Moravian Attempts to Have a National Identity Distinct from that of the Czechs

- Presentation speakers
  - Giuseppe Maiello, Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Naples „L’Orientale”, Italy
Abstract:

At the beginning of the XIX century, when a part of the Czech intellectuality embraced the nationalist ideas of the time, part of the clergy and intellectuals from Moravia, planned and dreamed of a political and cultural process separate from that of the Czechs. As well known, the attempt was unsuccessful, but it represents a good example of how a minor identity succumbed and succumb to a majoritarian nationalism. In our paper we present the ideas of the Moravian separatists on the basis of the archive documents and of the reflections of the old and contemporary Czech and Moravian historians. The purpose is to remember a circumstance not enough researched, concerning an important part of “Central Europe” considered by now, at least from the political point of view, almost invisible.