Fabrika as an Agent of Social Life: Fish-Canning Industry and the Labor History of the Yugoslav Adriatic

• In Event: In Cans We (T)Rust: Towards a Socio-Cultural History of Fish Processing in the Adriatic

Abstract

Based on ethnographic work and interviews with former workers employed in fish-canning factories in several towns along the Yugoslav Adriatic coast, this paper sheds light on memories of labor in fish-canning industry in the second part of the 20th century. It seeks to highlight the ways in which these memories complicate and challenge prevalent views of fish-canning industry as “primitive”, unwanted, “stinky”, marginal, and strongly un-preferred in comparison with another source of income – tourism. Looking at both personal memories and public memorizations of labor in fish-canning factories, the paper argues that these factories not only provided the workers with an income, but also created a framework for a meaningful social and community life.

Author

• Tanja Petrovic, Scientific Research Centre SAZU (Slovenia)