Abstract

Since 1989, Europe’s eastern rim has been in constant flux. This collection focuses on how political and economic transformations have triggered redefinitions of cultural identity. Using discursive modes of identity construction (deconstruction, reconstruction, reformulation, and invention) the book focuses on the creation of opposition to old and new 'outsiders' and 'insiders' in Europe. The linguistic study of discourse elements in connection with an exploration of the significance of metaphors in anchoring individual and collective identity is innovative and allows for a unique analysis of public discourse in Europe.

This is a timely book with a rich array of contributions exploring discursive constructions of identity in a number of countries on Europe’s Eastern rim. Thematically focused and integrated, the volume provides much needed perspectives on hitherto underresearched areas and languages. At the same time, the theoretical and methodological issues that it addresses will appeal more generally to scholars studying political and media discourse.

This publication offers a convincing case for the fluidity of national and cultural identities, especially those predicated on 'Europe'. It corroborates the proposition that identities are constructed in relational terms and it offers clear insights on how the 'other' has been dynamically contested, negotiated and reconstructed in public discourses on an enlarged EU, thus highlighting the key role of different linguistic representations in redefining identities. This publication is certainly refreshing as it invites reflections on the construction of 'Europeanness'.

Ljiljana SariÄ? is Professor of Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian at the University of Oslo. Her publications include Discourses of Intercultural Identity in Britain, Germany and Eastern Europe (co-editor, 2004), and Red-Letter Days and Discursive Identity Construction in Central Europe and the Balkans (co-editor, forthcoming).

Andreas Musolff is Professor of Intercultural Communication Studies at the University of East Anglia. His books include Metaphor, Nation and the Holocaust (2010) and Metaphor and Political Discourse (2004). He has co-edited Metaphor and Discourse (2009) and several volumes comparing British and German political debates about the European Union.

Stefan Manz is Senior Lecturer and Director of German Studies at Aston University. Publications include Discourses of Intercultural Identity in Britain, Germany and Eastern Europe (2004, co-edited) and Migration and Transfer from Germany to Britain, 1660â??1914 (2007, co-edited).

Ingrid Hudabiunigg is Professor Emeritus of German as a foreign language and European studies at the Technical University of Chemnitz (Germany). She has published extensively on discursive identity construction.