Interview with doctoral researcher Michal Cáp

Next in our series of mini-interviews with fellow doctoral researchers is an interview with Michal Cáp from the Institute of Czech History, Faculty of Arts at Charles University.

1. Why did you go for your PhD and what are you doing?
A doctorate was a rarely voiced but natural goal for me, despite my complicated studies and working outside the field (to make a living). I always wanted to "be a historian," which somehow implicitly counts with a PhD.

In addition, I developed a strong relationship with the Prague philosophical faculty, mainly thanks to the activities of the students' association. I don't like the various marketing statements about " heartful enthousiasts at the faculty," mostly in the form of various semi-official justifications for why something should be done for free or for undignified pay. In addition, I have also worked as a technical staff member at the Faculty, which has also complicated my relationship with the institution. But I have respect for the community of students, especially but not only around the Student History Association, but also for many of the teachers, and I have some of my fondest memories associated with them.

As for my professional interest, I am trying to complete a dissertation project on the social status of the officer corps in interwar Czechoslovakia. This fits with my broader interest in military-society relations, but to my delight I have discovered that it will hopefully probe the gradual transformation of the mentalities and values of the late Habsburg monarchy into a gradually forming nation (or aspiring to that status) state.

2. What problems and challenges does doctoral study bring, what motivates you in your work?

I have two motivations, and they may sound trivial, but I am most driven by the colleagues with whom I share my PhD and research experiences and the fact that I enjoy the process of inquiry as such. I find it fulfilling to do research, to publish, to give lectures, but also just to debate history, which I still find one of the most fascinating fields in the humanities. What's more, I see it as a field that is undeniably relevant and present in public debate, from pub conversation, to memes on social media, to, often unfortunately, statements by politicians. And it also drives me when, at conferences, seminars, or just in a chat, we suddenly start passionately discussing some issue of historiography, the politics of memory, or (and I know this is nerdy) the problems of the historical community.

One might say that would even meet the definition of "heartfelt enthusiast," only here we run into the very problems. I share them with many of my peers, and when I discuss them with teachers or older colleagues I actually feel a certain hopelessness as nothing changes. Doctoral studies are financially undervalued, if one doesn't have family and financial support, often explicitly one's own housing, one simply cannot afford a humanities PhD. I confess that I don't know if I know a PhD student or a PhD student who doesn't have at least the equivalent of a half-time job attached to their studies. They are, moreover, often out of the field, as work in it is often precarious for PhD students, often at the level of a temporary part-time. For myself, the PhD only started to look like anything resembling normal when I landed a position in the field two years ago, and that sometimes feels like winning the lottery. It's only suddenly that I have the real conditions to do research without the fear of not being able to afford the rent.

I hear that generations before me have survived this and so why shouldn't I/we. Sometimes it sounds to me like justification for a dysfunctional system of either compulsory military service or authoritarian teaching and physical punishment in primary education (please take this as a hyperbolic analogy). Hopefully I(we) can do it, and as I follow the plans for reform of doctoral education, I wish my successors to be better off than we are. I'm still a bit skeptical. I fear that with the increase in funding for doctoral stipends, the demands of teaching and other "unpaid," often supposedly "traditional" duties of doctoral students will increase, and will still distract them from their research. At our Institute of Czech History this is not a problem, and I am glad for that, but in the future one never knows.

3. Why did you join ČAD? 

I follow and cheer for ČAD, I'll admit it myself, being at a different point in my studies and assessment of my energies, I'd be happy to be an active member as well. I came to the realization a few years ago that I no longer have the strength to do so, and perhaps I am disillusioned with academia, especially how it views the PhD question. I think the following meme best describes this (as well as my evolution from starting my PhD to now):