Vassilis Nitsiakos, Ioannis Manos, Georgios Agelopoulos, Aliki Angelidou, Vassilis Dalkavoukis, Vasiliki Kravva (Eds.) Ethnographic Research in Border Areas Contributions to the Study of International Frontiers in Southeast Europe 2016 Ethnographic Research in Border Areas Contributions to the Study of International Frontiers in Southeast Europe Edited by Vassilis Nitsiakos, Ioannis Manos, Georgios Agelopoulos, Aliki Angelidou, Vassilis Dalkavoukis & Vasiliki Kravva 2016 Cover Picture: the Konitsa Bridge ISBN: 978-960-93-8755-2 The research projects included in this volume have been supported by the Border Crossings Network and the Konitsa Summer School Acknowledgments: The Border Crossings Network and the editors would like to thank: - Argyris Papasyriopoulos for his efforts in copy-editing the collection and, thus, improving the accuracy and style of the text. - George Mantzios, PhD candicate in Social-Cultural Anthropology (University of Toronto), for playing a major part in the organization and coordination of the publication and the proof-reading process. - Thodoris Kouros, PhD candidate in Sociology (University of Cyprus), for offering his expertise in putting together the papers and setting up the collection in a pdf file. 2 CONTENTS Understanding Borders And Bordering Processes: The Ethnographic Study Of International Frontiers In Southeast Europe IOANNIS MANOS ........................................................................................................................................... 4 1. Disappeared Queen And Communist Bandits. Hegemonic Discourse And Counter-Memory In The Public Space Of Konitsa At The Greek-Albanian Border MARINA CHATZIARISTERIDOU, ALKISTIS DALKAVOUKI, STAVROS KERAMIDAS, ALIAKSANDR SHUBA & FALIA VARELAKI ............................................................................................ 14 Representations in Rural Tourism: Authenticity in Prespa Lake Region SARA MORIC & SARA SUDETIC ............................................................................................................... 22 Divided Families: the Borders’ Perception through the Human Senses. Preliminary Results of the Field Trip in August, 2014 MAXIM MAKARTSEV, ALEXANDRA CHIVARZINA, MIKHAIL CHIVARZIN, ANNA YAKOVLEVA & DESPINA SPYRELI .......................................................................................................... 31 Perceptions of Cultural Heritage: the Case of Gjirokaster’s Old City SOFIA MOUTAFI & SOFIA PARDALI ........................................................................................................ 38 Ideologizing Language, Constructing Boundaries: Locality, Ethnicity and Nationalism in the Greek Minority Village of Dervitsani, Albania ELENI KOTSIRA, EKATERINA ZHELTOVA & KATERINA ASANAKI ................................................... 47 Permanent Temporality: Immigration, Construction of Place and Imaginary Kinship IVA GRUBIŠA & ELISAVET PAMLIDOU................................................................................................... 56 Stained Hands: The Social and Cultural Life of the Mulberry Tree in Boboshtiçe, Albania MADELINE HENDRICKS, JOSCELYN JURICH, ANASTASIA KRYACHKO & DIMITRA STAVROU ..................................................................................................................................................... 64 Landscape in Transition: Environment Appropriation and Use in Gjonomadh Village, Albania ALSENA KOKALARI, E. İDIL BÖREKÇI, GÖKHAN GÜLBANDILAR & THEODOSIA MAROUTSI ..... 74 Is Macedonian Identity Challenged? Observations from Dolno Dupeni Border Region MINA HRISTOVA ......................................................................................................................................... 85 The Saraj of Niyazi Beg from Resen/Dragi Tozija House of Culture as a Metaphor for the Turkish Minority in Resen YAĞMUR DÖNMEZ & YUSUF AVCI ......................................................................................................... 93 Morality between Cooperation and Competition: Times of Crisis and Local Feelings at Konitsa GABRIELA RADULESCU .......................................................................................................................... 101 Hospitality on Sale: Does Running a Family Business in a Small Community Raise a Challenge to the Family or to the Business? A Case Study of the Small Family Hotel Businesses in Konitsa, Greece TETIANA LIALKA & UFUK H. TORAMAN ............................................................................................. 108 3 UNDERSTANDING BORDERS AND BORDERING PROCESSES: THE ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL FRONTIERS IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE Ioannis Manos Introduction It has become common knowledge, when we talk about borders, to assert, firstly, that we live in a borderless and de-territorialized world where the significance of geopolitical borders has changed through the processes of globalization, the formation of supranational organizations, regional integration, and the power of cyberspace (the advancement and spread of information technology), and secondly, that borders have become more permeable via the constant movement of people, capital, goods and information. Some recurrent depictions of the above mentioned two views are the metaphorical depictions of borders as a membrane or a bridge. This represents a vision of the world that has been shaped by a capitalist, neo-liberal perspective according to which the permeability of borders is a current project that is desired and actively promoted. Yet, the political reality across the world and the study of borders point otherwise. Existing borders have been undermined or eroded, new borders have been established, and others have been reinforced through ethno-nationalist aspirations and security concerns over terrorism and illegal migration. Novel dividing lines and fresh categorizations of peoples, places, relations and identities are the outcome of a functioning of new border regimes where borders act as techniques of classifying and ordering (Green 2013: 350). This ascertainment put an end to a kind of naïve optimism that characterized the early post-Cold war period and challenged us to acknowledge borders’ complexities and emerging asymmetries. Focusing on SE Europe, we could see that the expansion of the EU in the region and the political and economic integration after the fall of communist regimes have created a complex setting for border studies. Imperatives of actual or desired EU membership have led Balkan states’ governments to develop new policies at the sub-national, national and international level, which, in their turn, have resulted in the opening up of borders, the relaxation of state controls and the increase of communication and the acceleration of socio-economic changes. Money and other resources have been invested in trans-border cooperation. Yet, the idea of EU’s borders, both internal and external, is problematically accommodated within the idea of state borders. The resurgence of old national/nationalist projects, as well as the creation of some new ones, have resulted into an increasing number of intense disputes over border issues between neighboring states, of which some are new while others are old and unresolved. The current tensions and conflicts in the Middle East and northern African countries and the vast waves of refugees and illegal migrants are perceived as compromising stability in the region and EU security. The (re-)emergence of extreme right-wing parties and movements denounces the notion of open borders and sees it with suspicion. Borders are connected with the notion of the protection of territorial integrity and national security. Current state of border studies – The study of SE Europe borders The anthropological study of international borders across the world has grown considerably, especially over the last past 10 years. This branch of Anthropology has gained greater legitimacy as a field of inquiry and has established itself as one of having global implications. Border studies are dealing with questions about how identity, territory and the state are interrelated in the formation of the self and of group identification. Within UNDERSTANDING BORDERS AND BORDERING PROCESSES this framework, their focus is on people who are living at international borders, on the politics of the state in order to create or reproduce the nation, and on processes that construct and de-construct social, cultural and symbolic boundaries1. Through the use of ethnography of a local community, they offer a unique view on the meaning of borders for those living there and the ways the latter affect their lives – socially, culturally, economically, politically and spatially. By giving emphasis on the local setting, they stress how borders are constructed, negotiated and viewed from “below” through the locals’ everyday practice. They also demonstrate the ways social relations transcend the territorial limits of the state and bond persons and groups across borders with cultural, social economic and political ties. Yet, the central thread that runs through both the individual case studies and the comparative approaches to borders still remains that of the nation-state (Wilson and Donnan 2012b). The ethnographic work on borders in SE Europe2 shares some of the previously mentioned characteristics with, probably the most central of them, the manifestation of ambiguous identities by the border people. This ambivalent border identity based on historical, cultural