Borderland Societies in East-Central Europe

The recent events of the Russo-Ukrainian warfare confirm violently that borderlands and borderland societies constitute vital parts of topographically as well as simultaneously culturally determined and discursively shaped East-Central European spatial spheres. This volume approaches this topic in a variety of case studies, spanning from Western border regions like Silesia and the former inner-German border between Thuringia and Northern Bavaria to the Eastern outposts of the Habsburg Empire in Galicia and Bukovina. These borderlands depict collectively experienced spaces of representation, allowing certain insights into the histories of society and transfer. By analyzing transdisciplinary concepts of identity construction, transcultural, and urban spheres, the gathered articles contribute to milieu, remembrance, and identity studies. The presented case studies enrich the established methodological approaches by transcending the geographically connotated term space and by highlighting the artificial, communicative, and cultural character of various borderland regions. Thus, borderland societies in East-Central Europe exceed existing notions of concepts like Heterotopias or lieux de mémoire by contributing as entangled constructs of nation, empire and society to postcolonial area studies.