Un paysage contesté : la Valachie morave et la Slovaquie morave, une étude imagologique sur le récit de la frontière ottomane

Abstract

The paper deals with the phenomenon of border, reflecting the imagology case study of microregion of Eastern Moravia. From the methodological point of view, the text is focused on textual analysis of primary historical sources and folklore materials from 16th and 17th century, originating from the mountainous cross-border region called Moravian Wallachia (on traditional borders between Bohemia and Hungaria, actually situated between Czech Republic and Slovakia). Wallachia was located in the proximity of Ottoman Empire during longue durée, in the context of Thirty Years’ War and wars between Habsburgs and Ottomans. Post medieval and early modern period sources from the period of 16th-18th century show the emergence of phenomenon of border, which finds its expression in specific stereotypical images – the image of the external enemy, the image of the border guard, the image of the brigand and rebel (zbojník) and internal enemy (stranger) image. These topoi play very important role concerning the collective memory of this region till today and their impact could be discussed in the frame of relations between various regions of the Czech Republic and its neighbours.