Transformation of regional identity in Czechia: Case study of partly deinstitutionalized Bohemia and Moravia from the viewpoint of the Bohemian-Moravian borderland inhabitants

Abstract

The article discusses the transformation of regional identity – both “identity of region” and “regional identity of people” – of partly deinstitutionalized Bohemia and Moravia in Czechia. It aims to understand better the role of “new” regional identities in the transformation of “old”/historical regional identities. A questionnaire survey with 454 inhabitants of the Bohemian-Moravian borderland revealed the crucial impact of the “new” administrative regions, not respecting historical boundaries, in the transformation of the “old”/historical regions’ territorial shape. This is connected with a change in regional identity of people. The names of “new” regions play a crucial role here, but their catchment areas are also important. The regional identity of people can be seen as another substantial institution reproducing historical regions since people’s (non-)identification with historical regions contributes to the transformation of these regions‘ identity, too. The results also show that the Czech Lands still exist as perceptual regions in people’s consciousness and are important for the identification of many people and regional activism alike.