Multiculturalism has long been linked to calls for tolerance of cultural diversity, but today many observers are subjecting the concept to close scrutiny. After the political upheavals of 1968, the commitment to multiculturalism was perceived as a liberal manifesto, but in the post-9/11 era, it is under attack for its relativizing, particularist, and essentializing implications. The essays in this collection offer a nuanced analysis of the multifaceted cultural experience of Central Europe under the late Habsburg monarchy and beyond. The authors examine how culturally coded social spaces can be described and understood historically without adopting categories formerly employed to justify the definition and separation of groups into nations, ethnicities, or homogeneous cultures. As we consider the issues of multiculturalism today, this volume offers new approaches to understanding multiculturalism in Central Europe freed of the effects of politically exploited concepts of social spaces.

Multiculturalism has long been linked to calls for tolerance of cultural diversity, but today many observers are subjecting the concept to close scrutiny. After the political upheavals of 1968, the commitment to multiculturalism was perceived as a liberal manifesto, but in the post-9/11 era, it is under attack for its relativizing, particularist, and essentializing implications. The essays in this collection offer a nuanced analysis of the multifaceted cultural experience of Central Europe under the late Habsburg monarchy and beyond. The authors examine how culturally coded social spaces can be described and understood historically without adopting categories formerly employed to justify the definition and separation of groups into nations, ethnicities, or homogeneous cultures. As we consider the issues of multiculturalism today, this volume offers new approaches to understanding multiculturalism in Central Europe freed of the effects of politically exploited concepts of social spaces.

List of Tables and Figures
Preface

Introduction: Understanding Multiculturalism and the Habsburg Central European Experience
Johannes Feichtinger and Gary B. Cohen

SECTION I: IDENTITY FORMATION IN MULTICULTURAL SOCIETIES

Chapter 1. Heterogeneities and Homogeneities. On Similarities and Diversities
Anil Bhatti

Chapter 2. Mestizaje and Hybrid Culture: Towards a Transnational Cultural Memory of Europe and the Development of Cultural Theories in Latin America
Michael Rössner

Chapter 3. The Limits of Nationalist Activism in Imperial Austria: Creating Frontiers in Daily Life
Pieter M. Judson

SECTION II: THE DYNAMICS OF MULTICULTURAL SOCIETIES, POLITICS, AND THE STATE

Chapter 4. Multiculturalism, Polish Style: Glimpses from the Interwar Period
Patrice M. Dabrowski

Chapter 5. Multiculturalism Against the State: Lessons from Istria
Pamela Ballinger

Chapter 6. Migration in Austria, An Overview: 1920s to 2000s
Michael John

SECTION III: IDENTITIES EXPRESSED, NEGOTIATED, AND CHALLENGED IN MULTICULTURAL SETTINGS

Chapter 7. The Slice of Desire: Intercultural Practices Versus National Loyalties in the Peripheral Multiethnic Society of Central Europe at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
Oto Luthar

Chapter 8. On “Neighbors” and “Strangers”: The Literary Motif of “Central Europe” as Lieu de Mémoire
Andrei Corbea Hoisie

Chapter 9. Culture as a Space of Communication
Moritz Csáky

Notes on Contributors
Bibliography
Index