Irene Weber
University of Primorska
Slovenia
Dissonant heritage of Socialism and construction of narratives in tourism context:
the case of Slovenia and Montenegro.
Based on ethnographic fieldwork the paper focuses on two tourist coastal regions:
the bay of Piran (Slovenia) and the Bay of Kotor (Montenegro) which share the
imperial past (both the Venetian and Habsburg rule) and the socialist past within the
former state of Yugoslavia. The shared history however does not necessarily mean
the shared heritage narratives. The Venetian past is the main heritage narrative
frame of reference used in Piran for tourists and local inhabitants alike. It is fairly
obvious why it is used for tourists – Venice sells well. As for the local inhabitants –
predominantly the citizens of former Yugoslavia - it reflects a distant past that needs
not be contested since it is virtually nobody’s past and can safely be ‘remembered’.
On the other hand in the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro the Yugoslav past represents
an important and valued part of the long and celebrated maritime tradition and
heritage. The only remaining material signs of socialism in Piran are unchanged
street names while in Kotor, the UNESCO heritage town, on the other hand, the
Yugoslav coat of arms are set in stone above the main entrance to the old town but
all the street names have been changed back to the pre-socialist period. In both
cases the towns represent the national tourism icons and the research shows that
the dominant national heritage discourse omits the socialist period all together while
the inhabitants are increasingly remembering the socialist past in terms of nostalgia.
After the disintegration of the socialist states in Eastern Europe it was tourists that
showed interest in the socialist past and thus influenced the construction of theme
parks, museum exhibitions, specialized itineraries and packages. What role does
tourist imagery play in the uses and interpretations of the socialist heritage should
be of particular research interest not only for the selected regions but comparatively
to all regions with the socialist past.