Ethnologica Dalmatica, Vol. 11 , 2002.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
COSTUME OF MEN FROM THE SPLIT SUBURBS IN THE PROCESS OF NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION
Branka Vojnović-Traživuk
; Etnografski muzej Split
Sažetak
The research work on the Split man's costume of the late 19th and early 20th centuries has been based on the ethnographic classification of folk costumes with regard to culture areas. An ethnographic method has likewise been used in the study of particular costume elements. Marked changes in costume appearance are interpreted through a multidisciplinary investigation of wider cultural, social and political contexts, the emphasis being given to occurrences related to the National Revival Movement in Split. Following a critical review of relevant literature and certain reflections upon folk costumes, the author calls attention to the problematic of the Split suburban man's costume, as both a notion and an expression. There follows a description of sources: the records of objects from the Split Ethnographic Museum collection, along with existing field data and those gathered lately by the author herself; depictions of the man's costume in published works; numerous depictions in art of the 19th century and in photographs from the early 20th century. The analysis of particular elements has provided some new perceptions of traditional articles of clothing. Their schematic descriptions relating to three separate periods of time, prove parallel existence of several variants, and make it possible to interpret this costume as a modification of the Dinaric type costume, through some influences of Adriatic tradition elements, to its distinctively urban character. The dynamics of costume development is related to changes of the entire traditional culture of the Split suburbs (Veli varoš, Manuš, Lučac, Dobri). One can observe adaptability as its distinguishing quality, which corresponds to the complexity of social conditions in the late 19th century, as well as to the communication established between the suburbs and the town. The study of Split field laborers' attitude toward the troubled political life of the town, particularly toward the ideas of the National Revival Movement, reveals the ambivalence of their role. On the one hand, history literature in dealing with well-known persons and events, gave emphasis to their allegedly passive and conservative role. On the other hand, the study of less known or even anonymous participants and occurrences, calls attention to a large number of the puntari, who were supporters of a nationalist idea. Furthermore, the Split man's costume of the time underwent changes toward a variant typical of the common people, which included certain elements of national identification. In the late 19th century a red cap became the symbol of Croatian national identity, that is of nationalist ideas in the town, while a black, onetime mourning cap became a mark of pro-Italian party followers. The fashioning of the žurka suit jacket, a modernized variation of the older koporan, took place under the influence of national middle-class clothing, and within the context of general aspirations for linking up Split with Zagreb. In addition to changes in form and material, there were changes in functions, which proved their interdependency. The red cap, a designator of age and sex within the Dinaric culture area, acquires a modern meaning in the new political context, and becomes a national symbol. The žurka had an aesthetical function, which was related to that of a festive koporan, but the jacket was also a strong indicator of one's social status and indirectly of national origin. Such an approach to the style of dress of Split field laborers, with regard to costume's new functions in the 19th century Croatian national movement, provided the possibility to view the process of its modernization as a cultural process, which did not put an end to it, but gave it new dimensions. Transformations of the traditional costume of men from the Split suburbs, in relation to political developments in the town, are thus interpreted through a process of urbanization, which implied national identification, too.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
108884
URI
Datum izdavanja:
10.11.2002.
Posjeta: 8.996 *