Multi-local research of modern rurality in the Czech Republic: epistemological and methodological challenges

Abstract

The paper investigates some of the epistemological and methodological challenges concerning multi-local research in four Czech rural areas that have recently embarked upon a project of international tourism which uses public space and rural landscape as one of its principal attractions. The aim of the paper is to discuss the degree of relevancy of certain methods, research strategies and conceptual tools in general and the ways they are reflected and applied in our research. The paper also presents some of the research outcomes that illustrate the application of these theoretical and methodological approaches. The issues discussed in this paper include theoretical and practical implications defining modern rurality as an unbounded and fluid concept, and creating a conceptual framework for the author’s empirical research on ‘Dutch villages’. The main part of the paper is devoted to theoretical and practical aspects of carrying out multi-sited ethnography as a research strategy for the study of rural development through tourism. The question is whether this method can be a legitimate proposition for contemporary research of modern rurality that seeks to understand social change associated with the post-socialist transformation of Czech rural space.