ANNALES, SERIES HISTORIA ET SOCIOLOGIA

Dr. Branko Marušič (1938–2026)

2026-07-09T17:42:59+02:00

In Memoriam.

Prof. Furio Bianco (1943–2026)

2026-07-09T17:50:54+02:00

In Memoriam.

From Memory Regimes to Discursive Modes

2026-07-09T12:50:15+02:00

This article develops a theory-driven framework for analysing cultural and communicative memory across traditional and digital public spheres. Building on political legitimacy theory, it shifts attention from substantive claims invoked by memory regimes to discursive modes through which memory is enacted in hybrid public spheres. The framework links narrative articulations of cultural memory with interactional modes of contestation (antagonism, agonism, and deliberation) and with discursive functions through which public remembrance gains political significance. Although technical components of the analytical architecture have been piloted elsewhere, this article provides the first full theoretical elaboration of the framework and illustrates it across national, cross-border, and transnational commemorative fields.

Mapping Contested Cultural Memory

2026-06-29T15:54:51+02:00

This article develops and evaluates an exploratory LLM-supported methodology for analysing contested cultural memory in hybrid public spheres. The methodology combines three analytical dimensions: Greimasian actantial extraction for identifying narrative structures, antagonism–agonism–deliberation classification for assessing discursive modes, and epistemic, ethical, democratic, and ideological scoring for analysing discourse functions. These outputs are examined through semantic clustering, statistical analysis, and expertbased validation. The pipeline is demonstrated through Slovenia’s Day of Resistance Against the Occupier, comparing newspaper articles and publicly visible X posts. The findings show that the approach can identify meaningful relations between narrative configurations, discursive modes, and discourse functions, especially in longer texts, while X posts remain exploratory due to reliability limits.

Political Memory as Agonistic Practice on Social Media

2026-07-09T15:18:35+02:00

In recent decades, digital platforms have become central spaces for reshaping cultural memory. The article examines the contemporary circulation of the Yugoslav partisan slogan “Smrt fašizmu, svoboda narodu” (“Death to Fascism, Freedom to the People”) on X and Facebook and argues that its political force cannot be explained by textual meaning alone. It argues that the contemporary power of the slogan in the context of digital memory comes from activating semio-somatic memory sedimented through repeated bodily practices, ritual performance, collective action, and recognizable semiotic forms. The article shows how digital memory operates as agonistic practice: historically sedimented semio-somatic forms are reopened as sites of struggle over meaning, legitimacy, and power in the present.

Agonistic Engagement in Memory Politics

2026-07-09T15:44:58+02:00

The article examines agonistic engagement in debates on the Giorno del ricordo in Italy and Slovenia across three communication environments: X, online news, and survey responses. Drawing on agonistic memory theory and discourse-quality indicators, it analyses how contested memories are articulated as antagonistic, agonistic, or deliberation-compatible discourse. The findings show that X is dominated by conflict and contains little agonistic engagement, whereas Slovenian online news displays stronger agonistic framing than Italian news. Survey responses reveal a gap between respondents’ declared support for plural, respectful debate and the more antagonistic dynamics of social media.

Conflict, Antagonistic Tone, and Deliberative Quality in Online Memory Debates

2026-07-09T16:09:18+02:00

This article compares how Europe Day and the fall of the Berlin Wall are discussed on Twitter/X in Slovenia, Italy, Germany, and France. We treat these public events as commemorative cues that prompt users to interpret contemporary political conflicts through salient European historical references. Using an LLMassisted three-step design, we identify whether posts are conflictual, whether conflict takes an antagonistic or non-antagonistic tone, and whether it contains DQI-style deliberative signals such as justification, reciprocity, constructiveness, and respect. Topic modelling identifies thematic hotspots where conflict, antagonistic tone, and lower deliberative quality concentrate. The findings show that antagonistic tone generally lowers deliberative quality, but does not automatically eliminate reason-giving or constructiveness.

Towards Future Artificial Intelligence Agents for Improved Political Discourse Quality with Large Language Models

2026-07-09T16:29:40+02:00

Large language models have enabled large-scale analysis of many phenomena, including political discourse on social media. We analyze how finetuning models on social media posts can be used in discourse analysis. We first present a theoretical framework for analyzing political discourse and show that finetuned models are better at detecting discourse quality. We finetune models on examples that match specific discourse quality indicators and demonstrate how this process can align messages with the desired indicator.

Methodological Approach for Landscape Identity Evaluation at the Regional Level

2026-07-09T17:01:31+02:00

The article discusses the complex concepts of landscape identity and landscape character as cornerstones of a landscape’s spatial identity. It provides an overview of the landscape identity concept in Slovenian spatial planning documents and recent attempts to establish a methodology for evaluating landscape identity. The main purpose of the article is to develop a robust framework for evaluating landscape identity at the regional level. Several methodological approaches to identity evaluation, developed within the students’ seminar, are presented and combined into a joint proposal. Regional landscape identity is based on identifying characteristic landscape patterns and features, and evaluating their contribution to regional identity by adopting three groups of measures: (1) the landscape’s typicality or uniqueness, (2) the natural and cultural qualities of the landscape, and (3) the landscape’s structure and coherence. A comparison between methodologies for evaluating national and regional landscape identity shows that, whereas national landscape identity is tied to unique places and landscapes, regional identity is more often built around landscape patterns and types characteristic of a particular region. To implement the identity concept in landscape planning, management, and protection practice, guidelines and measures should follow the initial evaluation to guide the development of these landscapes in an appropriate direction.

Enigma M4 from the German Minesweeper R15 in the Upper Adriatic

2026-07-09T17:18:07+02:00

This article presents the results of microtomographic analysis of the rotor block of an Enigma machine M4 recovered from the wreck of the German minesweeper R15 in the upper Adriatic Sea (sunk on 16 April 1945). The device (serial number M 15648) was examined using visual inspection and MicroCT. Initial analysis enabled identification of the rotor sequence (Walzenlage) and external wheel positions, while higher-resolution scanning revealed internal rotor settings (Ringstellung). Based on the place and time of the sinking of the R15, it is plausible that the operators of M 15648 used the naval key Hermes within the code network Sud.

Montenegrin Themes in the Works of Umberto Saba

2026-07-09T17:29:30+02:00

This paper analyses the writings of Umberto Saba inspired by his 1904 visit to Montenegro. In addition to reconstructing the history and reception of these three texts in Montenegro, which include both prose and verse, it offers an imagological analysis, situating them within the context of the Italian travel literature tradition on Montenegro. The study demonstrates how the image of the Balkan principality evolved in Saba’s vision, influenced by both the literary genre employed and the historical and cultural context in which each work was created and published.