National and Cultural Identity of Slovenian Emigration

The programme comprises interdisciplinary research into Slovene emigration with consideration of theoretical starting points and cognitions of the included scientific disciplines (historiography, literary history, ethnology, sociology and political sciences, art history) as well as its inclusion in international migration studies. The basis is a study of Slovene ethnic identity of emigrant communities across the world, returned migrants and immigrants to Slovenia. Stress is laid on the following themes: 1) historical analysis of the attitude of emigrant and immigrant environments towards Slovenes and their descendants in the 19th and 20th centuries (analysis of private archival material, emigration through historical optics, Slovene emigration in East and Southeast Europe; 2) reintegration of Slovene emigrant literature into the central Slovene cultural media, literary science and education, inclusion of immigrant writers into Slovene national literature, integration of emigrant writers in the national cultures of their new homelands; 3) fine arts and emigrants; 4) individuals and the development of Slovene emigrant communities; 5) analysis of migration situations with a stress on cultural, identity and social aspects, and the role of women/men in preserving cultural heritage in foreign environments; 6) ethnic aspects of migration processes. Results will be published in Slovene and foreign scientific journals and in monographs. The Slovenian Migration Institute SRC SASA issues an international journal Dve domovini / Two Homelands, in which current studies linked to the programme are published. Increasing attention is paid to the inclusion of Slovene migration research into international research, as Slovene migration – with its specific phenomena – also presents a certain share in international migrations.