Page 219 - Dark Shades of Istria
P. 219
Concluding Remarks
ability to understand these events in a tourism context. They also limit
the transfer of past traumatic stories and values between generations –
especially to youth (educational meaning). In sub-chapter 7.6 ‘Results
and Discussion,’ all these (qualitative) findings are discussed and contex-
tualised.
It was initially found in the quantitative analysis that w w i i-related
memorial services are the dominating ones among different event types
of contemporary Istrian memorial practices. If we connect them with the
memorial events related to the victims of Italian fascist terror, then this
dominance is even more evident. Dark commemorative events related
to the conflict of the 1990s are less frequent; other history-centric ones
are even rarer. These findings reflect the media-constructed social reality
related to memorial practices (mediated memory). They were analysed
in order to obtain answers to rq 4, rq 5 and rq 6. In addition, using a
quantitative content analysis and clustering, four different clusters were
created: ‘Simple dark commemorative events,’ ‘wwi i-related dark com-
memorative events of rural areas,’ ‘Mixed dark commemorative events’
and ‘Independence War-related dark commemorative events.’ wwi i and
the liberation struggle offer an important background of at least the first
three clusters, which clearly shows the effects and the far-reaching reper-
cussions of this armed conflict on the Istrian people. This also shows how
the traumatic past is reflected in contemporary Istrian society, where se-
lective approaches to memorial practices were nevertheless perceived. As
an example, we can mention some Slavic Istrian priests, patriots, who can
be linked to anti-fascism, but have been overlooked in the past due to
their beliefs, which were not coherent with the totalitarian regime of the
Second Yugoslavia. Today, however, we can no longer fully perceive them
as part of the damnatio memoriae context because the religious dark com-
memorative events, like those in Lanišće and especially Svetvinčenat, are
well-attended. However, based on content analysis, this finding cannot
be automatically ascribed to Istrian electronic media. In sub-chapter 9.6
‘Discussion on History-Centric Dark Commemorative Events in Istria,’
all these (quantitative) findings are discussed and contextualised.
A slightly different case is that of Istrian anti-fascists of Italian nation-
ality, who significantly contributed to the liberation of Istria and lived
under the political pressure of the new Yugoslav regime. However, they
were not completely marginalised or forgotten; some warriors were even
proclaimed national heroes – see sub-chapters ‘wwi i, Liberation and the
Cold War in Istria’ (p. 90) and 6.3 ‘wwi i-Related Memorial Practices and
219
ability to understand these events in a tourism context. They also limit
the transfer of past traumatic stories and values between generations –
especially to youth (educational meaning). In sub-chapter 7.6 ‘Results
and Discussion,’ all these (qualitative) findings are discussed and contex-
tualised.
It was initially found in the quantitative analysis that w w i i-related
memorial services are the dominating ones among different event types
of contemporary Istrian memorial practices. If we connect them with the
memorial events related to the victims of Italian fascist terror, then this
dominance is even more evident. Dark commemorative events related
to the conflict of the 1990s are less frequent; other history-centric ones
are even rarer. These findings reflect the media-constructed social reality
related to memorial practices (mediated memory). They were analysed
in order to obtain answers to rq 4, rq 5 and rq 6. In addition, using a
quantitative content analysis and clustering, four different clusters were
created: ‘Simple dark commemorative events,’ ‘wwi i-related dark com-
memorative events of rural areas,’ ‘Mixed dark commemorative events’
and ‘Independence War-related dark commemorative events.’ wwi i and
the liberation struggle offer an important background of at least the first
three clusters, which clearly shows the effects and the far-reaching reper-
cussions of this armed conflict on the Istrian people. This also shows how
the traumatic past is reflected in contemporary Istrian society, where se-
lective approaches to memorial practices were nevertheless perceived. As
an example, we can mention some Slavic Istrian priests, patriots, who can
be linked to anti-fascism, but have been overlooked in the past due to
their beliefs, which were not coherent with the totalitarian regime of the
Second Yugoslavia. Today, however, we can no longer fully perceive them
as part of the damnatio memoriae context because the religious dark com-
memorative events, like those in Lanišće and especially Svetvinčenat, are
well-attended. However, based on content analysis, this finding cannot
be automatically ascribed to Istrian electronic media. In sub-chapter 9.6
‘Discussion on History-Centric Dark Commemorative Events in Istria,’
all these (quantitative) findings are discussed and contextualised.
A slightly different case is that of Istrian anti-fascists of Italian nation-
ality, who significantly contributed to the liberation of Istria and lived
under the political pressure of the new Yugoslav regime. However, they
were not completely marginalised or forgotten; some warriors were even
proclaimed national heroes – see sub-chapters ‘wwi i, Liberation and the
Cold War in Istria’ (p. 90) and 6.3 ‘wwi i-Related Memorial Practices and
219
