Actualisers, Believers, Workers, and Harvesters: The Nuances of the Identity Potential of the Transnational

Bastian Küntzel

doi:10.25167/brs5522

Published: 2024-10-12

Vol. 12 (2024)

Actualisers, Believers, Workers, and Harvesters: The Nuances of the Identity Potential of the Transnational

Bastian Küntzel

Border and Regional Studies

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.25167/brs5522

Abstract

In this article, I introduce the phenotypes of Transborder-Actualisers, -Believers, -Workers, and -Harvesters in an attempt to differentiate and add nuance to the understanding of who, and under what circumstances, uses the identity potential of a transborder space in developing a transborder identity. These new categorisations of border-dwellers derive from a qualitative study of 32 people who live and work across the Polish-German border, asking in what ways people who live transnational lives experience and describe their life and identity, and in what ways and for whom a border can become a constituting identity source? Any crisis amplifies what is invisible in daily life, such as inequalities, inefficiencies, structural problems, or identifications, making them more describable and thus available for empirical analysis. I conclude that a transborder, transnational identity, while theoretically available to all who live across a border, is not automatically adopted by all transborder dwellers but is an identity source mainly for a specific subset of people.

Keywords:

transnational identity, transborder life, Poland, Germany, Covid-19 pandemic

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Küntzel, B. (2024). Actualisers, Believers, Workers, and Harvesters: The Nuances of the Identity Potential of the Transnational. Border and Regional Studies, 12, 91–104. https://doi.org/10.25167/brs5522

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