Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2025, 61(2): 193-220 | DOI: 10.13060/csr.2025.014

On Borderland ‘Švejkism’: Acts of Resistance and Undermining the Czech-Slovak Border During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Michal Pavlásek ORCID...
Etnologický ústav AV ČR, v. v. i., Brno

This article focuses on how residents in a selected municipality along the Czech–Slovak border responded to the pandemic crisis in 2020–2021, which significantly impacted their daily lives and relationships through the temporary closure of state borders. Through a case study and research conducted in the village of Sudoměřice, the article examines how border residents coped with the state-implemented anti-COVID measures that severely restricted cross-border mobility. Particular attention is paid to acts of defiance, resistance, and dissent against the implementation of these restrictions. Such practices undermine and weaken the application of state power and authority at its margins – in border areas – while simultaneously helping border residents to overcome and adapt to sudden moments of crisis in global interconnectedness. The study thus presents the Czech–Slovak border and the power of the nation-state not as a limiting factor or obstacle in the lives of locals, but as a system that ultimately accelerates their agency, thereby strengthening the local community. The study is based on a content analysis of 20 interviews and walk-in-interviews and ethnographic fieldwork supplemented by research on social networks.

Keywords: borderland, Czech-Slovak border, covid fencing, border resistance, undermining, state power

Received: January 9, 2025; Revised: April 9, 2025; Accepted: April 9, 2025; Prepublished online: May 1, 2025; Published: May 19, 2025  Show citation

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Pavlásek, M. (2025). On Borderland ‘Švejkism’: Acts of Resistance and Undermining the Czech-Slovak Border During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review, 61(2), 193-220. doi: 10.13060/csr.2025.014
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