Women’s National Activism: The Work of Women’s Branches of the Society of St. Cyril and Methodius on the Slovenian National Borders

Summary

The project Women’s National Activism: The Work of Women’s Branches of the Society of St. Cyril and Methodius on the Slovenian National Borders examines the public role of women in the process of national affirmation and the rise of national movements, using the example of the work of the Society of St. Cyril and Methodius (CMD). The project will focus on issues related to women’s public activities in a nationalist and national defense environment, with an emphasis on the CMD, the impact of such engagement on emancipation, and the dynamics of coexistence and contacts between different ethnic groups at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The lands where the Slovenian population lived during the Austro-Hungarian period were marked by ethnic heterogeneity, as it was an area where, in addition to the Slovenian community, German, Friulian, and Italian national communities coexisted. The national elites of all these communities established national organizations, including independent women’s associations, in order to achieve national affirmation and assert their political, cultural, educational, and economic demands.

When studying the multi-ethnic environment in both the Central European and European contexts, the role of women in certain segments is still insufficiently considered or unexplored. The same can be said for Slovenian historiography and the Slovenian space. The process of national affirmation, as one of the main aspects and levers of women’s entry into social and public life, especially in smaller centers and on the periphery, is still largely overlooked or only superficially presented. In addition to more detailed specifics of this type of women’s activity in the Slovenian context, there is also a lack of comparison and a more detailed understanding of the influence of similar organizations established by national elites in Italy, Germany, Croatia, and the Czech Republic.

The project will cover these little-known and overlooked aspects and, based on empirical research in conjunction with contemporary methodological approaches, offer an original comparative model for new insights that will also be relevant in a European and broader context. Various sources (archives, publications, published memoirs, and correspondence) will be analyzed, obtained from archives and libraries in Slovenia, Austria, and Italy. The central research questions will relate to the links between activities in national associations and the emancipation of women, the social networks of national activists, and the differences and characteristics of women’s public activities in associations on national borders and in more nationally homogeneous areas. A transnational aspect will also be included, covering the dynamics of relations with similar associations operating within the German/Italian community. Several case studies will be prepared, focusing spatially and thematically on specific areas that were part of the Habsburg Empire in the 19th and early 20th centuries and are now divided between the Republic of Slovenia, the Republic of Austria, and the Republic of Italy.

The project will represent a novelty for Slovenian humanities, as the history of women in the Slovenian space, especially in border and peripheral areas, is still relatively poorly known and researched. In addition to analyzing the influences on women’s emancipation, the project will focus in detail on women’s activities at national borders, which will contribute to a better understanding of national relations, dynamics, connections, and conflicts in the border region in the past, which are also important for understanding today’s relations in border areas (Slovenia-Italy, Slovenia-Austria). The topics will be discussed and presented in various forms (scientific articles, international conference, conference proceedings, exhibition) and will be of reference and interest to the Slovenian and international scientific community, as well as to the general public.