Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Panel 5, Saturday 19th July 2008
The Fate of Small Nations during Times of Mass Emigration: The Case of Slovenians
Mojca Vah
Abstract
Slovenian culture (understood here as the way of life) has been challenged by over a century of extensive
emigration. Waves of mass emigration to the United States in the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth
century due to economic reasons were followed by waves of mass emigration to Argentina after the Second
World War due to political reasons. Labour migration to the Western European states, especially Germany,
bloomed during the communist times, and contemporary migration patterns reveal worrying levels of brain drain
after joining the EU. What kind of an impact is over a century of extensive emigration having on Slovenian
culture? Can a nation of only a million or so, inclined to emigrate throughout its history and living under
different flags until less than two decades ago, preserve its ethnic / cultural identity? Against all odds it appears
to be so. On the case of Slovenians, the paper will address the intriguing question of how small nations can
tackle the pressures of extensive emigration and at the same time manage to preserve or indeed strengthen –
their cultural identity. It will also be argued that the principle of territoriality of culture is considered by
Slovenians as a necessary precondition for preserving their identity. This can arguably be contributed to the
demographic factors, as it is popularly believed that territorial dispersal of the already small number of
Slovenians would result in significantly weakening or even endangering their identity. After declaration of
independence in 1991 and creation of the first Slovenian state, the legal mechanisms for preservation were
finally at hand. Nationalistic tendencies that helped preserve the Slovenian cultural identity in the past, however,
continued at times even escalating to the outright outbursts of xenophobia.
In the paper I intend to go beyond methodological nationalism, which, in one of its variants
implies that social processes are confined to the political and geographic boundaries of a
nationstate. Needless to say, territorial limitations, when discussing culture need to be
replaced by a less restrictive framework. Therefore, when I speak of the fate of the Slovenian
nation during times of mass emigration, I am not only referring to the Slovenians who inhabit
the territory of their nationstate and who stayed in the homeland, but also those who have
settled abroad and tried, by employing different means, to preserve Slovenian culture and
national identity for the generations to come. Given the fact that Slovenians have always been
a small nation of about one to two million, the urge to preserve their culture has always been
strongly present. Feelings of fear of assimilation into other nations surrounding the Slovenian
ethnic territory were immense. Moreover, it was not only demographic factors that
contributed to stubbornly fighting to preserve the culture, especially language, but also the
fact that hundreds of years were spent under the foreign rule. Slovenia reached its
independence and therefore the Westphalian sovereignty over its ethnic territory only in 1991.
Before that, it was a part of several other political entities. At the end of the nineteenth
century, which is a period when Slovenian mass emigration began, the prospects of preserving
the culture seemed slimmer by the decade, especially because Slovenian nationstate, which
could help to preserve the culture with clever policymaking and emigration control, did not
yet exist. This, however, might have been a blessing in disguise. When threatened, a self
preserving mechanism is usually triggered in order to prevent assimilation into a majority
culture and this may well have been the case with Slovenians. Those that stayed in the ethnic
territory and the ones that emigrated and formed diasporas around the world were all joined in
the efforts to preserve their cultural identity. But let me start telling the story of Slovenian
mass emigration as it happened from the beginning on.
Slavic and Mediterranean mass emigration wave headed for the America
The development of rail and sea transportation made the world more accessible and attractive
to the populations of the old world. The euphoria of emigration, aimed especially at the
United States, reached Slovenia at the end of the nineteenth century. At that time, Slovenians,
already formed as a nation, lived in the AustroHungarian monarchy. They were surrounded
by the Roman and German world on one side and SouthSlavonic world on the other. German
and Italian territorial aspirations were something Slovenians feared immensely, especially as
there were less than 1, 2 million of them living in the multination monarchy at the time. In
fact, throughout the history, the Slovenian ethnic territory has been geographically
particularly transitional and vulnerable to a variety of foreign cultural influences. Preserving
the Slovenian culture and national identity was further endangered when massive numbers of
Slovenians decided to search for a better living in the United States or the land of the plenty,
as they called it. The emigration was so massive that it used to be called the ‘blood toll’ at the
time. It was among the highest in Europe as a percentage of the population, as it is estimated
that one third of the population increase was headed abroad when reaching the prime
reproductive age. In addition, unlike in some other European countries, Slovenians who
2
emigrated were not very poor, hungry and weak, as those decided to stay put. It was mostly
the strong, healthy, curious, adventurous and intelligent men and women that emigrated. 1
Slovenian mass emigration wave to the United States immensely worried the Catholic
Church, which had a major influence in the predominantly rural Slovenian society. The priests
warned against dangers that emigrants would have to face in the States on every corner. Most
of the catholic press wrote about the United States and other foreign countries as dangerous,
threatening, unmoral places, where religion becomes highly endangered. In addition, the
Church argued that when thousands of compatriots are leaving their homeland, they are
considerably and dangerously weakening the nation’s power. A high number of newspaper
reports drew attention to the excessive liberty granted to Americans, their disrespect for
traditional village customs, and, a great shock to the Slovenian religious rural environment,
the neglect of church service attendance. Slovenians were reading such newspapers with
warnings and the majority of them were indeed attending mass, but emigration nevertheless
continued on a massive scale until the First World War. Opponents of emigration did their
best to highlight the grim side of the land across the Atlantic, while its supporters, especially
those who returned, all too easily forgot about the negative sides and spoke about America as
the country of great opportunities, offering a better life.
