engleski

Branding Istrianity: Regional Unity in Diversity?

In comparison to the rest of Croatia the processes of national homogenization in the Croatian region of Istria after the 1990s and the demise of Yugoslavia took quite a different trajectory. The higher percentage of expressing regional identity on the first national census was followed (at next national census) with its lower percentage (Banovac, Blažević, Boneta 2004). This shows that regional identification processes in Istria were stronger that in the rest of Croatia and that they were at their peak in the period of strong national homogenization processes. Istrian regional identity – Istrianity – Istrijanstvo was recognized as an important tool in a political arena, ant not only at the regional and local level. It was built on a base of recognizing pluriethnicity and multiculturalism, as well as bilingualism, as its core value. These features of Istrianity reflect historic facts about numerous layers of identities that have been co-existing on the territory of Istria for centuries. Their core feature is “multi-ethnic autochthonousness” but the question is how Istrianity incorporates new layers of identities (national minorities, immigrants), as well as echoes of sub-ethnic identifications (Blagonić 2013). In this paper the attitudes of Istria inhabitants toward this complex hybridity of identification processes will be presented and analysed, with the special focus on ambivalent meanings attached to the notion of Istrianity. Istrianity will be analysed as modern hybrid space of regionalism corresponding with European discourses on unity in diversity, resembling their inclusive, as well as exclusive dimension.

Istria, Identity, Regional identification processes, Europeanisation processes

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