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459 ~ Stoica LASCU Prof., Phd, „Ovidius” University of Constanţa Email: [email protected]

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459 ~ Stoica LASCU Prof., Phd, „Ovidius” University of Constanţa Email: Lascust@Gmail.Com Conferință științifică internațională, Chișinău, 22-23 septembrie 2020, ediția a II-a ~ 459 ~ Stoica LASCU Prof., PhD, „Ovidius” University of Constanţa email: [email protected] RECENT RESEARCH ON THE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF AROMANIANS IN THE BALKANS Summary. Recent Research on the Cultural Heritage of Aromanians in the Balkans. The paper presents concerns of some researchers from Romania (from Bucharest and Constanţa) regarding the knowledge and recording of the stage of the identity situation and cultural heritage of the Aroma- nians from the Balkans. It is a research project, spread over several years (2014–2019), initiated (by researcher Emil Ţîrcomnicu) by the “Constantin Brăiloiu” Institute of Ethnography and Folklore of the Romanian Academy, completed – so far – by publishing six albums. The areas of Korçë, Sarandë and Gjirokastër, Plain of Muzachia, Gramsh, Elbasan, and Pogradec (all in Albania), Bitolia region, Ohrid, Struga, and Crușova (all in the Republic of Northern Macedonia) are also covered. Also, the volume of research recently published about the travelers of the philologist-Professor Nistor Bardu for the knowledge of the current situation of the mother tongue at the (A)Romanians in Albania. Keywords: Research, Cultural Heritage, Balkans, Aromanians, “Constantin Brăiloiu” Institute of Ethnography and Folklore. In the last five years, fruitful research has been carried out in the areas inhabited by Aroma- nians in countries in the Balkan Peninsula (Albania1, Northern Macedonia, Bulgaria) – within a scientific project initiated and coordinated by researcher Emil Ţîrcomnicu, prolific author of volumes of Romanian ethnology2 (north and south-Danube), from the “Constantin Brăiloiu” Institute of Ethnography and Folklore of the Romanian Academy. 1 Ten years ago, a well-known researcher of the history of the Balkan Romanians initiated a re- search project on the Aromanians in Albania, materialized in a substantial volume – Adina Berciu- Drăghicescu, Aromânii din Albania – prezervarea patrimoniului lor imaterial. Proiect realizat sub egida Bibliotecii Metropolitane București și a Departamentului pentru Românii de Pretutindeni de pe lângă Guvernul României. Coordonator proiect: Prof. Univ. Dr. ..., București: Editura Biblioteca Bucureștilor, 2010, 26 p.; with the following table of contents – Adina Berciu-Drăghicescu, Românii din Peninsula Balcanică. Studiu de caz: aromânii din Albania (p. 21-40); Eadem, Institutul Român de la Saranda (p. 41-48); Virgil Coman, Fonduri arhivistice din patrimoniul Serviciului Judeţean Constanţa al Arhivelor Naţionale referitoare la aromânii originari din Albania (p. 49-72); Maria Magiru, Conside- raţii etnografice privitoare la românii din Peninsula Balcanică (p. 73-101); Dorin Lozovanu, Aromânii din Albania: Aspecte etnodemografice și identitare (p. 109-121); Viorel Stănilă, Neoaromânismul în context politico-diplomatic sud-est european (p. 123-133); Anexe (p. 135-310). 2 Românii de la sud de Dunăre. Obiceiuri tradiţionale de nuntă. Studiu istoric și etnologic, Editura Ziua (Coll. Românii de lângă noi), București, 2003, 186 p. (coauthor: Iulia Wisoșenschi); Identitate româ- nească sud-dunăreană. Aromânii din Dobrogea. Sărbători, obiceiuri, credinţe, cultură și viaţă comuni- tară, București: Editura Etnologică, 2004, 244 p.; Meglenoromânii: destin istoric și cultural, București: Editura Etnologică, 2004, 100 p.; Minorităţi românești sud-dunărene. Studiul etnologic al aromânilor, București: Editura Etnologică, 2007, 278 p.; Românii dintre Vidin, Dunăre și Timoc. Sărbători, obice- iuri, credinţe [Dictionary], București: Editura Institutului Cultural Român, 2010, 128 p.; Românii bal- canici în paginile „Gazetei Transilvaniei” [1878–1913]. Volum îngrijit de Emil Ţîrcomnicu and Stoica Lascu, București: Editura Etnologică, 2012, 304 p.; Sărbători și obiceiuri. Românii din Bulgaria. Vol. IV. Considerente privind elaborarea Atlasului Etnografic Român. Românii din afara granițelor. Serie nouă, București: Editura Etnologică, 2014, 100 p.; Sărbători și obiceiuri. Românii din Bulgaria. Vol. I. Timoc (Second edition completed), București: Editura Etnologică, 2017, 332 p. Patrimoniul cultural de ieri: implicații în dezvoltarea societății durabile de mâine ~ 460 ~ Iulia Wisoșenschi, Emil Țîrcomnicu, Cătălin Alexa, Nistor Bardu, „Lecturi vizuale” etno- logice la aromânii din Albania – Zona Korçë. Memorie, tradiție, patrimoniu [Ethnological “Vi- sual Readings” on the Aromanians from Albania – Korçë Area. Memory, Tradition, Heritage] (Societatea de Cultură Macedo-Română [Macedonian-Romanian Culture Society]), Bucureşti: Editura Etnologică, 2014, 144 p.; ill. The album „Lecturi vizuale” etnologice la aromânii din Albania – Zona Korçë, is the result of field research in August 2014, within the project entitled Configurations of the ethnological discourse of Aromanians in Albania and Romania from the perspective of interdisciplinary scien- tific research (ethnofolkloric and linguistic), proposed by the Macedo-Romanian Culture Society in partnership with the Institute of Ethnography and Folklore “Constantin Brăiloiu»” and the Cultural Foundation “Muşata Armână” (Mihail Kogălniceanu Town, Constanţa County), with funding provided by the Policy Department for Relations with Romanians Everywhere of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Initially, the theme of the project was to study ethnofolk- loric phenomena from an interdisciplinary perspective by combining the efforts of Romanian and Albanian specialists in various branches of academic research (ethnography, literary folk- lore, linguistics, ethnomusicology) and a visual artist. The intention of the group of specialists – led by the researcher Emil Ţîrcovnicu – was to carry out a proper research, directly in the field, in which to capture the metamorphoses of oral discourse, starting from the primary source – a conservative community, with a living oral tradition (Aromanians from Corcea) and with coherent community life, towards a unique investigation in a new living environment, that of the Aromanian enclaves (some of them with Albanian citizenship), temporarily or definitively established in Romania. The purpose of the scientific approach was to materialize in the draft- ing of theoretical studies on field observations and investigations on the mental dynamics and identity-cultural reconfiguration of a community with a strong traditional profile in two different situational contexts. However, the financial conditions “diverted” the meaning of the primary research and ori- ented the approach towards a different, visual of ethnological photography. The photographic material of the album Visual readings ethnological among the Aromanians from Albania, Korçë area, “is a visual reading exercise, with many unique photographs, some with emblematic value, which capture the current state and social-community dynamics of Aro- manian groups (Farsherots) from the Corcea area, being supported by samples of ethnofolkloric dialectal material, doubled by a consistent historical information provided by approved bibli- ographic sources, accredited by the academic community”3. This album actually continues an older tradition, initiated by the Manakia brothers, and in the field of Romanian research of two reference names for the academic research area, Theodor Capidan and Tache Papahagi, namely that of capitalizing on the South Danube ethnofolkloric material and in the form of albums with visual ethnological information, and not only in theoretical syntheses and scientific working tools such as: dictionaries, bibliographies, collections and anthologies, chrestomathy, etc. The originality and timeliness of the information (the material is recorded in August 2014) and, at the same time, the modern way of highlighting the material and intangible cultural heritage of the Aromanians from the researched localities: Corcea, Moscopole, Pleasa, Boboştiţa, Şipsca, “which we can categorize coherent communities in terms of a collective cultural identity, but in an obvious identity crisis, caused by the weakening and dilution of traditional milestones and landmarks in the context of the dynamics of today’s society, add value to the volume”. 3 Iulia Wisoșenschi, Emil Țîrcomnicu, Cătălin Alexa, Nistor Bardu, „Lecturi vizuale” etnologice la aromânii din Albania – Zona Korçë. Memorie, tradiție, patrimoniu [Ethnological “Visual Readings” on the Aromanians from Albania – Korçë Area. Memory, Tradition, Heritage] (Societatea de Cultură Macedo-Română [Macedonian-Romanian Culture Society]), Bucureşti: Editura Etnologică, 2014, p. 4. Conferință științifică internațională, Chișinău, 22-23 septembrie 2020, ediția a II-a ~ 461 ~ Iulia Wisoșenschi, Emil Țîrcomnicu, Cătălin Alexa, „Lecturi vizuale” etnologice la aromânii din Albania – Câmpia Muzachiei. Memorie, tradiție, patrimoniu (Societatea de Cultură Macedo- Română), București: Editura Etnologică, 2015, 160 p.; ill. The research team’s interest was directed at another significant group of Aromanians in Al- bania, known as the Miuzacheans (Farsherots), namely those established in the fertile Plain of Muzechia / Myzeqeja (called in alb. Muzeche and Mizuchea in arom.), divided into Muzachia Mare (Muzeche e Madhe) and Muzachia Mică (Muzeche e Vogël). The authors shown that the Aromanians here “had to adapt both to the demands of a closed, communist society in the sec- ond half of the last century, but also to a society that had to recover democratically and economi- cally in the last twenty years”. Also, next to the Aromanian from Moscopole sedentarized
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