Unterwegs

In her studies Desanka Schwara deals with various interpretations of belonging. The sense of belonging that only becomes predominant through the foreign is examined exemplary on travellers and diaspora groups. Borders and points of convergence as in the periphery of the Habsburg monarchy, kingdom of the tsar and Osmanic empire are examined. Special attention is put on the eventful epoch beginning with the peace of Kütchek Kainardsche 1774 and ending in 1918 with the collapse of the three empires and the spreading of the nation state principle. The systems of the multi-ethic empires met the way of life of diaspora groups more than the nation state aiming for a homogeneous language, ethnicity and religion. The great empires which were newly organized into smaller states and became “national” areas of majorities opposed the characteristic traditions of transterritorial and transnational communication and mobility networks that were established, expanded and sustained by travellers and narratives of the diaspora groups. The author examines on the basis of selected accounts of journeys, letters, diaries and archive material movements in the whole world and asks which emotions and transformation were triggered by the mobility of humankind. A trans-ethnic comparison uncovers links between mobility and habitus. Schwara portrays styles of thinking, perceptions and emotions of people who embody the transterritorial in its hybridity. Phenomena of mobility with specific emblems (eg. multi-lingual, or disparate experience of time) come into existence due to different calendars and sacred or profane environments – these phenomena are questioned and put into perspective to the psychological consequences of stable surroundings in a time of national states and nationalism.