Projects / Programmes
Contested spatial practices, spatial meanings and social relations in the protected area in the Bovec region
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.03.02 |
Humanities |
Anthropology |
Social and cultural anthropology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S220 |
Social sciences |
Cultural anthropology, ethnology |
anthropology of space, cultural landscape, territoriality, social boundaries, protected areas, weekenders, Triglav national park, Alps, Bovec region
Researchers (1)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
24766 |
PhD Matej Vranješ |
Anthropology |
Head |
2007 - 2008 |
53 |
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The purpose of the project is to use ethnographic fieldwork methods to study various contested spatial practices, spatial meanings, values and the associated social relations in the Bovec region. The research will focus mainly on the alpine Trenta valley, i.e. an area inside the Triglav National Park (TNP). Attention will be focused especially on issues of the preservation and changing of the cultural landscape and the related spatial practices. The emphasis will be on the relationship between traditional uses of land for subsistence and more recent practices which various land users and/or managers have brought to the valley. The role, practices and representations of three key groups of social actors will be highlighted: locals, seasonal residents (“weekenders”) and Triglav National Park. The main purpose of the research is to point out potential conflicts of interest with regard to the use of the local physical environment and at the same time to research the social boundaries, relations and relationships between the abovementioned groups. The research will be conducted in the context of the current public debates about the new law on the TNP in Slovenia. Information technology will be used to document the current condition and the changing of the cultural landscape and different types of spatial practices in representative regions. It is expected that the research will offer a useful anthropological viewpoint on the issue of the relations between spatial, social and economic development and the preservation of the natural and cultural heritage in demographically threatened localities within the protected region.
Significance for science
The research project was thematically and methodologically primarily related to the field of social anthropology, but it also drew upon epistemological texts and concepts from human and/or cultural geography. Topics related to space and place have been some of the most dynamic areas of anthropological studies in the last two decades, but to date in Slovenia they have not received sufficient attention. On the other hand, in Slovenia there is also a visible lack of knowledge from the very broad area of contemporary cultural geography and qualitative (humanistic) geography in general. The project results thus present new theoretical and empirical knowledge, approaches and concepts to both of the mentioned disciplines. A critical revue of general approaches to the study of socio-spatial relations in social anthropology and cultural geography was presented. The project demonstrated that in the international anthropological and humanistic sphere in general, spatial concepts are at present rather loosely defined and are frequently interchanged. One of the important results of the project lies in the fact that it contributed to more precise and compatible definitions of certain spatial concepts that are widely used in the humanities: territoriality, cultural landscape, locality, and (sense of) place. By using epistemological propositions and concepts from constructivist and instrumentalist approaches to the study of social boundaries author developed certain new, original “definitions” of the mentioned basic socio-spatial concepts. These conceptualizations should offer a set of valuable heuristic tools that could be used in explaining social constructions of identity associations between a social group, “a culture”, and a place in general. It is also important that these concepts were used in the research process in the interpretation of concrete ethnographic material.
In the ethnographic part the project results contribute to the development of anthropological, ethnological, and cultural-geographical knowledge of specific topics connected with the recent spatial and social development of demographically threatened alpine regions. As a detailed ethnographic study and interpretation of extensive ethnographic data, the project results present new views and specific knowledge of the problems associated with protected areas in Slovenia. As new and new protected areas are “springing up” all around Slovenia, it can present a general problem that we are missing humanistic approaches to the study of those areas. Contemporary protected areas namely offer a wide range of scientifically interesting, but also socially relevant and potentially applicable research themes. In this project a detailed study of some of the highly topical issues regarding problems of land use management, contested land use practices and the associated (potential) conflicting social relations was carried out. The findings of the research project therefore bring new knowledge into Slovene anthropological and humanities studies, and provide a good basis for the research of similar topics in other protected areas in Slovenia. At the same time they provide a good basis for a comparative analysis of similar demographically threatened areas, in which especially since Slovenia’s accession to the EU new actors are appearing with specific “territorial” interests and socio-cultural and economic backgrounds.
Significance for the country
As a detailed study of specific local development problems (as seen from points of view of residents and other users and managers of local environment), research results offer new knowledge that should be useful for planning future sustainable regional development of the researched area, as well as other comparable peripheral alpine regions in Slovenia. The results illustrate some of the very common development problems that are today likely to arise in attractive rural areas as their functions are being constantly changed. As there is a great deal of interest (of “capital”?) to develop those functions, conflicts between diverse social groups and stakeholders often arise. By conducting long-term ethnographic case study the project brought detailed knowledge of exactly this kind of conflicts regarding spatial use, while particular attention was given to the impact that this kind of conflicts can have on the life and development of local communities. Planning and stimulating sustainable rural development can have only limited effects if it does not take into account knowledge about behavior, meanings, values, and motivations of the local residents and other relevant social actors. The project results, for example, illuminate reasons for the fact that programs intended to stimulate mountain agriculture have only limited effect – the majority of agriculture done in the researched area is only due to emotional and symbolic reasons. Thus, without considering natives' points of view (regardless their “objectivity”) the expectations of rural areas developers can be quite unrealistic. Perhaps one of the reasons for rural development plans to be only partly effective lies in the fact that detailed researches of this type are generally not being done.
At the same time, the project was directly related to the highly topical issue of the new law of the Triglav national park. This issue has been widely present in political, professional, scientific, environmentalist and other public discourses during the last 6 years. On the other hand, there was no room for any kind of ethnographic (or other humanistic) studies that would address the problems of local communities. It is also due to this deficit that the project brought into the scientific and public sphere interpretations of positive and negative effects of the TNP as seen from the “natives” (and other relevant social groups). In this sense the project results should be of interest for the drafters of the new law on the TNP, as it is also due to contested views of diverse parties that this process has been going on already for six years. In addition, the project revealed various specific contested and conflicting aspects of land management and use from the perspectives of various interested parties, users, residents and managers. The results of the research project should therefore serve as a support to the solution of similar problematic relations in other protected areas in Slovenia. In a broad sense the project dealt with issues which are closely tied not only to protected areas, but to all demographically threatened rural areas in which the territorial systems currently include actors of different proveniences and interests. From this perspective the results of the research project could also be generally useful for the planners of spatial development policy, arrangement and preservation of the rural cultural landscape in general, especially in the Alps.
Most important scientific results
Final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Final report,
complete report on dLib.si
