Grog Blog: Out of the Balkans

Grog seems an apt term through which to describe my life these days. Imperial pints aside, I taught a book last week on aboriginal Australia (‘At Home in the World’ by Prof. M. Jackson) which unfortunately, discusses somewhat the aboriginal propensity to drink ‘grog’. But given the word’s use in colloquial English, or its association with grogginess, I reckon it well suits an entry mid-winter in the UK. For I’m three weeks into the term and have hardly seen the sun, let alone the light of day. Has been unusually wintry (cold and even snowy) till this week, in fact. The sun did show its face at the lunch hour, but this being England, an hour later a downpour falls as I write.

While I’m here in Canterbury to do doctoral research for my fieldwork in Macedonia, I am admittedly no longer in the Balkans. The feeling I have about that is mixed, and I think busyness and grogginess have kept such thoughts at bay. Yet when I open my eyes, particularly when in town, I see a very different world. The UK is a fast paced and individualistic society, where people are cordial but not nearly so hospitable as in Macedonia and around. Life here is characterized by that barbarian consumerism, though maybe due to the economy (quite sluggish still) not quite as bad as in the US.

Yet being away from both and now settling for the time being here, I ponder through my readings and experience that from where I came. Teaching and studying Anthropology, and particularly Southern Mediterranean/Middle Eastern culture, I see associations with the Balkans that align it culturally with the latter, not Western Europe. No doubt, as we’ve discussed in seminars, culture is fluid and subject to economic and political circumstances, but the overriding theme of our readings (so far largely on gender in Lebanon and Egypt) is that of honor codes, shame, kinship, and patriarchy. In one fascinating piece on an Arab community in Lebanon, we read about the reproduction and transferral of patriarchy through brother-sister relationships. As opposed to the vertical, father-daughter transferral of such traditions, this piece showed how valued brothers were to their sisters, despite what Western eyes would see as misogynistic behaviour. Brothers harass their sisters about their dress and appearance, sometimes physically. Yet parents don’t oppose, nor do the sisters in this case. They are being conditioned to be the female representatives of the family, to protect the family’s honor. At the same time, their brothers are being conditioned to be the dominant males. Thus sisters in fact have leverage given the role to which they’re being conditioned.

This week we read several pieces concerning veiling, which was eye opening. Veiling is dependent upon country and culture, but also economics. One piece we read in fact laid out the history of veiling in 20th century Egypt. In the 1920s, veiling was seen as indicative of conservatism and sexism, and an independent (of the government, such as in Turkey or Iran) women’s movement sprang forth that sought to unveil women and release them from their isolated, shrouded lives. Although this was more of an upper class movement, with lower classes quite busy, content or just used to the veil, the growing middle class lent the movement to it, and unveiling became quite popular. However, as this piece and another discuss, with growing Western influence and a changing economy, the latter half of the 20th century actually saw veiling grow in popularity again. Relevant to contemporary bans on veiling in W. Europe, the first piece stated that this was to be honorable, as the veil shows dignity and devotion to husband and home, as well as to alleviate any concerns of the former that working women might behave immodestly. In another piece though, the Women’s Mosque Movement (WMM) is discussed, and how piety (‘salat’) as habitus has resurfaced, to counter the ‘folklorification’ of Islam and wearing of the veil simply as cultural custom. Indeed, as opposed to just being an aspect of the cultural realm, devout women of the WMM contend that it should be of the heart and habit.

All in all, the readings are informative and as I mentioned, relevant to the diverse and conservative countries of the Balkans. Although my research veers elsewhere (see my blog from September 2009), being an Anthropologist is absorbing all about humanity and processing it through lived experience. Thus I consider these groggy days to be an interlude to the research and understanding yet to come.

Bulgaria

The snow fell lightly but accumulation was evident on the elevated border of Macedonia and Bulgaria last weekend. Up out of the valleys and heading toward the higher climes of western Bulgaria, the roads were icy and snow half of foot thick sat on pine tree branches. It was my first time seeing snow this season. We wound down into the country through no highway of any kind, but a meandering road that after a couple of hours had us in the suburbs of the capital, Sofia. I hadn’t actually been to Sofia in five years, so going back was exhilarating for me. I recall my first allowed exit out of Macedonia as a PCV with five friends in 2003. We came to Sofia and were, after isolation in small villages and towns for six months, thrilled to see a grand city. Not to mention the Dunkin Donuts, KFC, Pizza Hut…I was back on a couple of occasions after that, the last being New Year’s Eve 2004.

Entering Sofia on a wintry Saturday night by bus I saw the lights of the city on and people about. The large communist built apartment blocks looked more friendly than usual and I was admittedly pleased to see a “Makedonska Skara (Grill)” with the Sun of Vergina as we made our way to the center. Having had a nearly five hour bus ride and upon checking into my hotel, I went for a much needed stroll. In restaurants and bars there was a bustle, but the streets were serene in the center and I wandered around the government buildings, admiring and comparing them to Skopje. Seeing the “Narodno Sobranie”, administrative, and court buildings, one truly feels they’re in a capital city. These buildings pre-date communism, so they have a character unseen in Skopje, which lost most of its pre-SFRY architecture in the great earthquake of 1963. Though it was never such a big city as Sofia to begin with.

