The tradition of dividing Europe into several regions has been existing for centuries. Such zoning has always demonstrated rather eloquently the hierarchy taking place between the countries and their alliances and has been politically and culturally loaded. The existing tendencies have already been reflected and contested in the scientific literature to some extent: for example, the research proposed in this volume alludes to the works of Croatian author Miroslav Krleža who presents an alternative view at the zoning of the European continent which denies defining a single center in the west and referring the rest territories to the periphery; Krleža stands for representing Europe as a territory that has two poles, which would help to evaluate the cultural achievements of the Eastern and Southern countries on merits.
The notion of “Europe’s Eastern Rim” proposed in this volume is purged of the tint which the historical terms of Mitteleuropa, Central Europe, and Eastern Europe contain. The concept of Europe’s Eastern Rim eliminates including the countries which belong to Eastern Europe geographically but stays beyond the focus of this research. At the same time, this notion allows including the countries of former Yugoslavia into the scope of this work’s interest.
In an impetuous flow of events that have been saturating the political life of the Eastern European region for the past decades, the cultural identity of the Eastern European countries has been also evolving synchronously with the evolution of the relations between these states. The nations have faced the necessity to find their place in the modern political environment and to choose the message they will broadcast to the world community, as well as the language of delivering it. Nowadays the west-directed vector of joining the European Union has proved to be the most attractive for the majority of the states of Europe’s Eastern Rim. However, after the initial stage of nation-building in the 1990s, the countries of the European southeast have found themselves in different positions concerning the possibility to enter the European Union. Among all former Yugoslavian states, only Slovenia participated in EU-2004 enlargement; other countries which have expressed their willingness to enter the Union have remained in the status of candidates. All these tendencies have impacted seriously the process of further evolution of these countries’ cultural identity, and particularly, the images and value systems dominating the societies.
Public discourse has proved to be the basic tool to throw light upon the process of transformation of cultural identity within the societies of Europe’s Eastern Rim and, at the same time, to supply it with a definite direction. The investigation based on results of many researchers’ work has shown that the modes of identity construction, such as deconstruction, reconstruction, reformulation, and invention have acquired peculiar characteristics under the conditions of the political transformations which have been taking place in the countries considered in the work and intensification of political interaction between Europe’s Eastern Rim and the European Union.
In the light of the importance of the west-direction vector for the countries of Europe’s Eastern Rim, the matters of diverse perception of the Southeast European countries and the relations between the insiders and outsiders of the EU enlargement process must obtain their reflection in the Eastern and Western European public discourse, which has provided the guideline for the research represented in this volume.
The relations between the countries which have turned out to be the insiders and outsiders in the process of EU enlargement have proved to be reflected in certain discursive means, which, in their turn, construct the linguistic and conceptual dimensions of forming the vector of the national and cultural identities’ construction, reconstruction, invention, and reinvention. This issue has been studied concerning such concepts as Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980; Kövecses, 2005), Conceptual Blending Theory (Fauconnier & Turner, 2003), and Discourse Metaphor Analysis (Charteris-Black, 2004; Zinken, 2007; Semino, 2009). The concept of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has served to consider the bilateral impact of processes taking place in both a nation’s public discourse and its social environment. Language should be considered not only a means of reflecting the trends of the process of forming a nation’s cultural identity, but also a powerful tool able to influence it, to set and maintain its certain direction. Within the borders of CDA, grammatical and lexical choices are considered to be crucial for implementing these processes, being a means of shaping discursive reality.
The analysis has corroborated the correctness of focusing on the discursive variations taking place on the territories of the considered countries instead of perceiving public discourse as a stable matter. The social environment is saturated with the competing concepts, symbols, and metaphors which evolve and replace each other historically, and such works as (Musolff, 2004; Charteris-Black, 2004; Deignan, 2005; De Landtsheer, 2009; Buch & Helfrich, this volume) have demonstrated the opportunity to corroborate this statement using qualitative analysis. Within this volume, the research has shown that during the period when the possibility of Slovenia’s entering the EU was discussed actively in the society, the symbols used for performing Slovenia as a European country coincided to some extent to those used in the nineteenth century within Krekist rhetoric; however, some elements of Krekist discourse had to be left outboard.
The trends in public discourse concerning the states of Europe’s Eastern Rim differ not only in the historical dimension but in that geographical as well. The ways of elucidating the matters referring to these countries have their distinctive features within and outside the region. For a long time, the outer public discourse on the topic of the Balkan region has been stayed saturated with numerous stereotypes performed by foreign journalists as the current situation taking place in reality, which have had its impact on attitude to these states and the foreign policy-making. As well, this has partially influenced the inner public discourse within the region and thus the nations’ perception of each other and even of themselves, having interspersed it with numerous simplified and stereotypical notions. The text analysis provided in this volume has shown that several concepts of perceiving and representing the Self and the Other within Europe’s Eastern Rim can be noticed. The outline of the notion of “the Balkans” which is contrasted to that of “Europe” and other manifestations of the Self and the Other have found reflection in media, being expressed using certain literary and visual tools.
