Research Area. Minorities, Autonomies, Social Change

The history of South Tyrol since 1945 has been marked by deep social tensions and ongoing processes of political negotiation surrounding the development of autonomy. These tensions trace their roots to the Italian annexation of South Tyrol in the wake of World War I, when a debate flared up over greater or lesser independence—over a future for South Tyrol as an autonomous region within the Italian state, as part of the Republic of Austria, or as an independent political entity.

It is against this backdrop that the research area we are labelling “Minorities, Autonomies, Social Change” emerges, setting out to analyse the history of South Tyrol since 1945 from a broad, multilevel perspective. In looking at the political and economic dimensions, this research area also keeps a focus on social developments and on the dynamics of memory and its culture. What especially comes into prominence is the question of the processes surrounding the drawing and undrawing of borders: from formal cooperation between regional governments, through sociopolitical initiatives, to the informal practices of everyday life.

These border processes reveal that the region’s identity and its decision-making spaces are shaped not only by government structures but also by everyday practices and by individual and local experience. A comparative investigation that looks at other European border regions makes it possible to highlight similarities, differences, and parallel dynamics in regional negotiation processes.