Migrations and development in mountain borderlands of Switzerland and Slovenia: a comparative perspective (18th-20th centuries)
Laboratorio di storia delle Alpi
Date: 24 November 2023
Characterized by different historical paths which have defined their forms of urban and industrial development as well as social traits and identity dynamics, Switzerland and Slovenia have various geographical similarities, as they all include mountain areas, as well as a diversified economic structure and the presence of significant cross-border migratory and mobility events. Influenced by the variable historical roles of the border, the migration practices that developed between the 18th and the first half of the 20th centuries had important effects on the specificities of the economic and social trajectories of the border areas of the two countries. The project uses a comparative and diachronic perspective to reconstruct and analyse the effects of mobility and migration that affected four territorial realities of Switzerland (the cantons of Neuchâtel and Ticino) and Slovenia (the provinces of Goriška and Styria) between the 18th and mid-20th centuries. In particular, the project aims at verifying the extent to which migration and mobility practices favoured the emergence of specific economic models and peculiar development trajectories in the selected regions.