Hearing the Bulgarian tongue though reminds me of the Slavic linguistic continuum that is SE Europe. I understand a decent deal, in fact, because I was a PCV in eastern Macedonia, on the border with Bulgaria, and where the dialect sounds much more like what’s spoken in Sofia than Skopje. “Moga” instead of “moze”, “dobre” instead of “dobro”, “tuh-ka” instead of “ta-ka”, “vonka” instead of “nadvor”. It also all reminds me how relevant politics are to demarcating borders, political & cultural. For while people in E. Macedonia may speak similar to Bulgarians, I never heard anyone there claim to be Bulgarian. Although some may have been a century ago, strong assimilation efforts by both Soviet-led Bulgaria and Yugoslav Macedonia sought to separate these peoples and give them a new national identity.

Yet that legacy lives on. As my colleague and I made our way to Plovdiv earlier this week, we had plenty of time in the car to talk. We were speaking about the name issue in Macedonia, which as I’ve written about, is big and ongoing news. With the EU giving the country the yellow light to begin accession talks, they’ll only get the green once they settle the name dispute with Greece. My take has always been that Macedonia has the right to call itself whatever it wants—they’re entitled to self-determination. History may be another story, but the present is what should matter most. Yet I gathered from the conversation last night that Bulgarians have a different take on things, and while maybe not siding with the Greeks, have ongoing issues of their own with Macedonia. Although the latter a century back was more of a geographical region inhabited by people who called themselves Bulgarians, Serbs, and so on (though that's not to say there was no sense of Macedonian identity), Yugoslav nationalism created the Macedonian ethnicity that characterizes the country today. Many Macedonians may have in recent years gotten Bulgarian passports for the advantages they offer, but I reckon few would say they’re actually Bulgarian. Regardless, while it’s been an obvious ploy to get Macedonians back on the Bulgarian side, I never heard the Bulgarian take on it until this week. And what I heard was that it’s hypocrisy for people to take the passports but not call themselves Bulgarian—which is exactly what the Bulgarian government wants to see, I’m sure.

We also broached on the topic of the famous “Macedonian revolutionary” Goce Delchev (I lived as a Peace Corps volunteer in a town re-named after him—Delchevo). What I learned though was that he’s not seen as Macedonian here, but a Bulgarian who fought against the Turks to liberate these South Slavic lands. (A Greek in Thessaloniki told me the same in a quarrel I had many years ago at the “Museum of Macedonia” there). Indeed, Delchev was from the Pirin part of Macedonia in SW Bulgaria, and while he was initially entombed in Sofia after his death, his body was moved in 1946 to Skopje to help Tito foster the Macedonian national identity.

Yet the fact of the matter is that Bulgaria does have some issues with Macedonia, though some fair points. As far as the former, they pretty much consider the Macedonian language to be Bulgarian (and given that I can converse in the two lends credence to their similarity, though I again attest to the region begin better characterised as a continuum than just two languages), and that they amusingly comment that any differences in Macedonian are the result of Serbian or “dialekt”. There does seems to be a continual joking about this and other geographical aspects of the region though that really makes me realize that Macedonia is seen in very different eyes here than in say, Serbia. For in Serbia, they may have lorded over Macedonia for most of the 20th century, but the language is quite different and Macedonians tend to be looked down upon as poorer, agricultural folk. Bulgarians seem to have this proprietary notion of the language though. Nonetheless, the customs and character of Macedonians is much more in line with Serbs than Bulgarians, likely as a legacy of Yugoslavia. I’m indeed fascinated by the behavior I’ve witnessed this week. Bulgarians are just far more to themselves—less talkative and gregarious, and more serious. We had one teacher just walk into the room we were using for interviews today and sit down, saying she had work to do. We tried to explain to her what we were doing, but it fell on deaf ears. Only the director’s order dislodged her. Others have been friendly, but not nearly so much as in Macedonia and the former Yugoslavia.

It is perhaps, as one professor at IU (Randall Baker) who’s a Bulgarophile said, a country characterized by a Cassandrian attitude—that the world can’t possibly get any worse, and the next day will likely be worse than today. But this means people live life to its fullest and seek out opportunities in any way they can. Indeed, Bulgarians seem opportunistic and successful at home and abroad, with large diasporas in the UK, Spain, Germany, and US. Yet whether any of these people intend to return, as in the Western Balkans, I’m not sure. The country’s population is shrinking and remittances from the diaspora less, as I understand. Is it all the legacy of Soviet, Todor Zhivkov led Communism I wonder? Something certainly sets Bulgaria and Bulgarians apart.

That said, I’ve been on the road all week, and I spent three nights in Plovdiv in an over-heated room. Although the days are short I also try to enjoy, and managed to stroll through (and get lost in) the old town a couple of times. Built on a ridge of three hills, it’s been inhabited or used for millennia. Today it is a preserved area with homes built during the Bulgarian national revival period. A century back, this period was perhaps a backlash to the centuries of Ottoman rule that were violently overthrown with the great help of Russia (the Russian-Turkish War, it’s called). There are several churches and monuments throughout the country that commemorate this, the largest being Aleksandar Nevski in Sofia. Point being: Bulgaria has been supported by Russia for quite some time, and this may help to differentiate it.

To note, Plovdiv’s old town houses were really lovely. Hanging over the streets, with 2nd and 3rd floors larger than the 1st at street-level, they’re only seen in Macedonia in Ohrid and some old neighborhoods of smaller towns. But none there with so much color, design, and character as those in Plovdiv. The center of town was also a lively place, with the long pedestrian zone—its shops, stands, and cafes. After eyeing the Belgian waffle and crepe stands, I found a “Nemski” (German) one that sold bratwurst—a rare treat in this part of the world. I had two and a Beck’s, and sat at the outdoor table to watch to the world go by. Young couples in bumper cars 30 feet away, and teens crossing the plaza, probably on their way home from the 2nd shift at the local high school, entertained me. But the conversation I struck up was with the woman working in the bratwurst stand. Her mother was born in the Macedonian city of Gevgelija, and she took me as a Macedonian. So it goes.

