Globale Selbst- und Fremdverortungen auf Reisen. Tschechische Positionierungsstrategien vor und nach 1918

Abstract

In historical research, the relationship between Europe and the non-European world around 1918 has so far been looked at mainly as that of colonizers and colonized. This paper, however, focuses on a region usually left out of this picture: As an East Central European case study, the focus lies on the contacts and relations of the Czech society with the non-European world roughly between 1890 and 1938, concentrating mainly on aspects of national representations in Czech travelogues on non-European regions. Beginning in the last decade of the 9th century, and continuing throughout the Interwar years, the dealings with non-European regions grew rapidly in the Czech society, involving the economic sphere, tourism, diplomacy, as well as information available on far-away regions, including a growing number of travelogues. Various themes in these travelogues discuss the global presence of the Czech nation: The discussion of the Czech economic export reveals the desire to be globally more present; the recurring description of Czech expatriates suggests a global presence of the nation; while, on the other hand, the disinterested reactions toward the Czech nation in Africa or Asia call in question the self-proclaimed global activity especially in the Interwar years.