Mnogostruki krugovi identiteta na Proštini

Several levels of collective identities in Proština in the period between the second half of the 19th and the dawn of the 21st century are analysed in the text. The axis of the research includes the field research and the book of short stories entitled Štorice iz Proštine (Stories from Proština), authored by Ante Ciliga (published under the pseu donym Tone Valić). The analysis focuses on the relation- or situation-oriented charac ter of collective identities, or rather the existence of multiple identities an individual possesses and expresses depending on a particular social situation. Along with the Proština-related one, other identity circles of the population of Proština are presented too: rural, Vlach, Istrian, Croatian, and, accompanying them, their relation-oriented identity pendants. Identification processes in Proština basically correspond with the processes in other areas of Istria: the end of the 19th century in Istria was characterised by the identification of the rural population with local identities prevailing over ethno-national identification. Subsequently, at the closing of the 19th and in the first couple of decades of the 20th century, the ethno-national identification achieved a stronger confirmation due to modernisation processes; i.e., it began to more frequently stand out – relation- or situation-oriented – in the context of social classification.