Associate Professor Bara at the 30th Forum of the Croatian National Minorities

The jubilee 30th Forum of the Croatian National Minorities, organized by the Croatian Heritage Foundation, was held on 5 December 2025 at the headquarters of Matica hrvatska in Zagreb. The Forum traditionally brings together representatives of Croatian minority communities from 12 European countries, along with experts, scholars, and representatives of Croatian state institutions. This year’s Forum focused on the theme “Libraries and Social Networks of the Croatian Minority in the European Neighbourhood,” highlighting how identity, language, and cultural heritage of Croatian minorities are preserved and developed in an era of growing digitalization.

Among the participants was Associate Professor Mario Bara, PhD, from the University Department of Sociology at the Catholic University of Croatia (CUC), who delivered the lecture “Social Networks as a New Library – Virtual Communities and Networking of Croats Outside the Homeland.” In his presentation, he emphasized that social media are becoming “dynamic libraries of collective memory”—spaces where identity is actively reconstructed and transmitted. Unlike physical platforms, digital environments enable dynamic and interactive processes of creating a shared identity.

Professor Bara explained that social networks function as vital virtual gathering spaces, transcending physical and temporal barriers, within which users actively share photographs, documents, memories, texts, audio and video recordings, and other materials that serve as key identity resources. He also stressed that users are not merely passive custodians but active agents in shaping cultural narratives, participating in their redefinition and strengthening within minority communities.