Projects / Programmes
January 1, 2022
- December 31, 2027
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.01.00 |
Humanities |
Historiography |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.01 |
Humanities |
History and Archaeology |
Programme group "Slovene History"; antiquity, the middle ages, modern period, "long" 19th C., contemporary history, public history, digital history, creation of a nation, modernisations, education of junior researchers, quantitative and qualitative achievements, status and international excellence.
Data for the last 5 years (citations for the last 10 years) on
April 24, 2024;
A3 for period
2018-2022
| Database |
Linked records |
Citations |
Pure citations |
Average pure citations |
| WoS |
61 |
139 |
134 |
2.2 |
| Scopus |
137 |
376 |
338 |
2.47 |
Researchers (30)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The programme group in its current form has existed and been conducting continuous research for almost twenty years. Throughout its existence, the male and female researchers in the group have been awarded many national and international projects. The team includes 20 members (6 female and 14 male). The research group has been systematically involving junior researchers and educating them (currently five and it just got the sixth). It is researching the entire Slovene history from antiquity till modern history; in the process, it is pursuing a concept that encompasses the contributions of all civilising contributions in the present-day Slovenia and evaluates them in the broader regional and European context and comparatively. In accordance with the principles of the humanities, all research themes put the individual in the foreground in relation to natural and social conditions and other historical factors. Its main scientific premise is to research problems from new, more complex angles. It also places great emphasis on the issue of the attitude towards history and the formation of historical consciousness, which is why its members are frequent and relevant interlocutors in public debates about the past. Recently, it has mostly been developing the so-called public history. Through its on-line profiles, which it uploads to YouTube, it presents the course and results of the research, the first-hand accounts from the field, talks concerning individual scholarly issues, documentary films, and exhibitions. It publishes the scientific collection Historia. Besides public history, the newly open research paths, to which the group has been devoting itself in recent years and plans to systematically upgrade in the next research period, are: digital history (for this purpose, it is establishing a special Centre of Public and Digital History/Središče za javno in digitalno zgodovino); environmental history, gender history (e.g. eugenics); the history of everyday life, and others. The group's structure makes it possible to develop specific topics through the research conducted by the entire group, but also to clarify historical events at a deeper level and over longer periods of time (e.g. the issue of modernisations in the present-day Slovene territory) or to rethink some of the historically rooted hypotheses (e.g. the creation of a nation, the formation of historical consciousness, or the issue of the multiculturalism in the area that is now mostly populated by Slovenes). This approach is also evident in the writing of synthetic works. The group's achievements are corroborated by the publication of 27 scientific and 16 professional monographs; 129 original scientific articles, 19 peer-reviewed scientific articles, all in last five years. The program group demonstrates a high level of status and international excellence (scholarships, decorations, recognitions, memberships in academies and international scientific organizations, etc.).
