Abstract
This chapter presents the prevailing perceptions of mixed (ethnic) identities and mixedness in the Republic of Slovenia. In this regard, special attention is given to the conceptualization of mixedness, the non-existence of measurements of mixedness and consequently the non-existence of data on mixed people, and, finally, the analysis of mixedness in the academic scientific sphere and political and public debate. Without exaggeration, it can be claimed that mixedness in Slovenia is not seen as an issue. There is no public or political debate on it; in the academic community, it is clearly an under-communicated topic and there is an evident lack of any civic initiative exposing the existence of mixed people. The reasons why mixedness is a non-existent category are multiple and complex. One explanation for the current attitude towards mixedness is the ethnic homogeneity of the Slovenian state—both real and imaginary. The second reason for the absence of mixedness could be found in historical heritage—in the deliberate denial and non-problematization of ethnicities in the former Yugoslavia and promotion of supranational affiliation as Yugoslavs. Third, the fact that ethnic affiliation became a ‘sensitive’ and rather personal matter after 1991 completely disabled the tracing and measuring of ethnic affiliation and, consequently, mixedness.
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Notes
- 1.
Slovenia was a republic of the former Yugoslavia (1945–1991), gaining its independence in 1991.
- 2.
For instance, magazines reporting on the adoption of a child from Africa by a celebrity couple.
- 3.
Socialistična federativna republika Jugoslavija (Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).
- 4.
After the independence of Slovenia, all those who were not declared on their birth certificate ethnically as Slovenes had to choose Slovenian citizenship; dual citizenship was not possible.
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Sedmak, M. (2020). Mixedness as a Non-Existent Category in Slovenia. In: Rocha, Z.L., Aspinall, P.J. (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook of Mixed Racial and Ethnic Classification. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22874-3_18
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