The Catholic Church and local teachers were doing everything in their power to stop
Slovenians from leaving. After years of persuasion, they managed to break the spell that
Slovenians seemed to be under, believing that in America roast chicken flew into one’s mouth
and dollars were lying on the streets. But even though they were better informed, also due to
honest letters from the loved ones who admitted that life in America is not only milk and
honey, the nation was still obsessed. Priests were complaining that, on the classroom walls,
instead of hanging pictures of the natural and rural life of the homeland, there were seascapes
and steamers displayed in every detail. Teachers reported that children were more familiar
with the American rivers of Mississippi and Ohio than with Slovenian rivers.
The local priests became more and more concerned about the economic position of their
parishes, which became endangered as a result of emigration. With time, however, they
realised that they do not hold the power to stop Slovenians from looking for their fortune
1
Drnovšek, M. 1994: Mass Emigration and Slovenes. Dve domovini 5. Ljubljana: ISI ZRC SAZU.
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abroad. So, instead, they decided to show the concern for their wellbeing. It was a tactic
move. The socalled Society of St. Raphael gave advice to prospective emigrants, together
with clear instructions how and where to report to Slovenian priests who were already
stationed in the States. In fact, all emigrants that wore the socalled recommendation card on
their chests when getting off trains or arriving at ports were entitled to their help with the
settlement. In return, they would help maintain the Slovenian parishes and communities in the
United States.
Emigration was a great business and a number of emigrant agencies were set up to paint a
much more glamorous picture of the American life than it actually was, in order to sell more
tickets for the crossAtlantic journey. Several emigration agencies in Ljubljana, pubs, shops
and hotels in the capital town of the Slovenian nation, made their living from the emigration.
It was a business of the century. The Ljubljana police were kept busy supervising the
emigration traffic, chasing boys on the run from military service and controlling the emigrant
agencies. According to the law, emigration agents were not supposed to invite people to their
offices or to sell tickets for boat companies that did not have Austrian work permits, but
agents tended to break all those rules. The propaganda, however, did not come only from
them, but from many Slovenian emigrants who sent home remittances, photos – taken in
seemingly fancy settings, dressed in fancy clothes, and letters proclaiming that life in the
States is all that. There is a story of a young woman from a small village who migrated to the
States to be married. After a while she sent home a picture of herself wearing the fanciest hat
that other women from the village ever saw. The photograph of the hat made them so
mesmerised that a large number of them set off to America, leaving those who stayed behind
devastated and seriously worried about the future of the village.
The First World War put a stop to the mass emigration to the United States. US immigration
policy became extremely restrictive. In 1921, a law was passed introducing an annual quota
equal to the 3% of a given nationality already living in the United States. Three years later,
this was followed by the JohnsonReed Act, which was even more restrictive, setting a quota
of 2% of the members of a given nationality as shown by the population census of 1910.
Needless to say, this meant that extremely small numbers of Slovenians were allowed in, as
Slovenians had been emigrating only for a few decades as part of the third and last European
wave and in relatively small numbers compared to some other nations, particularly the Anglo
Saxons. Moreover, when asked about their nationality in the census, many of Slovenians
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were confused about what their national affiliation is. Slovenia was not an independent state
at the time, so many Slovenians defined themselves as Austrians.