Significance for science
The formation of an independent state thirty years ago gave the hope that it would be possible to lay new, modern and internationally comparable foundations for Slovene historiography and thus eliminate the deficiencies in scientific research which could be traced back to the works of Linhart during the Enlightenment. Although this was partly the case, at the same time, a unilateral, national-romantic concept of the "Slovene national ascent" strengthened, while the attitude towards the past was becoming increasingly laden with ideological disputes. Many segments of the research remained neglected or incomplete, which has also been observed by the programme group that spent the previous programme period writing syntheses of individual historical periods. For this reason, in the current programme period, while still issuing synthetic works, the researchers wish they could explore those particular segments which they, for various reasons, were unable to examine sufficiently. The studies founded on anthropological and cultural bases will significantly alter the image of the established narrative of Slovene history in the researched segments. They will introduce modern theoretical, conceptual and methodological starting points into Slovene historiography, and indicate the usefulness and prospects of these new approaches. Flexible reception, testing, adjustment and development of new concepts and methods will intensify the involvement of Slovene historiography in the contemporary international historiographical discourse and give it extra weight. New insights will contribute to the creation of new historical directions in the fields of social, cultural and demographic history, the history of emotions, the "history of manners" (the history of etiquette and good manners), gender history (including the history of masculinity), urban history, new political history, history of the body, social history of medicine, and environmental history (the interaction between humans and the environment), and to updating other categories (e.g. political history). Some of the announced research studies will try to at least limit, if not prevent political manipulation of historical facts. In this way, the research group will at least partially respond to the irresponsible use of history or to attempts at its (political) revision, and will draw attention to the appropriate ways of remembering past events. The project will formulate new, innovative research content. The programme group also wishes to upgrade its previous work in the field of public history, video production, visualisation of history through design, art, posters, monuments, messages conveyed by other public texts (e.g. graffiti, music), etc., and thus examine the cultural and political currents in an interdisciplinary way, as they cannot be examined fully by historiography alone. The programme group Slovene History is the only one in Slovenia that has been conducting systematic and long-term research of Slovene history or of the history of the present-day Slovene space from Antiquity to modern times. Owing to its breadth and homogeneity, the group has created a recognisable identity in the Slovene scientific setting and broader, namely within historiography and within the humanities and social sciences; with its interdisciplinary cooperation its reach also extends to other sciences. The programme group guarantees scientific success to Slovene historiography and to Slovenia in general through its research work which has resulted in a very broad qualitative and quantitative approach; through publications in domestic and foreign journals; through scientific monographs; participation in international scientific conferences, lectures, international projects and appearances, etc.; as such, it is vital to the development of the science of history.
Significance for the country
The programme group's work has a multi-layered impact on the socio-economic and cultural development of Slovenia. Its main impact lies in the fact that the research group is the only one in Slovenia that comprehensively covers the entire Slovene history or the history of the present-day Slovene space from Antiquity to the independent Slovene state, which is why it is able to conduct integral, synthetic research that surpasses individual periods, as well as special research of individual periods and topics, and of Slovene history as a whole. In the process, it places its research into the European and global context of events, and pursues the comparative research approach. The group's important mission is the direct transfer of research results to pedagogical practice. Its impact is evident not only at the university level, but also at the primary and secondary school level. Some of its members are writers of secondary school and primary school textbooks, while the programme leader is actively involved in preparing and publishing learning materials and in teacher education in Southeast Europe. The Department of History teaches the most advanced didactics of history in Slovenia; the course lecturer regularly writes expert opinions for UNESCO. Members of the programme group are deeply involved in the international exchange of students and professors, and the Department of History cooperates smoothly with several universities on a regular basis. With some universities it carries out joint research programmes and postgraduate seminars, or joint study programmes with others. The group is capable of transferring its research results directly to public practice, as demonstrated by a number of examples from its previous activities: collaboration on setting up the bilingual modern exhibition "Slovene History" at Ljubljana Castle (the only one of its kind in Slovenia) and a number of other exhibitions; exploring problems related to cultural history in the field (the project on lost Gottscheer villages, the project on occupation borders in Slovenia); broad involvement in the commemoration of individual anniversaries (this year, it is focusing especially on the 30th anniversary of the formation of the Slovene state, with members of the group being active at the national and international level, and on other "minor" anniversaries, e.g. 80 years since the beginning of World War II in Slovenia, 80 years since the establishment of the Liberation Front, etc.). The group stands out because the leading researchers of individual historical periods are relevant and frequent interlocutors in public regarding "ordinary" historical topics and regarding those topics whose sensitive nature has made them the subjects of heated public, media and political polemics, and which concern Slovenia or its relations with other nations. The group is capable of illuminating sensitive topics and presenting them to the public from different starting points and in a scientifically substantiated way. Members of the programme group were actively involved or are still involved in resolving some of these topics (Slovene-Italian and Slovene-Austrian relations; the question of post-war repression and mass graves). They are critically confronting the mythicisation of history and setting forth new theoretical starting points and new perspectives in the field of historiography; all the while, they are keeping up with modern trends in international historiography, sensibly introducing them into the Slovene space and adapting them to the Slovene circumstances.
