VISUALISING CULTURE - DEMONSTRATING IDENTITY: DANCE PERFORMANCE AND IDENTITY POLITICS IN A BORDER REGION IN NORTHERN GREECE DISSERTATION zur Erlangung der Würde des Doktors der Philosophie der Universität Hamburg vorgelegt von Ioannis Manos aus Florina Hamburg 2002 ii 1. Gutachterin: Prof. Dr. Waltraud Kokot 2. Gutachterin: Dr. Jane Cowan Tag des Vollzugs der Promotion: 15. Juli 2002 iii CONTENTS LIST OF MAPS.......................................................................................................................vii LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS..................................................................................................viii ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS............................................................................... xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................................................xiii NOTE ON THE TEXT........................................................................................................xviii CHAPTER 1:............................................................................................................................. 0 INTRODUCTION: THEORETICAL ORIENTATIONS ..................................................... 0 AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS............................................................................................ 0 1.1) The Object of Study: Constructing and De-constructing Boundaries Within Dance Events ....................................................................................................................... 0 1.2) Identity Formation Processes in the District of Florina: A Historical Perspective........................................................................................................................... 6 1.3) Theoretical Framework............................................................................................. 13 1.3.1) Conceptualising Identity and Difference in the Context of Greek Macedonia ..... 13 1.3.2) Conceptualising Dance.................................................................................................. 19 1.4) The Structure of the Thesis ...................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER 2:........................................................................................................................... 24 DOING FIELDWORK IN MY ‘OWN SOCIETY’.............................................................. 24 RESEARCH METHODS AND ISSUES OF REFLEXIVITY ............................................. 24 2.1) Introduction................................................................................................................ 24 2.2) Presenting Myself...................................................................................................... 26 2.3) Entering the Field ...................................................................................................... 31 2.4) Strategies for Creating Distance.............................................................................. 34 iv 2.5) Shifting Identifications and Ethnographic Marginality....................................... 35 CHAPTER 3:........................................................................................................................... 42 THE RESEARCH SETTING................................................................................................. 42 3.1) Introduction................................................................................................................ 42 3.2) The Economic and Geo-Political Contexts............................................................. 44 3.3) Images of the Place.................................................................................................... 53 3.3.1) The Town of Florina as a Place and a Social Space ................................................... 53 3.3.2) The Defenders of the Borders: Perceptions, Symbols and Values of Greekness... 65 CHAPTER 4:........................................................................................................................... 75 THE POLITICISATION OF DANCE IN FLORINA DISTRICT ..................................... 75 4.1) Introduction................................................................................................................ 75 4.2) The 1990s: The New Context for the Political Use of Culture ............................ 77 4.2.1) Greece and its Diplomatic Actions in Relation to the Macedonian Controversy . 77 4.2.2) Reflections at the Local Level: Actions and Reactions, Conflict and Tension....... 79 4.3) Contexts and Strategies for the Appropriation of Dance .................................... 88 4.3.1) Making Dance a Product for Display.......................................................................... 88 4.3.2) Dance Performances as Demonstrations of Competing Notions of Identity ........ 98 CHAPTER 5:......................................................................................................................... 106 THE CONSTRUCTION AND PERFORMANCE OF DIFFERENCE........................... 106 5.1 Introduction............................................................................................................... 106 5.2 The Visual Representation of Culture ................................................................... 107 5.2.1 The Wedding Revival ................................................................................................... 107 5.2.2 Perceptions, Objectives and Strategies of the Main Actors ..................................... 118 5.3 The Textual Representation of Culture ................................................................. 124 5.3.1 The Book Presentation.................................................................................................. 124 5.3.2. Perceptions and Interpretations of the Event........................................................... 127 5.4 The Two Events in the Broader Context of Local Cultural Politics................... 129 CHAPTER 6:......................................................................................................................... 136 ‘TO DANCE OR NOT TO DANCE?’: .............................................................................. 136 SIGNIFYING SELF IN PLURAL CULTURAL CONTEXTS ......................................... 136 6.1) Introduction.............................................................................................................. 136 6.2) Kiriakos..................................................................................................................... 138 6.3) Savvas........................................................................................................................ 144 6.4) Kir-Andreas.............................................................................................................. 147 6.5) Froso.......................................................................................................................... 152 6.6) Yiayia Anastasia ...................................................................................................... 155 6.7) Anthropological Accounts and the Construction of Individual Identities in Greek Macedonia............................................................................................................ 158 CHAPTER 7:......................................................................................................................... 163 v THE POLITICAL CHARACTER OF DANCE PERFORMANCE IN THE FLORINA REGION 163 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................. 169 ABSTRAKT........................................................................................................................... 184 vi LIST OF MAPS 1.1 The Prefecture of Florina..................................................................................... 4 (URL: http://www.all-hotels-in-greece.com/mapzoom.php?carry=Florina) (Courtesy of the the “All-Hotels-In-Greece” Team) 1.2 Geographical Macedonia..................................................................................... 7 (Cowan 2000) (Courtesy of the Pluto Press) 1.3 Balkan aspirations in 1912................................................................................... 8 (URL: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/balkan_aspirations_1914.jpg) 1.4 Territorial modifications in the Balkans after the Treaty of Bukarest (August 1913) ........................................................................................................................... 9 (URL: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/balkan_modifications_1914.jpg) (Courtesy of the General Libraries, the University of Texas at Austin) 3.1 The Prefecture of Florina................................................................................... 44 (URL: http://members.lycos.co.uk/Vic_Stathopoulos/gr/florina.html) (Courtesy of Vic Stathopoulos) vii LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS CHAPTER 1 1.1 Tsiganoi [Gypsies] in Florina (1914-1918)....................................................... 10 1.2 Turkish inhabitants of Florina (1914-1918) ..................................................... 11 1.3 Refugees from the city of Bitola at the Florina train station (1917)............. 12 CHAPTER 3 3.1 Views from Florina (1914-1918)........................................................................ 53 3.2 Views from Florina (1955-60)...........................................................................