Research associate: Benedikt Perak
FRAMNAT is a four-year project financed by the Croatian Science Foundation (HRZZ) which includes scholars from the University of Rijeka, the University of Dubrovnik, and the University of Graz. The project’s goal is to develop innovative methodologies for cultural memory research and cognitive linguistics analysis. Team members have been analyzing both top-down and bottom-up strategies of nation framing and collective identities through the study of commemorative practices originating after the wars of the 20th in Croatia. Although the focus is based on the speeches of political elites (specifically the president, prime minister, and speaker of the parliament ), the researchers are also collecting data on the speeches of the political opposition as well as other relevant social actors (religious organisations, Anti-fascist organisations, veteran organisations etc.) which support or discredit official narratives. These discourses are analyzed on three levels: top-down political discourse (elites), media representation and transmission, and the reception of the narratives in Croatian society (bottom-up reactions).