Projects / Programmes
Evaluation of the status quo and developmental prospectives of the Slovenian national minority in Italy.
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.11.01 |
Social sciences |
Ethnic studies |
Ethnic studies - social science aspect |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S170 |
Social sciences |
Political and administrative sciences |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.04 |
Social Sciences |
Sociology |
Slovene minority, Slovenes in Italiy, Slovenes, Slovenians, linguistic minortiy, ethnic minority, national minority, language, culture, economic activity, political participation, media
Researchers (1)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
22628 |
PhD Sara Brezigar |
Political science |
Head |
2010 - 2013 |
255 |
Organisations (1)
| no. |
Code |
Research organisation |
City |
Registration number |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
0507 |
Institute for Ethnic Studies |
Ljubljana |
5051517000 |
4,514 |
Abstract
Premises: Past studies on Slovenian minority in Italy do tackle some fundamental issues that will have an important impact on the future of the minority. These are:
- Act 38 "Protection of the Slovene Linguistic Minority in Friuli – Venezia Giulia" was adopted in 2001 and represents the formal legal framework for the protection of the Slovene national minority in Italy. To what extent has this act been implemented?
-What are the effects of Act 38 (and its implementation) on the Slovene national minority in Italy – above all, in the fields of education, language use, culture, media, economy and political participation?
-What are the effects of past decade’s contextual changes on the Slovene minority, especially Slovenia's accession to EU and Schengen area, as well as immigration flows to settlements where live members of the Slovene minority? How did these changes affect the role and developmental opportunities of the minority?
Aim and goals: The aim of the project is to design and operationalise a model for the comprehensive evaluation of the developmental status quo of national minorities, and to use it to evaluate the present situation of the Slovene minority in Italy in the main fields of its activity and involvement. The specific goals are as follows:
-To study the normative aspects of the implementation of Act 38: to examine the transposition of collective and individual rights, as defined in Act 38, into other binding legal documents, in the abovementioned fields (language use, education, etc.)
-To examine the implementation of the legal framework in practice; to estimate its importance and consequences for the minority, especially for its long-term development.
-To examine, on the basis of a model, the situation, role, challenges and developmental opportunities for the Slovene minority vis a vis the Slovene nation as a whole and the Italian-speaking majority.
Methodology and project plan: I'll use the mixed methods model of research. The first part of the project consists of the examination of basic statistical and other data (data on school enrolment, on the economy, on immigrants, etc.) to gather an up to date picture of the characteristics of the territory, where lives the Slovene minority. With the analysis of legal documents, I'll examine the suitability of the transposition of collective and individual rights, as stated in Act 38, into binding legal documents.
In the second part of the project I'll evaluate the implementation of the act in practice and the status quo of the minority. I'll prepare 6 questionnaires in the fields of education, language use, culture, media, economy and political participation. I'll carry out 30-40 in-depth interviews with minority representatives from the six fields (economists, scholars, actors, politicians, journalists), with users of services in the above mentioned fields (parents, readers of the minority newspapers, theatre/play audiences, etc,) and experts in the fields. I'll include in the qualitative study also Italian-speaking users of the above mentioned services (such as Italian-speaking parents of children enrolled into Slovene schools or sports clubs, participants of Slovene language courses, etc.). The views of these interviewees will add considerably to the quality of the study, providing an »outside view« of this minority that is missing in most of the studies.
Expected results and contribution to science:
- development of a theoretical model and questionnaires that will represent a valid tool to evaluate the developmental status quo of other national minorities, comparable to the Slovene minority in Italy.
- the study will provide an in-depth, thorough picture of the Slovene minority in Italy and will therefore supply data needed for the perception and comprehension of the changes regarding the Slovene/Italian ethnic border, for policy planning regarding the Slovene minority in Italy, and for Slovene foreign policy planning (regarding minority protection).
Significance for science
The key contribution of this project to science is the development of a Model for the Comprehensive Evaluation of the Status quo and Developmental perspectives of national minorities (CEM model). The author of this project developed 6 questionnaires that can be used to assess thoroughly the status quo of a determined national minority in six key areas of its existence, namely: language, education, culture, media, political participation and economic activity. By taking into account key contextual factors and their influence on the aforementioned six areas the CEM model facilitates the formation of 4 clusters of developmental opportunities for the minority under consideration, namely: creating a minority-friendly environment, strengthening the core of the minority, increasing the number of speakers of the minority language and self-promotion of the minority in the wider environment. Such an attempt to design and operationalise a model that examines the status quo of a national minority, stems from a need to unite and combine different approaches towards the study of national and linguistic minorities. Such approaches, used by different disciplines and in different fields of research, usually provide thorough, in-depth understanding of a small number of aspects of the life and development of linguistic and national minorities. However, they offer a rather limited view on what are the possible developmental paths of the linguistic or national community as a whole, either because they focus primarily on one aspect of its existence (e.g. linguists may see the community as an inherently linguistic one, and fail to take into account other sociological factors that could heavily impact the future of the linguistic community, such as inter-ethnic tensions, or international politics, or social disparison among communities, or the economic vitality of the minority, etc.), or because the findings within that field of research cannot fully predict the faith of the community as a whole. The CEM model thus represents a kind of attempt to evaluate a national minority as a whole and to fill the micro-macro gap in the study of national minorities. The model and the questionnaires have been applied to the Slovene minority They have proven to be a valid tool and could be used to assess the status quo of other comparable minorities, in comparative studies or to reassess the situation of the Slovenian minority in the future.
Significance for the country
The study provides an in-depth, thorough picture of the Slovene minority in Italy and therefore supplies data needed for the perception and comprehension of the changes on the Slovene/Italian ethnic border. Such data and knowledge are an important input in the decision making processes regarding the Slovene national question. These data and knowledge are important for policy planning and for the development of the Slovenian national minority in Italy in all six areas of its existence and activities: language, culture, education, media, political participation and economic activity. Moreover, four clusters of developmental perspectives for the Slovene minority in Italy had been formed and can be fully or partially adopted by the Slovene minority in Italy. The four clusters are: creating a minority-friendly environment, strengthening the core of the minority, increasing the number of minority language speakers, self-promotion of the minority in the wider context. The data, the knowledge, the evaluation of the status-quo and the developmental perspectives could be used, therefore, by the Slovenian minority in Italy in its developmental plans. Moreover, the CEM model provides an opportunity to re-evaluate the status-quo and developmental prospects of the minority also in the future (in 5, 10 years time) and to assess the path undertaken by the minority. The data and new knowledge will provide an input that may considerably assist the Republic of Slovenia in its foreign policy planning (especially regarding minority protection in neighbouring countries), and in the development of the Slovenian common space.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2012,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2010,
2012,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
