CEU Press publishes first OA book today - funded by Opening the Future

Posted by Tom Grady on Dec. 7, 2021 at 1140

“I believe we should strive to guarantee for everyone equal access to all Humankind’s knowledge. This is underpinned by my experience of education in communist Poland, where access to publications was severely restricted and censored by the regime.” Dr Tomasz Kamusella, author

Central European University (CEU) Press is pleased to announce the publication of a new academic monograph for specialist and general readers. It is the first of our ‘open access’ books funded entirely by the university library members of our Opening the Future programme. This book is freely available worldwide to read and download from our partner Project MUSE, and also other open access platforms. 

With forty-two extensively annotated maps, the Atlas offers novel insights into the history and mechanics of how Central Europe’s languages have been made, unmade, and deployed for political action. It is a thought-provoking combination of linguistics, history, and cartography.

Words in Space and Time examines the Western European concept of “a nation” and the Central European notion that a “proper” nation is simply the speech community of a single language. The Atlas challenges the reader to consider that languages are products of human history. Languages, just like nations themselves, alongside states, towns, institutions, art, religions or (in)justice, are artefacts invented and shaped by individuals and their groups.

Dr Tomasz Kamusella is an interdisciplinary historian of modern Central and Eastern Europe, with a focus on language politics and nationalism. He has worked at Opole University, Poland; Trinity College Dublin; Cracow University of Economics; and is now a reader in the School of History at the University of St Andrews. He has published widely on the political and social history of languages, and the politics of language.

“This publication marks a major milestone for our Opening the Future initiative to do away with author facing BPCs and to enable equitable access to both publishing and reading without paywalls. It is the first of several OA books that are out soon from CEU Press and I’m grateful to the libraries supporting our efforts.” Frances Pinter, CEU Press Executive Chair