Lines in the Water, Peoples on the Map: Maritime Museums and the Representation of Cultural Boundaries in the Upper Adriatic

This article explores the relationship between political and symbolic borders in the Gulf of Trieste. The author inquires into the persistence of understandings that map peoples onto specific territories and terrains, such as the stereotypical association of Italians with the coast and Slavic peoples (Slovenes and Croats) with the rural interior. Focusing on representations of maritime culture along two contentious political borders – that between Italy and Slovenia and that between Slovenia and Croatia – the analysis demonstrates that museums become powerful sites for the reproduction of the coast/interior cultural boundary, even when the specific ethnic groups it maps onto change.