Macedonia

Jane K. Cowan

Description

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.
Introduction: Macedonian Inflections by Jane K. Cowan and K. S. Brown



1. When Difference Matters: Sociopolitical Dimensions of Ethnicity in the District of Florina by Riki Van Boeschoten



2. Os Ellin Makedonas: National Identity between History and Memory in Western Greek Macedonia: by Piero Vereni



3. On the Other Side of the River: The Defeated Slavophones and Greek History by Iakovos D. Michailidis



4. How Can a Woman Give Birth to One Greek and One Macedonian? The Construction of National Identity among Immigrants to Australia from Northern Greece by Loring M. Danforth



5. Blessing the Water the Macedonian Way: Improvisations of Identity in Diaspora and in the Homeland by Jonathan M. Schwartz



6. In the Realm of the Double-Headed Eagle: Parapolitics in Macedonia, 1994-1999 by. K. S. Brown



7. Political Practices and Multiculturalism: The Case of Salonica by Georgios Agelopoulos



Index

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• General officer
• International relations
• Anthropology
• General

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 décembre 2000
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781849640800
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

MACEDONIA The Politics of Identity and Difference

Edited by J ANE K. C OWAN

P Pluto Press LONDON • STERLING, VIRGINIA

First published 2000 by PLUTO PRESS 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166–2012, USA

www.plutobooks.com

Copyright © Jane K. Cowan 2000

The right of the individual contributors to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 7453 1594 1 hardback ISBN 0 7453 1589 5 paperback

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Macedonia : the politics of identity and difference / edited by Jane Cowan. p. cm.— (Anthropology, culture, and society) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0–7453–1594–1 — ISBN 0–7453–1589–5 (pbk.) 1. Nationalism—Macedonia. 2. Macedonian question. I. Cowan, Jane K., 1954– II. Series. DR2192 .M34 2001 305.891'819—dc21 00–0097

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Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton Printed in the European Union by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, England

For my mother and father, Norma Jane Dent Cowan and Paul Richard Cowan

CONTENTS

Lists of Maps, Figures and Tables List of Abbreviations Preface A Note on Names and Terms Maps

viii ix x xiii xvii

Introduction: Macedonian Inflections 1 Jane K. Cowan and K.S. Brown 1. When Difference Matters: Sociopolitical Dimensions of Ethnicity in the District of Florina 28 Riki Van Boeschoten 2.Os Ellin Makedonas: Autobiography, Memory and National Identity in Western Greek Macedonia 47 Piero Vereni 3. On the Other Side of the River: The Defeated Slavophones and Greek History 68 Iakovos D. Michailidis 4. ‘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 Loring M. Danforth 5. Blessing the Water the Macedonian Way: Improvisations of Identity in Diaspora and in the Homeland 104 Jonathan M. Schwartz 6. In the Realm of the Double-Headed Eagle: Parapolitics in Macedonia, 1994–9 122 K.S. Brown 7. Political Practices and Multiculturalism: The Case of Salonica 140 Georgios Agelopoulos

Contributors Index

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156 159

LIST OF MAPS, FIGURES AND TABLES

MAPS

1.

2.

3.

Geographical Macedonia within contemporary southeastern Europe Geographical Macedonia in relation to contemporary states in the region The West Central corner of Geographical Macedonia

FIGURES

2.1 2.2 2.3 6.1

Khristopoulos and Gatsos family lines of descent Author’s graphic representation of Leonidas’ family tree Leonidas’ further elaboration of family tree Emblems of the two flags: the five-pointed star of the Yugoslav period, and the 16-pointed sun/star of Macedonia

TABLES

1.1 Ethnic composition of the rural population of Florina

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xvii

xviii 69

61 62 63

123

32

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CCE DAN-MAK

DPA ELAS

EU FAEV FYROM GCP IMRO MCIC MGRC MMS NGO NOF OAED

OSCE PDP PRM SDSM SNOF

UN VMRO-DPMNE

Cultural Capital of Europe Dansk–Makedonsk Venskabsforening(Danish–Macedonian friendship association) Democratic Party of Albanians Ellinikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos(Greek People’s Liberation Army) European Union Forum Against Ethnic Violence Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Greek Communist Party Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation Macedonian Centre for International Cooperation Minority Groups Research Centre Museum of the Macedonian Struggle Non-governmental organisation Narodno Osloboditelen Front(People’s Liberation Front) Organismos Apascholisis Ergatikou Dynamikou(Organisa- tion for the Employment of Human Resources) Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe Party of Democratic Prosperity People’s Republic of Macedonia Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia Slavianomakedonski Narodno Osloboditelen Front(Slavo- Macedonian People’s Liberation Front United Nations Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation/ Democratic Party of Macedonian National Unity

