Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Occult Bohemia: Magic and Nationalism in Central Europe

Project description

Solving the mystery of Slavic occultism

The connection between ethnicity, nationalism and occultism is one that fascinates scholars and the public, with particular attention placed on German and Nazi occultism. Despite the interest, information on Slavic occultism like Czech is not readily available. The EU-funded OCCULT-NATION project seeks to increase knowledge about Czech occultism and its relation to nation and ethnicity from 1890 to 1945 and consider the similarities and differences between Slavic and German occultism. It will use a discursive-historical approach, focusing on topoi analysis and the comparative method to get results. OCCULT-NATION’s findings will raise awareness of central European nationalism and introduce much-needed new information.

Objective

The project's objective is to understand and analyse ties between occultism and ethnicity and nationalism. Scholars discussed ethnicity and nationalism mostly with regard to German and Nazi occultism, however, Slavic countries also drawn interest recently and remain unexplored since there is a substantial scholarship on the occultism in western Europe and its world globalization, while eastern and central Europe has been neglected until recently. The project fills these knowledge gaps by investigating the Czech occult milieu and its relation to nation and ethnicity between 1890–1945 as a representative case of Slavic occultism. Project's hypothesis is that despite external and outer differences, both Slavic and German occultism is based upon the same shared set of assumptions and concerns. The project challenges the current hypothesis which presupposes an intrinsic difference between the German and Slavic occultism. The research methodology involves a combination of a discursive-historical approach focused on the analysis of topoi. This is supplemented by the comparative method. Although discursive approaches have been used in several studies in the study of esotericism, this project aims to develop such approaches further by focusing on topoi analysis. The project contributes to a better understanding of Central European nationalisms by interlinking research on nationalism and alternative forms of religion and bringing into mutual conversation thus far separated debates in the study of esotericism and nationalism. The project will also introduce new material, unknown to an international scholarly audience, filling a gap in religious and political history in 19th- and 20th-century central Europe. In sum, the project proposes originality and innovation on the level of theory (hypothesis), methodology advancement, presents new material, and interlinks several research fields and approaches.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 199 440,96
Address
UNIVERSITATSRING 1
1010 Wien
Austria

See on map

Region
Ostösterreich Wien Wien
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data
My booklet 0 0