engleski

Can Museum Projects on Diaspora Experience Facilitate Dialogue between Different Ideologies? The Case of Istrian Emigration/

Since Istria belonged to five different states during the 20th century, many inhabitants of Istria have found difficult to identify with only one state or culture. This has led to the shaping of a regional, Istrian identity. In the period between two world wars, many people left Istria in response to the Italian totalitarian regime, which wanted to see only Italians in Istria. After the Second World War, Yugoslavia also introduced a totalitarian regime based on communist ideology. This resulted again with mass migration to Italy, the USA, Australia and elsewhere, both because of political and economic reasons. In working with many Istrian Diaspora groups for the purpose of the exhibitions on the Istrian emigration (especially those living in New York), it became obvious that these people insist on expressing their Istrian identity, not being tied to any particular state. This is not always understood by other Diaspora communities in New York – Italian, Croatian – which expect them to identify themselves within the national frames. In contemporary Istria, the situation is similar, since every state included wants to promote a clear national identity in its population. Moreover, the question of “esuli” - Istrian emigrants - is still a hot political issue between Italy, Slovenia and Croatia that has produced much polemic and dispute among leaders and politicians of those countries. The Ethnographic Museum of Istria is preparing an exhibition that will focus on Istrian emigration and life in the Diaspora during the last 100 years. This exhibition will touch on some of the most important historical and political events and changes of that period. Interviews with emigrants, some of which will be interpreted on the exhibition, show individual, multi-layered histories. This material is intended to result in a new, non-nation-oriented perspective of the Istrian Diaspora and of the Istrian past in general. This paper will question whether an exhibition of this type can create a better understanding of intercultural relationships and ideologies on both national, ethnic and individual levels.

Istria, diaspora, identity

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