Universities for the Borderlands

Closing of the International Project Universities for the Borderlands

A conference closing the international research project Universities for the Borderlands has been held at Collegium Maius, University of Opole. The project was carried out by the Chair of Slavonic Studies of the University of Olomuniec and the Institute of Slavonic Studies of the University of Opole. During the conference the following three milestones of the project were presented:

• Monograph Borderlandness and Borderlands from the Perspective of Social Science and the Humanities.  The Monograph presents the problems of borderlands from different angles: it shows differences in seeing the borderland by the Poles and the Czechs, differences in the concept of borderlands in  political science, sociology or linguistics. It also presents the linguistic situation in the borderlands (Cieszyn Silesia and Lubusz Land) and literary and cultural contexts in the borderland. Lastly, the monograph shows the Internet as a borderland of a new type and presents the Silesian Museum as a place where multicultural character of the borderlands has been documented.

•  Interactive map of the Polish-Czech borderland, which was prepared by students from both universities. At present the Map shows 10 trails encompassing about 100 points on both sides of the Polish-Czech border. Each point contains photographs, history and present day of the sites (in Czech, Polish and Russian) which are very attractive but often little known: bridges, caves, cemeteries, sanctuaries, artisan shops, railway stations, etc. The map will be developed for the next five years and is available here: www.dobratrasa.eu.

• Three language (Czech-Polish-Russian and Polish-Czech-Russian) Borderland Dictionary containing around 4500 lexical entries grouped in five thematic units: Borderland History, Borderland Geography, Borderland Monuments, Borderland People and Borderland Trails. It is the first of its kind project in Polish and Czech lexicography, whose outcome can be of great help to students, tourists and translators. In addition to its printed version the dictionary will be available online.

Wojciech Chlebda