Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ADRIA (Adriatic Perspectives: Memory and Identity on a Transnational European Periphery)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2016-02-01 al 2018-01-31
Methodologically I have linked memory and border studies which proved to be especially useful. The continuous territorial rearrangements and national affiliations of the northern Adriatic throughout the twentieth century and the constant change of its population revealed the necessity to revisit traditional methodological frameworks. This precarious institutional setting throughout the twentieth century produced an overlapping of collective identifications, individual memories, invented traditions and contrasting symbols that shaped the local memoryscapes. I have collected these data especially through archival material and primary literature related to personal memories. Giving voice to these memories has shown continuities and ruptures of remembering as well as forgetting by different groups and individuals.
These results have been included in my book (Borderlands of Memory, Peter Lang, Oxford, 2019), articles and book chapters. Special emphasis was dedicated to the dissemination of my work at international workshops and conferences (Memory studies association, Madrid 2019, Association for Borderlands Studies World Conference, Vienna/Budapest 2018, etc.), seminars (South-East European Studies Seminar at UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London 2018, etc.) and talks (EUI Florence 2017, TUFS Tokyo 2018) in the region (Koper, Trieste, Rijeka, Pula, Zadar) and outside it (Rome, Padua, Genoa, Washington, Göttingen, Belgrade, Skopje, Sarajevo). However, following the trend of public history, particular attention was given to non-academic public; therefore, I have participated in the education of schoolteachers and in several roundtables organized by NGO’s and cultural associations. Moreover, I’ve presented my work on radio, TV and local newspapers in both, Italy and Slovenia. Thus, I've disseminated the results of my work in the academic sphere and among the general public.
With these results I have contributed to a more nuanced and complex understanding of the region and of the European past in general. My approach was intentionally inclusive and aimed at involving a large and differentiated population in terms of age, gender, nationality, citizenship, scale of schooling etc. Moreover, I used a multilingual approach to present my work, which contributed to maximize the social impact of the project results.
From a professional point of view my work at the host institution proved to be especially fruitful. I have increased my historical expertise, my research and language skills, and enlarge my professional network, which will have long-term effects on my integration in the international scientific community. Moreover, a continuous cooperation has been established with my tutor, which will continue also at my home institution after the end of the project. This will ensure a long-term impact of the project even in structural terms.