Region in Beziehung. Eine performativ-empirische Erkundung alltäglicher Identifikationsprozesse mittels Paarinterviews

Abstract. Regional identification is a fluid, socially constructed and affectively shaped process that manifests itself in everyday practices and encounters. This article uses a performative perspective and investigates how regional identity is negotiated in social interactions. Drawing on empirical material from narrative couple interviews conducted in Styria (Austria), it analyzes how couples relate to their region through shared everyday practices, emotional attachments and social negotiations. The interview situation itself is understood as a performative space in which regional belonging is not only discussed, but actively staged. The findings show that regional identity is formed through interactive processes in personal relationships and unfolds through emotional negotiations, social practices and biographical turning points. Methodologically, the work makes a contribution to qualitative studies of regions by establishing couple interviews as an approach to the emergence of regional identity as a process.