We hear nowadays all the time discussions about endangered species and we are made conscious that we should find strategies to save them. But there are endangered cultures too and it is the duty of cultural anthropologists and of researchers of culture in general to caution and explain the significance and consequences of the diminishing of the cultural diversity just like ecologists warn us of the risks of the diminishing of the biological diversity. The two aspects are interdependent and it comes as no surprise the establishing, at the border between human ecology and cultural anthropology of a discipline whose name is proof of its border character; ecological anthropology, cultural ecology, culture and environment. The Istro-Romanian culture is an almost extinct culture and there are at least two reasons why it should be researched:  gaining fundamental knowledge and respectively the need to identify strategies to help it’s survival, maintain the conscience of linguistic identity and regaining the cultural identity conscience.

Situated in the centre of the Istrian Peninsula, north and south of Monte Magiore ( Ucika Gora), the Istro-Romanians were exposed to  powerful press ions: from the other languages from this area, who held, in turns, majoritary positions – Italian, German, Croatian – press ion of the main religion of this area – Catholicism – as well as the pressures of an natural and economical environment that is always more precarious. There is no surprise that the population decreased; main reason was the migration towards neighbouring cities or, especially after the second World War towards Italy, the Unites States(in New York there are about 200 Istro-Romanian speakers), Canada, Australia. If on a 1926 map almost all of Istria is covered with villages with Romanian names – Catun, Bolovani, Carbune, Sucodru, Costarcean, Floricici, Murari, Ciobani, Vlahi – today there are only about eight villages on the northern side of the mountain – the biggest being  Jeinani – and, on the southern side, a few settlements grouped around the village of  Susnievita (Valdarsa, in Italian). The mountain, once covered with forests, pastures, lakes offered a propitious environment for the raising of sheep and cattle. Today the forests are almost gone, the lakes dried up or were drained either because they were sources for malaria or when the tunnel across the mountain was built. The traditional occupations disappeared. The soil in the area did not allow a profitable agriculture and thus poverty spread.The Istro-Romanian population which was estimated at about 8000 in the XIXth century, decreased to be 2000 in between the wars, 500 in 1960, 450 in 1994, about 300 in 2000. Migration and mixed marriages are at the root of this fact.  The increasingly small community, lifestyle changes, occupational changes in relation to environmental changes, the lack of schools in the Istro-Romanian dialect, the lack of a cultural elite leaded to a recede and even to the loss of the cultural identity conscience. It should be marked the exception represented by Andrei Glavina and the school he established. At the end of the XIXth century, Teodor Burada brought Andrei Glavina to study in Romania. Becoming aware of the link with the Romanians, Glavina returned to Istria and founded, in Susnievita, the first Istro-Romanian school, which operated between 1921 and 1925.

Scientists had given them the name of Istro-Romanians, but they were known as Cici or Ciribiri and in old Italian documents they appeared as Rumeri. They called themselves Vlaşi and their language Vlaşki. They are an old Romanian population, after some historians from the time of Dacia; some historians think they are more than a millennium old. There are two main theories concerning the historical origin of the Istro-Romanians. On one side the theory sustaining that the Istro-Romanian dialect has its origins in Daco-Latin having originated in Banat, Crisana, Apuseni  Mountains. Among the sustainers of this theory O. Densusian, Al. Rosetti, I. Coteanu. The second with S. Puscariu, I.Capidan, S. Dragomir as its main partisans says that Istro-Romanian originated south of the Danube. The first clear attestation dates back to 1321, when there is a mention of a country of the Vlahs in the region inhabited today by Istro-Romanians. The Istro-Romanians were studied by Italian researchers – Ascoli, Mateo Bartoli Vasilici, Petru Kandler, Nerina Feresini – Croatian researchers – Goran Filipi, August Covacec – Romanian researchers – Ioan Maiorescu, Lecca Morariu, Traian Cantemir, Petru Iroaie, Radu Flora, Richard Sarbu. These researches were mainly historical-linguistic researches, cultural researches playing a secondary role. Among these (cultural researches) interesting is the research on the Susnievita village by Nerina Feresini. We must note that doctor Emil Petre Ratiu hat put the foundation on 29 April 1994, at Triest for the Istro-Romanian Association Andrei Glavina. The purpose of this association: preserving this society and this dialect. Starting 1995 this association published books in the Istro-Romanian dialect, starting with Calendaru la rumeri din Istria. Beginning in 1996 they published the first journal in Istro-Romanian: Scrisoare catre frat Rumeri. Doctor Ratiu participated at the organization of a seminary (summer 2007, Triest, main organizer Edvino Curtis) - which benefited from the participation of circa 200 persons: Italians, Slovenians, Croats and a few Romanians- as well as a exhibition regarding the history, traditions and language of Istro-Romanians.

Studies concerning the Istro-Romanians had in mind mainly the historic and linguistic perspective, seldom the cultural one. It is imperative to gain knowledge of this culture now, having in mind its rapid disappearance(it is estimated that, if no change occurs, in about 30 years there will be no more Istro-Romanian speakers). The development of strategies concerning the stabilization of Istro-Romanian communities, maintaining their language, thus maintaining their cultural identity is very important. This project’s objectives were established having in mind these two main purposes. The first objective concerns contributions at fundamental research in the fields of cultural anthropology and cultural ecology: observing and understanding the Istro-Romanian culture in view of the investigation of the complex relation between the cultural identity dynamic and the environmental (natural, economical, social, technological) dynamic. Starting from the hypothesis that the process of construction – and deconstruction – of cultural identity takes place in close relation with environmental particularities and dynamic, this project will try to explain how  and how much changes at the level of the environment affect significant changes at the cultural identity level. To do this the research will be based on the study of memorial material: folkloric narration type, life stories, cultural practices (the old tradition of the zvonciari, for example), commemoration and memory writings, the family memory patrimony and its integration in the public dimension. The analyses and interpretation of the data obtained from all these sources will allow the concretization of  the value orientation of the Istro-romanian culture. These will be completed with the explicit research of fundamental value orientation using  a questionnaire based on research methods used by Fl. Kluckhohn, Strobeck, Salzmann in concrete scholar inquiries in the value orientation sphere of interest. The assertion of the fundamental value orientation of the Istro-Romanian culture – social and natural environment etc are comprehended here – will represent an important contribution to the existing knowledge on the particularities of  Istro-Romanian culture, its dynamic, as well as its congruence with value orientation of Romanian culture in general. The second objective consist of the creation of  a data base which will include an oral history, oral testimonies archive, historical sources: memorial, literary, images (including a documentary movie) concerning the Istro-Romanian culture and its environment. This objective comes as an answer to two imperatives: the need to record and conserve data concerning a seriously endangered culture and, secondly, the need to build the basis for cultural identity strategies as well as the development of cultural and economical politics and projects (cultural tourism for example) which will concur to preserve and , respectively,  help regain the cultural identity of the Istro-Romanians.