“Phantom Borders” and Ambivalent Spaces of Identification in Poland: a Cross-Regional Comparison

This paper is devoted to the identification of phantom borders in public discourse in different regions of Poland. I use the concept of phantom borders that, on the first descriptive level, means state borders that don’t exist now but could still influence social practices. On the second, more analytical level, this concept allows studying borders simultaneously on three levels: the level of spatial design provided by political actors, architects, scientists, and intellectuals; the level of the imagination of space showed as inhabitants organise their everyday routine; and the level of spatial experience manifested as subjective experience, shaped by symbols, emotions, images. Within my research, I have dedicated attention to scrutinising the discourse of notable political actors throughout local election campaigns in Poland in 2024. The central aim of my inquiry pertains to discerning the intricate ways in which political figures conceptualise and concurrently construct the phantom borders discourse in diverse regions within Poland. In order to achieve this objective, I employ the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach, which offers an insightful heuristic for examining borders from a novel vantage point. As data, I utilise the speeches of politicians from the Civic Platform (PO) and Law and Justice party (PiS) at the pre-election congresses, which are broadcast on the parties’ official YouTube channels. This research shows that phantom borders are reproduced in the political discourse of the local election campaign 2024 in Poland, even when politicians from the two major parties aim to unite Poles in their speeches. These borders cannot be clearly fixed; they are quite fluid. Interestingly, it has been observed that the country is not divided into four regions as previously assumed but rather into two. The intense political rivalry and personal dislike between the leaders of the two parties have led to such a bipolar distinction.