engleski

Green, Green Grass of My Island: A Return Migration to the Island of Iž

Based on the life story of an islander from Iž, I am showing the specifity of life on the island and exemplifying through his story the wider context of emigration from North Dalmatia. His life consisted of migrations since early youth: first moving to secondary school in Rijeka, then economic and political emigration to western Europe, further to America, and finally back to his island for retirement. I am analyzing the causes and individual motivations for emigration in the second half of the 20th century, as well as his motivation for the return migration. In comparing life in America and on his island in Dalmatia, the man I interviewed quite typically emphasized the work-loaded days in America versus relaxed, vine-sipping days with his friends on the island. Yet, since his second wife is an American, and his grown up children and grandchildren remained in the United States, the elder couple keep frequent contact by phone and visits whenever possible, thus never quite ceasing their global family life. His rich life story, life in numerous places on two continents, knowledge of four languages, various variants of his personal name, four passports, and two wives and three children, mirrors the experience of generations of Dalmatian islanders after the First and Second World Wars.

migration ; life-story ; Iž island

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