Speaking at the panel CHF director Marić pointed to the seventy years of experience the CHF has in this area and noted that language was an integrative means of preserving identity, and identified the learning and study of Croatian as important factors in preserving awareness of one’s origins.
A panel discussion on Identity and Croatian Culture, part of the 5th meeting of Croatians of South America, was staged on 29 November and gathered speakers from areas in which Croatian is learned and taught. Speaking at the panel CHF director Marić pointed to the seventy years of experience the CHF has in this area and noted that language was an integrative means of preserving identity, and identified the learning and study of Croatian as important factors in preserving awareness of one’s origins.
He spoke of the work of the CHF’s department for education, science and sports, which organises programmes targeted at the learning and instruction of Croatian as a foreign language in Croatia and in communities around the world. He also spoke of the HOLA project, which sees the language taught in South America by undergraduate and post-graduate students of Hispanic studies, Croatian language studies and other courses of study offered at the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. The programme covering South America is facing difficulties because visas cannot be secured for lecturers that would be valid for over ninety days. CHF director Marić closed his presentation with an appeal to anyone that could help in finding a solution that would see the HOLA project continue.
Also taking part in the panel discussion were Alen Matanić of the State Office for Croats Abroad, professors Mirjana Polić Bobić and Vladimir Bermanec (vice president) of the National Science, Higher Education and Technological Development Council, Ivana Franić of the science and education ministry, and professor Maja Lukač Stier of the Academia del Plata.
By/photography: Lana Šaš
