The Presence and Absence of the Other in 20th-century Italian and Croatian National Borderlands

Employing a comparative analysis across the region and in different post-war periods, after WWI and after WWII, this paper examines the problematic public presence of groups and individuals who are excluded from the titular nation in the process of formation of the nation-state. I discuss the cases of the Italian and Yugoslav/Croatian 20th-century states and their minorities, and in particular their borderland areas in the Upper Adriatic. By looking at the presence of their language and culture in the public space and in the spheres of education and collective memory, I focus on the problems of political and cultural visibility of minorities. Throughout the study, I analyze the interaction between the state-building policies and the coping strategies of the local population who negotiate and switch between their multilayered identifications.