Symposium Report
‘Stories from “The Most Beautiful River”’
and from Elsewhere: Tourism-Space-Nature;
In MemoriamMatej Vranješ
IrenaWeber
University of Primorska
irena.weber@fts.upr.si
Simon Kerma
University of Primorska
simon.kerma@fts.upr.si
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.14.241-243
On October 20, 2021, when our esteemed colleague
and dear friend Matej Vranješ would have celebrated
his 50th birthday were it not for the mountain that
claimed him, the symposium in his memory was or-
ganized by the Department of Cultural Tourism at the
Faculty of Tourism studies – Turistica, University of
Primorska.
The title of the symposium ‘Stories from “The
Most Beautiful River”’ (‘Zgodbe z »najlepše reke«’)was
taken from his last scientific article published posthu-
mously in which he tackled ‘a humanistic geographi-
cal perspective on the history of the development and
management of tourism on the river Soča’ his long-
standing field research interest. ‘Elsewhere’ in the title
referred to Vranješ’s cosmopolitan outlook and also
served as an open space within which the colleagues
who ground their research mainly in the Humanities
were welcome to address the variety of topics.
The symposium was organized in a hybrid format
and those present in person received a bubble gum, the
meaning of which was revealed in the abstract book-
let where the photograph of Matej Vranješ blowing a
big gum bubble was included. The photo was taken
by the Soča river while on an outing with his fam-
ily and hints at the part of Vranješ’s personality that
epitomised playfulness with certain elf-like qualities
that were idiosyncratic. Other traits, openness, benev-
olence, attentiveness, presence, and generosity were
part and parcel of his interactions with colleagues and
were touched upon or ‘in the air’ as it were in several
presentations. His outdoor active lifestyle was under-
stood as part of both his study rhythms and fieldwork
production.
Twenty-two participants were engaged with fifteen
papers that were divided into five groups of three fol-
lowed by a discussion.
The first group of papers was dedicated specifi-
cally to the academic work of Matej Vranješ and was
kicked off by his PhD mentor Bojan Baskar from the
Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropol-
ogy, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. In the
presentation titled ‘Landscape as Connecting Link be-
tween Geography and Anthropology,’ he combined
some anecdotal reminiscences of Vranješ’s academic
growth with a discussion of the contested spatial cat-
egories shared by geography and anthropology that
were a significant part of Vranješ’s thesis. Miha Ko-
zorog from the same department followed by address-
ing ‘Locality in Matej Vranješ’s Work’ that was devel-
oped as a part of the field research in Bovec area. Sev-
eral concepts and meanings that formed the notion
of locality such as local belonging, place belonging,
spatial identity, social production of space, territorial-
ity were assessed with a constructively critical eye in
identifying common traits and differences in Vranješ’s
understanding of locality. The third paper by Miha
Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021 | 241
Irena Weber and Simon Kerma ‘Stories from “The Most Beautiful River”’
Matej Vranješ
Koderman from the Department of geography, Fac-
ulty of Humanities, University of Primorska touched
upon another research focus from the same geograph-
ical area, namely the second homes in the Triglav na-
tional park where Vranješ worked in different capac-
ities. By posing a question of whether a second home
is a ‘private piece of paradise’ or the ‘splinter in the
only Slovenian national park’ Koderman reflected on
the current research into spatial and functional roles
of second homes in Bovec municipality.
In the lively discussion that followed the former
dean of Faculty of Tourism Studies – Turistica An-
ton Gosar shed some highly relevant light on the his-
toric development of spatial terminology that is par-
ticular to the Slovenian language and influences dis-
ciplinary terminological differences that spice up aca-
demic debates on basic concepts and contexts. The dis-
cussion gave rise to the conclusion that these issues
alone would be enough for the whole other sympo-
sium.
The second group of presentations was introduced
by Simon Kerma from the Department of Cultural
Tourism, Faculty of Tourism Studies – Turistica, Uni-
versity of Primorska with ‘Tourism Development and
Visitor Management in Protected Areas’ that was a
shared research interest and topic of Vranješ and Ker-
ma. One of the key aspects of the protected areas high-
lighted in the presentation was related to the protec-
tion and preservation of nature, as well as the pro-
tection of cultural heritage. From the point of view
of awareness-raising, in particular, education and the
promotion of sustainable development for the bene-
fit of local communities, and the facilitation and di-
rection of visits are crucial in these sensitive environ-
ments.
