An Albanian Wife and Macedonian “National Purity”

Bielenin-Lenczowska, Karolina

doi:0137-4079

Download

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?

References:

Baumann M. 1981. Zadruga w Jugosławii. Próba typologii. Lud 65, 105–120
Bielenin-Lenczowska K. 2008. Rodzina, ród, pokrewieństwo w perspektywie lingwistyczno-antropologicznej. Warszawa
Davin D. 2007. Marriage Migration in China and East Asia. Journal of Contemporary China 16(50), 83–95
Gates H. 1996. Buying Brides in China – Again. Anthropology Today 12(4), 8–11
Glick Schiller N. and Salazar N. B. 2013. Regimes of mobility across the globe. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 39(2), 183–200
Goody J. 2004. Inheritance, Property and Marriage in Africa and Eurasia. In Parkin R. and Stone L. (eds.), Kinship and Family. An Anthropological Reader. Oxford, 110–118
Hammel E. A., Ehrich R. S., Fabijanić-Filipović R., Halpern J. M., Lord A. B. (eds.) 1982. Among the People. Native Yugoslav Ethnography. Selected Writing of Milenko S. Filipović. Michigan
Lučeska E. 2011. Ženata – migrant i akulturaciskite procesi izrazeni preku obrednosta na semejniot i na kalendarskiot ciklus. In Rękas J. (ed.), Bałkański folklor jako kod interkulturowy 1. Poznań, 281–288
Mroczkowska J. 2009. Porwania kobiet w Kirgistanie – opowieści o uprowadzeniach, ucieczkach i rodzinie [The Kidnapping of Women in Kyrgyzstan – Stories of Abductions, Escapes and Family]. unpublished MA thesis. Archives of the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Warsaw University
Obrębski J. (publication in preparation). Daniny za żonę w Macedonii. Manuscript in „Obrębski Collection”. Special Collections and Archives, WEB Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts. Amherst
Obrębski J. (publication in preparation). Społeczeństwo Porecza. Manuscript in “Obrębski Collection”. Special Collections and Archives, WEB Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts. Amherst.
Obrębski J. 1936. Problem grup etnicznych w etnologii i jego socjologiczne ujęcie. Przegląd Socjologiczny 4 (1–2), 177–195
Skarić S. 2004. Ohrid Agreement and Minority Rights. In Prospects of Multiculturality in Western Balkan States. Belgrade, 94–110
Stojanova M. 2013. Intermarriages – Crossing Political and Social Borders. Poznańskie Studia Slawistyczne 4, 277–291
Stone L. 2010. Kinship and Gender: An Introduction. Boulder
Svetieva A. (unpublished). Socijalna antropologia. Texts for students of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the University of St. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje