BHA Webinar “Václav Vratislav of Mitrovice (Bohemia) travelogue to Ottoman Empire through Balkans and his captive narrative”
BHA Webinar Series (Zoom)
Petra Košťálová, PhD (Department of East European Studies, Charles University, Prague)
Date & Hour: December 18 (Thursday), 10:00 CET / 11:00 EET
Moderator: Christene d’Anca, PhD (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Technical assistance: Timothy French, contact: timothymfrench@yahoo.com
Webinar ID: 848 1107 1698
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84811071698
The presentation deals with the multifaceted phenomenon of border identity and the self-identification process within the frame of Ottoman, Habsburg and Polish-Lithuanian borderlands based on the example of early seventeenth century Czech travel accounts. The microhistory case study is focused on the travelogue of Václav Vratislav of Mitrovice/Wenceslas Wratislaw of Mitrowicz, reflecting his life experiences during his journey and stay in Constantinople (1591–1595) and written down some thirty years later. Václav’s accounts reveal the large scale of borders’ permeability and flexibility. The textual analysis draws attention to a concept of shifting borders per se, oscillating permanently between geopolitical lines, juridictional boundaries as well as confessional identities. Within the notion of border (or semi-periphery), a particular form of recurrent border-image emerges, showing its high degree of porosity and fluidity. The specific form of Frontier Orientalism as defined by Austrian historian Andre Gingrich poses questions about the construction of identity in border regions and, at the same time, raises the issue of reevaluating the classic Orientalist approach. The call for reconsideration is more relevant in times of rapidly and dynamically changing paradigms (within the frame of Foucauldian power knowledge discourse).