We had the day off to travel though yesterday, needing time and rest to make our way to where we are now, in Ruse. Ruse is the 5th largest city in the country, an hour south of Bucharest, Romania, and sitting on the Danube—a historical trade center and the most European city in Bulgaria, I’m told. However, the winter weather that hit north-eastern Europe this week has made its way here—it’s now cold, windy, and snowy. Yet the drive yesterday yielded some further insight for me into this country. For Bulgaria to me is what I hope to see Macedonia be in 10-15 years. It is more modern, cleaner, wealthier, and the people seem more independent in their gestures, thinking, speaking. I don’t think I would ever experience the conversation I had yesterday here in Macedonia, whereby our driver—a big middle-aged Bulgarian chap—pulled out his mobile phone over coffee to show us a picture of a cat he’d wanted to adopt. Unusual, but sincere. Further, students we interview express much more independent activities and thinking—karate, acting, music, drawing, poetry, mountain climbing.

Therefore, Bulgaria fascinates me because it is similar to Macedonia in language and how people look, but very different otherwise. But no doubt having been under Soviet rule, having had no visa regime since 1997, no post-communist conflict, and being a member of the EU for two years now, has set it apart but ahead. For Macedonia will be liberated from it’s Schengen visa regime only tomorrow—a huge day no doubt—and is only entertained by the prospect of NATO and EU entry in coming years. Indeed, being here makes me realize how Macedonia lags behind, and seems stifled by ethnic and nationalist factors that can't be extinguished. Although I return to Skopje tomorrow, I hope to certainly return here in the future, and to see then a Bulgaria that has meshed again with Macedonia, and for the betterment of both.

Kosovo

I unfortunately don’t get to see as much as I’d like when I travel. In fact, except for students’ faces, dinner and a walk nearby, and my hotel room, I see very little. That said, I’m not a passive traveler sitting around each place I go to. In fact, my job at this stage is to interview candidates for our exchange programs in the US. The great thing about this is that they’re an interesting representational sample of each place and region I go to, and there have been a few notable trends in each of the towns I’ve interviewed in. To stipulate, we generally try to get a feel for our candidates’ interests and perceptions, tolerance and curiosity. However, we don’t ask about racial or religious preferences. Further, we ask whether their parents support their participation.

So what have been the trends? In the town of Vranje, Serbia, several students seemed overly interested in hip-hop and black America. Many said they would like to see blacks and get to know them. In another Serbian town, students spoke of the major intolerance of their country—the hooliganism, intolerance, and resulting violence. (Related xenophobia even led to a French football fan being dragged out of a café in the middle of the day in Belgrade a few weeks back and beaten to death.) Lastly, in Serbia, several students said their parents were divorced. This is quite unusual in this part of the world (though less so in cities), but I was in an unusual part of the region—the mixed Bosniak-Serb town of Novi Pazar. From what I’ve gathered, students’ parents were married before or at the start of the Balkan conflicts (1992-95) there, and as a legacy of Yugoslavia (many people having taken on a “Yugoslav” national identity) and pre-ethno-nationalist political rhetoric. Unfortunately, the war between Serbia and Bosnia tore people apart. Old prejudices were resurrected (or fabricated?) and relationships with friends, neighbors, spouses became subject to political, religious and ethnic disputes. Who’s Christian/Muslim, Serbian/Bosnian? Tragically, likely other family members in this strong kinship-based society pulled couples apart, and thus their children (our student candidates, born between 1993-95) suffer the burden of life without one of their parents at home.

Even worse though is the situation for some where I was this past week. In Prishtina and Prizren, Kosovo, I heard at least half a dozen (if not more) students say they’d lost their fathers. While we never ask why, I spoke to my colleague and driver there, both who said that it was the stress of society, and perhaps more so the 1999 conflict and its aftermath that have made life very tough in Kosovo. Indeed, most of these young deaths are cancer, brought on by stress as a result of unemployment, vices (primarily nicotine, alcohol, and caffeine in this part of the world), a lack of exercise, and the resulting feeling of no integrity, no doubt. I do hope and believe that this next generation who we’re interviewing will change things though. With Euro-Atlantic integration, visa free travel, better education, and stamping out corruption, I think the Western Balkans will see better opportunities for its people.

Kosovo was incredibly interesting overall. Not recognized by Serbia, entering the country from Serbia meant there was no official border or passport examination. As I’d been there before but never for more than half a day, staying five days allowed me to pick up a bit more of the language, and to get a feel for things. For example, my nice hotel in the capital, Prishtina hosted several European bureaucrats. Over breakfast and dinner I was able to see and hear them work on what are myriad projects and measures being taken in what is a very conflicted yet recently independent little country. Indeed, Kosovo only got its independence last year, having been under the auspices of the UN and NATO since 1999. However, the country’s independence is contentious, to say the least. It violated the 1999 UN treaty with Serbia that ended the conflict, which said that Serbia’s territorial integrity shall not be violated. Kosovo, being a former province of Serbia, is thus seen by Serbia and other governments as having declared independence illegally. For the record, I don’t support this notion. Kosovo is 90% ethnic Albanian and moreover, could never be governed by Belgrade again. Yet it matters because next week begins the trial in the UN’s International Court of Justice which seeks to challenge Kosovo’s independence. Serbia has of course made the case, but as an Economist article this week discusses, not only do Serbia’s allies (primarily Russia) have concern about the independence of Kosovo and the precedent it has set, but other countries with separatist minorities are reluctant to see the case condoned. They fear it may incite such minorities with territorial ambitions in their country to push a little harder.

