Central Europe’s limits in the north and the south

Abstract

Central Europe’s Limits in the North and the South (pp. 83-112). 2023. Acta Slavic Iaponica. Vol. 44 (Sapporo, Japan: Slavic-Eurasian Research Center, Hokkaido University). https://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/publictn/acta/44/04_Tomasz_Kamusella.pdf The article offers a historical survey of the emergence and uses of the concept of Central Europe (Mitteleuropa) against the backdrop of the change in the spatial conceptualization of the continent from the North-South to West-East division. In the heyday of this concept’s popularity between the early 20th and early 21st centuries, due to the Cold War (also known as the East-West conflict), scholars commented mostly on the western and eastern borders of Central Europe. Researchers remained largely silent on the region’s limits in the north and south. In this analysis, the tacit assumptions in deciding about such northern and southern limits are probed into. Finally, a range of other potential northern and southern boundaries of Central Europe are sampled in accordance with various research needs.