“The gastarbeiters built everything for us.” Migrations,Memories, and Emptiness in the Dalmatian Hinterland
This essay traces the intersections between migration, (de)industrialization, and memoryin Imotska krajina in Croatia and western Herzegovina, contiguous regions with a longand rich history of out-migration. Building mainly on interviews and recent fieldobservations, we argue that the meaning of mig...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre for Southeast European Studies
2024-07-01
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| Series: | Contemporary Southeastern Europe |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://resolver.obvsg.at/urn:nbn:at:at-ubg:4-50509 |
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| Summary: | This essay traces the intersections between migration, (de)industrialization, and memoryin Imotska krajina in Croatia and western Herzegovina, contiguous regions with a longand rich history of out-migration. Building mainly on interviews and recent fieldobservations, we argue that the meaning of migration has substantially changed since theso-called gastarbeiter migrations. In the 1970s and 80s, labor migrants invested, amongother things, in new industrial facilities. Investment of this kind is uncommon todaybecause the region has suffered almost total deindustrialization. Most of the gastarbeiterfactories have not survived. Yet, the abandoned factory buildings, monuments togastarbeiters, and the recollections of migrants and their families sustain vivid memoriesof migration and the hopes as well as fears connected with it. Migration creates emptinessbut also new “somethings”. We argue that memories are another important form of socialremittance that not only transform a place but also perpetuate migration. |
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| ISSN: | 2310-3612 |