Nyklova, Blanka, Gibas, Petr and Sima, Karel

Abstract: “Kutilství” is a gendered term in Czech that loosely translates as home improvement or self-led projects although the most common, yet inadequate translation is DIY. As members of a team researching this phenomenon, the authors of the paper strived to redefine the “what” of “kutilství” through deliberately degendering it (Lorber 2000). Activities that define kutilství have been largely gendered as masculine since the state socialist era highlighting the heroic masculine figure of “kutil”, similar to the handyman as already pointed out in literature on US and West German history (Gelber 1997, Voges 2017). On closer inspection the creative use of material at hand to solve an issue is by no means exclusively masculine – the gendering strengthens and repeats symbolic uses of the gender binary to maintain and reaffirm inequalities seemingly connected with the sex of the doer. We took this rather broad definition and focused on activities that fitted our understanding of “kutilství” in our research. After collecting our data through fieldwork and interviews we had material going well beyond the binaries of masculine/feminine, individual/collective, utility/decorative, necessity/leisure etc. creativity. In the project, we were finally faced with  the issue of translating our theoretical and methodological approach into the material form of a museum exhibit that should reflect our attempt at degendering the concept. Two museum exhibits were created as part of the project: Kutilství dnes: Současná podoba svépomocné tvorby (“Kutilství“ today: current face of self-led manual projects) held at Retromuseum Cheb, 24/10/2019-19/04/2020; and Kutilství: Od "udělej si sám" k DIY (Bricolage: from self-led manual projects to DIY)) held at the Ethnographic Museum of the National Museum in Prague, 25/09/2020-17/01/2021. In our presentation, we will walk the audience through these three steps from the popular view of “kutilství” through the fieldwork to the making of the exhibit demonstrating how challenging such degendering can prove in a highly gendered world when concerning such a highly gendered phenomenon where both institutions and audiences maintain their gender stereotypes intersecting with many other categories.

• Lorber J. Using Gender to Undo Gender: A Feminist Degendering Movement. Feminist Theory. 2000;1(1):79-95. doi:10.1177/14647000022229074
• Gelber, Steven M. “Do-It-Yourself: Constructing, Repairing and Maintaining Domestic Masculinity.” American Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 1, 1997, pp. 66–112. 
• Voges, J. "Selbst ist der Mann." Do-it-yourself und Heimwerken in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2017.

Petr Gibas graduated in geography at University College London and obtained his PhD in social anthropology at the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague. In his dissertation, he explored post-socialist (post)industrial landscape, its aesthetics and aestheticisation, but his current scholarly interest covers issues of home and its relationship to housing, material culture studies of home, non-human in social sciences, phenomenological geography and last but not least city, its planning and the negotiation of city spaces, especially those connected to the experience of homeyness. He pursued research into urban allotment gardens and contributed to research into homelessness (in Prague and Pilsen). His most recent research focus has been on “kutilství“, DIY, home-improvement and related activities as principal investigator of a research project funded by NAKI II Ministry of Culture (http://kutilstvi.soc.cas.cz/en/#index).

Blanka Nyklová has worked at the Centre for Gender and Research at the Institute of Sociology of the CAS since 2014. She holds an MA in media studies and PhD in sociology from Charles University in Prague. Her research interests span several areas: the Czech feminist scene, its changes and theoretical starting points; sexual violence in higher education and academic mobility as well as gender based violence; visual discourses; and the intersection of geopolitics and epistemology with emphasis on transformation processes in the Czech Republic and Central and Eastern Europe around 1989. The latter topic is also the central focus of her current research project, which explores the fate of applied chemical research at research and development departments and institutes affiliated with chemical plants before and after 1989. In the past two years, she was a member of a research team studying “kutilství“ as a Czech phenomenon.

Karel Šima studied history and anthropology at Charles University and obtained his PhD with a thesis on national festivals in 19th century. He has done research in cultural history and cultural studies, higher education and science studies. His research interests comprise a wide range of themes from public festivities and rituals, subcultures and DIY activism, theory of history to research evaluation and higher education policy and consultancy. He is a member of the Centre for the Study of Popular Culture, an NGO based in Prague that promotes cultural studies´ approaches in Czech Republic and served as its president for three years. In past two years, he was a member of a research team with other two co-authors studying “kutilství” in Czech Republic. Recently, he is affiliated to the Institute of Economic and Social History, Faculty of Arts, Charles University.  

Return to:

• Panels
• Overview