Rampart Nations - Bulwark Myths of East European Multiconfessional Societies in Age of

The "bulwark" or antemurale myth-whereby a region is imagined as a defensive barrier against a dangerous Other-has been a persistent strand in the development of Eastern European nationalisms. While historical studies of the topic have typically focused on clashes and overlaps between sociocultural and religious formations, Rampart Nations delves deeper to uncover the mutual transfers and multi-sided national and interconfessional conflicts that helped to spread bulwark myths through Europe's eastern periphery over several centuries. Ranging from art history to theology to political science, this volume offers new ways of understanding the political, social, and religious forces that continue to shape identity in Eastern Europe.

List of contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

A Note on Transliteration and Toponyms

PART I: BACKGROUND

Introduction: Constructing a Rampart Nation: Conceptual Framework

Liliya Berezhnaya and Heidi Hein-Kircher

Chapter 1. The Origins of Antemurale Christianitatis Myths: Remarks on the Promotion of a Political Concept

Kerstin Weiand

PART II: (DE-)SACRALIZING AND NATIONALIZING BORDERLANDS

Chapter 2. Not a Bulwark, But a Part of the Larger Catholic Community: The Romanian Greek Catholic Church in Transylvania (1700-1850)

Ciprian Ghisa

Chapter 3. Securitizing the Polish Bulwark:The Mission of Lviv in Polish Travel Guides During the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Heidi Hein-Kircher

Chapter 4. Ghetto as an "Inner Antemurale"? Debates on Exclusion, Integration, and Identity in Galicia in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century

Jürgen Heyde

Chapter 5. Holy Ground and a Bulwark against "the Other": The (Re)Construction of an Orthodox Crimea in the Nineteenth-Century Russian Empire

Kerstin S. Jobst

Chapter 6. Bastions of Faith in the Oceans of Ambiguities: Monasteries in the East European Borderlands (Late Nineteenth- Beginning of the Twentieth Century)

Liliya Berezhnaya

Chapter 7. "The Turkish Wall:" Turkey as an Anti-Communist and Anti-Russian Bulwark in the Twentieth Century

Zaur Gasimov

PART III: PROMOTING ANTEMURALE DISCOURSES

Chapter 8. Why Didn't the Antemurale Historical Mythology Develop in Early Nineteenth-Century Ukraine?

Volodymyr Kravchenko

Chapter 9. Translating the Border(s) in a Multilingual and Multiethnic Society: Antemurale Myths in Polish and Ukrainian Schoolbooks of the Habsburg Monarchy

Philipp Hofeneder

Chapter 10. Mediating the Antemurale Myth in East Central Europe: Religion and Politics in Modern Geographers' Entangled Lives and Maps

Steven Seegel

Chapter 11. Bulwarks of Anti-Bolshevism: Russophobic Polemic of the Christian Right in Poland and Hungary in the Interwar Years and Their Roots in the Nineteenth Century

Paul Srodecki

Chapter 12. Defenders of the Russian Land: Viktor Vasnetsov's Warriors and Russia's Bulwark Myth

Stephen M. Norris

PART IV: REFLECTIONS ON THE BULWARK MYTHS TODAY

Chapter 13. Antemurale Thinking as Historical Myth and Ethnic Boundary Mechanism

Pål Kolstø

Chapter 14. Concluding Thoughts on Central and Eastern European Bulwark Rhetoric in the Twenty-First Century

Paul Srodecki

Index

About the author

Dr. Liliya Berezhnaya is currently a Research Associate at the University of Amsterdam and a Self-supporting Visiting Professor at KU Leuven, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies. She is the author of the books: Die Militarisierung der Heiligen in Vormoderne und Moderne (2020); Iconic Turns: Nation and Religion in Eastern European Cinema Since 1989 (2013; co-edited with Christian Schmitt); and The World to Come: Ukrainian Images of the Last Judgment (2015; co-authored with John-Paul Himka).

Heidi Hein-Kircher earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. In 2018, she earned her habilitation degree at Philipps University in Marburg. She is currently on the research staff at the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe in Marburg, Germany. She is also the Head of Department at the Institute’s Academic Forum.

Summary

Through perspectives that range from Eastern European art history to theology, with a concentration on the nexus of political, social, and religious history, this volume explores historical narratives that have shaped contemporary Eastern European national identities.

Additional text

“This volume does not simply offer a study on the history of nationalism in Eastern Europe, but also shows how history is still alive today and informs our everyday lives. As such, Rampart Nations is a great resource for students and scholars of both historical and contemporary Eastern Europe.” • Slavic & East European Journal

“This collection contributes a great deal to the relativizing of the different ideas of bulwarks. By contrasting these the volume makes the commonalities more visible.” • Sehepunkte

“This volume is a successful example of how History can offer insights into political challenges of the present…The quality of the contributions is excellent throughout, as are the numerous cross references, indicating the competent work done by the editors. The volume as a whole but also because of the quality of the individual contributions is to be recommended unreservedly.” • Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas

“This edited volume provides the reader with a fresh and engaging perspective on the issue of contact zones in Eastern Europe. It gives readers great insights on new and exciting interpretations of transnational history in the region through a well-researched and fascinating assemblage of texts.” • Candadian Slavonic Papers/Revue Canadienne des Slavistes

“The volume is an outstanding piece of scholarship as it offers a glimpse beyond the rampart to readers from this part of the continent and beyond. It makes clear the immense complexity of the task of legitimising the presence and depicting the role of particular nations in this part of Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.” • Acta Poloniae Historica

“Questions about borders are a familiar topic on news and social media sites: who controls borders, where they should be located, and which side are you on. Rampart Nations is a timely anthology of essays on borders and borderlands, addressing the antemurale (bulwark) myth in Eastern Europe. The volume illuminates the historicity of the myth while also identifying how the concept continues to have contemporary meaning and purpose”. • The Russian Review

“The contributions in this volume are immensely valuable and include some of the most innovative and best-argued texts I have read in the field.” • Piotr H. Kosicki, University of Maryland

“Rampart Nations is a worthy compilation that will interest historians and other scholars. It contains solid scholarship on a subject that deserves attention, adding to our knowledge and understanding of European history and how current society has evolved.” • Sebastian Siebel-Achenbach, University of Waterloo

Product details

• Authors: Liliya Hein-Kircher Berezhnaya
• Assisted by: Dr. Liliya Berezhnaya (Editor), Liliya Berezhnaya (Editor), Heidi Hein-Kircher (Editor)
• Publisher: BERGHAHN BOOKS, INC
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 28.02.2019
• EAN: 9781789201475
• ISBN: 978-1-78920-147-5
• No. of pages: 416
• Series: New Perspectives on Central and Eastern European Studies; New Perspectives on Central and Eastern European Studies
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Cultural history; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Eastern Europe, Nationalism, Social & cultural history, RELIGION / Christianity / History, HISTORY / Europe / Eastern, Social and cultural history