Projects / Programmes
Inventions of national landscapes in a multiethnic borderland: Istria from mid-19th Century to present
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.06.00 |
Humanities |
Culturology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S220 |
Social sciences |
Cultural anthropology, ethnology |
| H250 |
Humanities |
Contemporary history (since 1914) |
landscape, territoriality, local belonging, regionalism, boundaries, frontiers, identity, ethnicity, nationalism, tourism
Researchers (5)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The proposed project is designed as a study of processes of the invention of the national landscape and symbolic appropriation of territories in the multiethnic and borderland region of Istria from the mid-19th century to present. The proposed research seeks to combine data and methods of ethnography and anthropological history but also draws upon geography, sociology and historiograpy. The crucial questions addressed are the following:1) in what way were the three competing nationalisms constructing the ways of seeing Istrian landscapes and Istria as a whole; how the landscapes were being materialy transformed through these new visions of landscapes; how the new symbolic elements were being introduced and located on the broader symbolic maps – thus nationalizing the region; 2) what status was being assigned within these landscapes to the different ethnic groups (between inclusive co-existence and exclusive projects of assimilation, ethnic colonization or exile); 3)who were the actors of these endeavors in the three »national movements« and what were the modes of their action? 4) which are the modes of the nationalization of the Istrian landscapes, i.e. »Slovenization«, »Croatization«, »Italianization« of Istria? 5) who are the actors in this processes and what are their endeavors at different levels, from the formal political activities to the trivia of everyday life? 6) are there interactions among the actors of the nationalization of landscapes from different national groups and, if there are, what are their forms? The proposed research may contribute data and observations that will help to convey new knowledge about multiethnic environments and also enable a certain theoretical progress in anthropology and ethnical studies in general. Such advance is possible owing to the specific traits of the mentioned border configuration that were very rarely addressed as a research subject (a setting of three nationalisms where two of them occasionally act as one and at other times separately; a »colonial« ambitions of small nations at the expense of other small nations within the multinational empire; an irredentist »colonialism« of a small ethnic group within the empire that has got a strong national state of the "same" ethnic population across the border ...).
