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Slovenian Historiography in the Post-1989 Period
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 January 2024
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In 1999, a roundtable entitled ‘The Problems of Slovenian Historiography in the Twentieth Century’ took place at the Institute for Contemporary History (Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino) in Ljubljana. The event was envisioned as a moment where Slovenian historians could collectively confront the state of Slovenian historiography. The organisers asked the invited participants to reflect on the main shortcomings of Slovenian historiography produced in and about the twentieth century. In particular, the following themes and issues were placed at the centre of reflection: research pitfalls in Slovenian historiography; historical processes and problems that should urgently be put on the research agenda; methodological and epistemological quandaries; and, last but not least, external pressures on historiography and the interference of civil society and political actors in the work of professional historiography. As a starting point for the discussion, participants presented written position papers that were later published as a thin booklet.1
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References
1 Ervin Dolenc, ed., Teze za razpravo na okrogli mizi Problemi slovenskega zgodovinopisja o 20. stoletju, Ljubljana, 26 oktober 1999: ob 40-letnici Inštituta za novejšo zgodovino v Ljubljani [Theses for Discussion at the Roundtable ‘The Problems of Slovenian Historiography in the Twentieth Century’, Ljubljana, 26 Oct. 1999: On the Occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the Institute of Contemporary History in Ljubljana] (Ljubljana: Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino, 1999).
2 Ibid., 39.
3 This was a logical progression from the development that began in the mid-1980s. See Luthar, Oto, Med kronologijo in fikcijo: strategije historičnega mišljenja (Ljubljana: Znanstveno in publicistično središče, 1993), 183–5Google Scholar.
4 In the academic community, a debate involving two historians in the early 1990s, Vasko Simoniti (b. 1951), a future politician and Minister of Culture, and Bogo Grafenaur (1916–95), the most influential Slovenian historian after 1945, stood out in this respect. See Simoniti, Vasko, ‘O slovenskem zgodovinopisju 1945–1990 ali kako je na zgodovinopisje vplivalo staranje oblasti’, Zgodovinski časopis 46, no. 3 (1992): 387–94Google Scholar; Grafenauer, Bogo, ‘Ob pisanju o slovenskem zgodovinopisju’, Zgodovinski časopis 47, no. 1 (1993): 117–29Google Scholar.
5 Kosmač, Miha, ‘Etnično homogena Evropa’: preselitve prebivalstva v Istri in Sudetih 1945–1948 (Koper: Znanstveno-raziskovalno središče–Založba Annales, 2017)Google Scholar.
6 Kregar, Tone, Med Tatrami in Triglavom: primerjave narodnega razvoja Slovencev in Slovakov in njihovi kulturno-politični stiki 1848–1938 (Celje: Zgodovinsko društvo, 2007)Google Scholar.
7 An impressive and important exception is Jože Pirjevec's work on Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav wars. See Pirjevec, Jože, Jugoslavija: [1918–1992]: Nastanek, razvoj ter razpad Karadjordjevićeve in Titove Jugoslavije (Koper: Lipa, 1995)Google Scholar; idem., Jugoslovanske vojne: 1991–2001 (Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba, 2003).
8 Maja Lukanc, ‘Jugoslovansko-poljski odnosi med letoma 1945 in 1956’ (Doctoral dissertation, Department of History, University of Ljubljana, 2020); Hadalin, Jurij, Boj za Albanijo: propad jugoslovanske širitve na Balkan (Ljubljana: Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino, 2011)Google Scholar; Mithans, Gašper, Jugoslovanski konkordat: pacem in discordia ali jugoslovanski ‘kulturkampf’ (Ljubljana: Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino, 2017)Google Scholar.
9 A good example is a recent book written by a retired professional Slovenian historian. There, the author attempts to present the history of Slovenians from the perspective of the independent state of Slovenia, recounting the ‘historical facts’, offered without context, that led to Slovenia's independence in 1991, spanning a broad period of time from the Middle Ages to 1991. See Granda, Stane, Pot v samoslovenstvo: prva osamosvojitvena zgodovina Slovencev (Ljubljana: Družina, 2022)Google Scholar.
10 See two typical examples by two prominent right-wing historians/public intellectuals: Jože Možina, Slovenski razkol: okupacija, revolucija in začetki protirevolucionarnega upora (Ljubljana–Celje–Celovec–Gorica: Medijske in raziskovalne storitve J. Možina–Društvo Mohorjeva družba–Celjska Mohorjeva družba–Mohorjeva družba–Goriška Mohorjeva družba, 2019); Pečar, Tamara Griesser, Razdvojeni narod: Slovenija 1941–1945: okupacija, kolaboracija, državljanska vojna, revolucija (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 2004)Google Scholar.
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14 Režek, Mateja, ‘Usmerjena preteklost: mehanizmi ideološke in politične “kontaminacije” zgodovinopisja v socialistični Sloveniji in Jugoslaviji (1945–1966)’, Acta Histriae 22, no. 4 (2014): 971–92Google Scholar.
15 Back in 2003, for instance, the ARRS annual report specifically highlighted financial support for research projects that ‘strengthen national identity’ (see https://www.arrs.si/sl/finan/letpor/inc/mszs-finpor-2003.pdf (last visited 26 Nov. 2023).
16 See https://www.dlib.si/?&language=eng and https://ukm.um.si/domoznanske-digitalne-zbirke (last visited 26 Nov. 2023).
17 See https://www.inz.si/en/Research-Infrastructure-of-Institute-of-Contemporary-History_1/ (last visited 26 Nov. 2023).
18 See https://www.inz.si/en/Digital-humanities-resources-tools-and-methods/ (last visited 26 Nov. 2023).
19 See https://sredisce-za-javno-zgodovino.ff.uni-lj.si/en/ (last visited 26 Nov. 2023).
20 See Oto Luthar and Heidemarie Uhl, eds., The Memory of Guilt Revisited: The Slovenian Post-Socialist Remembrance Landscape in Transition (Göttingen: V & R unipress, 2019).
21 Zajc, Marko, ‘Spomenik Pr’ Skelet in Zvezdi: k politiki spomina v Sloveniji v drugem desetletju tretjega tisočletja [The Monument Near Bar Pr'Skelet and Café Zvezda: On the Politics of Memory in Slovenia in the Second Decade of the Third Millennium]’, Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino 60, no. 1 (2020): 152–71Google Scholar.
22 Borut Mekina, ‘Sežig knjige o Kučanu’, Mladina, 24 Dec. 2015, available at: https://www.mladina.si/171613/sezig-knjige-o-kucanu/ (last visited 26 Nov. 2023).
23 Despite the clear political background of the Centre, some of its collaborators nevertheless produced empirically solid, if interpretatively modest and conceptually questionable, studies with clear ideological–political overtones.
24 See https://enciklopedija-osamosvojitve.si (last visited 26 Nov. 2023).
25 See https://www.inz.si/sl/Raziskovalna-infrastruktura/ (last visited 26 Nov. 2023).