The state and the population census: counting nationals in the Julian Region

This article proposes a constructivist approach to the population census. It will argue that the measurement of nationality, from the middle of the 19th century, involved a discursive creation of clearly delineated national categories, long before such categories had taken root among the indexed populations. The article will refer to the counting of nationals in the Julian Region (known as the Kűstenland during the Habsburg Empire) in the 19th century, with some reference to the census developments in the 20th century. The focus of the article, however, will not be on any specific population, but on the category architects: the census officials, and, to some extent, anyone who writes, using categories, definitions and labels.