Lexington Books
Pages: 188
Trim: 6 x 9
978-0-7391-7634-4 • Hardback • December 2012 • $97.00 • (£75.00)
978-0-7391-7635-1 • eBook • November 2012 • $92.00 • (£71.00)
Jana Kopelentova Rehak, PhD, is an assistant professor of anthropology at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore and an affiliate faculty at Towson University in Towson, Maryland. She received her Doctoral degree from the Anthropology Department at American University in Washington, DC, her MFA from the University of Delaware in Newark and a BA from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, the Czech Republic.
Her research specializations include Central Eastern Europe as well as urban North America. In Central Eastern Europe her research is focused on political life, aging, migration, minorities, language, visual culture and ecology. In the United States she practices applied anthropology of urban life focused on housing, education, health, migration, environment and public art in Baltimore City. Her background in cultural anthropology and the visual arts has shaped her multidisciplinary perspective on the social sciences and humanities.
Acknowledgments
Foreword
PART I. LOSING FACE
Photos
Chapter One: Owners Of Pain
Chapter Two: Arrest
Chapter Three: Interrogation
Chapter Four: Trial
PART II. RECONCILIATION
Chapter Five: Recovering Lost Face
Chapter Six: Beyond Ceremonial Sound
Chapter Seven: Last Visit
Conclusion
References
Index
About the Author
An in-depth, analytically rich, and emotionally moving account of the lives of Czech political prisoners, this book makes a rare contribution to post-socialist studies. Rehak's examination of how political oppression and recovery reshape subjectivity speaks to some key issues in contemporary scholarship on political violence, history, and memory.
— Susanna Trnka, The University of Auckland
A powerful testimony of the brutal era of Czech Communist supremacy. The author's personal remarks and compassion for victims—the political prisoners that she interviewed over the years—make this book the most knowledgeable and passionate read.
— Karen von Kunes
Jana Rehak’s book is a combination of rich theoretical content and analysis with a heartfelt identification with former political prisoners in her Czech homeland. Her photo-ethnography is a 'must read' for those concerned with power and identity. This little-known history of Cold War labor camps is told with conviction in the voices of those suffering the results of political oppression. It is an intelligent and moving testimony.
— Gretchen Schafft, PhD, MHS, American University