Klaus Roth and Asker Kartarı (eds.) Cultures of Crisis in Southeast Europe Part 2 Editor: Prof. Dr. Klaus Roth (Munich) Co-editor: Prof. Dr. Asker Kartarı (Istanbul) Editorial Board: Milena Benovska-Săbkova (Bulgaria), Keith Brown (USA), Jasna Čapo (Croatia), Jennifer Cash (USA/Germany), Albert Doja (France), Ștefan Dorondel (Romania), Christian Giordano (Swit- zerland), Robert Hayden (USA), Asker Kartarı (Turkey), Karl Kaser (Austria), Jutta Lauth Bacas (Greece), Carolin Leutloff- Grandits (Austria), Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers (England), Vesna Vučinić-Nešković (Serbia). Editorial assistant: Tomislav Helebrant M. A. (Munich) The journal is published by the International Association for Southeast European Anthropology (InASEA). It publishes articles by members of InASEA as well as by non-members. Ethnologia Balkanica is a refereed journal. Languages of publication: English, French, German. Contributions must be supplied with an abstract in English. The publication of this volume was supported by Kadir Has University, Istanbul, and by the Schroubek-Fonds Östliches Europa, Munich. Cultures of Crisis in Southeast Europe Part 2 Crises Related to Natural Disasters, to Places and Spaces, and to Identities edited by Klaus Roth and Asker Kartarı Ethnologia Balkanica Journal for Southeast European Anthropology Zeitschrift für die Anthropologie Südosteuropas Journal d’anthropologie du sud-est européen Volume 19/2016 LIT ISSN 1111–0411 Copyright ©2017 InASEA, LIT Verlag Dr. W. Hopf Berlin Printed in Germany Cover: Evacuating people from the village of Rast, district Dolj (on the Danube), Romania, during the flood of April 2006. Photo taken by the State Inspectorate for Emergencies (ISU) (cf. Ștefan Dorondel’s article p. 11–32). Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliographie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de ISBN 978-3-643-90791-2 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library © LIT VERLAG DR. W. HOPF LIT VERLAG GmbH & Co. KG Wien Berlin 2017 Zweigniederlassung Zürich 2017 Fresnostr. 2 Klosbachstr. 107 D – 48159 Münster CH – 8032 Zürich Tel. +49 (0)251 62 03 20 Tel. +41 (0)44 251 75 05 Fax +49 (0)251 23 19 72 Fax +41 (0)44 251 75 06 E-Mail: [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] http://www.lit-verlag.de http://www.lit-verlag.ch Distribution: In the UK: Global Book Marketing, e-mail: [email protected] In North America: International Specialized Book Services, e-mail: [email protected] In Germany: LIT Verlag, Fresnostr. 2, D – 48159 Münster Tel. +49 (0)251 620 32 22, Fax +49 (0)251 922 60 99, e-mail: [email protected] In Austria: Medienlogistik Pichler-ÖBZ, e-mail: [email protected] e-books are available at www.litwebshop.de Ethnologia Balkanica 19 (2016) Cultural Actions and Reactions of Localities The Case of the Mountain Villages of Tzoumerka in Greece of Crisis Konstantina Bada, Ioannina Abstract The paper focusses on how the villagers of a mountainous region of Tzoumerka in Greece have dealt with and adapted to the inconsistencies and ruptures of post-civil war migration trends, a transition to capitalism and their integration in a modern market economy. It is indicatively reported that from the dramatic decade of the 1940s onwards, the tendency of rural exodus was a common outcome in most villages and a result of the region’s desertification and cultural abandonment, which appeared a more or less ac- cepted fact. It is understood, however, that this did not occur. On the contrary, behind the assimilative logic of capitalism, the mountain people appear not only to ensure the terms of survival, but also to develop, through the use of a continuous “tradition”, their mountain culture and the identity of the locality. The vitality of both the region and the family is based on a number of foundational structures such as formal or informal insti- tutions, attitudes and ways of life, shared memories, symbolic representations and mean- ings, realities, practices of cultural resistance and the area’s means of adaptation, all of which form a very diverse social reality. Introduction Three years ago, members of the Matsouki Cultural Association, also known as “The Vyliza”, along with residents of Matsouki, the small mountain commu- nity of the Tzoumerka area, visited the author at the University of Ioannina to express their interest and support concerning the implementation of a survey on the local traditions and cultural heritage of Tzoumerka, as well as the promotion and valorisation of their region. Their words, their arguments and their previous actions revealed that they were the agents of a lively everyday culture as active subjects in a crisis context. They are conscious social subjects taking part in a particular local mountainous culture endowed with a cultural identity and poten- tial. Moreover, they claim recognition and are willing to assume an active role in the transformation of the terms of their present condition, especially in the current context of the