Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PH in Transition (Public Health in Transition. Health Care at the dawn of the Habsburg Empire (1918–1924))
Berichtszeitraum: 2022-10-01 bis 2024-09-30
This project explored the transition of the public health system in the successor states of the Habsburg Empire during and after its collapse following the First World War. As a case study, it focused on the Alps-Adriatic macro-region, covering the Upper Adriatic, which became part of the Kingdom of Italy, the Slovenian territory incorporated into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (SCS), and Carinthia and Styria, which joined the First Austrian Republic. The fragmentation of this shared space was examined by comparing three models of transition from the Habsburg public healthcare system in these successor states between 1918 and 1924, during the complex geopolitical reordering of the region. This process turned the area into a multiple borderland between the three new nations. The project aimed to analyse how health and disease shaped new borders and identities in this multilingual and multicultural space, and how they contributed to the development of legal citizenship, senses of belonging, and post-war mobility for millions of citizens.
My research fall within “transition studies”, which have gained prominence in recent years, especially regarding the post-Habsburg Central European region. However, health and illness remain underexplored, often considered secondary to more “important” topics like geopolitics and the study of social, political, legal, and economic structures. Public health issues, though frequently sidelined, were central to post-war periods marked by severe physical and mental health crises that profoundly impacted the lives of millions and shaped societies for decades.
Moreover, my research aieds to challenge national(istic) narratives that view the end of the monarchy as a triumph for the new nation-states that emerged from the imperial collapse. To this end, I approach the field from a strongly transnational perspective, in order to render a new narrative, moving beyond narrow national frameworks to better understand the complexities of this historical transition.
My research fall within “transition studies”, which have gained prominence in recent years, especially regarding the post-Habsburg Central European region. However, health and illness remain underexplored, often considered secondary to more “important” topics like geopolitics and the study of social, political, legal, and economic structures. Public health issues, though frequently sidelined, were central to post-war periods marked by severe physical and mental health crises that profoundly impacted the lives of millions and shaped societies for decades.
Moreover, my research aieds to challenge national(istic) narratives that view the end of the monarchy as a triumph for the new nation-states that emerged from the imperial collapse. To this end, I approach the field from a strongly transnational perspective, in order to render a new narrative, moving beyond narrow national frameworks to better understand the complexities of this historical transition.
As the main activities for my project, I primarily conducted extensive research in archives and libraries in Slovenia, Italy, and Austria. The archives I visited were located in the main cities of the research area, such as Ljubljana (Slovenia), Trieste (Italy), Graz, and Vienna (Austria). Moreover, I also considered smaller archives, such as those in Gorizia and Udine (Italy), in order to investigate more deeply some crucial aspects of the shocking consequences of WWI on the local population, particularly in terms of medical and psychiatric conditions in the new Italian-Yugoslav borderland.
Through my work, I was able to analyse and collect a large amount of unpublished and lesser-researched documents in several languages (including medical records, patients’ files, administrative papers, scientific publications, and police reports), which were fundamental to my dissemination activities (workshops, conference papers, public presentations, articles, and my second monograph). This extensive research aimed to fill a significant gap in historical knowledge and perspectives on this topic and to challenge certain interpretative paradigms in the historical narrative of the post-Habsburg transition and public health history.
Through my work, I was able to analyse and collect a large amount of unpublished and lesser-researched documents in several languages (including medical records, patients’ files, administrative papers, scientific publications, and police reports), which were fundamental to my dissemination activities (workshops, conference papers, public presentations, articles, and my second monograph). This extensive research aimed to fill a significant gap in historical knowledge and perspectives on this topic and to challenge certain interpretative paradigms in the historical narrative of the post-Habsburg transition and public health history.
With this research, I aimed to go beyond entrenched national, hierarchical, state-centric, and gender normative interpretations.
