Slovenian labour migration to the countries of former Yugoslavia: from settlers to transmigrants

In the project we will study the dynamics of employment-related migration from Slovenia to the countries of former Yugoslavia from the nineteenth century to the present and define the types of employment taken by Slovenes. The criteria for defining and framing the basic (titular) categories, i.e. settler and transmigrant, are in the domain of individual theories. Our key framing criterion will be the changes that appear through identity politics and lifestyles. The research will first focus on an analysis of the socio-economic and political dynamics of employment-related migration of Slovenes to the region concerned (from the 19th century on) and their influence on intercultural relations from a historical perspective, with an emphasis on newer employment-related and/or transmigrational lifestyles. Lifestyle is a compound variable which is multiply defined through six variables, which we will observe in the research using various qualitative and quantitative methods. These variables are: employment dynamics and work organisation; family dynamics, upbringing and education; leisure time activities; contacts with the homeland and attitude towards ethnic/national identities and cultural heritage; the establishment of social networks (in the immigrant country and in Slovenia); and contacts with the immigrant environment and multicultural (intercultural) relations. Slovenia’s independence (1991) will represent the border between the past and the present. Using the existing theoretical frameworks of transnationalism we will verify whether Slovene migrants underwent a fundamental shift from ‘settler’ to “transmigrant’ practices and describe the relevance of such findings for the Slovenian economy and politics. The research is distinctly interdisciplinary, from which also follows the selection of the methods, which are quantitative (demographic analyses) and qualitative (analysis of archive materials, content analysis, in-depth interviews and focus groups). The research foresees fieldwork and obtaining informants using the snowball principle. The research objectives are 1. Analysis of the dynamics of the employment of Slovenes in the countries of former Yugoslavia from the diachronic and synchronic perspectives through demographic, occupational and (inter)cultural dynamics. 2. Analysis of the economic activities of Slovenes in the Western Balkans. 3. Production of a study of transnational lifestyles and identities that could be used as a basis for strategies for training transmigrants before their departure abroad and for the requirements of any potential (Slovene) ethnic entrepreneurship in the Western Balkans. 4. Studying the effect of changes in the lifestyles of Slovene emigrants on the preservation of ethnic/cultural heritage from a historical perspective. 5. Creation of a historical synthesis and/or comprehensive study of Slovene emigrants and their descendants in the territory of the Western Balkans from the 19th century to 1991. Results: organisation of working round-tables (at least three); publication of academic debates; creation of study on transnational lifestyles among Slovenes and their experiences of interculturality; an academic monograph about Slovenes in the countries of the Western Balkans. Originality: The results are original since there is a noticeable lack of studies about Slovenes in the area of former Yugoslavia, and those that do exist are noticeably partial. Similarly, there is a lack of studies of employment-related migration, particularly about transmigrants (diplomacy, international humanitarian activities, peacekeeping missions, journalism, transnational economics etc.). Utility: The results will be socially and politically relevant and will have a potential influence on various strategies that the Slovenian government will have to establish with regard to the territory concerned in the near future (Slovenia does not yet have any comprehensive bilateral and multilateral strategies towards this region).