Page 210 - Dark Shades of Istria
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Istrian Memories in the Dark Tourism Context: The Quantitative Analysis
Table 9.4 Type of Area in Relation to Dark Commemorative Events Related
to the Conflicts of the 20th Century
wwi
Fascist terror
wwii
Socialist rev. and
Italian exodus
Independence
war in the s
Other
Total
City (regional center)
Town
Village
Non-settlement area
Total
media-constructed memorial practices (media-constructed social real-
ity) on the Istrian peninsula. We found that dark commemorative events
which could be of interest to tourists are not only located on the coast
and in highly recognised tourist centres, but also in central Istria and out-
side major cities and other populated areas. In general, this also confirms
that the past development of Istrian tourist areas is not related to conflict
events in the 20th century and the associated memorial heritage. Using
geovisualisation, we came to an answer to rq6.
9.6 Discussion on History-Centric Dark Commemorative
Events in Istria
The fact that just a little less than 90 of analysed regional electronic
media reports at least mentioned the historical facts highlighted at the
events, demonstrates and confirms that the media-constructed social re-
ality related to memorial practices heavily relies on the Istrian past⁹ – see
also Figures 7.1 and 8.1 as well as Table 9.3. w w i i and the related anti-
fascism significantly dominate as the historical background of the event,
while wwi does not constitute an important reason for the organisation
of dark commemorative events in Istria.
Herman Kaurić (2015a; 2015b) and Hrstić (2016) claim that wwi was
and still is a less interesting research topic in Croatia, which was con-
firmed in practice (in media reporting on rituals and memorial prac-
tices) within this research as well. If we use Halbwach’s (1992) termi-
⁹ The historical component of dark tourism sites is also associated with Stone’s (2006) dark
tourism spectrum.
210
Table 9.4 Type of Area in Relation to Dark Commemorative Events Related
to the Conflicts of the 20th Century
wwi
Fascist terror
wwii
Socialist rev. and
Italian exodus
Independence
war in the s
Other
Total
City (regional center)
Town
Village
Non-settlement area
Total
media-constructed memorial practices (media-constructed social real-
ity) on the Istrian peninsula. We found that dark commemorative events
which could be of interest to tourists are not only located on the coast
and in highly recognised tourist centres, but also in central Istria and out-
side major cities and other populated areas. In general, this also confirms
that the past development of Istrian tourist areas is not related to conflict
events in the 20th century and the associated memorial heritage. Using
geovisualisation, we came to an answer to rq6.
9.6 Discussion on History-Centric Dark Commemorative
Events in Istria
The fact that just a little less than 90 of analysed regional electronic
media reports at least mentioned the historical facts highlighted at the
events, demonstrates and confirms that the media-constructed social re-
ality related to memorial practices heavily relies on the Istrian past⁹ – see
also Figures 7.1 and 8.1 as well as Table 9.3. w w i i and the related anti-
fascism significantly dominate as the historical background of the event,
while wwi does not constitute an important reason for the organisation
of dark commemorative events in Istria.
Herman Kaurić (2015a; 2015b) and Hrstić (2016) claim that wwi was
and still is a less interesting research topic in Croatia, which was con-
firmed in practice (in media reporting on rituals and memorial prac-
tices) within this research as well. If we use Halbwach’s (1992) termi-
⁹ The historical component of dark tourism sites is also associated with Stone’s (2006) dark
tourism spectrum.
210
