Town Twinning, Transnational Connections, and Trans-local Citizenship Practices in Europe

Town Twinning, Transnational Connections, and Trans-local Citizenship Practices in Europe

Europe in a Global Context Series Editor: Anne Sophie Krossa, Universität Giessen Titles in the series include: Nicole Falkenhayner MAKING THE BRITISH MUSLIM Andreas Langenohl TOWN TWINNING, TRANSNATIONAL CONNECTIONS, AND TRANS-LOCAL CITIZENSHIP PRACTICES IN EUROPE Roland Robertson (editor) EUROPEAN GLOCALIZATION IN GLOBAL CONTEXT Roland Robertson and Sophie Krossa (editors) EUROPEAN COSMOPOLITANISM IN QUESTION Sophie Krossa EUROPE IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT Forthcoming titles: Chris Grocott and Jo Grady CAPITALIST IDEOLOGIES IN EUROPE AND BEYOND Europe in a Global Context Series Standing Order: HBK: 978 1 137 00313 3 PBK: 978 1 137 00314 0 (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and one of the ISBNs quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England

Town Twinning, Transnational Connections, and Trans-local Citizenship Practices in Europe Andreas Langenohl Professor of Sociology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany

Andreas Langenohl 2015 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-02122-9 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-43765-8 ISBN 978-1-137-02123-6 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781137021236 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Langenohl, Andreas, 1970 Town twinning, transnational connections and trans-local citizenship practices in Europe / Andreas Langenohl. pages cm. (Europe in a global context) Includes bibliographical references. 1. Cities and towns Europe. 2. Sister cities. 3. Urban policy Europe. 4. Community development Europe. 5. Transnationalism Europe. 6. Nationalism Europe. 7. Regional planning Europe. I. Title. HT131.L36 2015 307.1 216094 dc23 2014036786

Contents List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgments vi vii 1 Introduction: Local Transnationalism in a Europe for Citizens 1 2 European Visions: On the Political Historiography of Town Twinning 14 3 Small-town Transnationals: The (Trans-)locality of Town Twinning 35 4 Making Towns Meet: The Social Logics of (Trans-)local Encounters 62 5 Trans-local Friendships: The Microstructures of Twinning Sociability 108 6 Organizing (Civic) Culture: The Making of Europeans 134 7 (Trans-)local Economies: Imaginary Understandings of Europe 171 8 Aesthetic and Cultural Idioms of Difference in Town Twinning 199 9 Conclusion: Town Twinning and the Ethics of Exchange 220 Notes 229 Bibliography 236 Index 247 v

Figures and Tables Figures 3.1 Breitental twinning event calendar for 2013 (author s translation) 36 8.1 Excursion program for the participants from Hochburg (author s translation) 207 Tables 4.1 Practice fields and logics of (trans-)local encounter in town twinning 63 4.2 Breitental s social logics of (trans-)locality 104 4.3 Lahnfels s social logics of (trans-)locality 105 4.4 Tiefwalden s social logics of (trans-)locality 106 vi

Acknowledgments I would like to express my gratitude to the following. First of all, I would like to cordially thank the many interlocutors in the towns I have visited, who gave the project their time, support, sympathy, and trust, regardless of whether they contributed to town twinning through the political administration, twinning committees, voluntary associations, or as transnational hosts and guests. The project was greatly enhanced by the support of my research assistants: Friedrich Hirler, who helped compile the literature review on which the present book is based, and Manuel Erdmeier, who progressed from being a project assistant to an independent researcher assigned with the multiple tasks of conducting twinning-related ethnographies, interviews, encoding them, and forging contacts with some of the towns in the sample. The project was discussed in many different research contexts and greatly benefited as a result. Franziska Ochs and Sarah Haase, working on issues related to associational transnationalism, have contributed greatly to the project through our joint discussions. Kristian Naglo has been a discussion partner with respect to the concept of the social imaginary that informs the present book (cf. Chapter 7). The comments of Anne Sophie Krossa, the series editor, on the original manuscript have been invaluable in helping to rephrase some of the arguments; and I want to thank Anne Sophie especially for inviting me to contribute to the series Europe in a Global Context, which encouraged me to write this book in the first place. Finally, I would like to thank Tony Waine for proofreading the manuscript. Thanks to a grant from the Center of Excellence 16 Cultural Foundations of Integration at Konstanz University I was able to dedicate the summer term 2013 to working on this book at the Kulturwissenschaftliches Kolleg in a (not-so) small-town setting rivaling most places I have ever been to, not to mention the local assemblage of intellectual geniuses at the KuKo. I would like to thank all the KuKo s fellows for stimulating discussions, in particular Astrid Bochow, Eva Johach, Rijk van Dijk, and Thomas Kirsch. Konstanz has indeed been decisive for certain decisions taken in this book. Bernhard Kleeberg and Özkan Ezli involved me in a series of fruitful conversations about the notions of culturalization and localization that figure prominently as vii

viii Acknowledgments concepts in the book (cf. chapters 3 and 8). Robert Suter pointed out to me that the relationship between friendship and hospitality or, according to the German rendition, Freundschaft and Gastfreundschaft might be of some importance for the book project, and this proved to be one of its guiding themes (cf. Chapter 5). Gabriela Signori encouraged me to address the allegedly waning importance of the subject matter of the book town twinning assertively and openly (cf. Chapter 9). Albrecht Koschorke pointed out to me the potential functionality of the speechless friendships that seem to be characteristic of first-generation postwar twinners, who might have found it difficult to address the topic of the recent past verbally. So, I do contend that locality and localization matter. This is a book about the constitutive role of localization in bringing about trans-local and transnational sociality, communality, and maybe something akin to solidarity. And in this spirit I dedicate it to the memory of Hans-Joachim Danne, who had to depart from this place too early and whose localizing power is so painfully absent.