Mapping Stateless Peoples: The East Slavs of the Carpathians

Description

Carpatho-Rusyns have never had their own state nor even their own administrative entity that encompassed all the territory where they have lived. Consequently, some criteria other than officially recognized borders had to be found in order to decide what should be depicted visually as Carpatho-Rusyn territory. This essay is an attempt to explain the conceptual basis of the Carpatho-Rusyn Settlement Map, which together with several smaller maps has begun to function as a didactic tool for those who support the idea of a distinct Carpatho-Rusyn nationality.

The 32-page study features:

• a theoretical discussion of how to depict the homelands of peoples without their own state;
• a survey of previous maps and statistical studies about Carpatho-Rusyns;
• a conceptual justification of the Rusyn lands depicted on the map;
• problems connected with the use of census data on nationality and language;
• seven maps depicting the evolution of the linguistic and nationality boundary between Rusyns and Slovaks in 1806, 1881, 1900, 1910, 1921, 1930 and 1991.