Memories, Large-Group Identity and Political Participation : The Case of the Carinthian Slovenes

Abstract:

The Slovenian minority in Carinthia, a federal state in the south of Austria, suffered decades of cultural insecurity, including discrimination, assimilation and political exclusion. The Carinthian Slovenes responded by continuing to foster their cultural heritage within the confines of their group and, at the same time, closed themselves off from the world outside. Seventy five years after the end of National Socialism and almost 50 years after the attacks on bilingual place names (“Ortstafelsturm“), the national minority is confronted with the challenge of achieving a new, more inclusive form of cultural security. It seems that young people will have to play an important role in this process. This chapter is divided into four sections. The first one goes back into the past, to the emergence of different “communities of shared memory” in Carinthia. Using a psychotraumatological approach, the second section attempts to explain the complex relationship existing between the minority group and the dominant national group. An analysis of the current possibilities for Carinthian Slovenes to participate politically in Austria follows in the third section. The fourth section presents reflections on the dynamic identity of young, present-day members of the minority.