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Contemporary strategies of Slovenian emigrants for the preservation of ethnic identity

Description

The theme of the project involves the role of young Slovenian emigrants or descendants of Slovenian emigrants of various generations in the formation of different relationships to the Slovenian ethnic identity in the emigration context, their connections with diasporic communities, their ties with their homeland or the homeland of their ancestors, the preservation or the changing of those ties, and questions related to their possible return/migration to Slovenia.

OBJECTIVES

  • To explore how young emigrants and descendant of emigrants experience nowadays their ethnic and cultural identity and how they look upon active participation in the structures and practices that give meaning to diasporic communities and their relations to Slovenia. The focus will be on the differences between those who do and those who do not take part in the diasporic community life and its practices. The project aims at pointing out elements of this differentiation, and understanding their deeper reasons and also related differences that exist inside a diaspora and between them.
  • To shed light upon questions concerning the specificity of the social-cultural situation of the young in the Slovenian emigration context.
  • To record new ideas and wishes of the young concerning organisation patterns and activities in the diaspora that could contribute to the preservation of diasporic communities and prompt increased participation of younger generations.
  • To research into the question of the return migration or immigration of young descendants of Slovenian emigrants to Slovenia. The purpose of this part of the research is to find out how the observed groups view that possibility, whether or how much Slovenia is part of their plans, and under what circumstances the possibility of their returning/moving to Slovenia would be realised. The project will look into their perception of Slovenia, how this perception has been influenced by their (life, work …) experience abroad, and what kind of Slovenia would meet their (economic, social, cultural …) expectations and would thus have a positive effect on their Slovenian identity.

 

Within individual work packages, the project will observe three groups of Slovenian emigrants or their descendants: 1) a group in Germany, 2) a group in Austria, 3) a group in the countries of the former Yugoslavia. Each of the areas defining these three work packages is representative for the research into the proposed theme of the Public Call in its own way: Germany and Austria are the two foremost destinations of the current Slovenian emigration, whereas the so-called Yugoslav area is the area from which most people of Slovenian descent immigrate to Slovenia.

 


Results

The main result is zakljucno_porocilo.pdf (FINAL REPORT).

Other results include:

Academic article

VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša. Slovenski izseljenci in njihovi potomci v Nemčiji : dvajset let povezovanja slovenskih organizacij na posvetih (Slovenian Emigrants and their Descendants in Germany: Twenty Years of Gatherings of the Slovenian Organizations at Conferences). Dve domovini / Two Homelands, 2016, [No.] 43, pp. 157-170. [COBISS.SI-ID 39292461]

  • Description: In the article, the emigration of Slovenians to Germany in the 2nd half of the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century is presented, and the cooperation of Slovenian organizations in Germany; the main focus is on gatherings. Partial results of the qualitative research are presented, this research is based on the participant observation of the last four gatherings, besides, semi-structured interviews were made with the organisers and the participants of the gatherings. The gatherings of Slovenian organisations in Germany have been organised once a year for twenty years (1996–2015). This special form of cooperation, which surpasses local operations of Slovene organisations, represents for Slovenian emigrants and their descendants an important way of maintaining Slovenian identity, socialising and professional support, at the same time it offers the possibility for connecting Slovenian organisations in Germany with Slovenia.

 

Organization of international academic conference and publication of abstracts

ŽITNIK SERAFIN, Janja (ed.), KALC, Aleksej (ed.). Raziskovanje slovenskega izseljenstva: novi pristopi in vsebine: Ob 30-letnici Inštituta za slovensko izseljenstvo in migracije ZRC SAZU = Slovenian Emigration Research: New Approaches and Subject Matter Upon the 30th Anniversary of the Slovenian Migration Institute ZRC SAZU: Povzetki = Abstracts. Ljubljana: Znanstvenoraziskovalni center SAZU, Inštitut za slovensko izseljenstvo in migracije, 2016. 32 p. [COBISS.SI-ID 40516653]

  • Description: Janja Žitnik Serafin and Aleksej Kalc organised upon the 30th anniversary of Slovenian Migration Institute ZRC SAZU an international academic conference titled "Slovenian Emigration Research: New Approaches and Subject Matter". The conference was held in Ljubljana on October 21st, 2016 and it was co-financed by the Slovenian Government’s Office for Slovenians Abroad. Eighteen individually invited authors from Slovenia and abroad presented their papers. The themes of the two morning sessions were “General aspects of Slovenian migration research” and “Methodological approaches applied in case studies of individual emigrant communities”. The afternoon programme included another two sessions: “New Approaches and Subject Matter" and “Presentation of projects”, above all of the target research project “Contemporary strategies of Slovenian emigrants for the preservation of ethnic identity«.

povzetki_-_abstracts.pdf

 

Published abstracts of lectures held at academic conferences

KALC, Aleksej. Sodobne strategije slovenskih izseljencev za ohranjanje etnične identitete = Contemporary strategies of Slovenian emigrants for the preservation of ethnic identity. In: ŽITNIK SERAFIN, Janja (ed.), KALC, Aleksej (ed.). Raziskovanje slovenskega izseljenstva: novi pristopi in vsebine: Ob 30-letnici Inštituta za slovensko izseljenstvo in migracije ZRC SAZU = Slovenian Emigration Research: New Approaches and Subject Matter: Upon the 30th Anniversary of the Slovenian Migration Institute ZRC SAZU: Povzetki = Abstracts. Ljubljana: Znanstvenoraziskovalni center SAZU, Inštitut za slovensko izseljenstvo in migracije, 2016, pp. 29–30 [COBISS.SI-ID 40567853]

  • Description: Aleksej Kalc presented at the international academic conference Slovenian Emigration Research: New Approaches and Subject Matter the topics, the objectives and the first results of the target research project Contemporary strategies of Slovenian emigrants for the preservation of ethnic identity. The presentation was carried out within the last section of the conference, dedicated to the presentation of on-going projects.

 

VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša. Od asimilacije do inkluzije: medkulturna vzgoja in izobraževanje = From assimilation to inclusion: intercultural education. In: ŽITNIK SERAFIN, Janja (ed.), KALC, Aleksej (ed.). Raziskovanje slovenskega izseljenstva: novi pristopi in vsebine: Ob 30-letnici Inštituta za slovensko izseljenstvo in migracije ZRC SAZU = Slovenian Emigration Research: New Approaches and Subject Matter: Upon the 30th Anniversary of the Slovenian Migration Institute ZRC SAZU: Povzetki = Abstracts. Ljubljana: Znanstvenoraziskovalni center SAZU, Inštitut za slovensko izseljenstvo in migracije, 2016, pp. 27–28. [COBISS.SI-ID 40527917]

  • Description: Marijanca Ajša Vižintin discussed the significance of intercultural education for the inclusion of migrant children. She compared the endeavours for the inclusion of immigrant children in Slovenia with similar kinds of endeavours observed in Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina for the inclusion of the off-spring of Slovenian immigrants to those countries. The focus of the endeavours in all the discussed cases is on the preservation of ethnic identity through intercultural education and regular classes of the children's languages.

 

MLEKUŽ, Jernej. O migracijah neljudi: kranjski burek in slovenska klobasa = On the migrations of nonhumans: the Carniolan burek and the Slovenian sausage. In: ŽITNIK SERAFIN, Janja (ed.), KALC, Aleksej (ed.). Raziskovanje slovenskega izseljenstva: novi pristopi in vsebine: Ob 30-letnici Inštituta za slovensko izseljenstvo in migracije ZRC SAZU = Slovenian Emigration Research: New Approaches and Subject Matter: Upon the 30th Anniversary of the Slovenian Migration Institute ZRC SAZU: Povzetki = Abstracts. Ljubljana: Znanstvenoraziskovalni center SAZU, Inštitut za slovensko izseljenstvo in migracije, 2016, pp. 25–26. [COBISS.SI-ID 4052766]

  • Description: At the international academic conference on new approaches and themes in Slovenian emigration research, Jernej Mlekuž gave a lecture titled On the migrations of nonhumans: The Carniolan burek and the Slovenian sausage. He stressed the significance of certain subjects, plants, technical inventions, phenomena, etc. for the creation of migrant communities and the maintenance of their ethnic or original cultural identity – with an emphasis on Slovenian diasporic communities.

