Identities – Nation – Trans-nationality

The nation, in the form it has existed since the nineteenth century, is considered the paradigmatic notion of collective identity. It is an 'imagined community' (Benedict Anderson) and had an enormous impact on all its members, as well as all those who could not, were not allowed to, or did not want to belong to it. Inscribed into it was always a certain form of essentialism, an exclusivity, and a rigidity that ultimately failed to do justice to the social realities and dynamics of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Since 1945 and creation of the new European order, a fundamental critique has emerged of the conception and concept of the nation, caused by constantly changing societal and social realities and myriad forms of migration and political transformation. Supranationality and transnationality are increasingly entering the focus of research, above all through engagement with the question of personal identity constructions and individual autonomy.

The research area '(Collective) Identities – Nation – Transnationality' looks at forms and concepts of collective identity in their historical and contemporary manifestations. Of central importance is the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach, without which it the object of research would be impossible to comprehend.

Coordinators
Gerald Lamprecht, Roberta Maierhofer