Page 80 - Dark Shades of Istria
P. 80
Trans-Border Region of Istria
(2013) still show, in the most explicit (numerical) way, the national het-
erogeneity of Istrian society – the most heterogeneous one found in Croa-
tia.²⁶ Interestingly, 25,491 Croatian residents expressed their Istrian na-
tionality, which is, in addition to the Serbian and Bosniak one, by far
the most frequent one in Croatia (Državni zavod za statistiku Republike
Hrvatske, 2013, p. 13; Raos, 2014, p. 37); only here do Croats represent less
than 75 of the total population of the County (Raos, 2014, p. 36). This
multi-ethnicity and plurality is formally defined also in the Statute of the
Istrian County (Raos, 2014, p. 38; Statut Istarske županije, 2009), which
should not be ignored.
At the micro-regional level, Istria literally illustrates today’s e u motto,
‘United in diversity’ (Bufon, 2008b, p. 55; Medica, 1998), which is also
evident in its historical capital Trieste as a cosmopolitan city with an ide-
alised cultural diversity and ‘Europeanness’ on one side, and nationalism
and competing memories of victimhood on the other (Miklavcic, 2008;
Zhurzhenko, 2011). This rooted diversity/heterogeneity and complexity
in Istria influenced social life, which is evident from (Medica, 2011, p.
261):
• the space where economic, cultural, and political elites have never
been consistent;
• the biggest differences appeared within families;
• family relations (kinship connections) were very usefully used in the
past migrations;
• continuous migration, interweaving, acculturation, assimilation,
and integration are the characteristics of Istria;
• all individuals in social groups are connected into the network of the
social memory;
• traditional life resists borders and divisions;
• the division of the region between the three countries.
Interestingly, there is no problem of interpersonal communication in
everyday life in Istria,²⁷ since there is even a special regional lingua franca
known as the Istro-Venetian dialect (Medica, 2011, pp. 252–253). The im-
portance of preserving the language, especially in the Italian national
²⁶ Raos (2014) presents many other specifics.
²⁷ An interesting initiative is that, beside the Croatian and Italian languages as official lan-
guages, Bosnian as an optional additional language should be introduced into the primary
and secondary schools of Pula as well (Petrović, 2018a).
80
(2013) still show, in the most explicit (numerical) way, the national het-
erogeneity of Istrian society – the most heterogeneous one found in Croa-
tia.²⁶ Interestingly, 25,491 Croatian residents expressed their Istrian na-
tionality, which is, in addition to the Serbian and Bosniak one, by far
the most frequent one in Croatia (Državni zavod za statistiku Republike
Hrvatske, 2013, p. 13; Raos, 2014, p. 37); only here do Croats represent less
than 75 of the total population of the County (Raos, 2014, p. 36). This
multi-ethnicity and plurality is formally defined also in the Statute of the
Istrian County (Raos, 2014, p. 38; Statut Istarske županije, 2009), which
should not be ignored.
At the micro-regional level, Istria literally illustrates today’s e u motto,
‘United in diversity’ (Bufon, 2008b, p. 55; Medica, 1998), which is also
evident in its historical capital Trieste as a cosmopolitan city with an ide-
alised cultural diversity and ‘Europeanness’ on one side, and nationalism
and competing memories of victimhood on the other (Miklavcic, 2008;
Zhurzhenko, 2011). This rooted diversity/heterogeneity and complexity
in Istria influenced social life, which is evident from (Medica, 2011, p.
261):
• the space where economic, cultural, and political elites have never
been consistent;
• the biggest differences appeared within families;
• family relations (kinship connections) were very usefully used in the
past migrations;
• continuous migration, interweaving, acculturation, assimilation,
and integration are the characteristics of Istria;
• all individuals in social groups are connected into the network of the
social memory;
• traditional life resists borders and divisions;
• the division of the region between the three countries.
Interestingly, there is no problem of interpersonal communication in
everyday life in Istria,²⁷ since there is even a special regional lingua franca
known as the Istro-Venetian dialect (Medica, 2011, pp. 252–253). The im-
portance of preserving the language, especially in the Italian national
²⁶ Raos (2014) presents many other specifics.
²⁷ An interesting initiative is that, beside the Croatian and Italian languages as official lan-
guages, Bosnian as an optional additional language should be introduced into the primary
and secondary schools of Pula as well (Petrović, 2018a).
80