Something else I only saw in Prishtina was the loudly pronounced anti-establishment movement. I say anti-establishment, because the movement, Vetëvendosje (‘Self-determination’) is opposed to a continued international presence but also the government that cooperates with them. I frequently saw graffiti illustrating this, and riots this year which caused material damage to UN vehicles and buildings were incited by Vetëvendosje. Given a EU security force that was established in cooperation with Serbia, they see this as violating their autonomy. I thus saw a good deal of anti-EULEX propaganda.

But Prishtina has actually thrived from the international presence. A decade of international peacekeepers, bureaucrats, and their money has created a layer of society that wouldn’t have existed otherwise—a clear upper class. I heard about nice houses and neighborhoods, but what I clearly saw were the nice hotels, restaurants, and bars that cater to the elite. They are, admittedly, a treat to visit given the lack of such diversity elsewhere in the region. “Culinary cosmopolitanism,” as my travel guide said. Yet I can see why there’s resentment—bureaucrats earning daily what an average person earns monthly is a bit disturbing, particularly when the work they’re doing is not seen as beneficial to the country.

Beyond all this, Prishtina lacks historical character, though is set nicely in a valley and creeping up over hills. Fortunately, the rest of my trip was had in Prizren. Just over the mountains from NW Macedonia, it felt a world away. A Serbian town in medieval times, Prizren thrived under the Ottoman Empire as a trading center. When it became predominantly Albanian, I’m not sure, but the combination of its religious and cultural history, not to mention the setting and architecture, makes it a gem in this part of the world. To briefly elaborate, the town is in a hilly, not yet mountainous area. But built on an incline along a freshwater, mountain like river, it has centuries old Orthodox churches and Islamic mosques. Further, there’s the “carsija,” a Turkish word used in most cities in the region to describe the old market part of town. Right in the center along the river, the carsija has 19th and early 20th century structures housing excellent restaurants and shops. Right near the city library where we were working was an excellent sweet shop with more kinds of baklava than I’d ever seen! (I was only able to try a couple of kinds…)

Beyond its lengthy history, Prizren is famous for hosting the “League of Prizren” in 1878. The League was a coming together of Albanian intellectuals at the time, who attempted to lay out an Albanian state from the provinces of the then disintegrating Ottoman Empire. In the end they were unsuccessful, but the building and its museum are a reminder of this event and source of pride for Albanians.

Unfortunately, Prizren was subject to a great deal of vandalism in March 2004 during significant rioting and conflict throughout Kosovo. Nearly three dozen people died in the country, though none in Prizren. But the town’s Orthodox churches and monasteries suffered greatly. One up above the town near the fortress looks intact from below, but an image from above shows quite the contrary. Unfortunately, several churches bore this fate, and are now barb-wired off and not used. Not to mention the Serbs who lived there previously have all but left.

Yet as I returned to Skopje the other night, we drove through what is a Serb enclave in southern Kosovo (most Serbs live in the north of the country). I’d heard positively about the area before, as its natural beauty is splendid and the ski area there is an example of Serbs and Albanians living cooperatively. Yet a Ukrainian KFOR (NATO military) contingency in the middle of the village was a reminder of the delicate peace and safety that exists in the country. Indeed, if five years after the first peace (1999) there was such rioting and killing as there was in 2004, it seems a possibility that with Serbia bullying the country, another five years later it could happen again.

Sandzak & Le Salad Macedoine

Oh, how time is flying! Am on the road this week working quite intensely, but wanted to post from my current location in Novi Pazar in southwest Serbia, just north of Kosovo. I came via Uzice, a town three hours away in the Zlatibor region. The town itself was nothing impressive, but the Zlatibor area is one of rolling hills, pastures and forests, resting atop a bed of limestone. Picturesque and pleasant to the eye, it reminded me greatly of the Ohio River Valley and southern Indiana. My colleague and I were fortunate to stay in an acquaintance’s weekend house, which was isolated and provided fresh air, not to mention an escape from the swine flu epidemic that was hitting that town hard (two deaths there, unfortunately). We were interviewing our candidates in the local high school, but no one else was there—schools are closed all week throughout the country.

But we came to Novi Pazar in the Sandzak region a few days ago and have been quite busy, but of course I’ve had a look around. Novi Pazar is, along with Novi Sad and northern Serbia’s Vojvodina region (an area mixed with Serbs, Hungarians, Germans, and others), the most multicultural and diverse part of Serbia. It has retained its Ottoman character and is predominantly Muslim. Active Mosques abound, and most of the Muslims are Bosniaks (Slavs who converted to Islam), though there are apparently still Turkish and Albanian minorities, also Muslims. Though it’s hard to say about the former—they’ve mixed in well over the last century (and before) and while I’ve seen plenty of Turkish surnames, the students all say they speak Serbian/Bosnian at home. Regardless, my colleague is actually from here, and his opinion is that this town’s diversity and chaos creates some of the most eccentric people in Serbia. Based on his character and others I’ve met so far, I might have to agree!

