The change of system in 1989 marks an historic watershed, and the break-up of the communist bloc triggered an historically unprecedented economic, cultural and political transformation that also transformed the self-perception of "western European" states. This is particularly manifest in Central Europe. A look at this region helps to overcome the still effective East-West dichotomies and leads us to ask what are the pan-European consequences of these transformation processes.These processes are analysed from the perspective of the art, cultural and social sciences. The contributions discuss questions of social life as well as collective images and notions, medial representations and literary narratives that are of significance for the self-conception of European, especially Central European, societies at the beginning of the 21st century. They originated in the context of the Doctoral College "Kulturen der Differenz - Transformationsprozesse in Zentraleuropa" ("Cultures of Otherness - Transformation Processes in Central Europe").>
