Constructing Identities Across Borders: Case of the Istrian-Italian Diaspora in Trieste

In the last two decades, the accelerating speed of globalization has challenged the modern notion of state borders. Rather than the fixed line of a sovereign state, state borders are viewed as a dynamic interplay between territorial organizations and local societies. This trend is evident in the border regions of Europe wherein extensive cross-border cooperation and interaction transform a border from a geopolitical “territorial line” to a socio-cultural “contact area” of neighboring societies. On this basis, people living in borderlands have new resources and opportunities to construct or safeguard their identities.

This study examines the construction of a “We” consciousness by the Istrian-Italian diaspora, who suffered from national conflicts and mass exile after World War II, and emigrated from their native homeland Istria (formally Yugoslavia) to settle in Trieste, a border city in Italy close to the Slovene and Croatian borders. We analyze the identity construction of this diaspora by specifically using the case of national celebrations when cross-border interaction collides with national manifestation. Our data is based on fieldwork conducted in Trieste on the procedure of how commemorative events are organized by local authorities and these exile groups, focusing on the practices and discourses on the ways to selectively utilize certain historical pasts, “We” and “the Other” relations, and forms of recognition.

The results indicate that two opposed identities have emerged within Italian diaspora communities: pro-Italian national identities and multiethnic regional identities. Whereas the former tried to produce a national image through patriotic ritual performance and victimization of exiles, the latter tried to reconstruct regional identity in relations with Italian minorities and local authorities in Croatia across nations and borders. In the following discussion, different forms of identities are associated with not only the capacities of the diaspora but also the local and transnational opportunities available to it.