Liszka József (szerk.): Az Etnológiai Központ Évkönyve 2000-2001 - Acta Ethnologica Danubiana 2-3. (Dunaszerdahely-Komárom, 2001)
1. Tanulmányok - Alexander Fenton: Zárszó
Acta Ethnologica Danubiana 2-3 (2000-2001), Komárom-Komárno Schlußwort Alexander Fenton Ein Schlußwort ist kein Terminus-post-quem-non, aber lieber ein neuer Anfang! At this conference on Grenze als volkskundliches Problem/the Boundary as an ethnological Problem, we have been discussing boundaries - geographical, political, linguistic, cultural, ethnic, even spiritual. In terms of the history of our Internationale Europäische Ethnokartographische Arbeitsgruppe/Intemational European Ethnocartographic Working Group, a major boundary was crossed when we last met in Slovakia, at Stará Lesná, in 1990. That meeting marked the publication of the completed Etnografický atlas Slovenska/Ethnographic Atlas of Slovakia. It also marked the end of the long efforts that had been made by the Organisationskommission für den Volkskundeatlas Europas und seiner Nachbarländer/Organisation Commission for the Ethnological Atlas of Europe and its Neighbouring Countries, which was under the general direction of the Ständige Internationale Atlaskommission/Permanent International Atlas Commission. The first of the series of European Ethnological Atlas Meetings took place in Zagreb, 1966; they continued in Bonn, 1968; Helsinki, 1970; Stockholm, 1972; Visegrád, 1974; St. Pölten, 1976; Enniskillen, 1978; and Stará Lesná, 1990. But though one European map, on Jahresfeuer/Seasonal Festivals was completed and published in 1980 through the good offices and dedicated work of the late Professor Matthias Zender and his colleagues in Bonn, it came to be recognised in Stará Lesná that the economic costs of the full project, in time as well as in money, were too heavy to be supported. There was also an immense amount of research to be done, for which computer programmes would have been needed to coordinate the results. So it was decided to draw a line under work towards the immense goal of a European Ethnological Atlas, and to continue ethnocartographic activities in a different way. This meant that regular international meetings should continue, but with a somewhat altered direction. At each meeting, a theme of substance should be explored, as far as possible using ethnocartographic techniques, and the results published in book form. This activity should in turn support work on national ethnographic atlases that were still in progress. And so the International European Ethnocartographic Working Group was formed in 1990, and since then we have held meetings in Germany, in the Czech Republic, in Poland and now again in Slovakia. Two good publications stand to our credit: H. L. Cox, ed., Kulturgrenzen und Nationale Identität, Bonn, 1993, and J. Vafeka, M Holubová and L Petráňová, eds., Evropský kultumí prostor - jednota v rozmanitosti. Europäischer Kulturraum-Einheit in Vielfalt. European Cultural Area - Unity in Diversity, Praha 1997. We await the one from Poland. 223
