The Identitarian Re-Interpretations of Italians from Istria

Abstract

This article investigates the dynamics of the Istrian peoples’ identitarian process2.The two social groups of “who remained” and “who left” - historical consequences of the Istrian-Dalmatian exodus - are the object of our analysis. The underlying theme focuses to the evolution of identity, according to two different contexts, Istrian territorial roots and territorial dispersion. The reasoning steps, critical thinking and the deepening of analysis develop around the concept of Italian-ness, proceeding with complementary approaches. The first thanks to an elaboration of the collective memory and of the collective identity, going to re-interpret the findings from two studies about those who left and those who remained; the second one, with a perspective reconstruction by the examination of the secondary sources, of texts by writers and of several informal interviews. We have been led to see the changes that affect the identity of the individuals, or the groups, concerned and to wonder about the nature of the sense of continuity with which these changes are experienced. The result, in particular, allows for invalidating the idea of the identitarian definition rooted in a nostalgic memory of the lost homeland, in the case of dispersed Istrian peoples; while in the Italians who remained, the idea of an unproblematic experience of the commonality, groupness and cohesion in redefining boundary crossing and the development of networks in the new national configuration(s).