Croat Historiography of the Nineteenth Century after the Disintegration of Yugoslavia

Abstract

The author discusses main trends in Croatian historiography since the fall of Yugoslavia concluding that political changes (the rise to power of a rather nationalistic party Hrvatska demokratska zajednica (HDZ) - Croatian Democratic Union) and most of all the war in Croatia and then in Bosnia and Herzegowina had until the year 2000 a very negative effect on history writing. The old communist paradigm was supposed to be replaced with a new nationalistic one, and historians were once again biased but this time to promote a rather nationalistic approach to history. In the context of the 19th ct. that meant, for example, reinterpreting Yugoslavism as solely anti-Croatian, promoting the Party of Right (Stranka prava) as the mainstay of Croatianhood, glorifiying the Catholic church, stressing the continuity of Croatian statehood and neglecting the working-class studies. Although only a small number of Croatian historians were ready to do so, the general atmosphere influenced even the most serious researchers. After the HDZ lost the elections in 2000, the situation improved, and even though the same party won the elections again in 2004 it now predominantly follows the pro-European politics. Croatian historians are focused on Croatian history, and political topics are still dominant although there are a number of works on social, cultural, and to a much lesser extent, economic history. In the 1990s women's history definitely evolved into gender history as well, and researches on microhistory, everyday life and most recently ecohistory appeared. The use of new methods is still very limited, and only a couple of historians deal with oral history, whereas the linguistic turn is virtually unpracticed by them. The historiographic production has been enlarged and there are now more studies on local history, on Croats abroad and on other ethnic and religious communities. The majority of works refer to the period after 1848, since it marked the beginnings of modernization and national integration.