All Czechs, but Particularly Women: The Positionality of Women in the Construction of the Modern Czech Nation, 1820s - 1850s by Dagmar Francikova A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History and Women‟s Studies) in The University of Michigan 2011 Doctoral Committee: Professor Geoff Eley, Co-Chair Associate Professor Scott Spector, Co-Chair Professor Martin S. Pernick Assistant Professor Miriam I. Ticktin, The New School for Social Research Acknowledgements I am grateful to The University of Michigan for financial support that enabled me to conduct research in the Czech Republic and United States and allowed adequate time to concentrate on my writing. I would like to thank Lorna Altstetter, Dianna Denney, and Kathleen King at the Department of History, and Aimee Germain and Shelley Shock at the Department of Women's Studies for their invaluable administrative assistance and expertise. I would like to thank Geoff Eley for his support, encouragement, and important suggestions and comments on my dissertation. My co-chair, Scott Spector, offered challenging feedback and intriguing questions as I was thinking about the project and writing the chapters. I would like to thank Marty Pernick for teaching me about history of medicine, asking perceptive questions, and providing support as I was researching and writing. I would like to thank Miriam Ticktin for her steadfast support since my first weeks at The University of Michigan, for helping me formulate ideas, and for pushing me to think boldly and write clearly. I am grateful to Miriam for staying on my committee even after she moved to The New School for Social Research, for making time and taking me out every time I visited New York City, and continuing to provide generous advice. I cannot imagine writing and completing this dissertation, let alone going through the graduate school or studying in the first place, without Leila Rupp. Since I first met her as an exchange high school student, visiting her class at The Ohio State University, Leila‟s enthusiasm and confidence in me has never wavered. She has provided ii extraordinary guidance and support and has been a model both as a scholar and a person. I feel very fortunate to be able to count myself among Leila's students, and the "OSU Girls," even though I am only a faux student. Although Leila has never been more than five minutes away on email, iphone, or ipad, answering my various questions with infinite wisdom, incredible patience, and fabulous sense of humor, it was always much more fun when we could talk in person, often over lunches of taco salads or Korean tacos, followed by double espressos. I am grateful for the - always much too short - times when I could visit Paradise West and make sense of my dissertation and so much more. I would also like to thank the people at the Department of Feminist Studies at University of California, Santa Barbara, especially Eileen Boris, for their support as I was finishing this project and beginning to think beyond. Special thanks to Phoebe Lou Rupp-Taylor for her company, inspiration, and much needed distraction. While working on this project, I benefited from the wisdom and skill of many librarians and archivists. In particular, I would like to thank Donna Hayworth at the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library at The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for helping me locate seemingly lost sources and the staff of the Interlibrary Loan office for making them accessible to me. Many thanks to Arlene Shaner for her assistance in finding sources located at The New York Academy of Medicine. I am also grateful to Arlene for inviting me to her home for a wonderful Seder dinner the spring I spent researching in New York City. Ange Argent, Joshua Cole, Melissa Feinberg, Edin Hajdarpasic, Alex Hoffman, Jonathan Marwil, Basia Nowak, Katie Oliviero, Adela Pinch, Filip Pospíšil, Will iii Redfern, Adéla Sobotková, Keely Stauter-Halsted, Barbara Tomlinson, and Lynn Verduzco-Baker were among those who offered important critique and comments on my dissertation. Many thanks, also, to Andrew Alvarado, Ange Argent, Alex Hoffman, Dianna Hogan, Basia Nowak, and particularly Leila Rupp, for their help editing this dissertation. Many people all over the world, including Ange Argent, Kaiva Atkinson, Roark Atkinson, Jesse Bailey, David Barber, Nick Brand, Don Bry, Carisa Cortez, Patrice Dabrowski, Zdeňka Effenbergerová, Susan Freeman, Hanka Havelková, Laura Hilburn, Dianna Hogan, Patrick Hogan, Alex Hoffman, Olja Jokic, Robin Judd, Jeff Kaja, Mara Lazda, Ewa Malachovska-Pasek, Marek Misterka, Minayo Nasiali, Basia Nowak, Daniela Olšanová, Sascha Pfau, Filip Pospíšil, Will Redfern, Stephen Smith, Adéla Sobotková, Keely Stauter-Halsted, John Thiels, Christina Toy, Lenny Urena, and Sarah Watkins offered their friendship and all kinds of help and assistance. Living between the continents has not been always easy. I am particularly grateful to Leila and Miriam for helping me make sense of it. Finally, I would like to thank my family in the Czech Republic. Although I am sure they did not always understand what it was that I was doing in America and often wondered why it took me so long to get done, they never doubted that I would get done and have been wonderfully supportive all these years. A version of Chapter 6 is forthcoming in Journal of Women’s History 23, no. 4 (Winter, 2011). iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. ii Abstract ............................................................................................................................. vii Chapter 1 Introduction .........................................................................................................1 Chapter 2 Negotiating Spaces, Blurring Boundaries: Women, the Public and Private Spheres, and the Construction of the Modern Czech Nation .........................................28 Public and Private Spheres, 1820s - 1850s ..................................................................31 Implications of Women‟s Activities in the Nationalist Public Sphere ........................36 Changing Contexts .......................................................................................................42 Women, the Private Sphere, and Blurred Boundaries .................................................46 Chapter 3 “My Dear Only One”: Nationalist Romantic Friendships, the Ideal Czech Woman, and the Boundaries of Public and Private ........................................................64 An Ideal Czech Woman and Ideal Female Friendships ...............................................67 Romantic Friendships and Czech Women ...................................................................75 Nationalist Romantic Friendships: Relationships between Czech Women .................86 Reflection of Romantic Friendships in Czech Literature ............................................90 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................94 Chapter 4 Kateřina Maršalová: The Female Soldier, the Ideal Czech Woman, and the Boundaries of Public and Private ...................................................................................98 The Ideal Czech Woman: between the Amazons, Female Soldiers, and Female Masculinity ................................................................................................................102 Becoming the Ideal Imaginary Citizen and Ideal Czech Woman ..............................109 v First Transformation ..................................................................................................110 Second Transformation ..............................................................................................112 Third Transformation .................................................................................................115 Maršalová As the Ideal Czech Woman ......................................................................117 …and Cautionary Tale ...............................................................................................118 Conclusion .................................................................................................................120 Chapter 5 Marrying Czech Men and Ensuring the Proper Czech Lifestyle: Women as the Critical Reproducers of the Czech National Community .............................................123 Identifying Strangers and Marrying Only Those Who Belong in the National Community ................................................................................................................127 Teaching and Ensuring the Proper Czech Lifestyle and Reproducing the Czech National Community ..................................................................................................132 Chapter 6 “A Matter of Physical Health and Strength”: Disciplining Women and Women‟s Bodies and Reproducing the Czech National Community ...................152 Teaching National Reproduction ...............................................................................155 All Czechs, but Particularly Women .........................................................................162 Women and the Correct National Reproduction ........................................................166 Women and Social Aspects of Diseases ....................................................................171 Conclusion