Yugoslav Labor Migrants in Austria and their Private Photographs (1970s–1980s). Creating a Sense of Self and Locality
The aim of this project is to understand the role of private photography in experiencing migration in the pre-digital era. It focuses on (Yugoslav) Macedonian »guest-workers« in Vienna and Linz during the 1970s–1980s, their photographs and their memory narratives. More particularly, the project studies the role of analog photography in relation to the migrants’ needs for self-representation and self-localization, as well as the way personal memories of migration are being (re-)created through images. The focus on private photography helps challenge the normative portrayal of immigrants, and provides a glimpse into the self-perception and the worldview of the immigrants themselves. Their private photographs were not simply efforts at self-documentation, they were also an important tool for self-positioning in the new environment and for creating awareness of locality. The project is envisaged as interdisciplinary research at the intersection of history, ethnography, and visual studies. Based on both theory and empirical data, the research strongly revolves around fieldwork and around Photo-Elicitation Interviewing in particular.
Darko Leitner-Stojanov is a historian of migration, holding MA (2006) and PhD (2013) degrees from the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris. From 2009 to 2022 he was a researcher at the Institute of National History/University of Skopje and was a visiting researcher at the University of New York in Tirana (2014–2019). In 2019, he was the recipient of the Otto Bennemann Grant for Innovative Methodological Approaches in International Textbook Research at the Georg-Eckert (Leibniz) Institute in Braunschweig, and in 2014–2015 he was an Ernst Mach research fellow at the Centre for Southeast European Studies/University of Graz. Between 2020 and 2023 he worked on several research projects at the Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Most recently, he was a JESH/OeAW visiting researcher at the University of Sarajevo, which enabled him to collect stories from the returnees from Austria. His work revolves around oral history, photography, archives, and migrants’ experiences.
Mit R. Pichler, »On the Dynamics of Kinship in Migration Processes: Some Perspectives from Historical-Anthropological Studies on North Macedonian Migrants in Austria«, in: Journal of Austrian Studies 56/4 2023, S. 65–75.
Mit S. Gruber, »Von Nordmazedonien nach Wien: Eine statistische und ethnografische Untersuchung Nordmazedonischer Gemeinden und Kulturvereine (2002-2021)«, in: M. Jakiša und K. Tyran (Hg.), Südslawisches Wien: Zur Sichtbarkeit und Präsenz südslawischer Sprachen und Kulturen im Wien der Gegenwart, Wien: Böhlau Verlag 2022, S. 119–142.
»Literacy and Education in the magazine Makedonka (1944-1952): Between Gender Emancipation and Political Mobilization«, in: I. Hadzievska und J. Kocevska (Hg.), Invisible Archives: Makedonka – Organ of the WAF (1944-1952). Historical Experiences and Cultural Memory, Center for Research of Nationalism and Culture: Skopje 2022, S. 149–181.
Mit P. Todorov, »The Myth of Victimization in Macedonian History Textbooks (1991-2018)«, in: G. Ognjenović und J. Jozelić (Hg.), Nationhood and Politicization of History in School Textbooks. Identity, the Curriculum and Educational Media, Palgrave Macmillan 2020, S. 227–252.
Mit J. Bliznakovski, »Between History and Politics: Understanding Antiquitas Myths in Macedonian History Textbooks«, in: C. Lichnofsky, E. Pandelejmoni, D. Stojanov (Hg.), Myths and Mythical Spaces. Conditions and Challenges for History Textbooks in Albania and South-Eastern Europe, (Eckert. Die Schriftenreihe, Band 147), Goettingen: V & R unipress 2018, S. 77–95.
Studying the pre-digital photographic practices of immigrants in Austria, analyzing their production and content, their functions and use, their social role and mobility, can reveal much about the history of migrations and the complexity of the migratory experience. Looking beyond the normative representations and the public sphere, through private photographs we encounter the individual as a subject instead of an object and we are offered a glimpse into the private sphere and the intimate.