Paper short abstract:

The present and future of the Italian minority in Slovenia has been burdened by negative legacies of the past. How to (re)imagine its position after decades of silencing due to conflict memories between the invisibility and its contest against the hegemonic visions of the national past?

Paper long abstract:

The Italians in Slovenia’s borderland region of Istria were transformed to minority after the so-called “exodus” when 90% of Italians, mostly from urban environments, migrated to Italy and abroad after WW II due to complex reasons following the change of the national border and the introduction of socialist system. Before the urban environments were mostly inhabited by Italian speaking population, while the hinterland was mostly Slovenian. The emptied urban places were resettled by migrants from Slovenia and other republics of former Yugoslavia. Due to the new social reality and new language the Italians found themselves in the role of “foreigners at their own home”. As their memory was in conflict with the dominant one, the memories and heritages of the “remained” Italians have been silenced both in Slovenian and Italian collective memory. Moreover, due to two decades of violent Italian fascist oppression and war crimes they have been collectively criminalized in the Slovenian discourse.

If remembering makes the past active in the present the question is how they shape their future by drawing on the past and cultural heritage as strategic resources to give them voice? Are there any chances to reimagine their marginal position, burdened by contested past, when their memory has been recognized by an anthropological work from the dominant side? At the same time, feeling burdened by negative legacies of the past, such as fascism, isn’t it a safer strategy to survive in a dominant milieu of a dissonant memory to remain invisible?