The proceedings of the event were promoted by reviewer Jasna Horvat and the editors Josipa Mijoč, Marin Sopta and Tanja Trošelj Miočević.
The Croatian Diaspora Congress held at the University of Osijek’s Faculty of Economics under the thematic title Departure/Stay/Return in the summer of 2018 was organised by the Centre for the Study of the Croatian Diaspora. The proceedings of the event were recently published as Croatia Outside the Homeland III and promoted in Osijek by its editors, associate professor Josipa Mijoč PhD, Marin Sopta PhD and Tanja Trošelj Miočević. The proceedings are published by the Centre for the Study of the Croatian Diaspora and the University of Osijek’s Faculty of Economics. The tome was reviewed by professor Jasna Horvat PhD, assistant professor Vlatka Lemić PhD and Ivan Čizmić PhD. The publication was funded with the support of Ćiril Zovko PhD, Ante Zovko and the State Office for Croats Abroad.
Across nine chapters and just shy of four hundred pages the proceedings cover topics ranging from the relationship between the ancestral homeland and the diaspora: here and now, demographic issues, digital links between homeland and diaspora Croatians, factors contributing to emigration, the latest wave of outward migration impacting Croatia, our language and culture instruction, culture and the arts as vehicles for the promotion of Croatia abroad, the economy, and our history. The contributions, some in English, were penned by prominent scholars and social activists, including Marin Sopta, Božo Skoko, Marin Strmota, Nada Pomper, Tado Jurić, Marko Soldo, Tuga Tarle, Gojko Borić, Zdenka Weber, Josipa Mijoč, Mijo Korade, and Ante Čuvalo.
The Zagreb promotion of the proceedings was staged on the 29th of September at the Croatian Heritage Foundation headquarters by organisers the Centre for the Study of the Croatian Diaspora, the University of Osijek’s Faculty of Economics and the CHF, observing the recommended measures associated with the pandemic coronavirus fears.
On hand to welcome the participants on behalf of host the CHF was our director and a participant of the congress Mijo Marić, joined by event moderator Josipa Mijoč, reviewer Jasna Horvat, editor Tanja Trošelj Miočević, and editor and initiator of the congress Marin Sopta. Among the guests of honour were Dario Magdić deputy state secretary at the State Office for Croats Abroad, and Domagoj Novosel, head of the sector for demographic development of the administrative department for demographic development, family, children and youth of the demographics, family, youth and social policy ministry.
In his address to the gathered participants editor Sopta elucidates the motives, above all the outward migration of our population, that lead him to stage a congress that examines the role of emigrants in the overall life of our homeland, and the silence surrounding the closure of the chair of Croatian language studies in Toronto. Editor Trošelj spoke of the work and successes to date of the Zagreb-based Centre for the Study of the Croatian Diaspora, founded in 2016, including two congresses, six conferences and three collections of papers. Reviewer Horvat said she looked forward to critical readings of the published papers, the creation of a strategy for the activity and networking of Croatians in the country and abroad, and offered the brilliant notion that “Croatians, even when they have emigrated, remain a part of Croatia.”
The event moderator thanked the reviewers, editors, authors, hosts, organisers and those gathered for the promotion, noting that the fourth congress would be held in Zagreb on the 5th and 6th of November 2020 focusing on the theme Return: Reality or Utopia?
Follow the promotion on the Facebook Internet portal: https://www.facebook.com/231777773503011/videos/813533632786361/
By: Diana Šimurina-Šoufek
Photography: Snježana Radoš