In recent decades, historians have become increasingly aware of the role of tourism in regional identity formation in Europe. The influence of tourism on borderland identity is, however, still...Show moreIn recent decades, historians have become increasingly aware of the role of tourism in regional identity formation in Europe. The influence of tourism on borderland identity is, however, still largely uncharted territory. This thesis investigates the impact of tourism on processes of regional identity formation in Zeelandic Flanders between 1970 and 1985. In this period, the Dutch maritime borderland expanded its reputation as an authentic beach destination with a unique Flemish hinterland. Tourist organizations, such as the VVV, emphasized the region's cross-border Flemish character, both in culture and landscape. The image of a ‘boundlessly Flemish’ borderland was, however, not as unproblematic as promotional material might suggest. In the same period, the border stimulated particular types of tourism that were considered negative and immoral: sex shop tourism in Sluis and nudism on the beach near Cadzand. The local impact of these types of ‘tourism of vice’ was a topic of heated debate within the local community. This thesis demonstrates that the impact of tourism on borderlands cannot be simplified to the construction of a single ‘cross-border identity’. Instead, multiple understandings of regionhood and nationhood were developed in borderland tourism, that overlapped and sometimes even contradicted each other.Show less
“Picturing Deutschböhmen” explores German Bohemian efforts to convey the idea of a new nationally defined region in Late Habsburg Austria, ‘Deutschböhmen.’ It considers their use of relatively new...Show more“Picturing Deutschböhmen” explores German Bohemian efforts to convey the idea of a new nationally defined region in Late Habsburg Austria, ‘Deutschböhmen.’ It considers their use of relatively new technologies and modes of consumption to this end, primarily photography and mass tourism. Whereas parallel Czech and Hungarian claims to greater autonomy garnered a sense of legitimacy from historical precedents in the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary, no similar examples could be cited by German nationalists in western Bohemia for their supposed region. Instead, German Bohemians relied on the culturally situated potency of the Heimat-genre as well as the documentary ‘realness’ of photographic images. Making use of specific tropes and vocabularies, both textual and visual, guidebooks and other tourist material encouraged outsiders, especially Germans elsewhere, to literally or figuratively visit and witness Deutschböhmen for themselves. Consequently, readers were introduced to an area that was distinct from the rest of Bohemia and an inherent part of the timeless territory of the German Heimat.Show less