Two linguists from the same department, Ljud-
mila Sinkovič and Šarolta Godnič Vičič, followed by
analysing ‘Interpretive Signs in the Protected Area’
of Landscape park Strunjan in which they critically
addressed the interactions among visitors and land-
scape signs and identified positive practices from the
research literature on other areas in order to suggest
sustainable planning in protected areas. ‘How to Pro-
tect the Marshes by the Participatory Process’ was the
third paper in the group delivered in an engagingman-
ner by Aleš Smrekar from Anton Melik Geographi-
cal Institute of the Research Centre of the Slovenian
Academy of Sciences and Arts. Based on the original
methodology developed by several partners from the
Mediterranean region it connected directly to several
issues raised in previous papers which enabled quality
discussion that ensued.
The third group of rather diverse papers managed
nevertheless to connect either by elements of research
topics or by referring to Vranješ’s work and interests
indirectly. Tadeja Jere Jakulin discussed timely ‘Sys-
tems Thinking for the Tourism of NewOpportunities’
in which she among other presented the outcomes
of the research into ‘4w tourism’ (Walker-Watcher-
Wander-Wonderer) that directly connected to the next
presentation by Nataša Rogelja Caf and Špela Ledinek
242 | Academica Turistica, Year 14, No. 2, December 2021
Irena Weber and Simon Kerma ‘Stories from “The Most Beautiful River”’
Lozej from Slovenian Migration Institute and Insti-
tute of Slovenian Ethnology of the Research Centre
of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts on
‘Walking as an Ethnological and Anthropological Re-
search Methodology’ in which four types of walking
within academic research and production were criti-
cally analysed. The final paper in the group, ‘Welcome
in the Land of Slivovic: On Everyday, Culinary and
Tourist Nationalism’ by Jernej Mlekuž from the Slove-
nian Migration Institute of the Research Centre of the
Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts based on the
content analysis of newspapers from 1918–1945 open
and rounded a sparkling debate of the section.
The fourth group started with ‘Intercultural Com-
munication andPerceptions of (In)Equality’ presented
by Karmen Medica from the Department of Media
Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Primor-
ska who touched upon the sense of belonging, so-
cial cohesion and dialogical communication in pub-
lic spaces, topics that connected to spatial categories
in other presentations through a different discoursive
lense. The younger group of researchers and PhD stu-
dents from the Department of Ethnology and Cultural
Anthropology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubl-
jana Veronika Zavratnik, Ana Svetel and Blaž Bajič
presented their research in the area of Solčava enti-
tled ‘Imagined Communities, Communal Imagining:
Land, Family and (Un)Changeability’ in which they
integrated parts of Vranješ’s spatial conceptualizations
and were lively discussants. The contested topic of au-
thenticity was introduced in a paper ‘50 Shades of Au-
thenticity: What Do We Want?’ by Zrinka Mileusnić
and Boris Kavur from the Institute/Department of Ar-
chaeology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pri-
morska. The tension between the tourism studies and
archaeology approaches to cultural heritage was dis-
cussed with empirical cases that highlighted the dou-
ble view as it were.
In the 5th group another pair of linguists from the
Department of Cultural Tourism, Faculty of Tourism
Studies – Turistica, University of Primorska Tina Orel
Frank and Nina Lovec tackled the comparative use of
‘eco’ and ‘eko’ as in ekoturizem, ecomuseo, eco-conscious
in English, Slovenian and Italian within a frame of
the contemporary globalized linguistic co-creations
and internationalization. The potentials of ‘Accessi-
ble Tourism on Lake Balaton’ was discussed by Zo-
rana Medarić, from the same department based on
research that aimed to evaluate the state of the art of
accessibility in terms of information, transport, service
and tourist attractions. The final paper, ‘Water and the
Leaf: Dialogical Imagination and Hospitality of Asian
Tea Houses’ by Irena Weber from the same depart-
ment aimed to combine the historical and artistical
representations of tea culture through the lens of lit-
erature and film with personal reflections on Vranješ’s
outdoor dedicated activities and the Zen Buddhist ap-
proach to the motif of loss and death in the contexts
of contemporary Asian films.
The symposium was wrapped up by the concise
presentation of the recent volume dedicated to Matej
VranješPotentials of TourismDevelopment in unesco
World Heritage Sites of Slovenia published by the Uni-
versity of Primorska Press that was co-edited by Vran-
ješ and presented by his co-editors Aleš Gačnik and
Tadeja Jere Jakulin from the Department of Cultural
Tourism at the Faculty of Tourism Studies – Turistica,
University of Primorska whose members were part of
the research project discussed in the edited volume.
While the symposium was rather more emotion-
ally charged than such events customary are, one of
the agreed outcomes was the relevance and benefit of
a small scale diverse academic encounter which led to
the suggestion of a future biannual symposium on a
shared topic(s).
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