I decided to come home - to Prague
Kristína Pašková (15.1.2008).
Eric Manton (36) comes from the United States. After he graduated from college there, he decided to study philosophy of political dissent. So he moved to what was then Czechoslovakia, learned to speak Czech, enrolled in Charles University and started with his desired research. Then he moved again, worked in Vienna, Berlin, Kosovo, Macedonia and Hague and studied in the UK. Why did he come back to Prague and what does he think about the lives of foreigners in Czech academia and in the Czech Republic as a whole?
How would you summarize the situation that brought you here?
After I finished my Bachelors studies in the United States, I decided to research about the political philosophy of the Czechoslovak dissidents. So in 1992, I moved to Prague. Since I did not speak any Czech at the time, I enrolled in a Charles University summer intensive language course in Podebrady. I was fortunate enough to make some contacts early on in Prague with the circles of the former anti-communist dissidents who had started to teach at the universities. Professor Aleš Havlíček, of the Political Studies Institute of Charles University’s Social Sciences Faculty, had been one of my guides who had been telling me which classes I should be attending. He then suggested that I should get some credit for the classes I was taking, so I started to do the Master’s programme at the above mentioned Faculty, which I finished in 1997. At the time I was also working at the Patočka Archive of the Center for Theoretical Study (CTS) of Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences. It was during those years at CTS, a transdisciplinary center bringing together some of the best minds in the Czech Republic, that I truly gained a wonderful education. Then I decided to start an internship at the Prague Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). After one year in Vienna and one year at a conflict resolution center in Berlin, I went to Kosovo with the OSCE and then later to Macedonia. In between I studied International Human Rights Law at the University of Essex in the UK. Most recently, I worked with the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Then, in 2006, I decided to come home – to Prague – and continue with my research on Patočka. So I went back to work at at CTS and also started a PhD program at the Law Faculty of the Charles University.
Coming here in the beginning of the 90’s was probably quite challenging, wasn’t it?
Yes, living here was quite complicated for a foreign student. First of all, it was not legal to rent out most of the apartments to foreigners due to them being state property. So we had to be very quiet, not speak English in the hallways, so that neighbors of our landlords would not get suspicious. Even though this changed, of course, it’s still difficult for a foreigner to rent a state apartment at a subsidized price. This already complicates any working situation due to the costs of “free market” apartments. And there were of course many other problems. However, I started liking it here instantly and found many interesting people who taught me a lot, so I did not give up.
Why did you actually decided to come back to the Czech Republic?
Well, as I said, I feel that this country is my home now. I do not think I could live again in the United States anytime soon. I really do not agree with the direction that the country is going in. Unfortunately, ever since the mid-1990’s when Vaclav Klaus decided to be egotistically isolationist and not accept the offer of international organizations to be based here, there are not many opportunities to work for international organizations. So I am focusing more on theory than praxis now. Researching under the CTS is very enriching, because the approach towards science and humanities is different here than it is in American or West European institutes. Not only is it more interdisciplinary, but it is also more focused on finding the real meaning of research, not only graphs and tables. I am disappointed by the fact that some social science academic institutions here are trying to catch up to that meaningless trend of quantitative research, which causes them to lose their comparative advantage of having this different Czech holistic, trans-disciplinary approach.
Are there many other foreigners like you working in the Center who maybe also appreciate this different approach towards research?
I’m actually the only one currently working at the Center. However, we have had many foreign experts who have come for lectures or short research visits. Many of them have told me that it is quite unique and valuable – an approach that unfortunately does not exist in their own countries. Another good example of a unique Czech approach that is very much appreciated abroad is the international conferences hosted by the Czech Plato Society. However, I think that Czech academia could use some more foreign experts working here. That’s one of the reasons I appreciate the Pilot Project Selection of Qualified Foreign Workers so much and already recommended it to some peoplefor example from Canada.
How did you learn about Pilot project?
I do not remember, maybe somebody told me about it, maybe I just stumbled upon it on the Internet.
Did the university help you with your application?
When I came here for the first time, as a student, I did all the paperwork by myself. This time I had the assistance of secretaries at the Center. They had to do a certain part as my employer, the rest was left up to me, but they were very, very helpful. Also the people in charge of the project at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs were very helpful as well. They are amongst the nicest and most professional civil servants I have met here. One thing I would add is that they should definitely look at creating a certain program for people who are studying here as well.
Do you think that the Czech republic does enough to encourage foreigners to stay here?
It’s great that the Pilot Project is open for all graduates of Czech high schools and universities, no matter what country are they coming from.Because that may encourage them to stay and work here. But I think that there is another optionworth exploring. The years of university study should be included in the five years you need to stay here to obtain permanent residency (only half of that time counts now – editor’s note). I also heard that according to a new law, people who want to stay here after they graduate and teach at a university in their field of study, should have an easier path to pernament residency. That is also a very positive step, because it is definitely necessary for the Czech academia to internationalize, to get more international experts. People like coming to Prague and they need greater incentives to not just come as tourists, but to stay here legally as well.
When you came back to the Czech Republic, did you notice some changes in the people’s attitude towards foreigners here?
Yes, I did. Maybe it is because of declining unemployment rates, but I think that people start to realize that the foreign work force is vital for the economy, that these people are not stealing their jobs, but contributing to the benefit of the society as a whole. There are particularly a lot of people from former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe here who find it easier to adjust than other foreigners due to of the similarities between Slavic languages. Yet unfortunately there is still a prejudice here against anyone “Eastern”. Most of them work manually, but some are, along with people from all over the world, working for multi-national companies as highly qualified workers. What I think is still quite uncommon here is the middle ground – people who would come here to work neither as unqualified labor nor as experts for large corporations.
Do you mean, for example, people working in academic environment?
Yes, as I said, the internationalization of Czech academia is necessary. There are certain programs designed to provide Czech universities with funds necessary to hire teachers who would be able to teach in English, German or other foreign languages. However, these opportunities are very few. I do not think that guest lecturers should expect the same salary that they would get from an American university, considering the living expenses here are also much lower. Yet it is very difficult for a Czech professor to live on a Czech professor’s salary. Some of my academic friends have three or four jobs just to survive—teaching at Czech faculties, the English-language colleges, as well as working at various institutes. It is very unfortunate that they have to do that, but that’s the reality, which is not likely to change in the next years. That is not very attractive for foreigners. I am not saying that foreigners should get preferential treatment, but there should be some realistic incentives for them to come.