Subproject A06 — Securitization and Discourses on the Rights of Minorities in Central Europe during the in 19th and 20th century
Third funding stage (2022-2025)
After the rise of competing national movements in the mid-19th century, the multinational border regions between the empires of Eastern Europe became increasingly perceived as places of instability, because of the increasingly escalating the conflicts between different national groups. Depending on the differing perspectives of key players (government authorities, political activists and expert groups), these regions came to be conceptualized and imagined as places torn apart by conflict, suffering from insufficient administration and endangered by irredentism. In the context of the world wars and their aftermath, and as the principles for constructing nations were reconceptualized, the in-between spaces were ultimately seen to be a security risk.
Referring to research finding of the first and second funding stages of A06 and B03, the sub-project analyses the interactions between ideas of security and language policies and measures in a phase of dynamic industrialisation and urbanisation. Using the example of three East Central European industrial cities (Pilsen, Drohobych, Lodz), it asks how and by whom urban linguistic diversity was securitized between 1860 and 1918. In doing so, A06 examines debates about language law and language justice on the ground and aims to contribute to an understanding of the interactions of cultural differentiation and intersectionality of social categories in the process of securitisation and their contribution to identity formation.
