The author deals with alpine pastures in the Solčava region, a region in the Kamnik-Savinja Alps. Because of changes in society and the natural environment, alpine pastures and pastoralism in the Alps are ascribed meanings that are not directly connected to agricultural production. Pastures are thus understood as spaces to which a variety of agents ascribe different meanings. The research deals with how the re-evaluation and ascribing of different functions shows on alpine pastures in the Solčava region. With the help of ethnographic methods and literature on pastoralism in Slovenia and in the broader Alpine space the author shows how the understanding of pastures changed with time, specifically in the Solčava region. There are seven pastures in Solčava on which the grazing of animals is still present, and the main part of the following thesis is based on field observation and interviews and consists of the analysis of the economic, ecologic, touristy and recreational and lastly the symbolic and personal meaning of these pastures.
|