I hope to see one of the famous monasteries in the coming days, but that might be tough given my schedule. However, I want to post a blog below that I wrote up last week but just never got put up. It is…


Le Salad Macedoine

Upon departing from the Skopje bus station recently, I sat down in my seat and looked at the departure signs in front of my bus and the one next to us. My bus’ final destination was Belgrade, capital of Serbia, and the one next to me was Pristina, capital of Kosovo. I thought to myself “how ironic…only in Macedonia.” This is because while the “battle of Kosovo” may have originally occurred in 1389, over 600 years later it continues in a different fashion. Indeed, just a decade ago (1999) the Serbian military under Slobodan Milosevic occupied Kosovo and retaliated to an intense US led NATO attack. While Milosevic’s policies were oppressive at best and violently genocidal at worst (though genocide is a delicate word and I’m reluctant to use it), it was the NATO attack—which was the first US attack on a European city/country since WWII—that greatly escalated the conflict; it made it a war. The small country of Macedonia, right next door to both, was affected in another way—250,000 refugees poured into the country from Kosovo. They came because Macedonia was called upon to open its borders and let them in, and because there’s a significant Albanian minority right here in Macedonia.

I won’t continue with the history of that conflict, but to say that Macedonia is unique because of its strong Albanian minority (who became stronger after being emboldened from 1999-2001) and multiculturalism overall, and as my experience in Serbia recently showed me, perhaps more at odds with their previous bedfellows than before. This is because Macedonia is now a bi-national state, with the Albanian minority wielding much greater influence than ten years ago. For example, Macedonia settled a border dispute and recognized Kosovo’s independence two weeks back. It was wise and progressive, in my opinion, but it infuriated Serbia. Their foreign minister, Vuk Jeremic (a Harvard Kennedy School alum to note), threatened to rescind their support for Macedonia, as well as their ambassador in Skopje.

To add to the distance at which Macedonia puts itself from Serbia, the name dispute with Greece not only provokes the Greeks, but some Serbs as well. I testify to this after speaking to some Serbian students last week. To stipulate, Serbs are generally close with Greece. In regards to Macedonia, in the early and late 20th century, they conspired to divide it, and did in some ways-the Kingdom of and then SFR Yugoslavia occupied/possessed Vardar Macedonia from the 1930s to the 1990s, and Greece took Aegean Macedonia and made it what is most of northern Greece today. Anyhow, more recently, post-SFRY, even Slobodan Milosevic’s son was known to have suggested dividing Macedonia again, having apparently been annoyed with having an extra border between his own country and Greece.

But what I discussed with some Serbian students was their opinion that Macedonia is fabricating its history and should come to terms with the reality that they are a rather mixed lot, and certainly not the descendants of Alexander the Great. To some extent they have a fair point—it really is an absurd and irredentist notion that modern Macedonians, after millennia of invading tribes and groups, primarily the Slavs, are anything like the ancient peoples of pre-Christian Macedon. Yet identity is fluid and no one should be able to tell another who they are. This may seem logical and/or irrelevant, but here in Macedonia it’s at the fore of the country’s slow accession into NATO and the EU. That is (and which I’ve discussed before), Greece blocked Macedonia joining NATO in April 2008 because they dispute the country’s name, calling it FYROM and demanding it change. International mediators have tried unsuccessfully to persuade the two countries to find a resolution, but neither side has compromised. Hilary Clinton may get involved, sources say. Regardless, Macedonia is the underdog and has less leverage. But that’s not to say they don’t have an incentive—the EU just gave the country a green light to begin EU accession talks, but with the implicit stipulation that they shore things up with the Greeks. As one guy on the news half joked, they thus need to decide whether they’ll give their “arm or their head” for their future.

The ruling government has thus thought to put it to a referendum, yet some ethnic Albanian politicians have not only threatened to boycott that, but go it alone in joining the EU and NATO. Although this isn’t possible—only nations, not groups of people within them—can join such organizations, it’s caused quite a stir. Regardless, I think the entire situation, not to mention the upcoming visa liberalization which will allow Macedonian citizens to travel freely in the EU Schengen countries, has made some in the country realize that perhaps they need to swallow their pride and say to heck with it! Joining the EU is huge for little Macedonia, as it gives them even greater autonomy and once they’re in they have myriad opportunities within other EU countries for education, travel, and business. Indeed, a market of 450 million is far larger than their current trade partners (mostly neighboring countries) tally up to.

Anyhow, the Balkans are nowhere near short of action these days, and I’m majorly on the road in coming weeks. Currently en route to Uzice and Novi Pazar, Serbia, then off to Kosovo, Macedonia, and wrapping up the testing and interviewing season in Bulgaria just before Christmas. More on down the road!

In the land of the double headed eagle, and Mercedes Benz

Have spent this week conducting testing in Albania, the country just west of Macedonia. While close geographically and in some ways culturally, Albania is a slightly more "western" country than Macedonia, I'd actually wager to say. High mountains separate the countries, but once one is over those the land is quite different. Albania is largely flat from what I've seen, a country at a lower altitude and thus with a warmer, more Mediterranean climate. It's coast is the Adriatic, but with the country extending quite far south--just across from Greece's Corfu--it is rather ClubMed!

But it's more than the seaside, it's also the fact that Albanians have used the sea and their close proximity to Italy for most of the last century (and before) to migrate there for work or a new life. There is in fact an Albanian speaking minority in Italy, the Arbereshe. They are the result of centuries of immigration to southern Italy, but since the 1930s when Mussolini occupied Albania to the present, the country has looked to Italy for its western influence. And it shows.

