Overcoming the old borders. Beyond the paradigm of Slovak national history

The main goal of creating and publishing this collective monograph is to provide an example of profile texts of the new generation of Slovak historians who work in the Institute of History. The twelve chapters of this work cover the period of the 19th and the 20th centuries. The chapters are devoted to the area of Central Europe with emphasis on the territory of Slovakia. The authors have based their work on different theories and apply a variety of methodological approaches. Their common goal is to overcome the negative conceptual models typical for Central European historiographies after 1989 such as the nation-centred paradigm of history and the neo-positivist emphasis on political history. Comprehension of Central and Eastern European history is barely possible without a thorough analysis of the concept of nation, its creation, its use, and its specific formation in different national communities. This is the main reason why the monograph starts with a methodological study (by László Vörös) which deals with the question of defining and using the concept of “nation“ and the problem with reification and objectification of the nation.