Socialist Modernity and Oral History

Kindly invited to a presentation and workshop by Malden Zobec.

Part 1: Presentation of the Project Concept – "Memory of an Isolated Modernity: The Military Island of Lastovo in the Socialist Era"

Duration: 30 min + 15 min discussion

The island of Lastovo, located in present-day Croatia, was considered a “military island” during socialist Yugoslavia, much like the island of Vis. Numerous military structures—from bunkers, tunnels, and missile launch sites to ship hangars—thoroughly reshaped the landscape of this remote island. To protect military secrets, foreign tourist visits were prohibited, while domestic tourism was strictly controlled. While many places along the Adriatic saw industrial or tourist development during Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav People's Army was responsible for Lastovo's development. Employment opportunities, infrastructure, cultural offerings, and healthcare services were all inextricably linked to the Yugoslav military and its conscripts.

Today, Lastovo remains one of the most remote islands in the Adriatic, yet it is increasingly integrated into regional development and tourism trends. Many abandoned military structures serve as permanent reminders of the island's militarized socialist past—both for locals and visitors. The planned research project, combining digital sources and oral history, addresses the following questions:

• How do different groups—locals, tourists, and former soldiers—confront the decaying military ruins?
• What kinds of emotions do these ruins evoke in different groups?
• How do these emotions shape collective memory of socialist Lastovo?

Furthermore, the project explores how different attitudes toward military ruins—feelings of grief, nostalgia, shame, as well as wonder and fascination—might influence the future of these structures and Lastovo's identity. Planned tourist investments in former military zones raise questions about how Lastovo's military past should be memorialized. Debates over whether to erase or commemorate this military heritage overlook the fact that these sites already function as heritage today. How, then, can residents, former soldiers, and other visitors contribute to potential new uses for these structures through their own knowledge and memories, rather than seeing the ruins merely as frozen remnants of an unwanted past?

15-minute break

Part 2: Workshop – Oral History Between Historical Facts and Memory

Duration: 15 min presentation on oral history methodology + 30 min presentation of the author’s experiences with oral history & discussion on its challenges

Building on the findings and methodological dilemmas from Part 1, the second part of the event delves deeper into the method of oral history and the broader question of qualitative research on the recent past.

Following an introductory presentation on the oral history approach, there will be an interactive discussion on experiences and challenges. Some key themes to be explored:

• How to establish trust in an interview and elicit meaningful responses?
• The challenge of reliability in oral history.
• How to connect oral history with other (visual, digital, media) sources?
• What do we, as researchers, bring into the interview?
• The relationship between oral history and oral tradition.

Participants are welcome to contribute their own experiences, dilemmas, or additional questions in advance by emailing mladen.zobec@gmail.com.

Kindly invited!