Creating added value. How the structural change in Lusatia can benefit from Sorbian-German multilingualism

Abstract

Lusatia in the border area between Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic encompasses the settlement area of the Sorbian minority in both its historical and current form. The article explores how the ensuing multilingualism in the region can be put to fruitful use in the current process of economic and societal structural change, which goes hand-in-hand with Germany’s proclaimed exit from lignite-based electricity generation. The change process is interpreted as a “window of opportunity” to sound out the future role of the minority in the structural development of the region. This is a matter of redefining both intra-Sorbian positions and functions as well as those in the overall structure of majority-minority dynamics, and of finding roles and mechanisms in the European, cross-border context.