Balkan Egyptians and Gypsy/Roma discourse

Nationalities Papers

Volumn 33, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 71-95

  Trubeta, Sevasti ^a  

^a FREIE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ETHNICITY; GYPSY PEOPLE; IMMIGRANT POPULATION;

BALKANS; EASTERN HEMISPHERE; EURASIA; WORLD;

EID: 17744376160     PISSN: 00905992     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00905990500053788     Document Type: Review

References (179)

1. Der Spiegel, 15 October 1990.
2. See also the reference to Svet, 18 April 1990, pp. 56-57 in G. Duijzings, Religion and the Politics of Identity in Kosovo (London: Hurst, 2000), pp. 132-133.
3. Der Spiegel, 15 October 1990, p. 197. My translation.
4. See G. Duijzings, "Die Erschaffung von Ägyptern in Kosovo und Makedonien," in U. Brunnbauer, ed., Umstrittene Identitäten. Ethnizität und Nationalität in Südosteuropa (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2002), p. 148;
5. St. Müller, "Die Situation der Roma in Kosovo," Südost-Europa Zeitschrift für Gegenwartsforschung, Nos 9-10, 1999, p. 512;
6. European Roma Rights Centre, "Roma in the Macedonian Conflict," press release, 13 July 2001, ;
7. ibid., "ERRC Press Statement: Roma in the Macedonia Conflict," .
8. The European Roma Rights Centre has reported regularly on the situation of Roma in Kosovo since 1999. See e.g. . One of the most recent assessments of the situation of Egyptians, Ashkali and Roma in Kosovo is Paul Polansky's report for the Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker entitled "Roma, Ashkali und 'Ägypter'-ohne Zukunft im Kosovo. Ergebnis einer Recherche vom 1. März bis 30. September 2003," October 2003.See also "The Current Plight of the Kosovo Roma," written by Carol V. Bloom, Sunil K. Sharma, E. Ann Neel on the basis of former field research and reports by Paul Polansky, Voice of Roma, Sebastopol, California, 2002 . Human Rights Watch, "Out of Limbo? Addressing the Plight of Kosovo Roma Refugees in Macedonia," Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper, 10 December 2003, . On the excesses in Kosovo in March 2004 and the renewed attacks against Roma and Ashkali, see Human Rights Watch, "Failure to Protect: Anti-Minority Violence in Kosovo," March 2004, .
9. See .
10. The establishment of the Association of Balkan Egyptians in West Europe is indicative of such support. See .
11. See e.g. E. Marushiakova et al., Identity Formation among Minorities in the Balkans: The Cases of Roms, Egyptians, and Ashkali in Kosovo (Sofia: Minority Studies Society Studii Romani, 2001), pp. 30-39;
12. Müller, Die Situation der Roma in Kosovo, p. 507.
13. H. Poulton, The Balkans. Minorities and States in Conflict, (London: Minority /rights Group, 1991), p. 91.
14. H. Poulton, "The Roma in Macedonia: A Balkan Success Story?" RFE/RL Research Report, Vol. 2, No. 19, 1993, p. 43.
15. European Roma Rights Centre, "A Pleasant Fiction. The Human Rights Situation of Roma in Macedonia," Country Reports Series No. 7, 1998, p. 34.
16. See also G. Duijzings, "Egyptians in Kosovo and Macedonia," in E. Hardten, ed., Der Balkan in Europa (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1996), pp. 103-121.
17. as well as Duijzings, Religion and the Politics of Identity, and Duijzings, Die Erschaffung von Ägyptern in Kosovo. Duijzings seems to be the first scholar to have dealt substantially with the Egyptian question in the context of nationalist conflicts in the divided Yugoslavia. He is also the first to have called attention to the new quality of the dynamism of this form of identification. The success of his study is attested by the repeated occasion of its publication (see above). The present article will refer to the publication from 2000 (Religion and the Politics of Identity)
18. See below, as well as e.g. Z. Barany, "The Roma in Macedonia: Ethnic Politics and the Marginal Condition in a Balkan State," Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 18, No. 3, 1995, p. 517;
