The rate of suicide remains high in Slovenia, particularly in rural settings and among farmers. As is the case with many issues faced by rural people, few social responses are developed in terms of ...political action, health and social services and research. In this article, the severity of farmers' suicide in Slovenia is detailed and analysed as a social problem based on the following criteria: first, the scope of the situation is considered worrying and unequal; second, normative structures are abnormally or harmfully connected to the situation; third, there is a will and a power to transform the situation because it is found unacceptable according to social ethics and values; and fourth, the implementation of social responses such as intervention programmes and collective actions. This framework enables to highlight the importance of gender (masculinities), location (rural settings), local culture (agrarian values) and occupation (farming). Priority for future policies, practice and research should focus on these social determinants of health and wellbeing in support of farming people, communities and associations.
The special issue Living in contrasting agricultural worlds and yet experiencing similar anxieties is one of the products of the bilateral scientific cooperation between Slovenia and the USA between ...2022 and 2024, which aims to jointly reflect on how to deal with distress of people who farm. Despite the contrasting agricultural worlds, farmers and farm workers in both states are exposed to similar megatrends and pressures of modernized agriculture, which is reflected in the farm distress phenomenon, and deaths by suicide. In their contributions, the researchers from the US Midwest and Slovenia also inform the reader about the contrasting research traditions and interventions in farmer distress, and why the lack of cultural understanding of the phenomenon increases the likelihood of failure of prevailing health interventions.
The transition from socialist to market agriculture in Slovenia has brought radical changes in designing agricultural development. Following Slovenia's proclamation of sovereignty in 1991, ...agricultural development was oriented towards the high-priced protection of domestic production, while after joining the European Union in 2004, the activities were reoriented towards the adoption of the Common Agricultural Policy reforms, aiming to establish multifunctional farming. Gradually, the national strategy has tied the pursuit of multifunctional farming to the goals of sustainable development, aspiring to the goal of the economically productive, environmentally caring, satisfied and healthy farmer. What the crucial drives behind the development of the observed farms were, and how farmers reflected upon sustainable agriculture in the country and their sustainable farming practices were the research questions of the project Developmental Orientations of Farms in Slovenia. Fieldwork was carried out in 2013 on fourteen intensive and organic farms. Talks were conducted with farm holders and their families about each farm's history as a necessary background for their reflections on sustainable agriculture in general and their farming practices in particular. Farmers' talks revealed meaningful ruptures of contrasting imperatives of economic growth, caring for the environment and social justice, addressed in strategic documents of sustainable agriculture, which were also manifested in their practices and visions of what should be done to implement sustainable agriculture in the country.
This manual ('Together We Can: Tools For Open Discussions About Stigma And Discrimination In Mental Health') offers some ideas for starting a conversation about stigma and discrimination in mental ...health. Its structure enables everyone to organise dialogues in various communities: at home, at school, in the workplace, among friends, etc. The manual is designed for everyone who strives to reduce stigma and discrimination through an open discussion. It is aimed at concrete action, at change. The booklet comprises two parts. The first part combines the lived experience of stigma and discrimination by people with mental health difficulties, on the one hand, and informed knowledge on the issue by the research group of the OMRA programme, on the other hand. This part further brings an explanation of the terms stigma and discrimination, and their relationship, as well as how both phenomena impact our wellbeing and behaviour, and what meaning is ascribed to them by various communities.
In the monograph (‘Ethnography of intergenerational relations: home and work on farms through life stories’), intergenerational relationships are discussed along the lines of demographical ...anthropology (Chapter 1).
ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: This essay discusses the organisation of community care for older people in a Slovenian rural municipality categorised as having "low well-being". The case study is part of a ...wider research project on community care in Slovenia, which aims to explain the differences and similarities in the organisation and quality of care for older people. The case study is a follow-up to the research of a previously established typology of community care in the country, formed by a cluster analysis. A case in a rural setting was selected to assess this typology directly in the field. The various actors were selected by snow-ball sampling and interviewed about the traditional and present forms of caring for older people in the community. Contrary to the typology, the fieldwork results show that institutional forms of care at home and at homes for older people exist in the selected municipality. Considering the particular regional context, the results also show communal cooperation among various formal and informal care-practitioners. Finally, care for older people within a family, which is prevalent in the community, obscures the financial inability of the locals to use some of the forms of service available in the residential community. //ABSTRACT IN SLOVENE: Pricujoci prispevek presoja organizacijo oskrbe za starejse v eni izmed slovenskih ruralnih obcin. studija primera je del obseznejsega raziskovalnega projekta o oskrbi starejsih v Sloveniji s ciljem, da se pojasnijo razlike in podobnosti organizacije in kvalitete oskrbe za starejse ljudi na ravni obcin. studija primera je izpeljana raziskava na podlagi predhodno oblikovane tipologije oskrbe starejsih v skupnosti, ki je bila izdelana z metodo razvrscanja v skupine. Primer iz ruralnega okolja je bil izbran, da bi ocenili tipologijo neposredno na terenu in prispevali k redkim domacim studijam o »ruralnem staranju«. Terensko delo je bilo izpeljano v ruralni obcini z »nizkimi kazalniki blaginje«. Razlicni akterji, ki izvajajo skrbstvene dejavnosti so bili izbrani z metodo snezne kepe. V pogovorih so presojali tradicionalne in sodobne oblike oskrbe starejsih v skupnosti. V nasprotju s tipologijo terenski rezultati kazejo, da v izbrani obcini obstajata obe institucionalni obliki: tako pomoc na domu kot domska oskrba. Upostevajoc regionalni kontekst, rezultati tudi kazejo, da v obcini vzajemno sodelujejo razlicni izvajalci formalnih in neformalnih oblik pomoci starejsim. Nazadnje, se vedno prevladujoce nudenje oskrbe starejsih v druzini prikriva tudi denarno nezmoznost lokalnega prebivalstva, da bi prakticirali nekatere razpolozljive oblike oskrbe v skupnosti, kjer bivajo. Reprinted by permission of the Slovene Anthropological Society
This article discusses the organisation of community care for older people in two rural municipalities in Slovenia, which are contrasting in terms of “wellbeing” attained. The two case studies are ...part of a wider research project on community care in the country, aiming to establish the typology of institutional care for older people at the level of municipality. As a follow‑up to the initial research, both cases assessed the typology “on the ground”. The various actors were selected by snowball sampling and interviewed about past and present forms of caring for older people. Contrary to the typology, the results of both cases show that institutional forms of care exist in both municipalities but differ in the field of cooperation among various formal and informal local care‑practitioners. Care within families, still the prevalent informal care provider in both communities, hides the financial inability of locals to use some formal care services in their community. Uniform national standards for organisation of formal care notwithstanding, the results show the communities’ peculiar adjustments to population ageing and their partial integration into society.
The development of Slovenian agriculture is oriented towards sustainable multifunctional farming, yet small dispersed agricultural holdings and their low economic productivity place Slovenia among ...the EU member states with the most unfavourable agricultural structure. The recently introduced measures of 'Early Retirement of Farmers', and 'Setting Up of Young Farmers' were aimed directly at improving agricultural productivity. But to whom were these two measures addressed? In this essay, the author discusses some results of the anthropological fieldwork carried out in 2009 in Prekmurje (NE Slovenia), a region with favourable conditions for farming. The research seeks to explain the divergences and correpondences of the farms with and without aid. The semi-structured interviews revolved around topics on farm history and organisation of farm work from a generation and gender perspective. The results show that the measures addressed farms that had substantially enlarged the size of their farmland, the number of livestock and the capacity of their buildings when the young operators took over the farms. These farms are also better equipped (mechanised) and more family members work full-time on them compared to the non-beneficiary farms. Both forms of aid stimulated the farm transfer from the older to the younger generations. The two types of farms observed do not differ in the organisation of farm work by gender. In general, the differences between the male and female working domain are determined by the time-period observed (political regime) and the introduction of tractors in the late 1960s. However, the care for the elderly and children is the working domain of women in all of the generations observed. Reprinted by permission of the Slovene Anthropological Society
In the previous three decades, Slovenian agriculture has been exposed to two major changes: the proclamation of a sovereign Slovenian nation-state in 1991 after the disintegration of socialist ...Yugoslavia and integration into the European Union in 2004. The so-called transition from socialist structures and practices to a full-fledged market economy in agriculture has brought farmers numerous opportunities for development but also experiences of concerns and pressures. What do farmers tell us about the embodied anxieties they experience in connection with these changes? This is the main research question of the ethnographic study (2020–2024) conducted in rural northeastern Slovenia. The article focuses on farmers' reflections on unfair prices in the food chain and their lack of cooperation in the post-1991 agricultural context as a cause of their lived experience of not being well. Drawing on some theorizations regarding the moral economy, the present ethnographic research shows that farmers' narratives are shaped by feelings and thoughts about insecurity and responsibility for their constant concerns and experiences of not being well.
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