The issue of borderlands has been a subject of inquiry for various representatives of scientific disciplines for over 100 years. The development of theoretical reflection has contributed to the increase of the semantic scope of this term. Having been redefined, the term borderlands has come to have multiple meanings, and thus it requires a precise defining with each usage. As an example, from the modernist perspective (and as such on the level of archaeological research) borderlands, being a particular area, are situated somewhere physically, whilst on the other hand, due to the term’s re-evaluation from a postmodernist standpoint, every form of cultural contact is a borderland. The ongoing discussions within political science, anthropology, and sociology were my inspiration for formulating a few general remarks on the understanding of the term borderlands by Polish medieval scholars. In the works of these researchers, a certain consistency predominates in viewing and interpreting cultural phenomenon within the early medieval period of southern Wielkopolska and northern Dolny Śląsk (an area limited from the north by the latitudinal section of the Warta river and the central part of the Obra river, whereas from the south by the Barycz valley). This single-mindedness spurred me in this article to examine the mechanism for constructing conceptions concerning the early middle age reality of the area in the hopes of showing that the basis of this thinking is silently assumed definition of the term borderlands. The concepts present in the subject literature as introduced by medieval scholars, when reread from the perspective of modern emerging research theories, allowed me to showcase the current research directions undertaken within studies on i.a., the territorial expansions of the Piast dynasty. My deliberations consist of three parts. They respond to the way the term borderlands is defined. The first I characterize as the territorial viewpoint; indicating the established perspective found within the source literature of the historians’ understanding of today’s borderland between Śląsk and Wielkopolska. In their findings we come across a viewpoint asserting the existence of borderlands between tribes within the discussed area. The historical discussion suggests that the cultural phenomena of southern Wielkopolska are interpreted in opposition to the northern lands of this region. The border line created by the Obra river and further to the east by the Mosiński Canal marshes, was perceived as the natural border dividing the region. The lack of any name of the tribe (or tribes) inhabiting southern Wielkopolska in the written sources has caused difficulties in interpreting cultural phenomena occurring in the area. An attempt to escape this cognitive gridlock resulting from a lack of data, was to conduct research focused on recognizing subsequent administrative and territorial divisions. Some of the researchers accepted them as the benchmark for determining the range of earlier tribal structures. The next perspective, being territorial and interactive, I tied to the outlook maintaining the settlement method of the area after it was joined to the territories of the Piast dynasty. They refer to the borderlands as an area located next to the border and also at a distance from the center. This perspective – within political studies – relates to the idea of a core and peripheries, or, as is the case in sociology, as center and peripheries. Elements of universal concepts describing and explaining the processes taking place on areas newly conquered, dependent, or incorporated, can be found within the views concerning the process of settling southern Wielkopolska and northern Dolny Śląsk up to the river Barycz. The third perspective is the interactive one. It is a proposal to define the autonomous research issue of this area, in which I suggest that research be conducted on the culture of the inhabiting society. This suggestion diminishes the territorial aspect of the borderlands, the necessity to locate it near to the border, and its relation to some center or core. I define borderlands as an interaction between representatives of different communities, or whole communities, with a differing system of values, norms, or social structure. This kind of contact necessitates interactions, with possibly varying and diverse results – from persisting with ones’ own values to shaping a new reality. These communities I characterize as local, that is, small groups inhabiting a given area with its none-too large center – this being a stronghold (Polish – gród). This structure is not to be understood as a defensive facility, but rather as a place organizing the life of every community. These small communities may be also referred to as face-to-face-societies. Amber Karolina Steele-Zielińska