I've learned this week that far more people than I imagined speak Italian here, and several of the students who I tested have been to Italy (saw their visas in their passports). Italian food and style are everywhere. The capital, Tirana, particularly espouses this. Its grand palm tree lined boulevards and Italian architecture make one wonder whether they're still in the Balkans. There are excellent cafes, restaurants, bakeries; and people just seem more stylish.

The phenomenal thing about Albania is that 25 years ago it was an isolated, communist country of half-starved people who were forced to abandon religion for the sake of worshiping their insane despotic leader, Enver Hoxha. Hoxha was particularly interesting because of his apparent paranoia. He didn't want to be a part of Yugoslavia (no surprise), but had close ties with Soviet Russia for some time. He then broke off those relations and established strong relations with China. Chinese women were brought here, and students could study Chinese (just as they did Russian for quite a while--nearly every post-WWII generation individual I've met this week has said they spoke Russian, having studied it in school.) Anyhow, all well that he had such relations, but he wasn't very good at maintaining them, and from what a colleague here told me, he had a propensity for killing off his ministers and political acquaintances periodically and imprisoning anyone else deemed a threat or spy (including some of those Chinese he'd brought over when times were good). He didn't want anyone getting too close to him, or threatening his power. Further, he feared invasion so built thousands of these little concrete bunkers throughout the country. When one crosses the border from Macedonia, for example, they line the road in the mountains above.

What's really interesting today is that even though Hoxha died (a rich man) in 1985, his wife is still alive and lives here in Tirana. Further, their stolen wealth has made them one of the richest families in Albania, owning businesses and land. Apparently they even put the current prime minister into power, Sali Berisha. (He's been here before though--was the first "democratically elected" president after the fall of communism, then got back into power in 2005 as PM. Sounds very Putin like, in fact...)

So what's really fascinating about this country? It's gone from an isolated authoritarian regime where most everything was produced here (and that was little--many people were nearly starving, waiting hours daily for bread, milk, rice) to this quite well to do land of fancy looking people, clothes, and cars. Speaking of the cars, it is, as one person I met this week said--"where Mercedes come to die". These are mostly stolen from W. Europe (one will be hard pressed to find many dealerships around), but I'd seriously say that 50% of the cars on the road are Mercedes. And there are A LOT of cars on the road (traffic's a nightmare!)

I think what's really interesting is how and why this explosion of development has occurred. It seems that (and what was explained to me) the isolation of communism and Hoxha resulted in this hyper development due to people seeking out all the things they'd been deprived of for decades. They thus went from abject poverty to a rather decent standard of living, but in so doing abandoned for some time many things that were Albanian. Seeing several western, non-Albanian names this week with our students (Jack, Jessica, Robert, Maria Kay, etc), my colleague told me how people just wanted to have something new. She said she felt bad for the generation born after 1991, because their identity was and is in severe flux. How they live compared to their parents and grandparents...it can't even be compared. With a market flooded with goods from around the world, people traveling as well (albeit with still quite a visa regime), and major summer tourism these days, the country is another world compared to the Balkan hinterland is was just a decade or two ago.

For better or for worse, I depart tomorrow. Back east to Skopje for testing there in a week's time. This trip though has made me excited for my visits to Bulgaria and Bosnia. I don't have much time to be a tourist, but by just being in a country, hearing and using the language, and having conversations with some locals, you can pick up a good feel for how things are.

Southern Serbia, Ajvar, Grozdober & the Grape Harvest

Where to begin—life’s been non-stop lately. Autumn is officially here and while the month began grey and cool it’s now southern California like—mostly sunny and in the 80s. I’ve begun my recruiting season with a lot of preparation here in Skopje and a visit to southern Serbia last week. With two colleagues, an American from our Belgrade office and a Kosovar from our Priština office, we met in one of the most southern Serbian towns, Vranje. A town of 55,000 (according to my Lonely Planet), it’s just a half hour over the border from Macedonia and in the Preševo Valley. Its proximity means its dialect its distinctly mixed—predominantly Serbian but with some Macedonian similarities, and famous as a result. Apparently it was used in several films to create a distinct flavor for the characters way of speaking. A “southern accent”, if you will.

The town was cute though—on an incline as it led to a castle and small mountains beyond, but sophisticated enough. Further, its location lends to a diverse lot on the streets. Despite it being inhabited by mostly Serbs, there are several towns and areas around that are in fact predominantly ethnic Albanian. We had several students come to our exams from these areas, but I also heard Albanian spoken on the streets and in the bus. The town of Bujanovac just south is particularly Albanian—all the signs I saw as I went through were in the language, as is the town of Preševo itself. The area, unfortunately, is also well known regionally for conflict between the Yugoslav security forces and Albanian population. Atrocities occurred here and around that are still being resolved, including news this week of two Albanian-American brothers who were killed by Serb forces and dumped in mass graves in 1999, and that those accused were acquitted for it in trial. On a lighter note, I’ll return to Vranje in a few weeks for a few more days and hope to have a closer look around. Next week though I’ll be in Albania for the entire week—in Fier and Tirana. More on that later.

Here in Macedonia, I’ve enjoyed the shift to the autumn season. With more pleasant and hospitable weather, people are out and in neighborhoods, towns, villages, making “zimnici”—jarred winter goods. These include jams, vegetables, and most famous of all, ajvar. Ajvar is a condiment made from roasted red peppers and eggplant, which is then peeled, chopped, and stewed for hours. The process is arduous but the result a delight, and I was fortunate enough to take part in it with my in-laws. As I mentioned that day on Facebook, it was 60 kilograms (130+ pounds) of peppers that we roasted, which was quite time consuming. Stewing and jarring didn’t come until day two, but what’s most glorious in addition to the smell in the air is the cleaning of the pot with a loaf of bread at the end!

