Media-generated characteristics of Homeland War–related commemorations in Croatia

Abstract

This study contributes to literature concerning memory and dark tourism by providing empirical evidence about the link between commemorations and the news media in a post-conflict and tourism-dependent Croatia, as well as the specific media-constructed social reality. The main focus lies on the types and media-based descriptions of commemorations. A total of 371 news articles were collected and then reviewed using a set of items grounded in theory. In addition to content, a chi-square automatic interaction detection analysis was also employed. Four commemoration types with significant peculiarities (site category, young and senior generation of visitors, and mass visits) are observed in a two-branch model. Other general characteristics of commemorations were also identified. The dominant commemoration type in Croatia are ‘memorial services’, (massively) visited by seniors. Young people rarely attend commemorations. If so, they mostly attend ‘parades, marches, processions’ taking place at authentic sites. The findings provide theoretical and practical implications for stakeholders.

"Memories of a Forgotten War" and Their Contemporary (Dark) Tourism Implications: An Istrian Media Perspective

“…Memorial events are part of the institutionalisation of memory, which establishes and fixes the 'correct' representations of events deemed significant by and for a given group (Jedlowski, 2002, p. 99); they may also be known as typologically diverse dark commemorative events (Frost & Laing, 2013, pp. 36-42;Šuligoj & Kennell, 2021), which is not a uniformly accepted term (Šuligoj & Rudan, 2022). Anniversaries as days of special memorial importance and interest exist in a form of narratives or stories that are portrayed through commemoration events (Ehala, 2014, p. 98) attractive to the public and the news media (Ebbrecht, 2007, p. 223).…”

“…324-325, 337). In this context, journalists connect the present times with the past (Edy, 1999); the media are thus an important operator of the transmission process that co-creates a collective memory (Ebbrecht, 2007, p. 222;Pavlaković & Perak, 2017, p. 301;Šuligoj & Rudan, 2022). However, in this complex intertwining of social processes, we recognise remembrance, amnesia, and forgiveness (Miklavcic, 2008, p. 443), as well as silence (Hrobat Virloget, 2017;Vinitzky-Seroussi & Teeger, 2010).…”

“…It is described by Stone (2016, p. 23) as "encountering spaces of death or calamity that have political or historical significance, and that continue to impact upon the living". Specifically, it develops at sites of public executions, of individual or mass deaths, memorials or internment sites, sites/areas with the purpose of viewing evidence of death or symbolic representations of it, places of re-enactments or simulations of death (Seaton, 1996); here, a direct link is created among these sites, memorial events, and dark tourism (Šuligoj & Rudan, 2022). Accordingly, Istria can 'offer' places of death, memorials, as well as symbolic representations of WWI, which can be especially attractive for visitors from Italy and all former Austro-Hungarian lands (Central Europe) related to the historical conflict.…”