Heritage of Liminality: Remnants of the Military in the Istrian City of Pula in the Aftermath of Yugoslav Socialism

• Authors: Tanja Petrović

Title variants

PL

Dziedzictwo liminalności: znaki obecności wojska w Puli na Istrii po upadku jugosłowiańskiego socjalizmu

Abstracts

PL

Artykuł porusza kwestię liminalności w znacznym stopniu kształtującą (auto)percepcję miasta Pula w Chorwacji, co jest skutkiem wieloletniej obecności wojska (i przemysłu ciężkiego) w tym mieście. W tekście omawiam kwestię współdzielenia przestrzeni miejskiej w okresie jugosłowiańskiego socjalizmu przez Jugosłowiańską Armię Ludową i mieszkańców miasta, analizuję również skutki owej kohabitacji i współpracy widoczne w okresie po upadku jugosłowiańskiego projektu socjalistycznego. W trakcie wciąż trwającego ambiwalentnego procesu transformacji przestrzeni miejskiej Puli wiele obiektów, kompleksów i miejsc militarnych oraz przemysłowych oczekuje na zmianę przeznaczenia i nowych właścicieli, tymczasem władze miejskie oraz twórcy polityki miejskiej za podstawowy problem uznają „wojskową” tożsamość miasta i jej liminalność: materialne i niematerialne ślady obecności armii w mieście określane są jako „niechciane dziedzictwo”. Wbrew powszechnemu traktowaniu owego dziedzictwa jako problemu do rozwiązania, w swoim artykule wybieram podejście bardziej otwarte, które uwzględnia zdanie mieszkańców Puli wpisujących je w wielokulturową i robotniczą tożsamość miasta; staram się również podkreślić jego potencjał w procesie wytwarzania znaczeń, wartości, historii i pamięci.

EN

This article is devoted to the meanings of the liminality that shaped the (self-) perception of the Croatian city of Pula and came as a result of the long-term presence of the military (and heavy industry) in the city. The study discusses the modalities of cohabitation of the Yugoslav People’s Army and the citizens of Pula, who lived together, interacted, and shaped each other during the period of Yugoslav socialism, and highlights the consequences of this mutual shaping in the aftermath of the Yugoslav socialist project. In the ongoing process of Pula’s contentious urban transformation, in which several military and industrial facilities, complexes, and areas still wait for their new functions and new owners, the city’s military nature and liminality have been identified as a problem by authorities and policy makers: they see the material and immaterial traces of the presence of the military in the city as an “unwanted heritage”. In opposition to the view that Pula’s military (and industrial) heritage is a problem to be overcome/eliminated, the article argues for a more inclusive approach that would acknowledge the fact that this heritage is perceived by citizens as closely related to their city’s multicultural and working-class tradition, and that would recognize its potential to produce meanings, values, histories, and memories.

Keywords

PL

Pula; wojsko; liminalność; dziedzictwo; socjalizm

EN

Pula; military; liminality; heritage; socialism

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Slawistyki PAN
• Journal: Colloquia Humanistica
• Year: 2021
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 1-21

Dates

published

2021

Contributors

author

Tanja Petrović

• Inštitut za kulturne in spominske študije, Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti [Institute of Culture and Memory Studies, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts], Ljubljana

• https://orcid.org/0000000181058797

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Identifiers

DOI

10.11649/ch.2536

Biblioteka Nauki

31339664