Politically, I wanted to mention an interested and overdue change that’s come about this week—the Macedonian government will change the seal of the country. As can be seen, the seal was created in 1946 for a Yugoslav Macedonia and reflects a socialist and agrarian tradition. While the latter may still be the case, the red star will be removed and the imagery may change as well. This makes sense, in my opinion, as Yugoslavia is a country long gone, and Macedonia should (and has already in other ways) re-brand itself for a new era.



Last but not least, I want to build on this agricultural note to mention the grape harvest and changes in the life of grape growers here. As my in-laws live in the wine region and have small vineyards themselves, we spend much time there. The “Grozdober”, or grape picking festival, was thus not to be missed! It is actually a relatively recent affair, but includes parades of schools children, farmers, motorcycles and more, as well as concerts and plenty of barbecue, beer, and wine in the streets and parks of downtown Kavadarci—the “capital” of the Tikveš wine region.

What’s most interesting about Tikveš though, and which I intend to do PhD research in, are the changes that have occurred then since the fall of socialism. Although the country has had relatively significant foreign direct investment (FDI) in recent years with its “Invest in Macedonia” campaign, the privatization of formerly state owned enterprises, entrepreneurship, and increased tourism, the post-socialist transition has created a much greater disparity between rich and poor than existed before. Macedonia’s significant grape and wine industry has not been left aside. Privatization and a changing economy have meant both investment by foreign and domestic interests, and a split between the business-oriented class that benefits from the new economic order and the traditional, land-oriented farmers. In the grape industry, with prices falling along with government subsidies annually, grape collectors and wineries are profiting and growers suffering.

Whereas during the socialist Yugoslav era there were only a handful of public grape collectors (vizbi) and wineries in Macedonia, there are now dozens. With a drive for increased wine-tourism and production, the quality and variety of grapes and wines has improved. Unfortunately, what have not changed for the better are the quantities of grapes produced and the lot of the growers. Unlike in the past when grape growers were paid a guaranteed price for their grapes, they have more recently been left at the whim of wine producers and the market. Although it could be argued that this may be necessary in order to improve grape and wine production, grape growers, their families, and surrounding communities whose lives depend on the vineyards have been marginalized by the shift from a subsidized system to a less regulated, “free market” one. Such as in other countries where protesting farmers can wreak havoc (the dairy protests in Western Europe this week come to mind), there are political ramifications as well: Just this year grape growers have demanded 30% higher prices for their grapes (which is small given the incredibly low price of grapes—approximately $.15/kg), protested, attacked some businessmen affiliated with the Tikveš winery, threatened to leave their grapes unpicked, and some have even abandoned their vineyards and migrated to Italy to work for significantly higher wages (try 2,000 euros a month compared with 200-300 euros in Macedonia).

Combined with increasing prices for food, commodities, and utilities in the country, rural communities feel unable to buy what is deemed necessary to maintain a modern standard of living, and are being forced to change their customs and lifestyles as a result. While the marketplace may be to blame for this, the reluctance or uncertainty of grape growers to change is another aspect to take into consideration; growers seem slow to realize that they must change. Forming strong agribusiness associations, which exist in Greece and other EU countries, would likely improve their lot (though perhaps cause greater protests!). Such associations allow growers to collectively make purchases, lobby for their greater good, and embark on the expansion of their business endeavors. Yet many growers in Tikveš remain too uncertain and perhaps distrusting of each other, and unaware as to how they should go about taking such action. I’m indeed interested in examining further not only how the livelihoods and identity of grape growers in Tikveš are in constant flux as a result of changing economy and competitiveness in the grape and wine industry, but what factors contribute to their inability to better protect themselves and their industry, given how vital it is to the Macedonian economy. One should look beyond economics and the marketplace to the myriad factors that compose the changes occurring in Macedonia as a result of privatization and free market development, as they are in fact a complex web of culture, patronage, and politics.

Back in the Yugosphere

I recently read an Economist article about the thriving “Yugosphere” of trade—commerce minus the ethno-nationalism. Money does make the world go round, but whether post-Yugoslav business has gotten so good as to put aside the 1990s and before, I’m reluctant to believe. Regardless, I like the term and notions of spheres. For unlike the square cut states of the US (admittedly not all) and our predisposition to like things boxy, the notion of overlapping circles of people, society, influence, are much more applicable to the real world. Well, here in the Balkans at least.

Back in Macedonia this last week after nearly a month away, I’ve again felt refreshingly foreign. Having been elsewhere in Europe and home in the US, I’ve been contrasting things again in a “bi-cultural” manner. Primarily, (and stealing another term, though one from an anthro course long ago), it’s the “social life of things” (Appadurai, for anyone who knows him) here that really puts life in contrast to that in the US.

