The fundamental goal of the conference is to expand knowledge and share experiences of the borderland in the broad sense, in both social and cultural aspects. The fact that 30 years ago the University of Silesia ethnology centre was placed in Cieszyn in the Polish and Czech borderland facilitated the application of two essential perspectives in the studies conducted by this centre: those of cultural borderlands and of the awareness of regional and ethnic identity associated with them. Therefore, this meeting will, on the one hand, celebrate the 30^th anniversary of functioning of our university-based research in ethnology and anthropology and, on the other, will conduct debate and reflection on the current role of ethnology and cultural anthropology, its research problems - exceeding their boundaries and planning and performing various practical undertakings for local communities within this field and beyond it. The specificity of anthropology is not limited to an exact, isolated and cohesive research area but is constituted by a precise method of perceiving the cultural reality. It comes down to creatively pondering what is perceived in a given culture at a given historical moment as familiar, usual or obvious.

    The proposed scope of the plenary debate is merely a suggestion for the conference participants, and does not exhaust all possible perspectives on the issue.

• Borderland is understood as a space with specific social and cultural qualities, an area of contact and multi-faceted practices that make up the culture of memory, the politics of identity, the spheres of power, control and resistance; it is also interpreted metaphorically as an interdisciplinary space for dialogue, academic reflection, and sharing research experiences;
• Anthropology in action, consists of synchronized research practices used to translate established theoretical knowledge into social practice. The knowledge of mechanisms shaping the functioning of cultures makes it possible to develop competence as part of social interactions and communication, and conduct actions for the communities studied with their participation;
• Cultural ecology is a study of humans and their culture in the context of sustainable development and ecological balance in the natural and social environment, of cultural phenomena occurring in the ecosystems based on harmonious functioning of man and the natural environment, and within the degraded post-industrial areas, of relations between the human and non-human world and the influence of man on the natural world in the Anthropocene epoch, of trans-border environmental management related to borderlines crossing natural ecosystems;
• Cultural heritage is a type of capital used in cultural politics, economy, and creative industries, in the strategy of building social and cultural identity, or treated as activities that explore the heritage, that is performative practices which, from a broader perspective, illuminate mechanisms of the functioning of modern culture; the heritage of the borderland maintains cultural continuity beyond the borders and influences the identity of the borderland;
• Techno-liquidity (tecnoliquidità) of culture and netnography (currently commonly applied). Techno-liquidity is a distinctive feature of modern culture, it determines social behaviours and communication methods. Man, who functions in both the world and the virtual space, constantly finds himself on the borderland between experience and virtual exploration. In this sense, borderland may be treated metaphorically, as differentia specifica of the present epoch.