The Assimilation of Post-War Generations of Czech Immigrants in Chicago
Keywords:
assimilation, Czech immigration, Czech diaspora, generation, ChicagoAbstract
This paper presents the results of the research conducted since 2013 in the Czech immigrant community in Chicago. The case of Czech immigration is particularly interesting, as it can be considered a textbook example of successful assimilation. Czechs had arrived in Chicago as early as mid-19th century. During the 20th and 21st centuries, there have been several waves of Czech immigration, usually connected to political as well as economic situations in Czechoslovakia or later the Czech Republic. The research methodology is based mainly on participatory observations and interviews. The research sample includes respondents from different migration waves, especially political immigrants after 1948 and 1968 who have legal status, as well as post-1989 immigrants whose choice to migrate was largely non-political and mostly economic. Czech immigration can generally be characterized by very strong and relatively fast assimilation across generations.
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