Interplay of European, National and Regional Identities: Nations between States along the New Eastern Borders of Europe
The ENRI-East project is an innovative international collaborative research project on the theme of European, national and regional identities. It is a three-year project financed by the European Union within the scope of the 7th Framework Programme. The project is coordinated by the Institute of Advanced Studies in Vienna and involves eleven European Institutions and over fifty European scholars (including TÁRKI and Prof. Endre Sik as a teamleader of TÁRKI).
The main goal of the ENRI-East project is to develop an in-depth understanding of the ways in which the modern European identities and regional cultures are formed and how these are inter-communicated in the Eastern part of the European continent. The research focuses on nations and states on both sides of the new Eastern border of the EU. This includes the following countries within the border of the EU: Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Slovakia and Hungary and beyond: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine.
It is assumed that issues of identity formation and the negotiation of different identities are more salient in those complex conditions where the states and the nations don1t correspond fully. Therefore the main objects of ENRI-East are ethnic minorities ("split nations") living in the countries described above.
The project employs both theoretical and empirical research tools. It starts with a critical review of literature on identities and verification of existing statistical and sociological data sets. As a next step, ENRI-East designs a series of sociological surveys that should bring new knowledge to the main research themes of the project.
A wide range of different methodologies will be used, embracing altogether seven types of surveys. Among them are classical methods like a large-scale quantitative survey, and qualitative methods like expert interviews and content analysis. But analyzing essays written by teenagers and two innovative and experimental pilot studies (musical survey and musical focus groups) will be undertaken as well.
ENRI-East is an inter-disciplinary effort (sociology, political science, history, ethnography) and its methodological thrust comprises theoretical, empirical and comparative aspects. Learn more about the project here: http://www.enri-east.net/en/
