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(Pechalbari) from the Republic of Macedonia To KAROLINA BIELENIN-LENCZOWSKA whole Mediterranean area (cf. Hristov 2008; Todorova 1997). The tra- 314.15:316.334.2(497.17:450) ditional pechalba was at first seasonal and at second, male labour mi- gration. Pechalbari worked above all as farmers, shepherds or crafts- men. They used to leave their family villages at the beginning of the KAROLINA BIELENIN-LENCZOWSKA spring-summer season, and returned after the harvesting period was Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology over. Late autumn and winter were the time of the most important Warsaw, Poland family celebrations – weddings, baptisms or circumcisions, and even symbolic funerals. Since there were numerous young men among pechalbari, migration was for them a kind of initiation. Not only did they return with the earned amount of money but also with new ex- TRANSNATIONAL TIES AMONG MIGRANTS periences gained through ‘being in the world.’ Then, when they have AND THEIR FAMILIES returned to their family homes, pechalbari had the opportunity to meet their future spouses. These mountainous regions were strictly endoga- The case of labour migrants (pechalbari) from the mous, thus engagements and weddings were organised exclusively in republic of Macedonia to Italy home villages of the pechalbari. In this paper, I aim to demonstrate that most of the ‘traditional’ features of pechalba are also very impor- tant in the context of contemporary migration. As Eckehard Pistrick points out, ‘this migration has been dis- For the people of the Balkan Peninsula migration is one of the cussed extensively from statistical, economic and political viewpoints, central socio-cultural features. Movements have been both individual while the self-conceptualisation of this legacy in local culture and in and massive, and caused by different motivations: religious, economic, the local memory of the people has attracted considerably less atten- political or related to regional conflicts. Historian Maria Todorova sta- tion’ (Pistrick 2008: 97). In other words, migration studies lack deep tes that ‘most important in the social domain is the Ottoman legacy in ethnographic research that would take into consideration local peo- the demographic sphere. This was a long-term development that pro- ple’s opinions and feelings. ved impossible or very difficult to undo with immediate repercussions The objective of this paper is conducting an anthropological today. The demographic history of Ottoman Empire comprises prob- analysis, based especially on the extensive ethnographic fieldwork, us- lems pertaining to the geographic movement of the population (coloni- ing the notion of transnationalism within the context of pechalba from zation, migrations); demographic processes (fertility, mortality, nup- Macedonia to Italy. I focus on neighbourly and family ties that are tiality, and so on); and other types of population movements (religious kept by migrants and their closest that remained behind in their home shifts, social mobility, and so on). (...) The fundamental consequence villages. Questions that I will attempt to answer here are as follows: of the establishment of the Pax Ottomana in the Balkans was abolish- how transnational ties are kept within families and neighbourhoods; ment of state and feudal frontiers, which facilitated or enhanced popu- what is the impact of new technologies (TV, internet, mobile tele- lation movements and the interpenetration of different groups within a communication) on these relationships; what are the changes in gender vast territory.’ (Todorova 1997: 174). roles within the family and on the level of society, and what are One of the traditional models of migration, noted in historical changes in national identifications. Then, I would like to discuss the th sources since second half of 19 century, is seasonal male labour mi- notion of transnationalism itself. I argue that it is not really applicable gration, referred to as pechalba, gurbet or – in Albanian – kurbet. It in the South-Eastern European context, therefore I would suggest to has been known throughout the entire Balkan Peninsula and also in the redefine it or propose a new term altogether. 510 TR. TIES AM. MIG. AND TH.FAM. THE C. OF L. MIG. (P.) FROM THE R. OF MAC. TO IT. KAROLINA BIELENIN-LENCZOWSKA about and attitudes toward life' (Geertz 1973: 90). An anthropologist Field and methods examines not facts but people's imaginations and opinions on them. Thus, my conclusions are based on my interlocutors’ declarations that, The ethnographic basis of this paper constitutes data from my as expected, very often differ from their practices. That is why, con- own fieldwork that has been carried out in the Republic of Macedonia ducting observation and also living among the researched community since 2006. I conducted research in the Debar area as well as in some is of utmost significance. of the Reka region villages, while since 2009 I started to examine I prefer not to use the term ‘informant’ (although