Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.15378/1848-9540.2015.38.07
From "Sinking Island" to "American Archipelago". Fragmented Ethnography of the Return Migration on the Island of Olib
Tomislav Oroz
orcid.org/0000-0002-1645-7254
; Odjel za etnologiju i antropologiju, Sveučilište u Zadru, Zadar, Hrvatska
Sandra Urem
; Odjel za etnologiju i antropologiju, Sveučilište u Zadru, Zadar, Hrvatska
Abstract
This paper analyzes the migration processes on the island of Olib, that much of its history was a place of intensive emigration to overseas countries. Particular emphasis is placed on the return migration trend of the islanders who, after years of absence, decided to spend their retirement days on Olib. Cultural implications of return migration manifest itself by implementing American experience of returnees in the rural surroundings of the north Dalmatian island. In the context of these changes, the authors question diverse visions of the Olib’s identity: romanticized images of the Olib’s past on the one hand, and, on the other hand, contemporary cultural transformations made by the migration experience. The authors question the notion of belonging to the island as a criterion of identity perceiving it in a wide range of meanings: from literary physical belonging to the notion of symbolical belonging to Olib’s social space.
Keywords
Olib; migrations; American archipelago; return migrations; identity
Hrčak ID:
149692
URI
Publication date:
18.12.2015.
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