Page 338 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 338
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
maining on a more descriptive and evocative level, it represents a good Slo-
venian translation of the economic-historical concept.
2. The approach of ethnologists towards peasant economic
activities
Peasant economic activities in ethnology have been analysed through ma-
terial culture, the other two pillars of the ethnological systematisation be-
ing social and spiritual culture (Slavec Gradišnik 2000, 458). In her study
of the history of the ethnological discipline on the Slovenian territory In-
grid Slavec Gradišnik analyses the essential literature on economic activi-
ties in a chapter with a significant title: ‘Material world and people’ (Slavec
Gradišnik 2000, 475‒84). The two essential ethnological overviews of the
economic activities are “Slovenian folk tradition” (Slovensko ljudsko izro-
čilo), edited by Angelos Baš (1980), and “Peasant economy on the Sloveni-
an territory” (Kmečko gospodarstvo na Slovenskem) by Marija Makarovič
(1978). In Baš’s monograph the economic activities are divided in to more
chapters: farming, stockbreeding, gardening, wine growing, fruit growing,
forest economy, foraging, hunting and fishing, apiculture, craft and trade.
Similar categories are found in Marija Makarovič’s book, but with additi-
onal categories such as hop growing, poultry farming, silkworm rearing,
rafting trade and charcoal-burning. The economic activities in these works
are not linked with the overall peasant life, although Makarovič mentions
social relationships through the mutual help between peasant families and
through a peasant’s diary (Slavec Gradišnik 2002, 475), which is from da-
tes only recently, in the eyes of historians (from 1946 on) (Makarovič 1978,
244‒92).
A significant overview of peasant economic activities and way of life
in the 19th century was published by different authors in the journal Slov-
enski etnograf 33–34, with chapters on economic activities (Smerdel 1988–
1990), wine growing (Dular 1991), crafts and trade (Bras 1988–1990), but also
on alimentation, clothing, architecture and the culture of dwelling, social
culture, domestic servants, folk art and health care. In the same journal a
study of the preserved archives from a farm in Spodnja Šiška near Ljublja-
na was published, based on the farm’s inventory from 1834 and other doc-
uments dating between 1761 and 1898 (Golob 1991). The author only lists
material facts and does not make any deeper analysis of the social and eco-
nomic state of these peasant households. In discussions of this type ethnol-
ogists “draw out the language of ‘ingredients’; in this way it was possible to
336
maining on a more descriptive and evocative level, it represents a good Slo-
venian translation of the economic-historical concept.
2. The approach of ethnologists towards peasant economic
activities
Peasant economic activities in ethnology have been analysed through ma-
terial culture, the other two pillars of the ethnological systematisation be-
ing social and spiritual culture (Slavec Gradišnik 2000, 458). In her study
of the history of the ethnological discipline on the Slovenian territory In-
grid Slavec Gradišnik analyses the essential literature on economic activi-
ties in a chapter with a significant title: ‘Material world and people’ (Slavec
Gradišnik 2000, 475‒84). The two essential ethnological overviews of the
economic activities are “Slovenian folk tradition” (Slovensko ljudsko izro-
čilo), edited by Angelos Baš (1980), and “Peasant economy on the Sloveni-
an territory” (Kmečko gospodarstvo na Slovenskem) by Marija Makarovič
(1978). In Baš’s monograph the economic activities are divided in to more
chapters: farming, stockbreeding, gardening, wine growing, fruit growing,
forest economy, foraging, hunting and fishing, apiculture, craft and trade.
Similar categories are found in Marija Makarovič’s book, but with additi-
onal categories such as hop growing, poultry farming, silkworm rearing,
rafting trade and charcoal-burning. The economic activities in these works
are not linked with the overall peasant life, although Makarovič mentions
social relationships through the mutual help between peasant families and
through a peasant’s diary (Slavec Gradišnik 2002, 475), which is from da-
tes only recently, in the eyes of historians (from 1946 on) (Makarovič 1978,
244‒92).
A significant overview of peasant economic activities and way of life
in the 19th century was published by different authors in the journal Slov-
enski etnograf 33–34, with chapters on economic activities (Smerdel 1988–
1990), wine growing (Dular 1991), crafts and trade (Bras 1988–1990), but also
on alimentation, clothing, architecture and the culture of dwelling, social
culture, domestic servants, folk art and health care. In the same journal a
study of the preserved archives from a farm in Spodnja Šiška near Ljublja-
na was published, based on the farm’s inventory from 1834 and other doc-
uments dating between 1761 and 1898 (Golob 1991). The author only lists
material facts and does not make any deeper analysis of the social and eco-
nomic state of these peasant households. In discussions of this type ethnol-
ogists “draw out the language of ‘ingredients’; in this way it was possible to
336