for stylistic transnational pechalbari's relations in Struga, i.e. in the South-Western reasons I use it occasionally) and ‘interview’ and I am more inclined part of the Republic of Macedonia. I worked predominantly with Mus- to use ‘interlocutor’ and ‘conversation’ instead. In this way I would lims but of different national identity. like to highlight the informal nature of most my interactions with the The western part of Macedonia is inhabited above all by Alba- researched people and the close nature of the relations I was trying to nians, following by Turks, Macedonian, Muslims and Roma people. establish with them. I perceive my fieldwork as cooperation with my National identity problems in this part of Macedonia as well as in the interlocutors, therefore – to quote Sarah Pink – I try to work with not whole of the Balkans should be analysed in a separate essay, here I on them (Pink 2000: 102). It assumes that ethnography is not transpar- will only point to some questions that are important for my research ent (cf. Rabinov 1985: 3), thus the biography and positionality of the and conclusions. ethnographer determine her/his knowledge. The largest nationality (community) in Macedonia are the Alba- My fieldwork is – or rather is going to be – ‘translocal’ (Han- nians (depending on censuses and sources – Macedonian or Albanians nerz) or multi-sited (Marcus 1995). Research, ‘mobile ethnography,’ – it is for 20 up to 40%). The term ‘community’ in the previous sen- proposed by George E. Marcus ‘takes unexpected trajectories in trac- tence in parenthesis needs to be explained. In 2001, after an armed ing a cultural formation across and within multiple sites of activity’ conflict between Macedonia and Albania, a Framework Agreement (Marcus 1995: 96) and consists in following the people and their prob- (Ramkoven Dogovor) was signed in Ohrid. The Albanians demanded lems, the thing (among others: gifts, money, intellectual property), the to be considered as an equal group along with the Macedonians, and metaphor (signs, symbols – ‘this mode involves trying to trace the so- not as a ‘minority,’ because in some parts of the country they consti- cial correlates and groundings of association that are most clearly alive tute the majority in fact. Thus, the term ‘communities’ was introduced in language use and print or visual media’ – Marcus 1995: 108), the to define all ethnic and national groups living in the Republic of Ma- conflict (most notably contested issues in the public sphere), the plot, cedonia. story or allegory (interlocutors' narratives of everyday experience or The fieldwork method I used is unstructured or semi-structured memory), the life or biography (of individuals). Currently, I have done ethnographic conversations as well as observations and participant ob- research only in Macedonia, but the project foresees fieldwork in Italy servations of my interlocutors’ everyday lives. I spoke both with the too. local people as well as with the local officials and authorities like the In short, I spoke to two groups of people. At the beginning of imam, the municipality mayor or the primary school headmaster. In my research, in the Debar and Reka areas, I had access almost exclu- my interpretations of observed phenomena I follow Clifford Geertz (or sively to young, non-married men. Then, in the Struga region, I talked – through him – Max Weber) understanding of culture, that is 'an his- to, in principle, only with married women. It is caused above all by my torically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a sys- status in the field. At the beginning I came there as a non-married tem of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of woman, accompanied by students (predominantly female). Then, I got which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge married and became pregnant and I conducted my latest fieldwork ac- companied by my 10-month-old son. 511 512 TR. TIES AM. MIG. AND TH.FAM. THE C. OF L. MIG. (P.) FROM THE R. OF MAC. TO IT. KAROLINA BIELENIN-LENCZOWSKA Two issues were especially significant for gaining my anthropo- of the society and my behaviour was evaluated in their categories. logical knowledge: being a foreigner, or rather: being a Christian, and Therefore, although only implicitly, I was suspected of dissipation and being a woman. While I was not declaring my religious affiliations, not being good hostess, wife and mother. What does it mean? I was the interlocutors accepted a priori that if I am from Poland, I am a travelling alone (without the husband), thus I met strange men. Then, I Christian. When I was researching Orthodox Christians, they high- came with a little son, therefore I was very irresponsible. However, lighted my Catholicism, but for the Muslims I was just a ‘Christian.’ every day I was receiving a lot of advice on the upbringing of my Therefore, I was perceived by my interlocutors like other Christians child, including breast feeding. Certainly, I had much easier access to and like a Christian woman.
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