The second life of Tuchomyšl: Local identity of displaced people from a strip-mined village (English version)

Abstract

The 20^th century saw the obliteration of 106 towns and villages, and 90,000 people were displaced as a result of brown coal mining in North Bohemia and associated industrial development. Tuchomyšl was one of these villages; its population was resettled in newly built prefabricated housing estates in Ústí nad Labem and Chlumec. Based on an anthropological analysis of biographic interviews with the displaced people of Tuchomyšl, this case study demonstrates how the former residents of Tuchomyšl identify with the physical space of the village which no longer exists, and what they think of their forced eviction. As it turns out, the local identity of these resettled people is influenced by several factors, particularly the location of their new residence, their age at the time of their village's destruction, and their economic standing. These people continue to identify strongly with the social space of the former village, which they keep alive with regular get-togethers even 35 years after the physical destruction of the village.