Volatile borders, violated identities: a process of cultural transition

This brief paper will focus on a specific dilemma originated after World War II on the North-Eastern border of Italy. With the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty, the former Italian areas of Istria and Dalmatia were handed over to Tito's Yugoslavia. Some 350.000 Italian citizens left their hometowns to move within Italy's new borders in order to maintain their national identity. They left their homes and entered Italy as 'refugees': strangers in their own country, treated as strangers by fellow Italians. However, a small part of the Italian community in Istria and Dalmatia decided not to leave the area, becoming part of Tito's Socialist Yugoslavia. The Istro-Dalmatian community as a whole became homeless: a new socio-political scenario for the ones who stayed; the same country but a new local reality and a different social status for the one who left; and a new deep borderline to divide in two opposite sides the members of a formerly united local society. Giuliana Zelco and Nelida Milani - representatives of these two parties - raised their voices to call attention on an extremely contemporary issue: how deep can a geographical border cut into our concept of identity? The short stories Una terra nella pelle and L'osteria della Parenzana will be object of this paper: with the means of textual analysis and the support of Jacques Derrida's theories and observations, I will underline the effects that such a political decision triggered on the sense of identity of the individuals involved in the process.