis

Abstract:

The objective of this thesis is to explain the motivation for a select group of American respondents to migrate to small towns in the Czech Republic and their specific conception of inclusion in the host community in terms of social theory. The traditional migration literature with its emphasis on Diaspora and economic migration orders focuses on the push factors sending needy actors from the periphery to the core. Respondents’ motivation is better understood as a self realization project and a form of aesthetic living that communicates, “distinction” through pursuit of cultural capital, inspired by the habitus of their social origin. Using Bourdieu’s Theory of Generative Action, allows the process that takes respondents from being cultural voyeurs and backpackers to expatriates and finally cultural interlocutors abroad, to reflect both objective and subjective structures and the agency of self reflection and innovation. Traditionally, inclusion is defined in terms of the relationship between ethnic group and nation or citizen rights and duties to a civic state. However, for these respondents, inclusion is building a cultural competency in interaction with the host community that allows culture to be viewed as a work of art.

Keywords

migration, transnationalism, habitus, life style, authenticity, cultural consumption

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 29. 1. 2008

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 29. 1. 2008
• Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Ing. Radim Marada, Ph.D.
• Reader: PhDr. Michal Vašečka, Ph.D.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Social Studies

Master programme / field:
Sociology / Sociology (Eng.)