Mapping Europe: Identities, Historical Relations, Media Representations – The Case of the Baltic Sea Region

The notions people in Europe have of their own cultural identity, of the European culture, of the relations between them and finally of Europe as a whole belong to the essential preconditions for an enlarged Europe. We deem these notions altogether “Mental Maps”. These are subject of a research project, which is currently at the stage of application to the 7th Research Framework Programme of the EU. In the first round of applications, the project was actually assessed positively, but did not get as far as the group of projects finally supported. The Institute intends to re-submit a revised version of the concept for one of the next application rounds.

The project comprises the following modules: a re-analysis of data on the economic, political and cultural relations of Baltic states is to be carried out in order to describe the objective background for mental maps. In addition to that, the development of relations in the Baltic region is to be traced in its historical perspective. To explore subjective and social mental maps, the following steps are anticipated: the re-analysis of existing European opinion surveys, a representative questionnaire as well as interviews with focus groups for extending the analysis of mental maps. To describe the role of the media in forming mental maps, various steps are planned: a historical analysis of maps of Europe in the media (weather maps, and similar), a content analysis of European reporting in the participating countries, an analysis of the presentation of key historical events in the reporting as well as an observation of programmes in the entertainment offerings with regards to references to Europe and ways of depicting it.