Project description
Nationalist activists and rural people in Eastern Europe
National movements in Eastern Europe often disregarded borders when defining their constituencies, leading to minorities that felt disconnected from the state structure. By expanding infrastructural reach, state structures caused harm, especially to rural people, labelling specific populations as foreign and a threat to state security. The ERC-funded BENASTA project examines non-elite adherence to minority nationalisms in rural Eastern Europe between the 1870s and the First World War. It compares six case studies to counter the current emphasis on the link between nationalist activists and the people. The project aims to understand what rural people expected from national movements, how they opposed state policies, and whether popular beliefs shaped democratic brands of nationalism.
Objective
Based on transnational comparisons, our project probes into non-elite adherence to minority nationalisms in rural Eastern Europe between the 1870s and the First World War. We compare six case studies. We focus on state agency as a driving factor, to offer a corrective to the currently predominant, one-sided emphasis on the nexus between nationalist activists and the people. In the broader Eastern Europe, most national movements defined their constituencies in disregard of existing borders. We try to demonstrate that the states structures in which these populations lived inadvertently conspired with national movements to constitute minorities disaffected with them. They did so on two levels. First, by expanding their infrastructural reach, they inflicted harm especially on rural people and made themselves an easier target for economic and social grievances. Second, they reinterpreted certain populations as foreign, a problem and a threat to the security and integrity of the state. They implemented special policies to assimilate or contain them and proactively framed their dissatisfaction as a sign of nationalist yearnings. By retrieving voices from below, we propose to clarify how far these processes aided successful national mobilization in minority.
Some of our more specific research questions are the following. What hopes did rural people attach to national movements? Were they interested in modern public services from a state controlled by their coethnics – or rather, did they expect national movements to shield them from any kind of state interference? What state policies did they react against, and how did these differ from the ones that the elites of national movements resented? Did popular voices about the state administration and policies echo elite framings? Finally, did popular understandings shape more democratic, twentieth-century (right or left-wing) brands of nationalism?
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2022-STG
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1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia
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