Abstract:

With the development of economy, society and communication technologies in the last decade, we have witnessed that a fast growing number of international research projects and exchange research programs held to strengthen research cooperation in Central Europe. This study uses collaborative auto-ethnography as a research method to reveal our unique research experience and identity via interrogating culture and engaging in dialogues to create valuable opportunities for understanding the opportunities and challenges between foreign researchers and Czechs have about each other. In this paper, the first author interrogates her bilingual early career researcher in multilingual and multicultural environments and then work as a research fellow with the co-author in Czech Republic. Our series of auto-ethnographic dialogues between a cast of characters, recalling experiences, perceptions and emotions provides readers with opportunities to actively respond to the text. Through this collaborative auto-ethnographic memoir and performance, we hope not only to contribute to new directions for educational research, but also to assist foreign stakeholders in enhancing their cultural and educational policy understandings in upcoming research project collaboration in the Czech context.

Keywords:

International cooperation, Auto-ethnography, Cultural identity, Central Europe.