Reference Type:  Thesis
Author: Anastasovski, Nick
Year: 2005
Title: Contestation Over Macedonian Identity 1870-1912
Academic Department: School of Social Sciences
City: Melbourne, Victoria
University: Victoria University
Degree: Doctor in Philosophy
Number of Pages: 542
Language: English
Keywords: Macedonians, history, identity, migration
Abstract: (ENG) Macedonia in the late nineteenth century sufferedpolitical, religious and paramilitary incursions made upon the population by theneighbouring nascent states and the disappearing Ottoman empire. Territorial claims were rationalised by ethnographic maps and statistical population data. Interestedcommentators viewed Macedonia in accordance with government policy andpresented their studies as academic and scientific, even though these studies wereclearly political in nature. The European Powers maintained their own pretence andacted as patrons of the small Balkan States. Although churches, schools andparamilitary bands were the primary instruments of the Greek, Bulgarian and Serbstates, expansion into Macedonia was ultimately achieved by a full military mobilisation when the armies of Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia marched intoMacedonia in October 1912 and drove out the Ottoman Turks. The territorialdivision of Macedonia and claims upon the Macedonians have continued to be amatter of contention between the Balkan States into contemporary times. As the new nation of Macedonia began its independent existence in 1991, itscitizens sought to understand this history. For lengthy periods Macedonia wascolonised by more powerful neighbours, especially the Turks in the Ottoman periodto 1912. The very word ‘Macedonia’ is a contested category, much like any otherpost-colonial concept. As each of its neighbours has sought to colonise Macedonia,Macedonian history has become overburdened with the representations of theseothers. There is no essential ‘Macedonia’ hidden beneath these foreign representations,but there is nonetheless a specific and distinctive history comprised of the everyday life of people in the territory now known as Macedonia. This thesis seeks to recover that everyday life through an examination of thesources relating to a defining period in Macedonian history, the period from 1870 to1912 – when Macedonia found herself in a disintegrating Ottoman Empire and the territorial ambitions of neighbouring Balkan States (Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia) saw them engage in a fierce competition for the hearts and minds of the MacedonianChristians. This thesis interrogates these sources by using the techniques and strategies of post-colonial scholars. This interrogation reveals, just as surely as the post-colonialistshave reinterpreted Western views of Asia and Africa, that views of Macedonia by Greeks, Turks, Bulgarians, Serbs and others are not 'innocent' or 'disinterested'. Thisthesis argues that, no matter how sophisticated their particular methodology oranalysis, these foreign scholars – demographers, historians, anthropologists – broughtto their studies of Macedonia late in the nineteenth century an imperial agenda, theramifications of which continue to influence politics in the region to the present time.


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract 9
Acknowledgments
Glossary of terms 13
List of maps 28
List of tables 32
List of illustrations 39
List of photographs 40
Introduction 42
Context 42
Summary 48
Chapter One:Colonisation and Islamicisation
551.1 Colonisation and Islamicisation 55
1.2 Religion and nationality 92
Chapter Two: Peoples and Populations99
2.1 Peoples of Macedonia 99
Macedonians: The contested majority 99
Vlahs: Romanian or Greek, a contested minority 107
Greeks: Fishermen, farmers or townsfolk? 112
Turks and Albanians: The colonists 114
Gypsies and Jews: The uncontested 120
2.2 Conflicts around population data 124
 Territorial boundaries 124
2.3 Population statistics 128
Ottoman Turkish population data 128
Population statistics advocated by Serbia,Bulgaria and Greece 139
Population data compiled by non-Balkan Europeanssupporting views of the respective Balkan States 160
Population data recognising Macedonian identity 165
Macedonian data 169
Chapter Three: Bitola174
3.1 Rural and urban landscapes 174
Pelagonia plain 179
Mariovo 185
Upper villages 188
Bitola: the urban scene 195
Ottoman civil administration 206
Commercial activity 212
3.2 Life on the land 221
Chifliks,begs and taxes 221
Village private land ownership 243
A rural life 249
3.3 Structure and social systems in a typical Bitolaregion village 255
Marriage 261
Role of women 265
3.4 Religious rituals and celebrations 266
Christmas 268
The Epiphany 272
Dudule 274
3.5 Pechalba 275
Chapter Four: A Contest for Souls 298
4.1 Introduction 298
4.2 Archbishopric of Ohrid 300
4.3 Religious organisations in Macedonia from the 1870s 304
Greek Patriarchate of Constantinople 304
Bulgarian Exarchate 307
Serb religious propaganda 311
Romanian activity 314
Western church organisations in Macedonia 316
4.4 Foreign armed bands (1903–1907) 318
Greek bands 320
Bulgarian bands 325
Serb bands 327
4.5 Ottoman policy 329
4.6 Priests and agitators 340
4.7 'Exarchists' and 'Patriarchists' 357
Self-preservation 368
Position of IMRO 370
Chapter Five: Schooling and Ruling 374
5.1 Foreign educational institutions in Macedonia, 1870–1912 374
Greek Patriarchate schools 375
Bulgarian Exarchate schools 379
Serbian schools 382
Romanian schools 386
Catholic and Protestant schools 389
5.2 Teachers, students and language 392
5.3 Statistical summary 417
Chapter Six: Complex Identities 421
6.1 Contrast between typical Macedonian Muslim village (Reka district) and typical MacedonianChristian village (Bitola region) 421
Churches and mosques 421
Schools 425
Pechalba 426
Layout and features 428
6.2 Celebrations and Rituals 434
Weddings 434
Funerals 441
Holy Days 444
Other celebrations 447
6.3 Macedonian Christian–Turkish Muslim village 451
6.4 Commonalities 464
Conclusion 466
Interviews conducted 486
Bibliography 492.
Research Notes: Romanian activity p. 314
Romanian schools p. 386
URL: http://www.scribd.com/doc/28316131/The-Contest-of-Macedonian-Identity-1870-1912-by-Nick-Anastasovski