engleski

Multiple Island Temporalities – Temporal Transformations of ‘Island Time’ on the Adriatic Island of Dugi otok

The problem of time, its lack or abundance, along with the notion of ‘me time’, ‘free time’, ‘timetables’ or in the worst-case scenario, ‘doing time’, permeates our everyday communication but also reflects on our day-to-day business, and in many cases, overcrowded schedules. However, for those who seek the tranquility of island life and their share of the Mediterranean sun, temporal rhythms seem to be slowing down in island settings, thus indicating different temporal frames. In the case of Dugi Otok, one of the islands of the Zadar archipelago, this non- islander’s perspective does not seem to be correlating with the islanders’ usages and perceptions of time. Islanders’ temporal experiences figure as heterogeneous and depend on age, gender, class, social and economic status, the unwritten rules of the community, and the connections with the mainland. This presentation seeks to explore the notion of ‘multiple island temporalities’ within the community of Sali, the largest settlement on the southern shores of Dugi otok. Generally, temporalities are conceived as the mode and the rhythm of being, entangled within a thick web of social, cultural, spatial, economic, and ideological transformations. The concept of multiple temporalities, inspired by a time studies theoretical framework, points to the processes of overlapping, intertwining and coexistence of diverse temporal frames and rhythms. In the case of Dugi Otok, the effects of multiple temporalities are even more entangled in the complex web of historical, social, and spatial relations, thus producing various temporal phenomena. Therefore, the notion of multiple island temporalities does not refer to the exclusiveness of hegemonic linear temporality, nor does it entail the reductive, de-temporalized notions of exotic and static island time of a non- islander. Starting from the notion of time as a cultural construct, the concept of multiple island temporalities opens questions of a specific, island-triggered and socially performed temporal atmosphere rebranded for tourism and reframed within the ‘vocabulary of the present’. Temporal transformations of ‘island time’ stirred by the concept of multiple island temporalities will be analyzed within ethnographically grounded research conducted over several years in Sali, Dugi Otok. The methodology used in this research includes archival research, semi-structured interviews conducted with islanders, and discourse analysis. The focal point of the analysis starts from the usages of linčarnica, a gathering place of the local community and, from today’s perspective, a memorial to island time usually associated with fjaka. Situated in the port of Sali, linčarnica refers to the triangular slope part of the port, nowadays painted and decorated by local enthusiasts. From the local perspective, it is seen as time at a slower pace, usually associated with the Mediterranean lifestyle and island rhythm. However, through analysis of different usages and interpretations of linčarnica, its history as the gathering spot for the local youth, and contemporary rebranding processes that highlight tourist expectations, the presentation will show how contemporary experiences of ‘island time’ were the result of intense temporal transformations. On the one hand, the emergence of a fish factory at the beginning of the 20th century introduced a system of working hours with differenttime schedules than those usually practised in the predominantly fishing and rural island community (seasonal rhythms, lunar cycles, and the like). Further on, the development of tourism intensified the existing temporal rhythms, multiplying diverse temporal frames and experiences of temporalities. As a result, multiple island temporalities result from the collision, overlap, and remodeling of different time frames colliding, overlapping and remodeling the contemporary perceptions of ‘island time’.

Island temporalities, island studies, linčarnica, Dugi otok

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