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Introduction of universal and stadial history emerged in western as well as eastern Europe, the latter transforming later in various evolutionist models of the development of the societies and cultures of the world. Such social and cultural processes have been surrounded by significant images and visual representations expressing, and sometimes also shaping, those processes. Stadial and evolutionist theories of history are all too freguently found among the sources of racial distinction and prejudice documented, unfortunately, from our region and the studied period, too. Plenty of the visual representations to follow will testify to that feature of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in central and eastern Europe. The very purpose of our investigation was to ask: Is there/was there anything like "central and eastern European eyes"? What are/were they like? How were they formed in history? The studies gathered in this book do not provide any single answers to these questions. They argue for a rather kaleidoscopic character—a multiplicity and heterogeneity—of those “eyes,” as well as of their products, the images and other representations of the Other. How did the various, and often competing, representatives of “eastern Europe” form their own look upon the surrounding world? It is well known, and the articles included in this volume testify, that a large portion of intellectuals and other inhabitants of those regions have assimilated numerous Western ideas. However, a distinctly eastern European “gaze” seems, or more exactly, “gazes” seem also to exist, and the present volume provides relevant materials, including both visual and textual examples of them. One of the reasons behind the present series of publications is a need to supplement the insufficient amount of knowledge on the subject of “eastern Europe” and its own specific views of itself and the surrounding world. The idea of “eastern Europe” is not understood here merely as a construct. Rather, it is treated as a geographical-political notion that draws together the countries existing outside the center of western Europe— countries that share, to a certain extent, similar experiences of remaining on the periphery of Europe. It is our belief that by way of presenting such diverse material we may be able to show certain tendencies and turning points in the manner of perceiving the Other in our region. Despite the many borrowings of western European ideas and artifacts, or even cultural clichés coming from there, the specificities of the central and eastern European countries seem to allow one to speak about “eastern European eyes” (in the plural!). The nations, motifs, and themes presented in this volume represent the elements of both a general view of “eastern Europe” and its local manifestations and perspectives. The six chapters into which we have ordered the authors’ articles are based on such anthropological and historical considerations. Suggesting how closely the above-mentioned sociocultural processes—and their visual products—relate and are interconnected, indeed, these chapters do not always fit precisely and exclusively into just one of the chapter topics. Still, the six-chapter structure provides a reasonable framework.
