Family Structure and Ethnicity: Case Studies from Macedonia

The basic goal of the submitted research project is the analysis of the role of family and certain demographic developments for the process of ethnic differentiation in Macedonia in the course of the 20th century. The basis for the research work provide 2 villages in Southwest Macedonia, which are situated in a few miles distance on the fringes of the densly by Albanians populated Macedonian regions: Labuniste and Velesta. The first village is inhabited by Macedonians and Torbeshi (Muslims of Slavic origin), the second by Albanians. For the population of both villages labor migration played and plays an important role. The hypothesis of departure is that ethnic discourses, which provide the basis for the (late) processes of ethnic differentiation in Macedonia, were supplied not only by the political makro level, but also by micro worlds, village and the ethnicity of their families. In detail the project has three aimes: 1) The reconstruction of the most important demographic developments (e.g., fertility, nuptiality, mortality) as well as the development of the family among the Albanian, Macedonian and Torbeshi-populations. 2) The analysis of ethnic discourses, which are based on the different demographic and family historical developments of the three ethnic groups. 3) The analysis of different labor migration-patterns linked with different family structures and their repercussion in the ethnic discourses. The research work is carried out methodologically on three levels: 1) Work with the quantifyable and qualitative data provided by the "Halpern-Collection"; 2) Recherches in archives and libraries in Macedonia; 3) Fieldwork in both of the villages (two times six months).

Aim of the project was to reconstitute the different developmental paths of the Orthodox majority and the Muslim minority populations of Macedonia since the onset of the Communist era. The study is based upon field research in two villages; one of them is almost exclusively Muslim-Albanian and the other mixed Orthodox-Macedonian and Torbeshian (Macedonian speaking Muslims). In the 1950s, many Macedonians were attracted by the socialist track of industrialization and left the countryside in order to find workplaces in the countrys urban centres. The Muslims, on the other side, were also involved in a kind of urbanizing process, although within a transnational context. Since the mid-1960s, many of them contracted labour relationships as so called `Gastarbeiter` in West European countries, after Yugoslavia had signed pertinent international treaties. Villagers of the first `Gastarbeiter generation returned only back to their villages after having won retirement. Therefore, in the course of our research the categories of space and migration turned out as suitable for the study of different economic, cultural and political developmental processes which play a functional role in the evaluation and construction of the "other". The village was a space within which its social and political hierarchies were defined. Research shows that the Macedonian village reflects an ambivalent metaphor. On the one hand, it stands for backwardness and on the other hand, it constitutes an embattled homeland for the different ethnicities. The economic and social process of differentiation between the Muslim and Orthodox population was introduced in the Socialist period, but was accelerated after the collapse of Yugoslavia. Due to the dynamics of the transition period, the Orthodox population is suffering impoverishment whereas the Muslim one can rely on its social and economic networks in Western Europe. This process is well documented by the change of the villages architecture.