The analysis carried out within this volume has demonstrated the diversity of techniques used in journalism to reflect the identity concepts wandering in society and to enclose the matters of subjective vision and attitude. It has also shown the degree to which media has the power to impact social opinion and promote different matters. The direction of this influence, however, has proved to be not so predictable. Within this volume, the case of relations between Poland and Germany has been considered: after Poland has entered the Union, the painful points seem to have been aggravated by mass media, which has nourished mutual aversion.
Using metaphors has become the most popular weapon among the journalists: the concepts of LEADERS, MOTORS, SCHOOL and FAMILY used in French and German press (Le Figaro, Le Monde, and Libération) have worked as the tools to express the matters of dominance and hierarchy within the Union; the metaphors of LOCOMOTIVE, ENGINE, and ADVOCATE have been figuring in the press covering Lithuania’s and Germany’s position within the borders of the EU. Lithuanian journalists have enriched public discourse with metaphors specific to the national culture, thus having made the notions of “Lithuania” and “the European Union” linked more closely in the perception of the population. As well, this volume has provided the research devoted to the rhetoric used by the Polish press for elucidating Poland’s attitude to accessing the “Balkan” countries to the European Union: the analyzed sources are saturated with the metaphors of CONTAINER, ROAD-MOVEMENT, HOME, and FAMILY; Polish discourse has proved to be oriented at performing the candidates for the EU members as equal participants instead of the representing them as the potential victims of the Union’s expansion. Discussing the possibility of Turkey’s joining the Union was also enriched with discursive devices: the analysis has shown that media formulated three possible scenarios for the development of relations between Turkey and the EU, and each of them was supplemented with the appropriate rhetoric: for example, showing Turkey as an outsider was strengthened using FAMILY, HOUSE, and CLUB metaphors; the idea that Turkey should amend its performance in different fields was supported with the PROGRESS metaphor.
Being common to the social environment of all the countries of the European Union, these techniques have been also flourishing on the territory of former Yugoslavia. Finding Slovenia in a position of an insider referring to the EU has drawn the researchers’ attention to the peculiarities of inner and outer public discourse on this state. They claim that for several years, Slovenian media has been directed towards separating the country from the rest of the Yugoslav “brothers” in the perception of the population (Mihelj, Bajt, and Pankov, 2009).
In other former Yugoslav countries, cultural identity has been evolving rapidly, also being reflected and forced using public discourse. The countries tried to define their new “brothers” and “enemies” considering today’s political environment, which developed into the conflicts dated the 1990s and then into the discussion of the possibility for them to enter the EU. This reorientation from glorifying the former Yugoslav “brotherhood” to aspiring to join the Union has born corresponding trends in public discourse. Within this volume, the research has shown how the content of the term “The Balkans” has evolved together with the political reorientation, having become in some cases a label of negative phenomena; as well, it is analyzed how the naming strategies for the former “brothers” reflect the political and social trends which signalize through media that the conflicts have not been settled yet, having changed the form of warfare to that of literary confrontation.
The research has shown that mass media serve as a powerful tool in the struggle of local political elites: for example, Bosnian Croats are influenced using anti-Muslim rhetoric “ordered” by the local political forces. A set of tools for political manipulation is not limited by using the texts themselves; instead, it is executed through both tangible and intangible devices: analysis of such newspapers as Serbian Politika and Montenegrin Pobjeda has revealed the hidden techniques used to support the governments of Serbia and Montenegro and to promote their ideological positions.
As well, in many countries, the process of shaping a nation’s cultural identity has overstepped the borders of mass media and has penetrated modern literature. According to the research represented in the third chapter of this volume, the modern literature of Poland, Montenegro, and Croatia have been contributing to the evolution of the nation’s cultural identity, providing fresh, not committed points of view: the research refers to the example of modern Polish literature, where the up to date trends in the nation’s cultural identity has been reflected, as well as to the matters of traditionalism and modernism in the society of Montenegro with regards to its identity and reflection of a new perception of East and West represented in an outstanding work of Croatian literature.
Thus, the forces of literature seem to be strong enough to designate the direction of these nations’ perception of Self and Other and of forming their identity in general. The focus of public discourse and, particularly, modern works of literature extends beyond the political issues, touching upon the matters of gender, nationality, and other aspects of self-presentation in modern society. The research represented in this volume refers to the book of Balša Brković Privatna Galerija, where the author has reflected the transformations which are taking place in the Montenegrin society. The author has become a herald of the trends which have been already spreading with the process of evolution of the nation’s identity, though having not been accumulated by public discourse enough. As well, the volume has provided the analysis of how “the Jewish question” has been reflected in Polish public discourse and how the image of a Jewish enemy has struggled.
Thus, the research provided in this volume has corroborated the bilateral influence of trends that take place in the process of evolution of the nation’s cultural identity and the devices of public discourse elucidating them. Having touched on the up-to-date tendencies in public discourse in the countries of Europe’s Eastern Rim, it has partially outlined the aspects which are to be studied further. However, the evolution of public discourse in Europe remains a perpetual and dynamic process, which means that the new issues for studying will be presented to the researchers.