The Wendish Research Exchange - Neumann, Martin: Stasis, Change and the Law. On the Definition of the Sorbian/Wendish Area of Settlement in the Brandenburg...

Lětopis Abstract 2010 2: Neumann, Martin: Stasis, Change and the Law. On the Definition of the Sorbian/Wendish Area of Settlement in the Brandenburg Sorbian (Wendish) Law

The Sorbian/Wendish area of settlement in Brandenburg is defined in legal texts by applying various criteria such as location or proof of cultural or linguistic traditions. This so-called “traditional area of settlement” does however affect policies relating to the protection, cultivation and support of cultural forms of expression and identities. This paper examines first of all the supposed unambiguous nature of the settlement area concept and of the significance of an area defined in this way. It engages critically with the three defining criteria and their application in practice. In doing so, supposedly clearly defined sets of facts, such as proof of cultural and linguistic traditions and the logic of the criterion of location, or rather of a clearly demarcated Sorbian/Wendish area of settlement, are analyzed in the same way, as is the application of rigid legal definitions in the face of the dynamic nature of physical mobility and linguistic, cultural identities. Finally, an attempt at a more flexible definition of settlement area is put forward for discussion.