It is 9:04 in the morning, and the metro just reached Staroměstská, conveniently located right next to Charles University’s Faculty of Arts building, which offers a scenic vista of the Prague Castle and the Vltava River. My first class of the day, Humor, Resistance, and Czech Culture, taught by Prague native Dr. Ondřej Galuška, begins in six minutes. After summiting quite a few stairs, I breathe a sigh of relief as I make it to class on time. The warm regards of Dr. Galuška to me, as well as my classmates, made the journey well worth it. He is a somewhat tall gentleman with glasses and an affable smile that just beams when one of his students makes a profound remark, which is often. A motif that rings true as we dive into Czech history, is that this is not exactly the same Prague that Ondřej grew up in.
Ondřej grew up during the last years of the Soviet occupation. Prior to becoming a professor, he was a musician who attended the local state-run music school. Ondrěj was also in a band with his friends, where he sang and played guitar. One time they made a variation of a song by Jaroslav Hutka, a blacklisted artist, and “got into trouble, or… were told that we cannot sing that in public,” he says. “And it was really strange for a kid to have to experience that. You actually are not allowed to sing something even though you know that your parents listen to the song, that they know it. You can sing it at home, but not in public spaces. So, already, this kind of dichotomy of the personal and the private and the public was there even in childhood. But otherwise, my childhood was great.”
His family had certain underground ties that allowed Ondřej access to forbidden literature via samizdat publishings that were hand-circulated to anyone interested. Cassettes were also big. Ondřej tries to see the best in situations where it is near impossible to do so, as he takes the good of his friendships, family, and love for music with the brutality of Iron Curtain life. In the trials and tribulations of 20th-century Czechia, one constant stayed afloat amongst the people, and that was the timeless tradition of using humor as a coping mechanism during hard times. Having endured both Nazi and Communist occupation in the last one hundred years, the sky’s the limit with the kind of jokes Czechs make, with Ondřej’s occasional quips being no exception.
With dark humor there are two coinciding phenomena of reclaiming power and the inevitability of someone being offended. The rise of PC culture has caused rude awakenings for many, trying to navigate what terms are outdated, what issues one has the right to talk about, jokes to make, etc. Political correctness is an issue everywhere, the Czech Republic being no exception. There is a considerable backlash, with primarily older generations citing it as a repression of free speech. It all has to be taken in stride; Ondřej says: “A majority of Czech people will be pretty free about using the language they want to. But I think there is also something that should be noted, and that is, I think, a kind of a sober assessment of what political correctness can achieve and what it cannot achieve. I think in the background of this attempt to make language more sensitive or something like that sometimes can be a type of magical thinking.” At the same time, he reiterates that the desire to sensitize language so that it is not harmful or offensive is not the worst thing in the world.
Nevertheless, Ondřej describes the attitude of Czechs towards dark humor as a positive one: “Dark humor is ever present and a big favorite among people. It was used as a kind of resistance during communism, but still, I think today, you know, people always find some form of oppression somewhere in some element of society. You know, either it’s the government or the capitalists or whoever, and they make jokes at the expense of this dominant group. And it is a form of, I would say, symbolic revenge almost,” For Ondřej, this hits close to home. His great uncle was none other than Jaroslav Král, a modern visual artist who was imprisoned and subsequently killed in a concentration camp. On our field trip to Prague’s Modern Art Museum, Ondřej pointed us in the direction of Král’s paintings. History has an ineffable presence in all areas of Prague.
The classroom environment is one Ondřej creates with the hope that a free, genuine exchange of ideas can happen. Part of Czech university culture is encouraging openness with certain topics. Just don’t be a schmuck is an unspoken rule we students of Ondřej’s class adhere to in an ironclad fashion. This is no ordinary history class, as the study and philosophy of humor, mostly through a Czech lens, is a solid component of the course. A little banter adds some extra sunshine to the rest of the day ahead.
About Evelyn Young
Evelyn is a senior from the Chicago area majoring in Digital Media Practices and Jewish Studies with a minor in French. This past summer, she studied creative writing in Paris. Evelyn has held a variety of positions within the Crescent and is incredibly excited to begin her role as Senior Editor. After graduating from Tulane, she hopes to move to Los Angeles to pursue her film career.
Evelyn is a senior from the Chicago area majoring in Digital Media Practices and Jewish Studies with a minor in French. This past summer, she studied creative writing in Paris. Evelyn has held a variety of positions within the Crescent and is incredibly excited to begin her role as Senior Editor. After graduating from Tulane, she hopes to move to Los Angeles to pursue her film career.