Other destinations
After the United States had closed its doors, Slovenian emigration turned to South America,
Australia and Canada, although the numbers did not come close to those of the emigration to
the United States. At the time, Slovenia was part of the entity that after the Second World
War became known as Yugoslavia. Communists in Slovenia were the ones who fought with
the Nazis and Fascists and after the victory over the oppressor they joined the Slavic state of
Yugoslavia that was run by communists. What followed, of course, was the anticipated
political emigration of those who rejected the communist regime and those who collaborated
with the Nazis during the war. The collaborators were known under the name of White Guard
or Home Guard and were a part of the rightwing oriented, highly religious political
movement. Yugoslavian state classified the political emigrants as those who were at the time
of the creation of Yugoslavia outside its borders and did not return because of their refusal of
the communist system and the State order, all the afterwar refugees and displaced persons,
and those who illegally or legally left Yugoslavia because of their disagreement with its
system and operated against it from abroad. It is estimated that a quarter of million Slovenians
emigrated after the war. The number one destination for postwar political emigrants was
Argentina.
After the Second World War, Argentina was governed by a populist leader Juan Domingo
Peron. Even before this period, Argentinean nationalism (in the mid 1930s) was closely
inspired by European fascism and it remained so during Peronism, although perhaps to a
lesser extent than it has been attributed to. Schneider claims that Argentinean conservatism
can be viewed as an Argentine version of Fascism. 2 This tendency can also be due to large
numbers of Italian and German immigrants who settled in the country during previous
decades. The respective regime at the time was, among other categories of migrants,
welcoming refugees escaping from a hostile political regime, namely communism, and those
escaping the postwar persecutions that occurred because of their support to Nazism or
Fascism. In the case of Slovenians those refugees were quite numerous and they managed to
establish a well organised diaspora in the years from 1947 to 1950. Slovenian diaspora in
2
Schneider, A. 2000: Futures Lost. Nostalgia and Identity among Italian Immigrants in Argentina. Oxford, Bern,
Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Wien: Peter Lang.
5
Argentina was consisting of Slovenians who defined themselves ‘in exile’ and were hoping
for the better times to come, when the ‘hostile and dangerous’ regime would fall. While they
rather opted to live under fascism than communism, they also preferred to retain a strong
affiliation to the Catholic Church and have promoted a strong nationalistic discourse. Their
mission was to preserve Slovenian identity and whoever would deviate from this norm would
suffer strong disapproval from the community. That was their way of proving they did not
betray the nation during the war.
PostSecond World War period was also the beginning of a more significant Slovenian
emigration to Australia. A considerable number of Slovenians arrived following the
introduction of the Australian government’s post Second World War mass immigration
programme. As it was the case with Slovenian emigration to Argentina, the emigration to
Australia was also political at first, but with liberalisation of the Yugoslavian communist
government in the early ninetysixties, it became economic in nature. It is difficult to estimate
the number of Slovenians in Australia, as the unofficial figures depart dramatically from
census figures, and, in addition, these figures largely exclude the second and the third
generation individuals. Estimates range from 7000 to 10.000, with Sydney and Melbourne
being the two cities with the largest populations of Slovenians, although there are
communities of several thousand Slovenians in every major Australian city.
Another destination of Slovenian mass emigration was Canada. According to the last census
of Canadian population in 2001, 30.000 Canadian citizens identified themselves as Slovenian.
For a long time, Canada was relatively unknown to Slovenians. The first Slovenians arrived to
Canada via the United States from the AustroHungarian Empire. By the time the United
States already became home to thousands of Slovenian economic migrants, Canada had not
seen many Slovenians arriving. This was also due to strict immigration laws that did not
favour immigration of Slovaks. After the Second World War and introduction of more lenient
laws in 1952, however, higher numbers of Slovenians began settling in Canada.
Destination for emigration that was most appealing to Slovenian women was Egypt. In Egypt,
they could get employed as servants, wetnurses and governesses mainly in Alexandria and
Cairo. They originated from poor areas in Slovenia and were departing with a desire to save
for their dowry, if they were single, or for the survival of their families, if they were married.
