Projects / Programmes
Minorities, Diasporas and the Subversives: Transterritorial Control over the Slovene Emigrants During the Interwar Period
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.11.00 |
Social sciences |
Ethnic studies |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S000 |
Social sciences |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.04 |
Social Sciences |
Sociology |
Extraterritorial surveillance, minorities, diasporas, the Julian March, Prekmurje, subversives.
Researchers (1)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
34476 |
PhD Miha Zobec |
Historiography |
Head |
2019 - 2022 |
0 |
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The aim of the research is to analyse the issue of the extraterritorial control over the emigrants from borderlands of Slovene ethnic territory and the responses on it. Both states of the emigrants’ origin as well as their putative homelands advanced jurisdictional claims over them. The former controlled them because of their citizenship, the latter, however, exercised surveillance due to their ethnocultural characteristics. The research will try to link the extraterritorial control with the emigrant transnational activism and management of ethnic relations in the place of emigrant’s origin. It will also attempt to place it in the Central European framework. The issues which concerned the wider area of Central Europe could be observed on the Slovene territory, namely the shift of the state borders, the problem of ethnic minorities and sharpening of ethnic relations in the multiethnic spaces.
The surveillance over the communities of emigrants from the Julian March and Prekmurje will be analyzed more in detail. The research will deal with control that was carried out in the countries in which the emigrants founded their most numerous settlements. Therefore, it will tackle the control over the Julian March’s emigrants in Argentina and Yugoslavia and over the emigrants from Prekmurje in the USA and Argentina.
Diasporic engagement in form of denouncing the fascist repression over the Julian March’s minorities was characteristic for the emigrants from this region. Consequently, the Italian control consisted of subduing these type of activities together with the authorities of the host states. Argentina and Yugoslavia were willing to help Italy in silencing the aspirations of these communities. The Yugoslav control over the Julian March’s emigrants repressed those who opposed the Yugoslav regime (most strikingly during the king’s Alexander dictatorship). On the other hand, Yugoslavia strove to form a loyal diaspora which would be imbued with the Yugoslav ideology. The research will analyze the suppressive aspect of the Yugoslav control in comparison with the Italian one over the Julian March’s communities in Argentina. Furthermore, the research will study the issue of shaping the diaspora at the intersection of Yugoslav aspirations and emigrant autonomous transnational activism.
The Julian March’s emigrants thought of Yugoslavia as their homeland. Therefore, their emigration to Yugoslavia presents a particular issue in studying the extraterritorial control. Activities of these emigrants suffered due to the political rapprochement between the two neighbouring states. The research will deal both with the extraterritorial control over the activities of the emigrants as well as with the Yugoslav state-building policy of “nationalizing” the Prekmurje region. Following the annexation of the region to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the Kingdom sought to slavicize the area by colonizing it with the settlers from the Julian March.
The emigrants from Prekmurje found themselves at the crossroads of Yugoslav and Hungarian diplomatic aspirations. Yugoslavia aimed at convincing the emigrants that the annexation of the region was just. In contrast, Hungary underlined the unfairness of the Trianon treaty and aimed at affirming the emigrants in their Vend identity. According to Hungarian politics, Vends were completely different from Slovenes. The research will contrast the endeavours of diplomacies with the activities of emigrants. It will aim to find out how the emigrants reacted on them and how they perceived their identity in their biggest settlements, therefore in Argentina and the USA.
Significance for science
The proposed research will address the issues which have recently attracted attention in international scholarship but they have not been sufficiently studied by Slovene social science and humanities scholars yet. Namely, international scholarship has paid substantial attention to the issue of the state's management of migration policies. Examining the formation of the nationalizing state (the one which is based on the domination of the constitutive nation) along with the study of the construction of its loyal diaspora which are the objects of this research form part of state's migration policies, Besides, a complex analysis of the reactions of emigrants towards state's ambitions will be at the forefront of this research.
Furthermore, the research will underline the importance of contemporary approaches not burdened by the methodological nationalism in migration research, for the Slovene scholarship. Even though the research will deal with the Slovene emigrants, the strategies of the states in shaping and exercising extraterritorial control will be in the forefront. The response of the emigrant communities will be addressed too, but not from the nationally-limited perspective which neglects the complexity of ethnic relations and identifications and usually disregards the comparative perspective. The research will constantly pay attention to the relations between the emigrants and their states of origin, between the emigrants and other ethnic groups as well as between the emigrants and the society of immigration. Moreover, the Slovene "case" will be contextualized in the Central European framework.
The research will be important also for international scholarship because the international scholars have only vaguely tackled the Slovene territory. In addition, only few foreign scholars have highlighted the extraterritorial control over the members of national minorities. The problems of ethnic minorities and ethnic relations which occurred because of the shift of the state borders and the inclusion of territory into new state contexts after the First World War were of great importance indeed. The issues which appeared on the Slovene territory in concentrated form, were one of the most serious Central Europe was to endure during the interwar period. Therefore, it can be expected that the presentation of the Slovene "case" will attract the attention of the international scholarship.
Significance for the country
The proposed research will address the issues which have recently attracted attention in international scholarship but they have not been sufficiently studied by Slovene social science and humanities scholars yet. Namely, international scholarship has paid substantial attention to the issue of the state's management of migration policies. Examining the formation of the nationalizing state (the one which is based on the domination of the constitutive nation) along with the study of the construction of its loyal diaspora which are the objects of this research form part of state's migration policies, Besides, a complex analysis of the reactions of emigrants towards state's ambitions will be at the forefront of this research.
Furthermore, the research will underline the importance of contemporary approaches not burdened by the methodological nationalism in migration research, for the Slovene scholarship. Even though the research will deal with the Slovene emigrants, the strategies of the states in shaping and exercising extraterritorial control will be in the forefront. The response of the emigrant communities will be addressed too, but not from the nationally-limited perspective which neglects the complexity of ethnic relations and identifications and usually disregards the comparative perspective. The research will constantly pay attention to the relations between the emigrants and their states of origin, between the emigrants and other ethnic groups as well as between the emigrants and the society of immigration. Moreover, the Slovene "case" will be contextualized in the Central European framework.
The research will be important also for international scholarship because the international scholars have only vaguely tackled the Slovene territory. In addition, only few foreign scholars have highlighted the extraterritorial control over the members of national minorities. The problems of ethnic minorities and ethnic relations which occurred because of the shift of the state borders and the inclusion of territory into new state contexts after the First World War were of great importance indeed. The issues which appeared on the Slovene territory in concentrated form, were one of the most serious Central Europe was to endure during the interwar period. Therefore, it can be expected that the presentation of the Slovene "case" will attract the attention of the international scholarship.
