Review article
https://doi.org/10.31337/oz.77.3.7
Migration Processes and Identities in the Literary Works of Amelia Batistich
Katica Jurčević
; Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Zagreb, Croatia
Marina Perić–Kaselj
orcid.org/0000-0003-4513-841X
; Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Zagreb, Croatia
Ozana Ramljak
; Vern’ University, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, there was an increase in the emigration of Croats to New Zealand due to political and economic events in their homeland. From the time of their immigration to the present day, Croatian New Zealanders have preserved an awareness of their ethnic origin and have gradually integrated into New Zealand society. Through the hard work and perseverance of the first generation, new generations of Croatian descendants have been able to attend specialized schools, colleges and universities and today are fully integrated into New Zealand society. In the process they preserved their Croatian identity and founded numerous societies through which they nurtured and built their religious, cultural and political identities. The paper chronicles this integration process through the literary work of Amelia Batistich, a New Zealand writer of Croatian origin. Inspired by the history of Croats in New Zealand and their adjustment to new living conditions in a multicultural environment, her work is immersed in the family, historical, religious and mythical memories passed down from her ancestors and which find their identity in the intertwining of two spaces, the former and the present. In her literary work, written mainly in English, she reflects on the legacy of her ancestors and their need to shape their identity in a multicultural environment defined by hybridity and the necessity to find one’s place in a given space.
Keywords
Amelia Batistich; migrations; identity; integration; religion; literature
Hrčak ID:
279778
URI
Publication date:
5.7.2022.
Visits: 620 *