engleski

An Island that Sinks – Reconfiguring the Space of the Island of Olib between Popular Perceptions and Transnational Practices of Islanders

In this paper the authors take the current conceptual and imagological surveys of islands present in literature, films and popular culture in general as their starting point. However, they deepen the analysis of the ontological position of "the island" with results of their own field research of return migration on the island of Olib. As the island's present and the past is marked with emigration, the authors place an emphasis on the return migration trend among the senior population that decides to spend their retirement on Olib. These inhabitants adjust the image of the island to their own memories and migrant experiences. The authors deconstruct the publicly accepted image of the island as isolated, conservative and static space locked to the past. By focusing on return migration to the island of Olib, they attempt to distance themselves from the dominant perceptions of the island and point to multilayered experiences and usages of the island, by means of which the island microcosm is constructed as a space of continuous fluctuation of ideas, lifestyles and diverse cultural practices. The contemporary reshaping of the island and a potential for its symbolic recapturing from the imagery of "the glorious past" is analyzed within the net of relationships among local inhabitants, returnees from United States, Bosnian refugees that have made Olib their home in the afterwar period and several individuals who use the island as a space of escape and/ or contemplation. The authors observe the multilayered paradigm of "islandness", which covers various interpretations of the island's identity. They contrast existent patterns of imagery and perspectives from the past with contemporary usages and perceptions of the space of the island that influence the creation of the new island identity. They discuss the paradox created by the existence of two trends: the urgency of making a change on the "island that sinks", which is a reference to the aging of the island population on the one hand, and "the island fjaka" (an idle state of mind and body), which defers the apocalyptic view of the island's future, on the other. In this way diverse points of view of different agents of Olib are brought together, and the way their relations influence cultural inscription and the reshaping of the island's symbolic geography is analyzed.

Olib ; return migration ; islandness ; transnational space

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