Insularity and the Political Economy of Tourism. An Anthropological Analysis of Zlarin Island and the Trenta Valley

Abstract

This paper combines environmental, communitarian and political-economic forces to explain cultural heritage and tourism on Zlarin Island (Croatia, Dalmatia) and in the Trenta Valley (Slovenia, Alps). The two selected places belong to different geo-cultural areas and academic traditions, but also share many common features including late colonisation, intensive agriculture and overpopulation, population decline in the twentieth century, change in ownership structure, early origins of tourism and use of their insularity as an advantage in their tourism strategies. A comparative analysis offers a chance to rethink the ethnological approach to communities and cultures as insulated entities.