severe financial crisis witnessed in Greece. The dynamic and active presence of the locals and mountaineers is testified in the present day 138 Konstantina Bada context by the successful restoration of the old Monastery of the Virgin Mary (Panagia) of Vylizas (Kalousios 1992), which took place with the intervention of the local associations, which compensated for the flaws of the official cultural and political instances. Thanks to the actions of the aforementioned members of the “The Vyliza” Cultural Association and other fellow mountaineers who relied on a relative autonomy and self-sufficiency granted by the local associa- tions as well as collective and long-term voluntary work that gathered financial and other resources, the monastery and its surroundings have been restored and accommodation facilities for visitors developed (the monastery stands on a steep slope of the Kritharia mountain1 and can be reached only on foot). They also secured the conservation of the religious icons and the establishment of a space for the museum inside the village (Merantzas 2012),2 the organization of a library, the digitization of rare manuscripts3 made available for research (Ka- lousios 2009). I considered the inner local potential of this mountainous village (Kalousios 1994) – hitherto unknown to me in the field of research – as a posi- tive omen. In the spring of 2012, along with my postgraduate student, I initiated the fieldwork in the Matsouki village and other closed communities. The main purpose of the research was to investigate and then present on the cultural digital map the cultural data that demonstrate Tzoumerka’s local profile. What became evident during our research project was that over time the inhabitants of the vil- lage developed a multidimensional model based on the rational use of natural re- sources. They had gradually established a dialectic relationship consistent with the mountainous features of the area. These same features imposed a sense of mobility and mutual dependence among the various groups (ethnic/professional) who shared the same area. Our findings also demonstrate the reality of a com- munal and mutually dependent culture that prevails in this mountainous area, while revealing at the same time its local, ethnic and cultural characteristics. This mountainous society is essentially defined by sheep grazing, agriculture, 1 The Monastery of the Annunciation of the Virgin in Vyliza at Matsouki, as befits the Al- banian-origin place name “Vyliza”, stands on a fortified and elevated position, 973 metres above sea level [39°34’01.42’’N/21°08’42.68’’E] on the slopes of the Kritharia Mountain and at the junction of three rivulets joining the Arachthos River. 2 The 58 post-Byzantine icons of the Vyliza Monastery cover the period between the 15th and early 20th centuries and include works by great Cretan School painters or their workshops active in the Ionian Islands and Italy, for example Damaskenos and Emmanuel Tzannes. 3 Theological, ecclesiastical and secular manuscripts from the rich library that is likely to have existed in the Monastery of Vyliza, survive to this day. They include fourteen codices that Spyridon Lambros moved to the National Library of Greece (accession numbers 1902– 1925), and a late-14th century theological codex now kept at Matsouki Library. This sample is indicative of a rich manuscript tradition that found its way into the monastery through different routes. Cultural Actions and Reactions of Localities 139 handicraft manufacturing, trade and craftsmanship. Work conditions complied with traditional, pre-capitalist institutions and relations and continued as such until the 19th century. The field work and the research as a whole were carried out under the rubric of a research project titled “Researching and Disseminating the Local Cultural Aspects of Tzoumerka (15th–20th centuries): Digitizing the Region’s Cultural Re- serve”. The above project was co-financed by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program “Thessaly – Mainland Greece and Epirus 2007–2013” of the National Strategic Reference Framework (2007–2013). The research data have been recorded in a custom-made database and on an interactive, online cultural map that may easily be updated. In fact, both the da- tabase and cultural digital map aim to preserve the region’s traditions and cul- tural heritage, and to directly disseminate the cultural data that we collected for instructive and research purposes, for a broader audience. The online con- tent includes recordings (written, visual, audio), research studies, the digitiza- tion and promotion of Tzoumerka’s culture and cultural heritage, and informa- tion on the cultural reserve of the area (http://tzoumerka.project.uoi.gr). It also includes two well documented cultural routes4 designed to promote the region’s cultural heritage through cultural tourism. The cultural routes are depicted on a digital map in order to contribute to the region’s sustainable and local devel- opment plan.