Projects / Programmes
The burden of the past. Co-existence in the (Slovenian) Coast region in light of the formation of post-war Yugoslavia
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.04.00 |
Humanities |
Ethnology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S220 |
Social sciences |
Cultural anthropology, ethnology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.04 |
Social Sciences |
Sociology |
collective memory, oblivion, migrations, ethnicity, nacionalism, identity, political shifts, frontiers, lieux de memoire/amnesie, cohabitation
Researchers (1)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
25576 |
PhD Katja Hrobat Virloget |
Ethnology |
Head |
2012 - 2014 |
0 |
Organisations (1)
Abstract
Scientific starting points: The research topic are the internal burdens of population after political turning points – conflicting, concealed collective memories of people of different nationalities of coexistence and mass migrations – especially the departure of the mostly Italian speaking population of Istria and immigration of new people, a special kind of “homeless”. The title also hints to wider national burdens, which can be called “places of oblivion”, in contrast to lieux de mémoire (Nora 1986). Oblivion is not only an absence of memory, but presents censorship that enables that a group constructs a satisfactory image of itself (Candau 2005).
Problem: Today’s Mediterranean towns along the Eastern Adriatic Coast are “ghost towns”. With the 19th century rise of nationalism, social-linguistic-class differences in Istria became increasingly defined through ethnic-national identifications. People established differences between “us” and “them” on deeply rooted constructs, such as civilian/barbarian, urban/rural, West/East, fascist/communist. In 20th century, national-ethnic differences deepened with the fascist rule, World War II, and introduction of the new socialist system. Istria was not only affected by the changes of political borders, but also became the dividing line between two ideological realities that divided Europe to the eastern and western block.
The major part of Istria, especially its towns, became empty due to mass migrations during and after World War II, especially with the departure of mostly Italian speaking population that occurred because of the new country (Yugoslavia) and the new (socialist) system. Subsequently, the emptied places were inhabited by people from different parts of Yugoslavia, while new relations between the natives and newcomers were established. Similarly as newcomers, the Italian speaking population became “foreign” because of the changed circumstances, though in their “own homes”. Dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 90s presents another turn, when the formerly common Yugoslavian national identity is fragmented to national identities, which leaves behind the wreckage of new “foreigners”, “others” among the newcomers.
Goals: The aim is to investigate creation, preservation, bending and mythologisation of different collective memories/oblivions and thus identity and their relation to the “official” national memory that are constituted after great political and ideological turning points. The main research subject will be the today's inhabitansts of the conflict area: italian-speaking people, which stayed, the Slavic-speaking native Istrians and the newcomers (Italian migrants are well studied). The research will thus attempt to understand the processes of wider dimensions occurring after the downfall of multinational empires, ethnification of multicultural societies, spread of nationalisms and homogenisation of national states, after processes of creation and exclusion of the imagined “other”, after the change of great ideological systems and collective criminalisation.
Significance for science and society: The project presents a new approach because it shifts the attention from those who left to those who stayed in a suddenly emptied space. These people struggle with new social relations, ideological systems and collective memories/oblivions, with discourses of autochthony, new “foreigners”, while staying bound to material and memory traces of old multicultural society, which the new political ideology cannot erase despite tendencies to do so. By disclosing the creation of collective memories/censorships and identities, the project can contribute to prevent political abuses of the notion of »autochtonism« and the past, characteristic for border areas, like the Italian-Slovenian border and present after the last conflicts in the Balkans. It will attempt to understand the present condition of a multicultural society, thus setting up foundations for the revitalisation of “died down” town
Significance for science
The ethnological study broach a poorly researched topic of post-war migration from Istria, which for decades raised cross-national conflicts between Italy, Croatia and Slovenia. While on the Italian side a lot of research has been done on the Istrian exodus, at least in recent decades, on the Slovenian side this theme has been not researched frequently. Although over the last decade some positive moves towards the reconciliation at the political level have been done, this consensus on the role of the victim (and executioners) has not yet been reflected in the prevailing public opinion. The research focuses on the memories of today's inhabitants of the Slovenian part of Istria in the turbulent period after the WW II, which by the so-called exodus, emigration of the majority of the Italian population of Istria, and immigration from Slovenia and other Yugoslav republics completely changed the ethnic, social and cultural image of the territory of Istria (just 8% of the Italian