This contribution presents geopolitical imaginaries in Transcarpathia, the westernmost county of Ukraine. It draws on material from interviews with regional elites conducted in autumn 2021. 13 interviews were conducted with 8 Hungarians and 6 Ukrainians. The question how respondents related to various spaces – real and imagined – was of particular interest.
It became clear that the respondents relate to various spatial categories in a multitude of ways. Despite being relatively isolated by an ever less permeable border which often takes hours to cross, local Hungarians have developed close links to Hungary especially over the past decade. In particular since Ukraine became a visa waiver to the EU (2017), many Ukrainians too are crossing westward as tourists or workers.
The processes above are partly related to geopolitical processes unfolding in Ukraine since 2014. With continuing political instability and drawn-out geopolitical tensions, the country has become one of Europe’s weakest economically as well as politically. Due to high emigration, the local Hungarian community has declined by 25–30% since 2001. The demographic loss among Ukrainians is somewhat counterbalanced by people moving to the region from other parts of the country. Many local Hungarians – as well as some Ukrainians – have adopted Hungarian citizenship since 2011.
Several Hungarians mentioned the Veretskiy Pass – which long divided historical Hungary from other entities – as a reference point, beyond which they find a different world. Instead, Hungary has become (or remained) an important reference point to them, as has the Carpathian Basin (cf. Hajdú 2018, Scott 2020, Balogh 2021). Once going deeper, however, it turned out that they realise – and some even appreciate – the hybrid culture of their region. Last but not least, attitudes to Europe differed considerably, with local Hungarians reiterating recent anti-EU discourses of the Hungarian gvt and Ukrainians being much more positively inclined.
Mots clés : geopolitical imaginaries|borders|Transcarpathia|Carpathian Basin|Europe
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