Zgodovinjenje slovensko-italijanske meje in obmejnega prostora

Abstract

A survey of contents published on the internet has shown that the designation "Italian-Slovene border" or "confine italo sloveno", together with related designations of both sides of the border, is very much present in entrepreneurial and economic relations, whereas the designation of the border indicating only one, "our" side, is prevalent in texts of historiographical provenience and in political journalism. It is already evident from a quick overview of search results that references to the eastern border in Italian texts and references to the western border in Slovenian texts are not only of geographical nature, but they also indicate a politically and nationally connoted nomenclature promulgating one-sided representations of the border. One example of incorrect historical onomastics is analysed as an indication of ethnocentric discourse, in which national affiliation is understood as a synonym of cultural affiliation and a national border as a rigid cultural boundary that also separates the members of one nation from the members of another along cultural lines. From the second half of the 19th century onwards, concealment of plural origin became a national defence mission of historians who devoted themselves to the history of border areas. In the Central European area, to which the northern Adriatic region belongs, the assertion of the autochthonism of one's own nation turned into a historiographical effacement of its neighbours. Amidst competitive relations between nations in the second half of the 19th century, national historical narrative became a political tool in the hands of the national elite and proved to be especially useful in consolidating one's own forces while excluding others. Although the first departures from historiography in the service of national defence already occurred at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Angelo Vivante), the nationally-focused border history continued to prevail both among Italian and Slovenian historians of Venezia Giulia until the 1980s. Its influence is also manifest in the Slovenian-Italian historical report, which is the result of long-term reconciliation of Italian and Slovenian historians and provides a uniform account of Slovenian-Italian relations. Nevertheless, as crucial as this achievement may be, it should not be exempt from critical scrutiny: with regard to moving beyond the ethnocentric presentation of history, Maria Todorova rightfully claims that historical legacy must be subject to critical evaluation, especially when it imposes a dichotomous understanding of border societies or when it hinders mutual recognition of the other. An accurate determination of an observation point, both in terms of research perspective and level, is - following the explanations of Michael Werner and Bénédicte Zimmermann - one of the key principles of histoire croisée, a historiography that deals with crossing, interchangeable views, and takes the deliberate exchanging and supplementing of observation perspectives as an opportunity for an as much complex understanding of historical events as possible, but also as a departure from "'intellectual' imperialism and strategies of political domination" (Werner, Zimmermann). Discussions published in this issue of Acta Histriae, which vary in their thematic focus and methodological approach, provide a convincing demonstration that alongside the historiography, which aims at strengthening the idea of historical continuity, a historiography concerned with border areas and their pluralities has emerged, a historiography that does not efface multi-faced border identities, and a historiography that incorporates historical writings on the Slovene-Italian border into interdisciplinary studies of border areas or the so-called border studies

Keywords

mejne študije;zgodovina meje;nacionalna raba zgodovine;histoire croisée;obmejna zgodovina;Slovenija;Italija;

Data

Language:	Slovenian
Year of publishing:	2010
Typology:	1.02 - Review Article
Organization:	UP - University of Primorska
Publisher:	Zgodovinsko društvo za Južno Primorsko
UDC:	930.23:341.222(450:497.4)
COBISS:	1837779
ISSN:	1318-0185
Views:	3307
Downloads:	20
Average score:	0 (0 votes)
Metadata:

Other data

Secondary language:	Italian
Secondary keywords:	border studies;Slovene-Italian border;national use of history;histoire croisée;border history;Slovenia;Italy;
URN:	URN:NBN:SI
Type (COBISS):	Not categorized
Pages:	str. 207-216
Volume:	ǂLetn. ǂ18
Issue:	ǂšt. ǂ1/2
Chronology:	2010
ID:	1731349