population remained). The novelty of the research is the shift of attention from those who have gone to those who have remained in the emptied space. The mononational frame was exceeded by the study of the memories of all of today's Istrian inhabitants from Slovenian and Italian Istrians to immigrants from Slovenia, Italy and Yugoslavia. The aim of the project is to identify silenced parts of memory and heritage that have been suppressed in the process of establishment of consensual (national) collective memory. The result of the reorganization of Europe of the 20th century was not only the exclusion of the "other", the expulsion of people, the emergence of national minorities, but also the existence of groups of people who due to the nationalization remained in the “home” country as "foreigners" or marginalized because they did not share the dominant national identity. Besides that the Italians were in the dominant Yugoslav discourse marked with the guilt for fascism and war crimes, their memories and heritage remained mute. Despite their legal protection at the level of national minorities they became as a rule socially marginalized. Socially marginalised on another level experienced also the immigrants from the former Yugoslavia, which have been in conflict between Istrians and esuli about the “autochthonism” voiceless and driven out from public discourses. The study raises the question of creating memories, their impact on the former and contemporary coexistence of different ethnic groups in Istria. This study places for the first time the problem out of national perceptions in the context of wider socio-political changes after the WW II. The international conference, which involved not only local, but the most established international researchers of post-war European history, has shown two key conclusions. The post-war migrations from Istria are only part of a broader socio-political context of the reorganization of Central and Eastern Europe under the policy of the allies, which attempted by ethnic cleansing, ethnic homogenization, population movements to establish a lasting peace in the conflict in ethnically mixed areas(Ther 2001). At the same time Pamela Ballinger (2014, 2015-in press) questioned the search for causes exclusively in the thesis of creation of new nation states in Central and Eastern Europe and highlighted the second hypothesis - the causes of the Istrian and Dalmatian exodus are to be sought within post-imperial processes, when Italy after the defeat of fascism lost all newly acquired territories. Through cooperation with locally and internationally known researchers the topic which has so far been largely a taboo was placed in the broader context of the post-war organization of Europe, population movements, (losses and decay) of totalitarian systems and set in comparison with modern ethnological studies of "population exchange" and anthropology of memory.
Significance for the country
While on the Italian side many researches have been done on the topic of exodus from Istria and Dalmatia, just few of them were done in Slovenia and Croatia. The cause may be attributed to the formation of the Slovenian (and Yugoslav) identity, which lies also on the concept of the victimhood. One of the cornerstones of the Slovenian national collective memory is the concept of the victim of the fascist terror and the anti-fascist struggle, as one of the milestones of creating and consolidating Slovenian nationality. Therefore, it is possible to understand from where derives this reluctance to the research of exodus, where the Slovenian memories are analysed at the same level as the memories of Italians, perceived in the dominant Slovenian discourse seen as fascists and occupiers. The study raises the problem of the involvement of Yugoslav (and thus Slovenian) authorities and thus destroys the prevailing self-image of victims of fascism and innocent heroic war winner. By questioning and the discovery of the memory of minorities, thus the marginalized, both Italians and Yugoslav immigrants ,the research brings new insights and paves the way for a more tolerant coexistence and recognition of the memory of "other". At the same time it raises the problem of "apatrimonial" relations in coastal towns, where we are faced with emigration, poverty, deterioration of buildings. Local residents do not have either the ability or sense for preserving the Venetian patrician heritage, because they are not bound to it by memories, and nor they do not identify with it. The problem of the degradation of the Istrian heritage and the “non-life” in the Istrian towns was for the first time placed outside the national limited topic in a broader socio-political context of post-war reorganization of Europe and population movements. This study contributes to the understanding of the wider European socio-political processes (population movements, ethical homogenisations), the consequences of which are seen in the denial of heritage in many Central and Eastern European urban centres (Gdansk, Kaliningrad, Reka, etc.) and in the wider areas (Greece, Turkey, Czech Republic and Slovakia, Poland, the former Yugoslavia, Ukraine). At the national level the positive impact of research is visible in the unveiling of memories and heritage of marginalized. Through public debates and dissemination of project results the project paves the way for a more realistic multicultural society where the rights of minorities don’t remain solely on paper, but the dominant nation understands them and perform them in daily practices.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2012,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2012,
2013,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
