Boundary-making in Istria is an old undertaking. It has actually never ceasesed, not even today. Istrian peninsula has thus undergone substantial boundary shifts during the last couple of centuries (especially after the Venetian demise in 1797). But Istria carries its worldwide fame also due to one of probably the harshest disputes on the post-war European grounds – the Trieste territory dispute. In author's perspective, this dispute is one of the four main corner-stones of the current Slovenian-Croatian boundary dispute.
COBISS.SI-ID: 12209229
The author analyzes discourse about the river Sotla in Slovenian newspapers from the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The Sotla river marked both the border between Styria and Croatia and that between the Austrian and Hungarian provinces. At the same time, it was the border between Slovenians and Croats. The first part of the article is dedicated to the problem of natural borders in history and geography. In the second part, newspaper articles are used to develop a thesis about the Sotla as a “natural border” between Slovenians and Croats. In the then valid Slovenian value system, the Sotla was a river that connected and divided; however, it was a border that connected more than it divided. Slovenian and Yugoslav sentiments were an integral component of Slovenian national ideology; this is why Slovenian nationalists favored an alliance with Croats and an open border on the Sotla.They also emphasized the connective role of the Sotla in historical and ethnographic discourse. Despite a certain antipathy to the idea, Slovenian and Croatian patriots had to take into consideration the fact that the Sotla represented a strong statepolitical border within the Habsburg Monarchy.
COBISS.SI-ID: 3059060
On the basis of archive materials the author analysed the regulation of the border between Styria and Croatia in the 19th century.He intended to publish the article in the Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino publication, year 2013, No. 1, but he retracted it due to the interests of the Republic of Slovenia. The Project Unit for the Preparation of Arguments in Front of the Arbitration Court at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia asked the author whether he could suspend the publication of his article due to its significant relevance to the defence of the Slovenian interests in front of the Arbitration Court addressing the issue of the border between Slovenia and Croatia. Filip Čuček will publish his article after the completion of the arbitration proceedings. Due to the aforementioned reasons an important scientific achievement of the project group member has not yet been entered into the COBISS and SICRIS systems.The work is described in the documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia. The written Elaboration is not publicly available.
The Author of the article analyses borders within the area populated by Slovenians in the 20th century. The Borders changed significantly in the periods of wars and state consolidations (1. world war and peace negotiations, 2. world war and peace negotiations, dissolution of Yugoslavia, establishment of the independent state).
COBISS.SI-ID: 2924148
With the example of an amateur theatre in a Slovenian village the author demonstrates that the adherence to the local community has a significant role in the establishment of everyday nationhood. The writer and patriot Josip Jurčič (18441881) was born in the village of Muljava. In 1911 patriotic students organised the theatre staging of Jurčič's novel for the first time. The performances, featuring "ordinary people" speaking the local dialect, became a traditional village activity. The villagers are active and creative in cultivating a memory. The identification with the significance of "our" man in the national mythology increases the importance of the village. The organisation of rituals is an important volunteer activity, which brings the village community together. The organisation of village rituals simultaneously represents the organisation of national rituals. The adherence to the local community outgrows itself. On one hand it is concrete and the members confirm it with joint activities, while on the other hand it is placed in a wider national context. The changes in the state related and ideological context (Austro Hungary, the First Yugoslavia, the socialist Yugoslavia, Slovenia) contribute to the shaping of the village rituals. Various nation building groups attempt to approximate the local patriotic nationhood to their own versions of the national ideologies. A constant misunderstanding exists between the local patriotic nationhood and the nationhood of the elites. A successful nationalism is a misunderstanding that "works". The author's thesis is based on the exploration of archive, newspaper and oral sources.
COBISS.SI-ID: 3156340