Many mothers left their babies and children to be looked after by their fathers and became the
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wetnurses. In 1875, more than 2.000 Slovenian women were in Egypt; seven years later there
were 3.200, and at the end of the century, there were 7.700 Slovenians there, of whom only
300 were men. Another emigration destination of importance is Brazil, although the number
of emigrants to Brazil did not come close to the numbers of emigrants headed to the
previously mentioned destinations. In the second half of the eighties and the first half of the
nineties, the ‘Brazilian rush’ broke out, which inspired among the poor a hope for the better
life and, at the same time, caused great disappointment because of the gap between promise
and reality. 3
Settling in a new country
In host countries of Slovenian mass emigration since the turn of the century to the postWorld
War Two political emigration, Slovenian societies were established. In the United States, it
was Slovenian women who were especially active in this respect – and, of course, Catholic
priests. Because Slovenians mostly travelled to the United States as labour migrants, unlike
Slovenian political migrants who preferably settled in Argentina, they put more effort into
integrating into the American society. As a result of this, and because the Slovenian ethnic
community was small and dispersed throughout the States, the language was the first integral
element of the ethnic identity that became seriously endangered. Most secondgeneration and
subsequent generations of Slovenian emigrants were (are) familiar only with some individual
words or phrases of Slovenian language.
At the end of the ninetysixties, the civil rights movements brought a new pride to the ethnic
background, culture, food, language and institutions. This was the period of the socalled
ethnic revival. The conservative attack that followed a decade later, however, brought an end
to the multicultural utopian dreams but it could not destroy the new feelings of pride felt by
people from different ethnic origins, making them feel special and good. 4 Music and food,
however, were the most persistent symbols of Slovenianess in the States. Slovenian Women’s
Union and other societies or lodges, as they call them, have been organising gatherings, where
Slovenian food is prepared and Slovenian music is played.
3
Drnovšek. M. 2004. Mass Emigration and Slovenes. Dve domovini 5. Ljubljana: ISI ZRC SAZU.
4
MilharčičHladnik, M. 2004. Ohranjanje etnične identitete in tradicije med slovenskimi izseljenci in njihovimi
potomci v Združenih državah Amerike. Dve domovini 19. Ljubljana: ISI ZRC SAZU.
7
In Australia, the Catholic Church also played an important role in the lives of Slovenian
emigrants. The first Slovenian church in Australia was opened in 1968 in Kew, Melbourne.
Numerous Slovenian social clubs with associated organisations in all major Australian cities
were created to cater for social needs of the migrants and help preserve their culture and
national identity. The same was the case in Canada. As in all places of settlement, establishing
cultural societies in Canada was of the most importance for preserving Slovenian cultural
identity and heritage. Cultural activities included choirs, folklore dance groups, drama clubs,
Slovenian language clubs and so on. During and after World War Two, Slovenian
communities in Canada and elsewhere concentrated on helping Slovenia, as it was struck hard
by the war. Assistance was financial and also included sending medicines and medical
equipment to the homeland. Cultural activities expanded when a massive influx of immigrants
arrived from the refugee camps in Austria and Italy.
In Argentina, the situation was slightly different, because emigrants considered themselves as
political refugees and because their settlement was perceived as temporary and was not as
dispersed as in the United States. Most Slovenians of the afterwar migration flow have, upon
their arrival to Argentina, settled in Buenos Aires. A smaller number settled in surrounding
areas and other Argentinean towns, where they organised themselves into smaller
communities. In Buenos Aires they established an umbrella ethnic organisation called
Zedinjena Slovenija (United Slovenia) and a number of local homes in the suburbs of Buenos
Aires, everywhere where a larger number of Slovenians had settled. Activities of
organisations established by Slovenian communities were right from the start concentrated in
Buenos Aires. They were hierarchically organised and ideologically oriented. The primary
purpose of ethnic organisations was to offer immigrants economic and moral support, help
them with settlement and connect them, but also to grow religious, cultural and national
values. The umbrella organisation has from the start paid a lot of attention to development of
schooling, preserving Slovenian language and catholic religion, development of cultural
production and preserving the memory of exile from Slovenia. Spheres of action in the
community were therefore politics, religion and culture. Slovenians transferred their catholic
values, anticommunist ideology and Slovenian identity to their descendants. Despite some
efforts to integrate into the majority society, the priority of community’s activities was to
preserve the established social, ethnic, religious and political norms and not to integrate into
the majority society. Preserving ethnic symbols and further development of cultural activities
has been enabled by the moderate Argentinean immigration policy and the multicultural
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Argentinean society. In order to keep the community inside the planned frame and defend it
against assimilation, connecting with the Argentinean society was not approved. 5
The turning point: Independence
We are, of course, dealing with two different types of emigration here. It is understandable
that Slovenian political emigrants were more determined to preserve Slovenian culture, as
they were counting on returning to their homeland after the change of the political regime.
