Cultural Semantics of Georgia between the Caucasus and the Black Sea
Sigrid Weigel (Center for Literary and Cultural Research)
Giga Zedania (Ilia Univercity Tbilissi),
Franziska Thun-Hohenstein, Zaal Andronikashvili, Emzar Jgerenaia, Elene Kekelia, Konstantine Ladaria
Sponsorship Volkswagen Foundation 2012-2014
The Caucasus and the Black Sea acquire the roles of antagonistic cultural centres of gravity within the current process of (geopolitical) re-orientation of Georgia after the fall of the Soviet Union. From the Georgian perspective, Western orientation goes hand in hand with the increasing opening towards the Black Sea region on the one hand, and with the questioning of the interpretational sovereignty over the Caucasus on the other hand. It is with the view to this re-orientation of Georgia that the project examines symbolic and affective re-interpretations of the geographical space with special emphasis on the dialogue between Russian (imperial), Georgian (national) and Abkhazian (minority) perspectives. Georgia's geographical position as a border-space between Asia and Europe, or Orient and Occident determines the fact that the study of its cultural semantics forms a strong bond with the cultural awareness of Europe as a whole.