Projects / Programmes
January 1, 2015
- December 31, 2021
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.01.00 |
Humanities |
Historiography |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H003 |
Humanities |
History and Arts |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.01 |
Humanities |
History and Archaeology |
Slovene history, antiquity, Middle Ages, early modern period, the 19th century, contemporary history, social and economic history, the elites, national issue, cultural history, church history, history of sport, environmental history, history of education, identities, public use of memory
Researchers (33)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The programme group Slovene History is the only one in Slovenia to cover the entire period of Slovene history to today's independent Slovene state. The group is capable of both comprehensive synthetic research as well as specific research of individual historical periods and subjects. While writing synthetic texts, the research group also published 80 original scientific articles, 106 independent scientific component parts or chapters in a monograph, and 33 scientific monographs. The group integrates the research into European and global contexts, thereby following comparability. An important mission of the group is to transfer research results directly into teaching and public practice. The group is distinguished by the fact that the researchers in charge of individual periods are pertinent and frequent interlocutors about historical issues in public. The group is able to scientifically argument, highlight and present sensitive topics to the public from different conceptual viewpoints.
The scientific starting point of the next programme period is to explore the problems from new, more modern and more complex viewpoints. In addition to the changes in the views of political and national history, this particularly applies to the following fields: social and demographic history, history of the elite, urban history (also the issue of modernism and conservatism);local history, cultural, economic and environmental history (interaction between man and the environment), history of sport, history of education, issues of identity, and also history of emotions, "history of manners" (history of etiquette, politeness and manners), history of gender (including history of masculinity), history of the body, and medical history. The problem of the use of history and places of memory, the public use of memory and oblivion is considered a particularly burning issue.
The experienced researchers, who have been working together for a long time, and in particular the young colleagues, who have successfully graduated in the framework of the group, will contribute new and fresh perspectives and an update to other categories (e.g. political history). The group will present scientific findings in various forms (debates, collections, conferences and round-table discussions). In this way, it will make way for new research directions in historiography and in the humanities and social sciences. It will also try to influence the (re)formation of historical awareness in the general public. New perspectives, concepts and views occur in all research phases, but their features differ per period. All historical research methods which are established in academic historiography are expected to be used in the research: the collection of material from domestic and foreign archives and the critical use of historical sources, scientific literature and theoretical and conceptual starting points. This will be accompanied by an argumentative interpretation and a narrative presentation which will be supplemented with pictorial and statistical material, if necessary.
Significance for science
The formation of an independent state raised the hope that it would be possible to lay new, modern and internationally comparable foundations for 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. The programme group which wrote previous syntheses of individual historical periods felt that many segments of the research remained neglected or incomplete. 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, could not have examined sufficiently so far. Based on anthropological and cultural bases, the research will significantly alter the image of a regular narrative of Slovene history in the segments of research. It will implement modern theoretical, conceptual and methodological starting points into Slovene historiography and point out the usefulness and prospects of new approaches. Flexible reception, testing, adjustment and development of new concepts and methods will intensify the involvement of Slovene historiography in the contemporary international historiographic 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, history of emotions, "history of manners" (history of etiquette, politeness and manners), history of gender (including history of masculinity), urban history, new political history, history of the body, social history of medicine, as well as environmental history (the interaction between man and environment), and update 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 and draw attention to the appropriate ways of remembering past events. The project will formulate new, innovative research content.
Significance for the country
The work of the programme group has a multifaceted significance for the socio-economic development of Slovenia. The true significance of the programme group is that it is the only research team in Slovenia to cover the entire period of Slovene history to today's independent Slovene state and is therefore capable of both comprehensive synthetic research that goes beyond individual periods as well as specific research of individual historical periods and subjects. It is also able to study Slovene history in its entirety. The group integrates the research into European and global contexts, thereby following comparability.
An important mission of the group is to transfer research results directly into teaching practice. Its work does not affect only university, but also primary and secondary school levels. Some group members have written primary and secondary school textbooks; the project manager has been actively helping with the preparation of study material and teacher training in Southeast Europe. The Department has by far the best developed course of didactics of history lessons in Slovenia; the lecturer of the course has been writing expertise reports for UNESCO. The members of the programme group are closely involved in the international exchange of students and professors. The Department of History is continuously cooperating with several universities. It carries out joint research programmes as well as graduate seminars with some of them (e.g. University of Zagreb) and shares study programmes with certain others (e.g. the Joint Degree Programme in History of South-Eastern Europe, which is carried out together with the Universities of Graz, Cluj, Regensburg, Zagreb, Novi Sad, Sofia and Thessaloniki).
The group knows how to transfer research results directly into public practice, which has been proved by a number of activities: cooperation in setting up a bilingual, modern exhibition on Slovene history at the Ljubljana Castle (one of a kind in Slovenia) and in a number of other exhibitions; investigation of cultural and historical problems in the field (The Lost Villages of the Gottscheer Germans project); deep involvement in the celebration of anniversaries (this year a special focus has been given to the anniversary of the beginning of World War I, which the group members are working on at both the national and international levels).
The group is distinguished by the fact that the researchers in charge of individual periods are pertinent and frequent interlocutors about ''common'' historical issues as well as sensitive topics which concern Slovenia and relations with other nations and which are subject to sharp public, media and political polemics. The group is able to scientifically argument, highlight and present sensitive topics to the public from different conceptual viewpoints. The programme group members have already participated or are still participating actively in resolving some of such sensitive subjects: the Italian-Slovene and Slovene-Austrian relations, the issue of post-war repression and mass graves. They are critically confronting the mythologising of the past and setting new theoretical concepts and perspectives in the field of historiography, thereby following the modern trends of international historiography which they wisely implement and adapt to the Slovene territory and circumstances.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2015,
interim report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2015,
interim report
