TWORZENIE POGRANICZA A ŻYCIE PRZY GRANICY. REFLEKSJE TERMINOLOGICZNE W ŚWIETLE BADAŃ TERENOWYCH PRZY GRANICY POLSKO-NIEMIECKIEJ

Abstract

This article presents the first results of a research project carried out in cooperation between University of Warsaw and University of Hamburg in the northern part of the German-Polish border area. We suggest that the focus on social and cultural memory, which dominates at present in research and public intellectual discourse concerning Polish-German relations, has a limited power to provide an analytical framework for understanding interactions between people living in immediate vicinity of the present state border. Similarly, the way in which the term borderland (pogranicze) is used both in contemporary Polish academic literature as well as popular discourse, makes its application as an analytical term controversial if not unfit. It is proposed that the recent works of Sarah Green can provide a promising framework for analysis.

Keywords

• granica polsko-niemiecka
• pogranicze
• Sarah Green