In our final instalment of SEN Journal: Online Exclusives previews on the theme of nationalism, ethnicity, and sport, we are delighted to present Vlado Kotnik’s article on the role of skiing in Slovenian identity, culture and society.
Photo credit: jonwick04, flickr
Abstract
This paper explores the role of alpine skiing in Slovenian culture and society by focusing on the construction and maintenance of a sporting national story. The research, which is based on discourse analysis and the ethnographic method, suggests that in Slovenia, alpine skiing, with its natural sceneries, amateurish background, sporting events, media attention and national heroes, is one of the main sports arenas in which the Slovenian nation-imagining, nationalism and national identity have been exercised throughout the twentieth century. The national importance of alpine skiing was further confirmed after Slovenia’s secession from Yugoslavia. The findings also suggest that the media, especially television, perpetuated the myth of skiing as the Slovenian national sport and as an autochthonous Slovenian sporting practice.