Now don’t get me wrong—people are friendly in the Midwest where I’m from, but the extent to which we socialize and perceive our time as ours is in fact quite different. For example, a large family lunch my wife and I went to when we were visiting Indiana a few weeks ago included a couple of aunts and uncles and some of their kids (all adults though). However, unlike in Macedonia where a family lunch of that nature—a reunion, or just at the weekend—will last hours, if not all afternoon into the evening, my cousins all departed with an hour of arriving, having other things to do (two admittedly have children who they needed to attend to apparently). Yet lunch only then lasted another hour, and things wrapped up—the eating, and moreso, the several concurrent conversations occurring at once. And this is another difference between here and home—in the US we all want to be engaged in conversation, whereas here, unless it’s a very large group, people often sit around listening to one person speak at a time, or a conversation that’s passed off as it changes. “Macedonia, Timeless…”

Thus the social life of things in a general sense is quite different. Even last weekend we spent with my wife’s family at their weekend house, and when her parents departed the evening before us, some neighbors came over and insisted that for us “not to be alone” we should come over to their place. We had to say no a few times for them to back off, as it’s really not a part of Macedonian culture to be on ones own, even a young couple. And independently? Most Peace Corps volunteers here know the feeling of going through culture shock while living with a host family during training and wanting to just be alone, to read or write or think or sleep(!) But it just doesn’t work like that—when you’re awake you should be with other people. It’s not written as such, but that’s largely how it is. It honestly makes me wonder when people have time to reflect. I think the notion of reflection is thus somewhat of a cultural phenomenon. I couldn’t say how many cultures value it, but it seems to be a characteristic of an individualistic society, and thus in the US we tend to consider it a value that we learn and grow from. Americans don’t want unsolicited advice, we want to figure things out for ourselves.

In Macedonia? Society and cultural customs are far more complex. Children are given much more freedom in some regards, but they’re quickly indoctrinated into the family and very much raised by it. These are somewhat of generalizations, but overall, while in the US we consider ourselves to raise our children, they are actually very much raised through their education, extracurricular activities, and things they’re exposed to through extreme exposure to various media. Whereas I’ve always thought “I must return to the US to raise my kids (for the educational system),” I’ve met Macedonians who’d lived abroad and returned here for the opposite reason once their children reached school-age—they want their children around their family and culture (to heck with the school system!) This is without a doubt a reflection of the economic system in which the two countries I write about live under—one is wealthy and one much less so, but it’s also cross-cultural. What is available for consumption in Macedonia pales in comparison to the US, and the notion that good education will always lead to success is not highly considered here, particularly post-socialist and perhaps more among the Albanian minority (who were largely excluded from the benefits of the socialist machine). Less educated (institutionally), their financial success today is evidence of this. But to make my point: it's not all materialism here (or hasn't been in recent decades), and thus I'd wager to say that the family unit and the culture from it is deemed more valuable than in the US, where we cherish the notion of the nuclear family, but have much less of it overall and expect the system and society to be a large part of our lives. Within them is where we live, work, spend, buy...

Yet speaking of the “things” aspect of Appadurai’s statement, it was his economic anthropological work assessing cultural values of commodities that led him to write his book titled as such. His research explored how in one South Pacific island culture TVs were seen as prestigious items, even when there was no electricity to power them. Plastic bags were less prestigious but nonetheless seen as foreign and used in various ways for practical and material purposes.

To this end, while Macedonia is an industrialized country, their poor economy would make one think that consumption and goods might play less of a role in their lifestyle. They admittedly buy fewer new items (does anyone buy more than Americans?), but something that’s long fascinated me here is the prestige associated with commodities, particularly technology. Anyone who knows Mediterranean culture knows that image is an important aspect of peoples’ lives, but Macedonians have several customs associated with products and purchases that seem unusual to Americans at first.

In particular is style over practicality, such as in dressing certain ways and showing off by purchasing expensive items (from new phones to cars) when one truly doesn’t have the money to do so. Their commodities may be being used, but for their intended purpose? What does a barely employed guy need with a Blackberry or iPhone? This happens stateside, but perhaps because of our development of such technology and the technology gap, I would say Americans understand the functionality of the technology and use it as such—sms, email, internet, etc.—and much more frequently.

Technology aside (though I’m always fascinated with our use of it, despite my personal technological ineptitude!), also on my mind recently has been work ethic and moreso behavior within the workplace. As we see when growing up, many Americans work long hours, often being absent from home for at least nine if not ten, eleven, twelve hours a day, merely for their job. In addition to the lengthy workdays, we have a pressure filled work environment where “if there’s time to lean, there’s time to clean [house].” The movie Office Space summed it up well—the busy-ness, bureacracy, and rather beguiling way we’re convinced to work long days (money, but also "team" effort, corporate spirit, "flare"...). Not to mention, it’s a job and without it one's life can be purposeless.

But here, things are very different. A job is valued as something to have which provides income, but once it’s gotten people tend to take it easy. Not to say there are no hard working individuals here, but there’s much more an attitude of “we’ll get the work done when it’s time…in the meantime, let’s drink coffee and shoot the breeze.” And team spirit? Not much. A work environment, in my experience, is more pleasure filled and laidback, but perhaps lacking in advancement—the work may get done, but if everything’s at the last minute there’s not much time to make corrections or revisions. (Perhaps that’s just the writing instructor in me, but this happened today at work…) A lack of incentives to work hard (eg, moving up the "ladder") though is certainly a factor...

Well, must wrap up this note, but wanted to try to post given the swift disappearance of the month of August. A fantastic wedding in Italy, then a visit home, and return via Kyiv kept me quite busy. My job though, with American Councils, will put me on the road a good deal in the coming months, as I travel to Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria, and Bosnia, in addition to throughout Macedonia, repeatedly, so hopefully I’ll have more fodder to share. Thanks for reading and happy Labor Day (and on September 8, Macedonian Independence Day!)