Decolonizing the Lives of Identity Photographs in the Adriatic Borderlands: from Fascism to post-Yugoslavia- Networking towards organizing a workshop and producing a scientific publication

Short-Term Scientific Mission Blog: Field Notes

Grantee name: Dr. Martina Caruso

Details of the STSM:

Title: Decolonizing the Lives of Identity Photographs in the Adriatic Borderlands: from Fascism to post-Yugoslavia- Networking towards organizing a workshop and producing a scientific publication

Start and end date: 14/05/2024 to 18/05/2024

Home Country: Slovenia

Host Country: Croatia

The STSM aimed to build capacity with scholars who share research areas on empire and racism. In connecting with Prof. Jeremy Walton, PI for the ERC-funded project REVENANT (Revivals of Empire: Nostalgia, Amnesia, Tribulation) at the University of Rijeka in Croatia, the practical purpose of this networking was to set up a basis with other researchers in order to organize a workshop on colonial identity and anti-Slavic racism. The STSM period (14-18 May 2024) coincided with the REVENANT international conference on ‘Postcolonial, Decolonial, Postimperial, De-imperial’ where I was able to network with keynotes Prof. Maria Todorova and Prof. Mladina Tlostanova as well as other international scholars (see below).

The aim of the workshop, to be held in early 2025, will foster the objectives of the HIDDEN COST-Action by drawing attention to the importance of identity documentation, citizenship, nationality and migration, taking into account the geopolitics of a region where multiple empires, from the Ottomans to the Habsburgs and the fascists, have dictated access to citizenship and issues of social belonging and exclusion.

By connecting two large EU-funded projects (HIDDEN and REVENANT), the purpose of the STSM was to network with scholars from REVENANT in order to discover shared interests with the questions posed by the HIDDEN project such as postcolonial issues, racism and material culture in the early twentieth century. In fact, the under-representation of visual culture within both projects is an important aspect which requires alternative approaches to understand the topic of identity documentation via, for example, introducing photography history in relation to postcolonial studies, cultural history and anthropology.

Working Group 2 ‘Documents as Proof, Documents as Past’ focuses on the historical basis for contemporary identity databases and pays explicit attention to the documentation itself, from a content, historical and material culture perspective. In looking at the history of ID regimes in Europe and beyond, it draws connections between the past and the present via scholars working in very diverse fields from history, anthropology or postcolonial studies. The STSM is closely related to the topic of ‘Documents as Proof, Documents as Past’ and would add value to the research into identity regimes in European nations, with a focus on the Balkan region where WG2 from the HIDDEN network is well-represented.

This STSM will also address a specific goal of WG2, which is to publish a scientific article. In line with HIDDEN WG2’s aims, the STSM provided a forum to discuss these themes with experts and international scholars working in the field from diverse disiciplinary backgrounds (cultural and political history, anthropology, ethnology, architecture). The researchers with whom discussions were established included Prof. Borut Klabjan (Institute for Historical Studies of the Science and Research Centre, Koper, Slovenia), Karina Horení (researcher on ERC “Spectral Recycling”, Institute of Slavic Studies Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland), Prof. Maura Hametz (James Madison University, VA, USA), Ivan Jeličić (post-doc researcher on ERC-project “Post-imperial transition: from remobilization to nation-state consolidation”), Prof. Vanni D’Alessio (Università degli Studi Federico II di Napoli, Italy), Dr. Angela Ilić (Wissenschaftliche Miterbeiterin, Institut für deursche Kultur und Geschichte Südosteuropas an der LMU München, Germany), Dr. Matthew Worsnick (Assistant Professor, Vanderbilt University, USA) and Katrin Kremmler (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of European Ethnology, Germany). With Dr Kremmler in particular I have established a solid relationship discussing future research collaborations on questions of criminology and racism under fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in Eastern Europe.

The STSM helped me realise the potential opportunity to build capacity with an already committed international and interdisciplinary network of researchers on the Balkan region who could collaborate on a publication on the under-researched theme of visual culture and colonial identity. The need to link with researchers that can bring alternative critical perspectives on material culture within the HIDDEN WG2 agenda can offer new ways of exploring colonial identity that take into account the complex geopolitical realities of the Balkans and their history. The STSM therefore stimulated me to look beyond my narrow field of enquiry and interact with a much more inclusive collaborative network.