Preface

11 Preface

The fundamental restructuring of European politics taking place since 1989/90 will reach aremarkable climax in the year 2004 with the joint accession of 10 new member states to theEuropean Union. While political steps are being taken quickly and boldly, the economy is findingit difficult to keep up the pace in achieving satisfactory development for all parties concerned.Contrary to how it may be perceived superficially, it seems to be even more difficult to takesteps in the cultural sector. Here, historical border experiences of national, lingual and religiouscharacter are rooted deep in people's consciousness and these established perceptions criss-cross the European continent. Long practiced philosophies of life and different cultural patternsseem to be more tenacious in their resistance to cultural levelling tendencies than to legal,economic or political parameters. Although the European Union refers to itself as being aunion, intellectually and materially it is still far from being one.

Parallel to examining social developments, the field of cultural studies/ European ethnologyhas repeatedly dealt with questions of respective»> European identities« over the past few years.Do these identities exist? What do they consist of? How are they constructed? A shared Euro-pean feeling of identity is so far more a desideratum than a fact. The more foreign, threateningand less clearly defined the surrounding world seems, the more people seem to feel a sense ofbelonging to their immediate territories and local areas. This is not only true geographically,but also materialises in various sectors of everyday life, material culture as well as in language.Persistently, most countries have negotiated for exceptions to be made in their treaties ofaccession to the European Union, which are meant to help protect and preserve their distinctivenational particularities.

Does this mean that- contrary to the political integration of Europe- national categoriesare becoming more established and constitutive in cultural self awareness? Or, to ask thisquestion differently: On what other sources do cultural identities draw? As an institution dedicatedto the collection, preservation and analysis of the material culture of a broad social spectrumof the population, the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art has taken the accession ofthe 10 new EU member states on Mai 1st 2004 as an impetus to initiate a small exhibition projectwith comparable museums of these countries. The exhibit aims to deal with the above- mentionedquestion and to place an emphasis on this event, which will also affect the museums collectionsand collection perspectives in future.