Borderland Organizations:
Creating the Idea of a Borderland in Eastern Poland
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AGH University of Science and Technology
Publication date: 2022-03-21
Polish Sociological Review 2022;217(1):23-44
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ABSTRACT
This article presents an analysis of borderland organizations in eastern Poland. It examines the nature
of organizations creating the idea of a borderland, their territorial location, and the meanings of the borderland
representations they create. The category of “borderland” is mainly used by local self-governments and NGOs.
After 1989, these actors concentrated on organizing the region’s ethnic differences. The oldest borderland
organizations are focused on the multicultural past of the region. Poland’s accession to the EU resulted in the
reorganization of cross-border relations in connection with the emergence of new organizations interested in the
state border or in the profits associated with proximity to it. The idea of a borderland in eastern Poland is supported
by a small number of local institutions, which have not created a unified representation of what the borderland is.
Therefore, the region has retained features of a coexisting and/or interdependent borderland.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Professor Julita Makaro for her suggestions about the methodology of this project, and Kamil Motyka and Magdalena Nowak for their help in gathering data under the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. This research was made possible thanks to the quick response of those leaders of borderland organizations who talked with us and completed our questionnaires.
Sylwia and Brien Barnett patiently helped me develop the final English version of this article.