But in the States, in Australia and in Canada, several Slovenian societies were actively
supporting the culture and ethnic identity of their predecessors as well. The need to do so was
more profound due to the threat of possible disappearance of the small Slovenian nation. After
the independence in 1991 and formation of the first Slovenian state, the diaspora became
euphoric and several thousand Slovenians wanted to return – especially those from Argentina.
Slovenian state was finally acknowledged by the international community and it became
sovereign. It finally had the ability to make and enforce its own policies and laws. It became a
member of international organisations, including UN, NATO, OSCE and in 2004 it became
the member state of the European Union. The future of its identity and culture was suddenly
brighter as the state now had the necessary tools and mechanisms to preserve the
Slovenianess. Slovenian diaspora was reassured and so was the population settled in the
Slovenian ethnic territory. Living under the foreign rule for centuries, surrounded by
demographically stronger nations and experiencing mass emigration at the turn of the
twentieth century and then again after the Second World War, were strong challenges indeed.
According to the public opinion, the independence was considered as the final destination and
the ultimate goal that will preserve the Slovenian national identity and culture and in 1991 the
goal was finally reached.
Nationbuilding in Slovenia was conducted according to a distinctive form, concept and
understanding of the nation. The socalled ethnic form of nationbuilding that was
characteristic for Slovenia and other Central and EasternEuropean countries was conducted
according to the ethnic key. The nationstate was developed by transforming the ethnic ties of
a group of settlers, sharing the same culture, into national ties. In contrast to the ethnic model,
the civic model (which includes nationbuilding processes in France, Spain, England and the
5
Toplak, K. 2007. Slovenian Immigrant Artists and Art Production in Buenos Aires: From local (ethnic) to
national and transnational art worlds. In: Historical and Cultural Perspectives on Slovenian Migration. Drnovsek,
M. (ed.). Ljubljana: ISI ZRC SAZU.
9
Netherlands) used the territory as the starting point for establishing the nationstate. Ethnic
groups, settled on the area that was to become a state, were joined through the unification of
the economy, education, rights and through territorial centralisation. The state’s core ethnie
led this process due to its historical predominance and culturalpolitical domination, and it
imposed its lifestyles, myths and symbols on the state and traditions of the entire population.
As pointed out, this was clearly not the case with the Slovenian nationbuilding. Slovenian
population was proud that they could finally live on their own, without any other culture
endangering theirs. This contentment has unfortunately reflected in the fear of foreigners and
intolerance towards other cultures and their religions.
Dealing with threats and finding a solution in territoriality
Researchers of Slovenian identity were guessing what will happen next. How will Slovenians
react after the independence – those settled in the newly founded state, as well as those in the
diaspora. At this point, I have to turn to the theory. The question how can ethnic or national
identity be preserved for centuries has been a topic of a heated debate. Are ethnicity and
nationality primordial and therefore stem from the socalled ‘natural givens’? Or are they a
construct of the society, more precisely social elites, which instrumentalists would have us
believe? Organic nationalism wants to have us believe that an individual is born into a nation
and is stamped with its character and identity for life. Wherever a person migrates to, he or
she always retains the nationality of the birth. On the contrary, the voluntarist nationalism
claims that every individual holds the right to choose their nation of belonging. Its advocates
claim that the symbolic identification with a nationality or ethnicity is an intimate choice of
every individual. 6 This blends well with the ethnic revival and emergence of the
contemporary transnational social space, which to a certain extent confirms their arguments.
Without much guessing, however, it is clear that Slovenian nationalists strongly believe in
primordialism and have, therefore, been claiming all along that Slovenianess is and will
remain in the blood of Slovenian people. That is perhaps their primary argumentation for
explaining the survival of the Slovenian culture, which, admittedly, seemed to be against all
odds. They also use primordialism, linked with strong determination and awareness of where
their roots are, to explain the resistance of Slovenian culture to assimilate into foreign cultures
of the host countries.
