New study: Memories of work in domestic agricultural economy in Bela Krajina, 2024: Interviews and focus groups

Authors: Barbara Turk Niskač

Year of Research:  2024

Key words: memory, childhood, countryside, work, modernization, agricultural economics, subsistence farming, ethnography

The study focuses on the question of how the relationship between people and nature and between people and landscape has been shaped by work in the domestic agricultural economy in Bela Krajina since the middle of the 20th century. Since children participated in everyday work from an early age, the research project sheds light on the role of work as a central activity that places people in relationships with other living beings (humans, plants and animals) from the perspective of childhood memories. In addition, the concept of work is examined from the perspective of animals and plants, in particular using the example of grazing animals and common bracken and birches, which are found on special areas, the so-called steljniki, and have significantly shaped the landscape of Bela krajina. The cultural landscape tells of the connection and interdependence of people, animals and plants and is an important part of identity. With modernization, the abandonment of animal husbandry and the mechanization of agriculture, many ponds (kali), litter-raking meadows (steljniki) and grasslands (košenice) have lost their function and have become overgrown. In recent years, some ponds in Bela Krajina have been revitalized, and some steljniki have been protected as natural and cultural heritage. Both are now valued for their rich biodiversity. The aim of the research is to investigate how social relations between people have been shaped by work over generations (e.g. reciprocity, mutual help, division of labor by gender and age) and how relations between people and nature and between people and landscape have been shaped (e.g. maintenance of the cultural landscape and, on the other hand, the abandonment and overgrowth of agricultural land; the meanings we attach to the landscape based on our own memories as well as current practices).

Cite the Study: Turk Niskač, Barbara, 2026, "Spomini na delo v kmečkem gospodarstvu v Beli krajini, 2024: Intervjuji in fokusne skupine", https://doi.org/10.17898/10062, Arhiv družboslovnih podatkov, V1