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PREFACE

The impetus for the present volume dates from November 1994 when the Forum Against Ethnic Violence (FAEV), a group of anthropologists alarmed at the rise in ethnic violence throughout the world, organised a conference on ‘Macedonia’ at University College, London. The war in Bosnia and other parts of the former Yugoslavia had escalated horrifically by then, and it was not clear whether conflict would break out in Macedonia as well. The still fledgling ex-Yugoslav republic was facing a series of refusals of recognition from Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece. By far the most strident opposition came from Greece, which was seeking to rally world opinion to the justice of its claims for exclusive rights to the Macedonian name and heritage. An economic blockade which Greece had instituted against the new republic – already blocked from the north due to the UN Security Council’s embargo against the new Yugoslavia – was having complex and not altogether intended effects. The worsening economic conditions were only making the ethnic Macedonian population dig in their heels against the demanded changes to the republic’s name, flag and constitution. At the same time, these conditions were also contributing to radicalising the Albanian-speaking population within the republic. Conference discussions circled around these two related themes: the ‘Macedonian Controversy’ (the question of who had the right to call themselves, or others, Macedonians) and the question of diversity within and between communities residing in a territory so named. Prominent in the discussion, alongside academics, journalists, artists and some political figures, were representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), based in the republic, addressing these problems on a day-to-day level. They described such projects as a cross-border friendship association for Greeks and Macedonians conceived as a symbolic counter-weight to diplomatic- level hostility, local environmental projects attempting to build cooperation among diverse groups of Macedonian citizens, and an NGO devoted to problems of women within the republic’s Albanian community. Three contributors to the present volume gave papers at the conference (Loring Danforth, Jonathan Schwartz and Riki Van Boeschoten), and others participated as active audience members. However, this volume has followed its own independent trajectory. When it became clear that publication as conference proceedings was not feasible, the volume was

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Prefacexi reconceptualised. I took the opportunity to invite as additional contributors individuals whose research on Macedonia I find especially innovative, many of them younger scholars just establishing their careers. I was keen to put their work together and see what kinds of resonances, and tensions, the jux- taposition elicited. The volume has evolved over four years of preparation. The initial hope to include a chapter on the NGO projects did not prove feasible, though Jonathan Schwartz’s contribution offers a glimpse of their work from an anthropologist-activist’s perspective. The spirit of cooperation across boundaries that NGO representatives articulated has also remained a guiding notion for the volume. I wish here to acknowledge the efforts of those associated with initial attempts at publishing the conference papers: Predrag Zivkovic, who provided a full transcription of the papers and discussions and Glenn Bowman, who initiated the editing process, before I agreed to take over as editor in spring 1996. The FAEV, while relinquishing to me total control over the newly defined project, generously provided financial support toward production costs, the translation of one paper, and editorial assistance in the final stages. On behalf of the FAEV organisers, I am happy to thank the co- administrators of the ‘Conference on Macedonia’, Predrag Zivkovic and Sandra Squires, as well as several organisations which subsidised it: Christian Aid, Dutch Inter-Church Aid, Charity Know-How Fund, the Royal Anthropological Institute, the Association of Social Anthropologists, and the Anthropology Departments of Goldsmith’s College and University College, London. I am also delighted to thank the Centre for the Study of South-Eastern Europe of the University of Wales, which provided additional financial support at a critical moment. During the long gestation of this project I incurred many debts. I warmly thank all the contributors, who tolerated with patience my editorial inter- ventionism and my requests for repeated revisions. Many of them pressed me toward the same high standards by offering astute and, in some cases, quite lengthy comments on the introduction; Loring Danforth deserves particular mention. For help with maps, photographs and electoral statistics, I am grateful to Iakovos Michailidis, Jonathan Schwartz and Georgios Agelopoulos. Very special thanks go to Keith Brown, with whom I co- authored the introduction. Keith’s expertise on society and history in the republic, both before and after independence, complemented my own more Greek-based expertise; together, we were able to craft an introduction which frames the contemporary politics of identity and difference in and of Macedonia in much broader than usual terms. In the larger editorial process, too, I relied a lot on his sense of things; he also kept me laughing. Sarah Green read the entire manuscript in January 2000 and provided an unusually detailed and immensely stimulating reader’s report. Inspired by her rigour and insight, we were able, alas, to follow up on only a portion of her many suggestions. Richard Wilson, series editor and greatly valued Sussex colleague and friend, provided acute substantive and organisational advice,

