An Albanian Wife and Macedonian “National Purity”

Bielenin-Lenczowska, Karolina

doi:0137-4079

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Title: An Albanian Wife and Macedonian “National Purity”

Abstract:

Poreče, a mountainous region in central Macedonia is largely depopulated. Rural-urban migration started during the times of industrialization in Yugoslavia and intensified after the collapse of the federation. Currently, one of the most visible groups of inhabitants consists of elderly single men. For a decade, characteristic phenomenon associated with the depopulation of Poreče is the importing of Albanian women to the village, who then marry the local bachelors. A the same time, inhabitants of Poreče claim that their region is clean, i.e. inhabited only by Macedonian Orthodox, although surrounded by Others – Albanians, Turks, Torbeši – who are mostly Muslims. The questions that this paper attempts to answer are what role is played by female representatives of what is considered to be a hostile nation in this issue of ethnic or national purity? And how are Albanian wives “tamed” and integrated into a society defining itself as mono-ethnic, mono-national and mono-confessional?

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