 

Paper presented at a conference

KALC, Aleksej. Sodobne strategije slovenskih izseljencev za ohranjanje etnične identitete (Contemporary strategies of Slovenian emigrants for the preservation of ethnic identity): presentation of the project at the international academic conference "Slovenian Emigration Research: New Approaches and Subject Matter", Prešernova dvorana SAZU, 21 Oct. 2016, Ljubljana [COBISS.SI-ID 40475693]

  • Description: The Slovenian diaspora all over the world consists of several generations of emigrants and their descendants. It also includes an increasing number of Slovenians who have emigrated since Slovenia became independent because of unemployment, in search of better work and life perspectives, carrier opportunities and for other reasons. All these components of the Slovenian diaspora differ from each other by education, social and economic background, personal ambitions and life styles. Indeed, they are expressions of different circumstances, needs and phases in the long emigration process, working experiences and paths of inclusion into the receiving countries. Consequently they also differ by feelings and attitudes towards Slovenia and Slovenian ancestry. The project  Contemporary strategies of Slovenian emigrants for the preservation of ethnic identity aims at surveying how the recent Slovenian emigrants and the yesterday emigrants' descendants consider their Slovenian ethnicity or Slovenian roots and which factors significantly influence their attitudes towards the organized Slovenian communities abroad and the preservation of the ties with their »old country«.

 

VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša. Uključenost slovenskih društava u Njemačkoj u lokalno udruženje, sa naglaskom na društvenim prostorijama, financiranju i multikulturalnim aktivnostima: predavanje na posvetu "Izazovi sadašnjeg vremena za slovensku manjinu v BiH u komparativnoj perspektivi", 2016, Sarajevo [COBISS.SI-ID 39973933]

  • Description: Marijanca Ajša Vižintin discussed the activities and cooperation of Slovenian ethnic associations in Germany from different points of view: their cooperation with each other, their cooperation with other associations in German local environment, and their cooperation with organizations and associations in Slovenia. The main focus of this lecture was on financial issues of Slovenian ethnic associations. The situation differs from one association to another, just like for example in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

ŽITNIK SERAFIN, Janja. Aktivnosti i financiranje manjinskih kulturnih društava: poredjenje između Slovenaca u BiH i Bošnjaka u Sloveniji (The activities and the funding of minority cultural associations: Comparison between the Slovenians in B&H and the Bosniaks in Slovenia): lecture at the colloquium "Izazovi sadašnjeg vremena za slovensku manjinu v BiH u komparativnoj perspektivi", 2016, Sarajevo

  • Description: The lecture outlined organizational patterns used by the Slovenians in Bosnia and Herzegovina compared to those used by the Bosniaks in Slovenia, and the cultural production of the former and the latter in the framework of their ethnic cultural societies and associations. The author was also interested in how the minority status of the Slovenians in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been reflected in their cultural and society life and, on the other hand, how the absence of the minority status of the Bosniaks in Slovenia has been reflected in their cultural and society life.

 

VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša. Od asimilacije do inkluzije: medkulturna vzgoja in izobraževanje (From assimilation to inclusion: intercultural education): presentation at the international academic conference "Slovenian Emigration Research: New Approaches and Subject Matter", Prešernova dvorana SAZU, 21 Oct. 2016, Ljubljana [COBISS.SI-ID 40463405]

  • Description: Marijanca Ajša Vižintin discussed the significance of intercultural education for the inclusion of migrant children. She compared the endeavours for the inclusion of immigrant children in Slovenia with similar kinds of endeavours observed in Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina for the inclusion of the off-spring of Slovenian immigrants to those countries. The focus of the endeavours in all the discussed cases is on the preservation of ethnic identity through intercultural education and regular classes of the children's languages.

