Macedonia The Politics of Identity and Difference

by Cowan, Jane K.

• ISBN13: 9780745315898
• ISBN10: 0745315895
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-12-20
• Publisher: Pluto Press

Summary

Macedonia has been contested by its three neighbours Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece during and since the demise of the Ottoman Empire. But the Macedonian Question extends far beyond the contested borders of Macedonia to immigrant communities in Europe, Australia and North America. The contributors to this collection explore the contemporary repercussions of the Macedonian Question, which has long been at the heart of Balkan politics. The volume recognises Macedonia as a global issue, and focuses on the politics of identity and difference in both homeland and diaspora.The contributors argue that Macedonia as place and as concept is forged within a transnational network of diasporas, local communities, states and international institutions. They examine the increasingly important role of transnational bodies including the European Union and human rights NGOs in regulating relationships between states and minority groups, as well as in promoting multiculturalism and civic participation. They consider the role of scholarship and the media in defining Macedonia and its inhabitants. They also draw attention to the struggles of individuals in constructing, negotiating and even transforming their identities in the face of competing nationalisms and memories. In the process, they re-evaluate 'ethnicity' as a conceptual tool for understanding difference in the region, and raise questions about the implications of recognising, and not recognising, difference at the political level.

Author Biography

Jane K. Cowan teaches anthropology in the School of Cultural and Community Studies at the University of Sussex.

Table of Contents

Lists of Maps, Figures and Tables	viii
List of Abbreviations	ix
Preface	x
A Note on Names and Terms	xiii
Maps	xvii
Introduction: Macedonian Inflections	1	(27)
Jane K. Cowan
K.S. Brown
When Difference Matters: Sociopolitical Dimensions of Ethnicity in the District of Florina	28	(19)
Riki Van Boeschoten
Os Ellin Makedonas: Autobiography, Memory and National Identity in Western Greek Macedonia	47	(21)
Piero Vereni
On the Other Side of the River: The Defeated Slavophones and Greek History	68	(17)
Iakovos D. Michailidis
`How Can a Woman Give Birth to One Greek and One Macedonian?' The Construction of National Identity among Immigrants to Australia from Northern Greece	85	(19)
Loring M. Danforth
Blessing the Water the Macedonian Way: Improvisations of Identity in Diaspora and in the Homeland	104	(18)
Jonathan M. Schwartz
In the Realm of the Double-Headed Eagle: Parapolitics in Macedonia, 1994-9	122	(18)
K.S. Brown
Political Practices and Multiculturalism: The Case of Salonica	140	(16)
Georgios Agelopoulos
Contributors	156	(3)
Index	159