Literary and Cultural Image of the Immigrants in Slovenia

The incorporation of the immigrants' literary production into the research, educational and cultural-informative contents in Slovenia is even more deficient than the inclusion of other (e.g. social or legal) aspects of immigration problems. Save for a handful of renowned immigrant authors, Slovenian reading public is hardly aware of the existence of any other immigrant writers. Considering the share of the immigrant population in Slovenia – the first two generations constitute at least 15 % of the resident population – and with respect to the meagre share of the state subsidies for their cultural activities compared to those for the autochthonous groups, we have established that each field of the immigrants’ cultural activity (including literary production) is characterized by a distinct division into its elite and "marginal" portion; that the immigrant societies' cultural activities cannot be fully representative of respective immigrant cultures; and that a considerable share of immigrants have poor chances either to maintain (actively) their original cultures in their new homeland or to become acquainted with top achievements of the majority culture or with those of other co-cultures in Slovenia. We wished to examine the causes for the existent level of their language knowledge of (Slovenian and their mother tongue), their reading habits and cultural accomplishments, and first and foremost, the causes for their attitude towards literature. An enquiry was carried out (by head of the project and eleven students of the University of Ljubljana) among the immigrants in 26 Slovenian cities and towns. The questionnaire was also sent to 52 immigrant cultural societies in Slovenia.

The literary activity of the immigrants in Slovenia, its position in a broader scope of immigrant cultures and its place in Slovenian cultural consciousness and policy are themes that had not been systematically researched before the beginning of this project. The project results may be applied in the process of designing an immigration/integration policy of the Republic of Slovenia, particularly in the sphere of the immigrants' cultural integration, e.g. the incorporation of their literary production into central cultural media and publishing programs, general Slovenian literary overviews and lexicons, and educational contents at all stages of schooling. The project leader published the results in Migracijske i etničke teme, 20 (2004), no. 2–3, and 22 (2004), no. 4; AEMI Journal, 2 (2004); MIR: migration and intercultural relations, http://www.migrationhistory. com/comenius; Dve domovini/Two Homelands, 19 (2004), 23 (2006), and 24 (2006); Studia Historica Slovenica, 7 (2007), no. 1/2; Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 34 (2008), no. 1; the other two researchers published their results in Dve domovini/Two Homelands, 22 (2005), and 23 (2006). The final result of this project was a book by the project leader titled Večkulturna Slovenija: Položaj migrantske književnosti in kulture v slovenskem prostoru (Multicultural Slovenia: The Position of Migrant Literature and Culture in Slovenia. Ljubljana, 2008).