Un-Silencing Traumatic Memories along the Slovenian-Italian Border. The Case of Psychotherapeutic and Anthropological Workshops

Abstract

The article is the author’s reflection on an interdisciplinary collaboration between cultural anthropology and psychotherapy, during which the workshops addressed the dissonant and traumatic memories of the society along the Slovenian-Italian border. It addresses the plurality of voices in the frame of contested and divergent memories, caught in a competition of victimhood. The author argues that the past and the future are inevitably intertwined; by changing the narratives of the past, changes in the present and future can be obtained. In the concrete case study, the question is if, by opening a space where people can listen to each other traumatic and conflict memories, we can have an impact on surpassing the violent conflicts from the past.

Ključne riječi
future; past; borderland; Istria exodus, psychotherapy, cultural anthropology