Infrastructure and post-imperial national-spatial integration. Spatial development, path dependence and railroads in Bulgaria and Serbia/Yugoslavia from the late 19th century to World War Two in comparison

• Applicant: Dr. Danijel Kezic
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2018 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 414332240

The proposed project is actually the project extension of granted project, which aims to analyze the role of infrastructure on the example of railways for post-imperial nation-building processes in the Kingdom of Serbia/Yugoslavia and Bulgaria from the late 19th century to 1941. Thus, it not only fills a large research gap, but will provide important new insights into the connection between spatial imaginaries and infrastructure development, with a focus on national spatial integration. The working hypothesis is that railways played a central role in the mental and material construction of the national space. However, they caused not only integrative but also disintegrative effects. Focal point is the question about path dependency; or rather the impact of tangible historical legacy on the process of national spatial integration in the Southeast Europe. The project has four main objectives:• Analysis of the construction of the national space through infrastructure at the macro level of the nation-state (spatial images, planning and infrastructure development)• Investigation of the symbolic codification of national space through infrastructure on the micro-level (opening ceremonies, railroad stations) • Development of new theoretical and methodological foundations for a modern Southeast European infrastructure history• Development of digital tools for visual presentation of national spatial integration of Southeast EuropeThe project is based on extensive empirical research in Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia, since in many cases the foundations of the history of the railway still have to be reconstructed. Diverse sources (archive files, publications, specialist journals, maps and pictures) are interpreted with approaches shaped by cultural and social history. Central points of reference are concepts coming from debates about the "spatial turn", "mental maps" and “legacies”. With its research design, the project lays a foundation for future research into the history of other infrastructures in post-imperial Southeastern Europe.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Ulf Brunnbauer