Mezzogiorno without the mafia: Modern-day meridionalisti and the making of a ‘space of backwardness’ in eastern Germany

Author: Johnson Corey  

Publisher: Routledge Ltd

ISSN: 1469-9907

Source: National Identities, Vol.13, Iss.2, 2011-06, pp. : 157-176

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Abstract

Practices of spatial representation can be revealing indicators of particular brands of nationalized discourse. In this article, the prevalent use of a comparison between eastern Germany and the Italian Mezzogiorno by a specific set of German elites is examined. Anxieties about Germany's place in the European and global economies are accompanied by a spatial vocabulary that uploads these anxieties onto the ongoing project of German unification. Eastern Germany, painted as a homogenized ‘space of backwardness,’ is thereby made out as a key factor inhibiting competitiveness and modernization of the economy.