Desanka Schwara Libri

This exciting book significantly contributes to Mediterranean studies, encompassing a variety of themes from medical to imaginative realms. It redefines the concept of “diaspora.” The Mediterranean port cities, with their bustling streets and impressive architecture, shared structural and color similarities. Sailors, merchants, pirates, and consuls from around the world converged in these metropolises, seeking income, adventure, or new opportunities, thereby shaping their identities. Authors Desanka Schwara, Luise Müller, Patrick Krebs, Ivo Haag, and Marcel Gosteli explore whether these diaspora groups share a common habitus from a boundless spatial perspective. They examine the experiences of these dispersed communities, focusing on the interconnected space between Lisbon and Istanbul while disregarding political and other boundaries, much like the diasporic individuals themselves. Through comparative local studies, the authors investigate lifestyles and trans-territorial characteristics such as mobility, communication, cultural codes, cultural transfer, and interaction patterns. Minorities, encompassing various ethnic, religious, and social groups, are not viewed merely as subjects of tolerance or intolerance but as active components of pre-national systems.

Desanka Schwara's studies explore various interpretations of belonging, particularly how the sense of belonging is shaped by the foreign, as seen through the experiences of travelers and diaspora groups. The examination focuses on borders and convergence points in the periphery of the Habsburg monarchy, the Tsarist kingdom, and the Ottoman Empire, spanning from the peace of Kütchek Kainardsche in 1774 to the collapse of these empires in 1918 and the rise of nation-states. The multi-ethnic empires provided a way of life that contrasted with the nation-state's push for homogeneity in language, ethnicity, and religion. As these empires fragmented into smaller national areas, they clashed with the established traditions of transnational communication and mobility fostered by travelers and diaspora narratives. Through selected accounts of journeys, letters, diaries, and archival material, Schwara investigates global movements and the emotions and transformations they evoke. A trans-ethnic comparison reveals connections between mobility and habitus, highlighting the thoughts, perceptions, and emotions of those who embody the transterritorial in its hybrid forms. Mobility phenomena, marked by multilingualism and varied experiences of time, arise from diverse calendars and environments, prompting a reevaluation of the psychological impacts of stable surroundings amid nationalism.