(Re)forming the view of the socialist past: politics of memory and primary education in post-socialist Slovenia (1991–2004)

Project Code: Z6-70208

The project analyzes the historical development of post-socialist politics of memory in Slovenia, with a focus on its relationship with primary education – an institutional setting with long-term influence on attitudes toward the past. It examines how memory politics were articulated, debated, and implemented within key state institutions (parliament and government), and how these dynamics intersected with primary education as a complex field shaped by state policies, everyday practices, and bottom-up attitudes. The research is structured around three case studies: (1) the parliament, MPs, and state actors; (2) the government and its bodies relevant to education, including the Ministry of Education, the Education Inspectorate, and the National Education Institute of Slovenia; and (3) the supranational context (mainly EU integration) and its relationship to memory politics and education policy. Focusing on the period between Slovenia’s independence (1991) and EU/NATO accession (2004), the project approaches the post-socialist state as an actor facilitating a complex exchange of policies and practices across developments within the state, interactions with transnational processes, and the local level of primary schools. By analyzing the politics of memory in regard to the primary education system, this project aims to contribute to the field of memory politics by expanding its framework to primary education on the one hand, and to the field of political history by deepening the understanding of the Slovene post-socialist period on the other.