xiiMacedonia as well as moral support. With her quiet efficiency, Lysbeth Gehrels helped me draw together the multiple strands of the manuscript in the final few weeks of preparation, working miracles with her excellent copy-editing skills. I thank also the staff at Pluto Press, especially the managing editor, Anne Beech, for their flexibility and professionalism. My family has lived with this project as long as I have. With Charlie I have puzzled over ‘Macedonia’ through the course of many years, and whatever sense I have made of it owes much to his wisdom, ethical sensitivity and analytical grasp. I thank our sons, Isaac and Andrew, for not being infinitely patient with my preoccupation with this text and for interrupting me at my computer with demands for a story, a bike ride or a game of Uno. Their energy and zany humour many a time lifted my spirits when I was feeling burdened by a project I feared would never be finished. Finally, I thank my parents, Dick and Norma Cowan. Though perplexed, I am sure, by their Scots-Irish, midwestern American daughter’s inexplicable fascination for lands in the southeastern corner of Europe, they have always encouraged me to follow my own dreams and projects. Only now that I am myself a parent do I understand what a gift their openness has been. In gratitude for this, and for their love and support along the way, I dedicate this book to them.

A NOTE ON NAMES AND TERMS

An index of the contestation surrounding Macedonia – what it is and what it means – is the bewildering diversity of names and terms for the ‘same’ thing: places, persons, language. Of course, this ‘sameness’ does not really survive that diverse naming. Imagine three second-cousins – Kyril (a Macedonian citizen), Kole (a Bulgarian citizen) and Kostas (a Greek citizen) – whose grand- fathers were three brothers living, until the First World War, in a small village near to the town that Greeks call Kastoria, and that Macedonians and Bulgarians call Kostur. When, nowadays, Kyril uses a different name for ‘x’ from Kole or Kostas, he signals that he sees ‘x’ differently from them, and he simultaneously constructs that difference in the very act of naming. To complicate the situation even more, Kyril, Kole and Kostas may not be absolutely consistent in the words they choose for ‘x’; what they choose may depend on the context. Conversely, the ‘same’ word – ‘Macedonia’ or ‘Macedonians’ – means different things to Kyril, Kole and Kostas. The contributors to the volume have made their own choices about names and terms. These may reflect their own personal views. As anthropologists, though, they are usually careful to distinguish their own views from those of the people they are describing. As a guide to those unfamiliar with the historical and political nuances of terms in this semantic battleground, I outline some basic points. The term ‘Macedonia’ refers to a territory whose boundaries are matters of dispute. Citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, and many immigrants from northern Greece now living in diaspora communities around the world, use the term ‘Macedonia’ in several ways. Firstly, they use it to refer to an ancient kingdom. Secondly, they use it to refer to a historically established (but vaguely bounded) territory ‘partitioned’ between Greece (‘Aegean Macedonia’), Serbia (‘Vardar Macedonia’) and Bulgaria (‘Pirin Macedonia’) in 1913. Thirdly, they use the word ‘Macedonia’ for the new Republic of Macedonia. Many Greeks, on the other hand, following their government’s unwillingness to recognise the new republic under this name, use the appellation ‘Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’ (FYROM). Even prior to the 1990s controversy, they referred to the land north of their borders as ‘Yugoslavia’ or ‘Serbia’, not ‘Macedonia’, and to the language spoken by the people there asServikaorSlavika. Greeks today tend to use the term

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