Page 92 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

Introduction ders), affecting the population living on the new
border, which did not exist in the past or at least
1
he article studies the effects that the not for a hundred and fifty years. This was also
new border had on the territory. The a common occurrence in other European coun-
Tmain question is how the abrupt ab- tries, however, the case of Northern Istria with
sence in a territory caused by the creation of a the focus on everyday life and capability of ad-
new state border influenced its inhabitants. The justment has not yet been fully addressed.
focus will be on the case of the formation of the In this paper I am interested in studying
Yugoslav-Italian border after the end of World the history of everyday life, focusing on histo-
War II. My interest is to present how the process ry from below (people’s history), on the daily ex-
of ‘bordering’ affected the studied territory. The periences and survival strategies that people liv-
process of ‘bordering’ or marking the borderline ing along the border adopted to cope with the
92 is very important, as the two opposing political newly emerging political situation. The central
sides tried to acquire as much territory as they question is how the border line (either the tem-
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 11 (2023), številka 2 / volume 11 (2023), number 2
could. Their claims were mostly opposed. How- porary demarcation line or the subsequent bor- ti
ever, this process represents only one part, or ‘one der), which divided the space both physically
side’ of history. On the ‘other side’, as the histo- and ideologically, affected the local population
rian Peter Sahlins explains in his book ‘Bound- along the Yugoslav-Italian border in Istria. The
aries’, from 1989 (in which he primarily studied focus is on the adaptation to the new realities of ta
the case of France and Spain in the Pyrenees), it life in socialist Yugoslavia. Not only did the po-
is important to understand how the negotiation litical situation change, but family and business
of border ‘identity’ takes place. It is the capaci- ties were severed in a territory that had belonged
ty of the population living in the border region to one state (Austrian Empire/Austro-Hungary, di
th
to modify the status quo of the state frontier, ac- Kingdom of Italy) since the beginning of the 19
cording to their needs and interests (Verginella century.
2021, 33). Therefore, the decision to take part or My aim is to research how the past inter-
declare to be on one or other side of the border connections and relations changed radically
depends not only on political centres of power, and were interrupted after the border was estab-
but also on communities living in the border re- lished. The question is how communication, co-
gion (Walter and Verginella 2021, 33). operation and the exchange of goods were able to here
In the studied ase, the research is going to continue when the border caused a strong terri-
focus on the border region of Northern Istria torial division.
(part of Yugoslavia, and Slovenia after 1991),
where difficult and lengthy diplomatic debates Methodology
took place. As has already been said, the aim is The paper is based on the study and analysis of
to study how the process of bordering and the historical sources dealing with the post-war peri-
new border reality after the end of World War od in northern Istria and Yugoslavia in general.
II, and especially after 1954, affected the popu- The central methodological approach consists of
lation, its everyday life, and economic and social oral (history) interviews with people who lived
interactions. The studied territory represents (still live) in the border area. Sixteen semi-struc-
an interesting case of adaptation to new politi- tured interviews were conducted as part of the
cal circumstances (with new states and state bor- research. However, interviews with individuals
1 This paper is the result of the research project ‘Creating, who had been interviewed as part of other re- studiauniversitatis
maintaining, reusing: border commissions as the key for search, but who had also raised topics relevant
understanding contemporary borders’ (J6-2574), finan- to the present paper, were also included. It was
cially supported by the Slovenian Research and Innova-
tion Agency (ARIS). envisaged that the interviews would be primar-