 

MLEKUŽ, Jernej. O migracijah neljudi: kranjski burek in slovenska klobasa: lecture at the international academic conference "Slovenian Emigration Research: New Approaches and Subject Matter", Prešernova dvorana SAZU, 21 Oct. 2016, Ljubljana [COBISS.SI-ID 40463149]

  • Description: At the international academic conference on new approaches and themes in Slovenian emigration research, Jernej Mlekuž gave a lecture titled On the migrations of nonhumans: The Carniolan burek and the Slovenian sausage. He stressed the significance of certain subjects, plants, technical inventions, phenomena, etc. for the creation of migrant communities and the maintenance of their ethnic or original cultural identity – with an emphasis on Slovenian diasporic communities.

 

VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša. Vključevanje mladih v delovanje slovenskih organizacij v Nemčiji: lecture at the international colloquium Mladi v transnacionalnih povezavah: primer slovenskih izseljencev, 2016, Novo mesto [COBISS.SI-ID 39972909]

  • Description: Marijanca Ajša Vižintin discussed Germany as one of the most frequent destinations of Slovenian emigrants in the 21st century. The main focus of this lecture was on the inclusion/non-inclusion of newcomers in the existing Slovenian ethnic associations. Most of Slovenian emigrants to Germany do not become (active) members of Slovenian associations. They communicate via Facebook or e-mail; some of them come occasionally to one of the Slovenian events. Some associations organize special meeting events for newcomers. On the website of the “Coordination of Slovenian associations in south Germany”, a new tab was opened: it offers information that newcomers usually need when they migrate to Germany. Some new migrants from Slovenia to Germany do become active members or even leaders of Slovenian associations, but Slovenians in Germany and the Slovenian Government Office for Slovenian Abroad wish there would be more of them.

 

VIŽINTIN, Marijanca Ajša. Vpetost slovenskih društev v nemško lokalno okolje : večkulturne prireditve, sodelovanje z drugimi organizacijami, društveni prostori: lecture at the 21st convention of Slovenian organizations in Germany, Baasem, Germany, 2016 [COBISS.SI-ID 39753517]

  • Description: At the 21st gathering of Slovenian organizations in Baasem in Germany, Marijanca Ajša Vižintin first introduced her findings published in the paper »Slovenski izseljenci in njihovi potomci v Nemčiji: dvajset let povezovanja slovenskih organizacij na posvetih (Slovenian Emigrants and their Descendants in Germany: Twenty Years of Gatherings of the Slovenian Organizations at Conferences)«, (Vižintin, Ma. A., Dve domovini / Two Homelands, 2016, 43, 157-170). The second part included a discussion about newcomers from Slovenia to Germany, about their inclusion into Slovenian ethnic associations, financial issues of the latter (membership fees, renting fees for the associations' office and gathering rooms). The main focus was on the activities of Slovenian associations. There were many people involved in this discussion beside the author: members or leaders of eight Slovenian associations (Triglav Sindelfingen, Maribor Hilden, Bled Essen, Sava Frankfurt, Drava Augsburg, Slovenski zvon Krefeld, Triglav Stuttgart, Slovenija Stuttgart), representatives of the Slovenian Government Office for Slovenians Abroad including Minister Gorazd Žmavc, representatives of the Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, some teachers of Slovenian language (for Slovenian migrants and their descendants) in Germany, and there were also representatives of the Slovenian Embassy and consulates in Germany.

 

Lecture at foreign universitiy

MILHARČIČ-HLADNIK, Mirjam. Slovenian women in the USA: Stories on transnational life experiences: invited lecture in the framework of the series Labour migration in Europe since the 1960s (603.641), University of Salzburg, 2016 [COBISS.SI-ID 39971629]

  • Description: The lecture included a variety of life stories of Slovenian women migrants and their descendants in the USA and the different forms of preserving and transforming of identities in transnational and transcultural family contexts.

 

Academic monograph

Raziskovanje slovenskega izseljenstva: vidiki, pristopi, vsebine (ed. Janja Žitnik Serafin and Aleksej Kalc). Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2017, 242 p. Free access to the monograph HERE


Research Project

Keywords
slovenski izseljenci in njihovi potomci
družbeno-kulturni položaj mladih v slovenskem izseljenstvu
organiziranost slovenskih izseljenskih skupnosti
ohranjanje etnične identitete
stiki z domovino (prednikov)
povratne migracije

Research Fields
HUMANITIES H000