We have defined our geographic scope of inquiry as Northern Europe, but does that actually exist as a real region? Rather than inquiring into whether we are encountering a real region / regions and what its/ their boundaries and characteristics are definitively, we want to inquire into:

• how / to what extent is it / are they imagined as real? by what criteria?
• what are the different perspectives on how it / they is / are to be bounded; on what its /their salient characteristics are?
• how does it / they show up as real regions? To whom?
• what are the (political) implications of it being recognized as a real region?