Women-only WWII Military Reenactment Associations in Czechia: Between Authenticity and Emancipation

Pages: 283 - 304

Language: eng

Historical military reenactment as a popular phenomenon is becoming a prime focus for many scholars. However, the androcentric nature of military reenactment has led to the underrepresentation of women in WWII military reenactment in Czechia. In recent years, the number of female reenactors has risen, resulting in the creation of women-only reenactment associations. In this text, I build on the existing literature on female military reenactment and try to capture the processes of historical change regarding the cultural content of Czech WWII reenactment, within the framework of post-positivist oral history. The processes include: 1) the redirection of the focus from purely combat reenactment and performances to wider and more inclusive representations of military experiences, and 2) the promotion of women’s perspectives and their further empowerment within the community, which ultimately has led to the emergence of woman-only reenactment associations. Here, I present the interpretation of newly-recorded oral history narratives of Czech female military reenactors, capturing their historical subjectivities as well as the above-mentioned processes.

Hadarová, L. 2025. Women-only WWII Military Reenactment Associations in Czechia: Between Authenticity and Emancipation. In Slovenský národopis / Slovak Ethnology, vol. 73, no.2, pp. 283-304. 1335-1303. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31577/SN.2025.2.23

Hadarová, L. (2025). Women-only WWII Military Reenactment Associations in Czechia: Between Authenticity and Emancipation. Slovenský národopis / Slovak Ethnology, 73(2), 283-304. 1335-1303. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31577/SN.2025.2.23

Publisher: Ústav etnológie a sociálnej antropológie SAV, v. v. i.

CC BY