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Between Political Constraints and Professional Historical Writing: Three Decades of Croatian Historiography (1990–2021)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 August 2023
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Like most European historiographies, modern Croatian historiography was founded in the second half of the nineteenth century. It coincided with the appearance and spread of nationalism – what is more, it was one of its essential components. Nonetheless, the number of historians in Croatia remained small for a long period of time (In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, approximately twenty historians worked in universities, museums, and archives), and historiographic production was modest and methodologically traditional. The number of historians and institutions dedicated to historical writing increased significantly in the decades following the Second World War, reflecting the importance placed on history by the communist authorities. Approximately one hundred historians were employed in Croatia at the time of its independence in the early 1990s, principally at the country's two universities and a number of historical institutes. Today, Croatia – a country with a population of less than four million – offers up to eight undergraduate and graduate history programs, as well as several doctoral programs. More than 300 professional historians work in faculties, institutes and other institutions such as archives, museums or non-governmental organisations.
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References
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14 Hrvoje Matković's History of Yugoslavia: A Croatian View is an example of this method. The author stressed that his goal was to provide a ‘Croatian interpretation’ of Yugoslavia's history. Matković, Povijest Jugoslavije. Hrvatski pogled (Zagreb: Naklada P.I.P. Pavičić, 1998), 11–13.
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24 We make a distinction between historical revision, as a desirable advancement of historical knowledge, and historical revisionism, as deliberate distortion of the past.
25 See footnote 9.
26 See particularly the thematic issue of the ČSP, ‘The Croats and the Second World War’, ČSP, 27, 3 (1995), 399–590.
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29 Miroslav Bertoša and Tomislav Raukar were two of the most influential authors in the 1980s and 1990s for their works on the medieval and early modern periods, utilising methods from the Annales school.
30 The project Triplex Confinium, led by Drago Roksandić, contributed to the modernisation of research into the early modern period, and Nenad Moačanin pioneered the field of Ottoman studies.
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34 HIP's historian Vladimir Geiger has led a number of these projects.
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36 For instance, Jure Krišto's article, ‘Još jedanput o knjizi Holokaust u Zagrebu’, ČSP, 34, 3 (2002), 961–85, denied the Holocaust in Zagreb on the grounds that the majority of Zagreb's Jews were killed ‘elsewhere in Croatia, as well as outside of Croatia’ (p. 979).
37 Historians at the Serbs’ Archives in Croatia have published several works on this subject.
38 In this respect, the works of Igor Duda and the projects he has led stand out. See also: www.unipu.hr/ckpis.
39 The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, I. Historical Foundations, www.sabor.hr/en/constitution-republic-croatia-consolidated-text (accessed on 19 Jan. 2022).
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44 Cited in: Koren, Snježana, ‘History, Identity and Curriculum: Public Debates and Controversies over the Proposal of the New History Curriculum in Croatia’, in Ognjanović, Gorana and Jozelić, Jasna, eds., Nationhood and Politicization of History in School Textbooks: Identity, the Curriculum and Educational Media (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), 87–112CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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46 We apply this concept as described by A. Wimmer and N. Glick Schiller (‘Methodological Nationalism, the Social Sciences, and the Study of Migration: An Essay in Historical Epistemology’, The International Migration Review, 37, 3 (Fall 2003), 576–610), that is, as an approach in the social sciences and humanities that understands the nation-state as the fundamental and natural unit of scientific analysis.