Når intentioner møder levet liv: Regional identitet gennem Interreg-projektet RegioSKILL

The basis of this thesis is the shaping of the German Danish cross-boder region ‘the Fehmarnbelt Region’, which is seen as a part of a larger regionalization wave in Europe. This thesis looks at the Interreg-funded project, RegioSKILL that has come to life through a collaboration between the Danish technical college CELF and the German Handwerks-kammer Lübeck. In RegioSKILL the Danish and German metalworker apprentices made sculptures together that will function as physical symbols of the region. The hope is that this will contribute to a dialogue of regional identity in the Fehmarnbelt Region.
The interest in the thesis is on what influence the work with cross-border projects like RegioSKILL has on the regional identity creation in the Fehmarnbelt Region as well as what the projects influence is on the apprentices’ intercultural skills.
The geographer Annsi Paasi inspires my understanding of regional identity. For a study on how RegioSKILL positions itself in the attempt to contribute to the regional identity creation, several of the projects partners have been inter-viewed. It was shown that RegioSKILL to some degree contributed to the regional identity creation, especially as one of many platforms where interregional players meet. The study also shows that the work is challenged by the different discursive projections of the regions territorial form and that there is a lack of cultural and historical connection in the cross-border region.
With a basis in the theory of communities of practice by Etienne Wenger, the apprentice works to create a meaning in the projects goal of intercultural competency development is studied. Group interviews and participant studies are used as key observational data. The study showed that in spite of the considerable differences in working culture and language, they managed to some degree to create a meaning in the exchange. The project only offered the German apprentices knowledge about the Danish region through the work in the workshop and resulted in a negative percep-tion of Lolland. This was counterproductive in relation to the projects goal of accelerating a feeling of connection in the cross-border region.
The thesis can be viewed as a study of challenges for regional identity creation in the upcoming work of the German-Danish Interreg V-Program, especially with perspectives of exchange of apprentices as well as intercultural skills in the practical work.