Copyright by Emily Anne Hillhouse 2013 The Dissertation Committee for Emily Anne Hillhouse Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Picturing the Peasant: Nation and Modernity in 20th century Bulgaria Committee: Mary Neuburger, Supervisor Joan Neuberger Charters Wynn David Crew Faegheh Shirazi Picturing the Peasant: Nation and Modernity in 20th Century Bulgaria by Emily Anne Hillhouse, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2013 Dedication To Mama and Daddy: for your love and support all of these years. I just might be the luckiest daughter in the whole world. I love you. Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the guidance and support of the many wonderful people in my life. All mistakes are mine alone, but the best parts of my work emerged from the inspiration and encouragement of my professors, colleagues, family and friends. In particular, I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor Mary Neuburger, who unfailingly gave me thoughtful and constructive feedback on my work and provided an amazing sounding board for my ideas. Furthermore, I would probably still be standing defeated outside the graphics room of the National Library in Sofia if not for her guidance! I would also like to thank my committee members, Joan Neuberger, Charters Wynn, David Crew and Faegheh Shirazi, each of whom played an important role in shaping my graduate career and opened my eyes to new ways of studying history. This dissertation might never have been completed if not for the assistance of Christelle LeFaucheur. Not only did she read every draft and outline and stray piece of writing, but she was unfailingly supportive and provided me with the structure and encouragement I needed. She has my eternal gratitude. I am grateful to Brooke Iglehart, Yael Sherman and Mariana Ivanova, each of whom supported me at crucial moments in this process. I would also like to thank the Fulbright Committee, whose belief in my project made it possible for me to complete my research in Bulgaria. While there, I received assistance from so many people, but I would particularly like to thank Mariana Stamova, Mila Maeva, Kostadin Grozev, Ted Effremov and Claudia Dinep. Finally, I would like to thank my beloved family: my mother who came to Bulgaria for three months to watch my daughter, my father who let her (even if it wasn’t for Roman history!), my husband who has sacrificed so much and has been my tireless v support, and finally my daughter, who is the joy of my life. I love you all. vi Picturing the Peasant: Nation and Modernity in 20th Century Bulgaria Emily Anne Hillhouse, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Supervisor: Mary Neuburger This dissertation examines representations of the Bulgarian peasant in order to explore how nationalist, agrarian and ultimately communist governments attempted to negotiate the meaning of “modernity” in predominantly rural Bulgaria. This work is not intended as a survey of displays of folk culture in the 20th century, but instead focuses each chapter on an important person, movement or organization which best seems to articulate Bulgaria’s evolving sense of itself and its place on the edge of Europe. Beginning with a background chapter on the 1878-1917 period, I trace the foundation and development of ethnographic display, representations of peasants in the interwar educational press, campaigns to improve village hygiene and culture, alpine tourism, and the ever-changing image of peasants in propaganda from the years of agrarian rule in the 1920s through the early decades of communism. My dissertation explores the contested meanings of peasant images in Bulgaria’s changing political and social milieu. Bulgaria’s acceptance into first Europe and later the Soviet sphere of influence was for many nation-builders predicated upon her ability to attain European and later Soviet-style modernity. However, these modernities were based upon ideas of industrialization and urbanization. In the middle of the 20th century, vii however, Bulgaria’s economy was still overwhelmingly agricultural. This represented a problem for Bulgaria’s nation builders. Confronted with these seeming contradictions, different regimes attempted to incorporate the rural population into their visions of a modern Bulgaria. The changing nature of this imagined Bulgaria can be best elucidated through images of the Bulgarian peasantry. At one moment incorporated and at another excluded, modern and backward, embraced and reviled, the imagined peasantry reveals the anxieties and aspirations of Bulgarian state builders in the 20th century. viii Table of Contents List of Figures ........................................................................................................ xi Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 Terminology: From Selianin to Peasant .......................................................10 Modernity, the Nation and the Peasant .........................................................11 Imagining the Peasantry ................................................................................16 Chapter One: Exhibiting the Peasant: Modern Bulgaria in the National Ethnographic Museum.........................................................................................................22 The Early Ethnographic Museum .................................................................28 Audience and Interwar Museum ...................................................................32 Display in the Interwar Museum...................................................................39 Ethnographic Diplomacy ..............................................................................52 The League of Nations Exhibition- St. Albans, England, 1922 ...........55 The Finnish Exhibition- Helsinki, 1937...............................................59 Conclusion ....................................................................................................63 Chapter Two: Nashe Selo: Co-opting the Peasantry into the National “Group” in the 1930s Press....................................................................................................65 Imagining a Modern Bulgaria in the Periodical Press (1864-1932) .............74 Nasheto Selo to Nashe Selo ..........................................................................79 Modernizing Agriculture .....................................................................81 A Community of Peasants ...................................................................84 Peasant Culture ....................................................................................89 The Feminization of the Peasantry ......................................................97 Conclusion ..................................................................................................118 Chapter Three: The Agrarian Proletariat: Peasants in Monumental Art in Stalinist Bulgaria .......................................................................................................121 Socialist Realism comes to Eastern Europe ................................................129 The Peasant in Bulgarian Political Art........................................................139 The Set Up: A New Monument is Planned! ...............................................144 ix The Soldier, the Peasant and the Worker: “A Monument of Friendship” ..157 The Village in Transition ............................................................................165 Conclusion ..................................................................................................169 Chapter Four: How to Make a Modern Peasant: Urbanization of the 1950s Bulgarian Village .........................................................................................................172 Bulgarian Hygiene before the Second World War .....................................177 Creating Modern Soviet Citizens under Stalin ...........................................187 Transitions to Socialist Modernity ..............................................................193 The City in the Village ................................................................................196 Folk Culture and the Modern Village .........................................................205 Advancing and Resisting: Contradictory Images of the Peasantry .............209 Conclusion ..................................................................................................218 Chapter Five: “Ethnographic Tourism”: Folk Culture and Socialist Leisure in 1960s Bulgaria .......................................................................................................220 Into the Museum .........................................................................................225 Tourism in Bulgaria ....................................................................................235 Ethnographic Tourism ................................................................................238 The Road to Etŭra .......................................................................................241 The Ethnographic Complex at Etŭra...........................................................249 “I am more of a Bulgarian than when I arrived!” .......................................259