Borders within us: Collective memory and trauma, silence, borderlands, and lost identities

Abstract

The paper focuses on professional experiences with creative-therapeutic workshops aimed at opening a space for the symbolization of silenced borderland experiences in the Slovenian–Italian border region, with particular emphasis on the role of silence, collective memory, and the intergenerational transmission of unprocessed experiences and unspoken memories to subsequent generations. It analyzes how historical ruptures—fascist violence, the Second World War, the Istrian exodus, and postwar migrations—remain active in the personal and collective unconscious of individuals and groups, manifesting through cultural complexes, chosen traumas, linking objects, and the enduring silence of certain minorities and groups. When confronted, the narratives of one side or the other often emerge in the form of shadow projections, polarization, and an inability to engage in dialogue. The central question of the paper is whether empathetic verbalization of one’s own story can contribute to addressing group polarization and help transcend divisions, build bridges, foster cooperation, and cultivate compassion.

The paper is grounded in theoretical perspectives on the transgenerational transmission of trauma and integrates psychoanalytic concepts such as the paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions, identification, projective identification, and depositing alongside notions of linking objects and chosen trauma. The author draws on psychoanalysis and Jungian analytical psychology, using concepts such as cultural complexes, archetypes, and the cultural unconscious to symbolically understand and interpret unconscious phenomena. Special emphasis is placed on the role of art as a medium that can facilitate symbolization, mourning, and the gradual transformation of repressed, traumatic, and ‘frozen’ contents of the unconscious.

Border regions in Slovenia and elsewhere in the world represent complex yet highly vulnerable contexts for working with collective trauma, where interdisciplinary approaches can enable a transition from frozen grief to an active process of mourning. This shift is crucial for both individuals and society.