Slovenian Emigrants Between Tradition and Modernity

Objectives of the course

Students will be acquainted with historical, sociological and ethnic viewpoints of emigration and the life of Slovenians in new environments. Special emphasis will be placed on their cultural activities, literary creativity, maintenance of ethnic identities, and care for Slovenian material and cultural tradition abroad. The course also will examine the original contributions of emigrants in the culture of the Slovenians on the one hand, and in multicultural society in the emigrant's new country on the other hand. Lecturers will use authentic archive material, primary literature and the results of their own empirical studies. Students will be informed from the theoretical point of view of studies of emigrants abroad and modern methodology of researching emigrants abroad, and they will be encouraged to critically compare methods and approaches. The interdisciplinary basis of the course provides a well-rounded view into the problems of Slovenian emigrants abroad.

Prerequisites

Not required.

Assessment methods

Students undertake two curriculum obligations - a written paper within the framework of a seminar and an oral examination on the content of lectures and mandatory reading. The written paper will be on a theme chosen by the student in consultation with the lecturer, and it will be a prerequisite for the oral examination.

Course contents

The time frame is from the first mass wave of emigrants in the first half of the 19th century to the "brain drain" of today. The course will comprise four thematic sections. The first is categorisation and setting problems along with the establishment of basic concepts. Included are various research methodological approaches and their ranges and a presentation of research results with the emphasis on the anthropological and sociological aspects of Slovenian emigrants abroad (re-socialisation, acculturation, integration vs. assimilation, multiculturalism, migration theory and politics, etc.).

The second theme is the historical description of Slovenian emigration: defining migrations (theoretical aspect) and of sources and literature; legal aspects (emigration and immigration legislation); demographic aspects of migration; analyses of sex, age, education and vocation makeup of emigrants, geographical aspects of emigration (direction of emigration); causes and consequences of emigration; attitudes of the homeland (authority, church, intellectuals) to emigration; human and social positions of immigrants in the new countries; organisation of their lives in their new environments (societies, publishing, schooling, etc.); the contribution of Slovenians to their new environs (in the working, cultural, scientific areas, etc.); contact between emigrants and their homeland; involvement and comparison with migration processes worldwide. The third theme examines the ethnological aspects of Slovenian emigration: comparative treatment of the forming of ethnic identities and its manifestation in everyday life in the first and all following generations of emigrants from Slovenia by different continents and periods of emigration; returning home (problems of adaptation); autobiographical method of research, method of observing with self- participation.

The final theme covers Slovenian immigrant literature: a historical review from early immigrant forms of literature in the 19th century through the flowering of Slovenian immigrant literature in the 1920s and 1930s, and the independent development of so-called expatriate literature in the second half of the 20th century to the literature of those returning after 1990; the problem of the ghettoisation of immigrant literature in Slovenian literary history; the question of literary bilingualism of expatriate authors; and modern problems of literary creativity in emigrants abroad.

Recommended reading

Basic

• Castles, S. and M. J. Miller. The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World. London, 1998
• Čebulj Sajko, Breda. Etnologija in izseljenstvo. Ljubljana: Slovensko etnološko društvo, 1999
• Čebulj Sajko, Breda. Med srečo in svobodo. Ljubljana: Samozaložba, 1992
• Drnovšek, Marjan. Pot slovenskih izseljencev na tuje. Ljubljana: Mladika, 1991
• Drnovšek, Marjan. Usodna privlačnost Amerike. Ljubljana. Nova revija, 1998
• Klemenčič, Matjaž. Ameriški Slovenci in NOB v Jugoslaviji. Maribor: Obzorja, 1987
• Klinar, Peter. Mednarodne migracije. Ljubljana: Obzorja, 1976
• Lukšič-Hacin, Marina. Ko tujina postane dom. Ljubljana: Znanstveno in publicistično središče, 1995
• Lukšič-Hacin, Marina. Multikulturalizem in migracije. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 1999
• Valenčič, Vlado. Izseljevanje Slovencev v tujino do druge svetovne vojne. Dve domovini/Two Homelands 1 (1990): 43-82
• Žitnik, Janja. Književno delo slovenskih izseljencev. Slavistična revija 48 (2): 159-176
• Žitnik, Janja. Besedna umetnost slovenskih izseljencev in njeno mesto v sodobni slovenski kulturi. Dve domovini/Two Homelands 14 (2001): 67-90

Supplementary

• Chmelar, Hans. Höhepunkte der österreichischen Auswanderung: Die Auswanderung aus den im Reichsrat vertretenen Königreichen und Ländern in den Jahren 1905-1911. Wien: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1974
• Čebulj Sajko, Breda. Razpotja izseljencev. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2000
• Friš, Darko. Ameriški Slovenci in katoliška cerkev 1871-1924. Ljubljana; Dunaj; Celovec: Mohorjeva založba, 1995
• Kokalj Kočevar, Monika. Iseljenec: življenjske zgodbe Slovencev po svetu. Ljubljana: Muzej novejše zgodovine Slovenije, 2001
• Klemenčič, Matjaž. Slovenes of Cleveland. Novo mesto, 1995
• Klemenčič, Matjaž. Jurij Trunk med Koroško in Združenimi državami Amerike. Celovec; Ljubljana; Dunaj: Mohorjeva založba, 1999
• Kokole, Vladimir. Migracije v SR Slovenijo iz drugih republik in narodnostna sestava njenega prebivalstva. Geografski vestnik 58, 1986
• Lukšič-Hacin, Marina. Zgodbe in pričevanja: Slovenci na Švedskem. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2001
• Malačič, Janez. Demografske razmere v Sloveniji. Teorija in praksa 21 (7/8): 683-701, 1984
• Šifrer, Živko. Izseljevanje s slovenskega ozemlja. Prikazi in študije 8 (2), 1962
• Šmitek, Zmago. Klic daljnih svetov. Ljubljana: Borec, 1986
• Vogelnik, Dušan. Demografska statistika. Ljubljana: Borec, 1961
• Vogelnik, Dušan. Razvoj prebivalstva Slovenije zadnjih dvesto let z jugoslovanske in evropske perspektive. Ekonomski zbornik 7, 1965
• Valenčič, Vlado. Izseljevanje Slovencev v druge dežele Habsburške monarhije. Zgodovinski časopis 44 (1): 49-71, 1990
• Zwitter, Fran. Prebivalstvo na Slovenskem od 18. stoletja do današnjih dni. Ljubljana 1936
• Žigon, Zvone. Iz spomina v prihodnost: Slovenska politična emigracija v Argentini. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2001
• Žitnik, Janja, Helga Glušič, eds. Slovenska izseljenska književnost 1, 2, 3. Ljubljana: Rokus, 1999