Between Sloveneness and Cosmopolitanism

Aleš Gabrič

Western Europe began to unite in the middle of the 20th century and after the end of the Cold War this process of unification extended towards the East. With an emphasis on Slovenians joining this process and including themselves in Europe, politicians and propagandists only exposed the political frameworks; they overlooked that throughout history our predecessors had continuously been embedded in the cultural trends of the old continent. The dividing of the cultural, artistic or intellectual history along national borders is more a result of studying the bygone eras from the 19th century – the century of nationalisms – onward. The orientation of "our” cultural achievements towards the national has also been characteristic of much of the work of Slovenian humanities.

Already more than half a century ago, the theatre scholar Filip Kumbatovič Kalan perceived the interdependence of the Slovenian theatre activities on the wider cultural movements as the Europeanisation of Slovenian theatre culture. Can we identify those whom we typically regard as "great Slovenians” only by a national label? We will consider this question through the life paths of some of the greatest creators who came from the area of today’s Slovenia. The language in which they wrote, the results and reach of their work and the places where they lived and worked offer numerous starting points for an analysis of whether these outstanding intellectuals can be ranked (only) as great Slovenians.

Aleš Gabrič, PhD is a historian and researcher based at the Institute for Contemporary History in Ljubljana. The focus of his research centres on contemporary Slovenian political and cultural-political history, the history of the education system, the development of scientific and cultural institutions, the attitude of the state towards culture in general and towards individual cultural workers. He is the editor-in-chief of scientific monographs published by the Institute of Contemporary History and teaches the history of Slovenian culture at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. Since 2008, he is the president of the national final exam committee for history for secondary school students.

He is the author of many scientific monographs, the co-author of textbooks on history for the final grades of primary and secondary schools and an editor of several collections of essays. His most important works include: Socialistična kulturna revolucija: slovenska kulturna politika 1953–1962 [The Socialist Cultural Revolution: Slovenian cultural politics 1953–1962]; Prešernovo gledališče v Kranju: 1945–1957 [Prešeren Theatre Kranj: 1945–1957]; Slovenska novejša zgodovina: od programa Zedinjena Slovenija do mednarodnega priznanja Republike Slovenije 1848–1992 [Slovenian Contemporary History: From the United Slovenia programme to the international recognition of the Republic of Slovenia 1848–1992] (co-author); Šolska reforma 1953–1963 [School Reform 1953–1963]; Slovenski zgodovinski atlas [The Atlas of Slovenian History] (co-author); Slovenska pot iz enopartijskega v demokratični sistem [Slovenian way from one-party to democratic system] (editor).