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Multiculturalism has long been linked to calls for tolerance of cultural diversity, but today many observers are subjecting the concept to close scrutiny. After the political upheavals of 1968, the commitment to multiculturalism was perceived as a liberal manifesto, but in the post-9/11 era, it is under attack for its relativizing, particularist, and essentializing implications. The essays in this collection offer a nuanced analysis of the multifaceted cultural experience of Central Europe under the late Habsburg monarchy and beyond. The authors examine how culturally coded social spaces can be described and understood historically without adopting categories formerly employed to justify the definition and separation of groups into nations, ethnicities, or homogeneous cultures. As we consider the issues of multiculturalism today, this volume offers new approaches to understanding multiculturalism in Central Europe freed of the effects of politically exploited concepts of social spaces.
“The edited collection of articles is theoretically sophisticated and illuminating, transgressing traditional disciplinary boundaries with incisive, well-developed arguments that challenge stale notions of multiculturalism, hybridity, and nationalist mobilization… A fascinating contribution to the growing body of literature on diversity, spatiality, and nationalizing practices, Understanding Multiculturalism will be a welcomed addition to the shelves of modern historians of any field or focus.” • Hungarian Cultural Studies
“Enhanced with the inclusion of a twenty-four page Bibliography, a four page listing of the contributors and their credentials, and a nine page Index, Understanding Multiculturalism: The Habsburg Central European Experience is an extraordinary and highly recommended addition to college and university library collections. For the personal reading lists of students and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject it should be noted that [it] is also available in a paperback.” • Midwest Book Review
“Conceptually complicated and with wide-ranging empirical investigations, this volume is most likely to appeal to readers with some prior exposure to Central European history and theoretical approaches to nationalism. They will find in it plentiful food for thought.” • The American Historical Review
“The volume is highly recommended for anyone researching multiculturalism, and one can only agree with Csáky’s assertion that Habsburg Central Europe was a “laboratory” of experiences that can be usefully discussed in a broader context.” • Austrian History Yearbook
List of Tables and Figures
Preface
Introduction: Understanding Multiculturalism and the Habsburg Central European Experience
Johannes Feichtinger and Gary B. Cohen
SECTION I: IDENTITY FORMATION IN MULTICULTURAL SOCIETIES
Chapter 1. Heterogeneities and Homogeneities. On Similarities and Diversities
Anil Bhatti
Chapter 2. Mestizaje and Hybrid Culture: Towards a Transnational Cultural Memory of Europe and the Development of Cultural Theories in Latin America
Michael Rössner
Chapter 3. The Limits of Nationalist Activism in Imperial Austria: Creating Frontiers in Daily Life
Pieter M. Judson
SECTION II: THE DYNAMICS OF MULTICULTURAL SOCIETIES, POLITICS, AND THE STATE
Chapter 4. Multiculturalism, Polish Style: Glimpses from the Interwar Period
Patrice M. Dabrowski
Chapter 5. Multiculturalism Against the State: Lessons from Istria
Pamela Ballinger
Chapter 6. Migration in Austria, An Overview: 1920s to 2000s
Michael John
SECTION III: IDENTITIES EXPRESSED, NEGOTIATED, AND CHALLENGED IN MULTICULTURAL SETTINGS
Chapter 7. The Slice of Desire: Intercultural Practices Versus National Loyalties in the Peripheral Multiethnic Society of Central Europe at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
Oto Luthar
Chapter 8. On “Neighbors” and “Strangers”: The Literary Motif of “Central Europe” as Lieu de Mémoire
Andrei Corbea Hoisie
Chapter 9. Culture as a Space of Communication
Moritz Csáky
Notes on Contributors
Bibliography
Index