6
Smith, A. 2000. The Nation in History. Historiographical Debates about Ethnicity and Nationalism.
Cambridge, Oxford: Polity Press.
10
Traditional understanding of identity of territorial communities is based on the notion of
identity as an island. This means that those within the borders are a unity, while outside the
borders there are those who are foreign and different. Perceiving identity as an island means
perceiving the ethnic and national identity as inextricably linked to the territory. In line with
this reasoning, any kind of spatial mobility, especially immigration to Slovenia, could weaken
or even endanger the identity of the Slovenian nation. According to the public opinion,
measured in 2002, only 3% would live in ethnically very heterogeneous environment, while
nearly 70% would prefer to live in the ethnically homogeneous environment, where
individuals share the habits and customs. Mixed marriages are also not approved by more than
40% of the population. 7
Ethnic or national identities are, of course, not a biological phenomenon but a dynamic social
process. This has, more than ever, become evident in contemporary times of globalisation,
which has heightened the potential for cultural interaction and the emergence of new hybrid
cultural forms. Cultural practices have never been rooted in only one place, but it is the new
form of transnational dynamics that has significantly influenced their movement and
intertwinement. In Slovenia, the public opinion, as mentioned above, is against immigration
of other cultures and religions, especially from southern and eastern countries. Islam is
particularly feared and rejected, while Roma people have also, on many accounts, been
discriminated against. There seems to be a consensus in the Slovenian public that immigrants
pose a threat on all levels, both personal and national. It is as if Slovenians would like to
spread the message that now that they are finally living in their own country, they are not
willing to let anyone else in, because foreigners might endanger their unity. This kind of
attitude that we are currently observing in Slovenia might well have been the key to
preservation of Slovenian ethnic identity and culture in the past, but in contemporary times
this kind of attitude cannot be accepted or tolerated.
It seems unbelievable to Slovenians that their culture would be able to survive if and when
deterritorialised. Recently, the researchers of Slovenian emigration noted a trend that will
possibly make the Slovenians living within the borders of their state even more sure of their
reasoning. Namely, the Slovenian societies, clubs and lodges around the world started closing
down. The older generations of emigrants, who established them and kept them alive have
7
Mlinar, Z. and Štebe, J. 2004. Odpiranje v svet zavesti Slovencev. In: S Slovenkami in Slovenci na štiri oči.
Mlanar, B. and Bernik, I. (eds.). Ljubljana: FDV.
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realised that new generations of Slovenian immigrants, as well as second, third and
subsequent generations of Slovenian descend are not interested in preserving their cultural
identity in the same manner as the older generations. This does not mean, of course, that
Slovenianess is lost in today’s global flows, but it simply implies that emigrants do not share
the need to root themselves in territorial terms. By living abroad, especially if settled in global
cities, their identity becomes increasingly transnational and enriched with elements from other
cultures, but that does not a priori mean that identity will be lost.
With the existence of Slovenian societies abroad there was a feeling of relief present in
Slovenia, because Slovenian culture could be located immediately through Slovenian
emigrant societies or churches. I would argue that the need for territorialisation of Slovenian
culture is so immensely important for preservation of national identity because the nation
feels demographically endangered. Slovenians are concerned that after centuries of living
under the foreign rule and with globalisation threatening to become another ruler, preservation
of their culture will be challenged further. They see their ultimate safety net in the principle of
territoriality: keeping the Slovenian population physically together be it within the state or in
a highly organised diaspora. It has been a survival strategy that worked for centuries. But
what Slovenians should realise is that globalisation can be used in their advantage. Slovenian
clubs and societies can use the modern means of communication, like the internet, to
overcome the territorial distances. Most Slovenian societies around the world have created
their own webpages and can via the web stay closely connected with Slovenians in the
homeland. As Žigon, the Slovenian consul in Cleveland notes, World Wide Web can make
Slovenians feel as if they belong to the same ‘virtual’ state of mind – this brings them together
and at the same time makes them more open to embracing the new, more open and
cosmopolitan image of Slovenia. While globalisation can indeed be perceived as an
assimilatory force, it can, on the other hand, keep people in closer contact, which is necessary
for preservation of the culture and identity of any nation. 8
8
Žigon, Z. 2004. Preservation of Ethnic Identity among Slovenian Emigrants in the Era of Globalization. Dve
domovini 19. Ljubljana: ISI ZRC SAZU.
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