Rather than following the traditional comparative and parallel approach between state models of transition, I focused on a transnational analysis of border areas within the Alps-Adriatic macro-region. In doing so, I shifted attention from states and well-defined national societies to borderlands and border societies, considering borders both as dividing lines and porous spaces of crossing and mutual exchange. My transnational microhistorical approach revealed significant continuities with the Habsburg era and challenged nation-centred views of post-Habsburg transitions. Using an interdisciplinary framework, I examined local-level activities, including medical and psychiatric practices, as well as the lived experiences of border populations, who often continued to seek cross-border health services despite geopolitical fragmentation. At the same time, I explored the severe impact of innovations brutally imposed by new political regimes, such as Italian fascism in the former Habsburg areas of the Upper Adriatic.
Based on numerous documents from Italian, Slovenian, and Austrian archives, I reconsidered the concept of “biopolitics”, which is often overused in literature to explain historical processes related to physical and mental health. While applicable in some contexts, “biopolitics” did not function in an absolute or linear manner. Additionally, the concept remains centred on the state (and, by extension, the nation), portraying individuals as decentralised and passive subjects. In many cases, it failed to capture the complexity of interactions between local societies, individuals (the “patients”), and the authorities of the new states, prompting me to integrate other interpretative concepts from the interdisciplinary intersection of public health history, cultural and medical anthropology, and sociology. As a result, “public health” emerged as a broader space of interaction among various actors, rather than merely serving as a tool for state control, the implementation of state policies, or the imposition of identities. Local communities frequently demonstrated self-governance in their relations with central states, opting for unorthodox and plural medical practices beyond state-recognised medicine, thus positioning themselves as active participants in negotiations with the states. This revealed the limitations of the successor states and challenged traditional state-centric narratives.
In my research, I also examined the psychological impact of the First World War on local populations, focusing on the area of the former Isonzo front. By studying women’s hospitalisations in the newly Italian Province of Gorizia, I challenged the conventional focus on soldiers in wartime trauma, highlighting the significant physical and psychological damage endured by civilians, especially women. This approach questioned paternalistic, nationalistic narratives that marginalise the civilian and women experience in war.
Rather than following the traditional comparative and parallel approach between state models of transition, I focused on a transnational analysis of border areas within the Alps-Adriatic macro-region. In doing so, I shifted attention from states and well-defined national societies to borderlands and border societies, considering borders both as dividing lines and porous spaces of crossing and mutual exchange. My transnational microhistorical approach revealed significant continuities with the Habsburg era and challenged nation-centred views of post-Habsburg transitions. Using an interdisciplinary framework, I examined local-level activities, including medical and psychiatric practices, as well as the lived experiences of border populations, who often continued to seek cross-border health services despite geopolitical fragmentation. At the same time, I explored the severe impact of innovations brutally imposed by new political regimes, such as Italian fascism in the former Habsburg areas of the Upper Adriatic.
Based on numerous documents from Italian, Slovenian, and Austrian archives, I reconsidered the concept of “biopolitics”, which is often overused in literature to explain historical processes related to physical and mental health. While applicable in some contexts, “biopolitics” did not function in an absolute or linear manner. Additionally, the concept remains centred on the state (and, by extension, the nation), portraying individuals as decentralised and passive subjects. In many cases, it failed to capture the complexity of interactions between local societies, individuals (the “patients”), and the authorities of the new states, prompting me to integrate other interpretative concepts from the interdisciplinary intersection of public health history, cultural and medical anthropology, and sociology. As a result, “public health” emerged as a broader space of interaction among various actors, rather than merely serving as a tool for state control, the implementation of state policies, or the imposition of identities. Local communities frequently demonstrated self-governance in their relations with central states, opting for unorthodox and plural medical practices beyond state-recognised medicine, thus positioning themselves as active participants in negotiations with the states. This revealed the limitations of the successor states and challenged traditional state-centric narratives.
In my research, I also examined the psychological impact of the First World War on local populations, focusing on the area of the former Isonzo front. By studying women’s hospitalisations in the newly Italian Province of Gorizia, I challenged the conventional focus on soldiers in wartime trauma, highlighting the significant physical and psychological damage endured by civilians, especially women. This approach questioned paternalistic, nationalistic narratives that marginalise the civilian and women experience in war.