Mental Maps of Eastern Europe: States, Mentalities, Modernisation
Mihai Varga
Abstract Eastern Europe has been the object of orientalising discourses portraying it as a region defined by problematic statehood, underdevelopment, and nationalist‐religious warmongering. These have produced 19 th ‐century mental maps contrasting perceived ‘core’ European area ending with Frankish Empire's eastern border coinciding later Enlightenment influence an indistinct ‘Orient’ or ‘East’, bypassed “modernising” processes. This contribution focuses on (post‐)Cold War in social science shows how these re‐produce layers map‐making keep East‐West differences alive tracing deficient, fragile repressive state institutions back to alleged ‘mentalities’.
Sociology Lens|Refubium (Universitätsbibliothek der Freien Universität Berlin)