19. A. Fraser, The Gypsies (Oxford and Cambridge: Blackwell, 1992), p. 298;
20. Poulton, The Balkans, p. 91;
21. and Poulton, The Roma in Macedonia, p. 43.
22. E. Marushiakova and V. Popov, "Myth as Process," in Th. Acton, ed., Scholarship and the Gypsy Struggle. Commitment in Romani Studies (Hatfield, Hertfordshire: University of Hertfordshire Press, 2000), pp. 81-93, esp. pp. 84-85.
23. Duijzings, Religion and the Politics of Identity, p. 143.
24. Marushiakova et al., Identity Formation among Minorities, p. 30.
25. Ibid., p. 30, my emphasis.
26. Ibid., my emphasis.
27. European Roma Rights Centre, "Roma in Albania," Country Reports Series, No. 5, 1997, p. 11.
28. Ibid., p. 11.
29. I b i d.
30. European Roma Rights Centre, A Pleasant Fiction.
31. Ibid., p. 34.
32. See e.g. W. D. Hund, Zigeuner. Geschichte und Struktur einer rassistischen Konstruktion (Duisburg: DISS, 1996);
33. J. Giere, ed., Die gesellschaftliche Konstruktion des Zigeuners: zur Genese eines Vorurteils (Frankfurt: Campus, 1996);
34. K. Hölz, Zigeuner, Wilde und Exoten. Fremdbilder in der französischen Literatur des 10. Jahrhunderts (Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag, 2002).
35. M. Schwab-Trapp ("Diskurs als soziologisches Konzept. Bausteine für eine soziologisch orientierte Diskursanalyse," in R. Keller, A. Hirseland, W. Schneider, W. Viehöver, eds, Handbuch Sozialwissenschaftliche Diskursanalyse, Vol. 1: Theorien und Methoden [Opladen, Germany: Leske Budrich, 2001], pp. 261-283) has developed a very useful conception of discourse derived from Foucault.
36. See e.g. M. Foucault, L'ordre du discours (Paris: Gallimard, 1971). The present article is based in large part on Schwab-Trapp's methodological proposals.
37. R. Brubaker and F. Cooper, "Beyond 'Identity,'" Theory and Society. Renewal and Critique in Social Theory, Vol. 29, 2000, pp. 1-47.
38. For further critical consideration of the term "identity," see L. Niethammer, Kollektive Identität. Heimliche Quellen einer unheimlichen Konjunktur (Hamburg: Rowolt Taschenbuch, 2000).
39. O. Bauer, Die Nationalitätenfrage und die Sozialdemokratie (Vienna: Marx-Studien 2, 1924). Bauer's study is important insofar as it may be viewed as an initial analysis of the ethnicisation processes. On the notion of ethnicisation
40. see S. Trubeta, "'Minorization' and 'Ethnicization' in Greek Society: Comparative Perspectives on Moslem Migrants and the Moslem Minority," History and Culture of South Eastern Europe-An Annual Journal, Vol. 5, 2003, pp. 95-112.
41. B. Anderson, Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. (London and New York: Verso, 1991).
42. G. Soulis, "The Gypsies in the Byzantine Empire and the Balkans in the Late Middle Ages," Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 15, 1961, pp. 143-165;
43. I. Rochow and K.-P. Matschke, "Neues zu den Zigeunern im Byzantinischen Reich um die Wende vom 13. zum 14. Jahrhundert," Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik, Vol. 41, 1991, pp. 241-254.
44. See e.g. Tayyib M Gökbilgin, "Çingeneler," İslaâm Ansiklopedisi (Istanbul), Vol. 3, 1945, pp. 420-426; the Turkish journal Trih ve Toplum, No. 137, 1995;
45. the Turkish journal Trith ve Toplum, No. 137, 1995.
46. E. Zeginis, Oi mousoulmanoi Athiganoi tis Thrakis (The Muslim Athigani of Thrace) (Salonica: Institute for Balkan Studies, 1994);
47. E. Marushiakova and V. Popov, Gypsies in the Ottoman Empire (Paris: Centre de recherches tsiganes and University of Hertfordshire Press, 2001).
48. V. A. Friedman and R. Dankoff, "The Earliest Known Text in Balkan (Rumelian) Romani: A Passage from Evliya Çelebi's 'Seyahat-name,'" Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1991, pp. 1-20.
49. The most problematical point in such a consideration is the frequent confusion between primordial and modern components of ethnic categories. The present article is, however, not concerned with a closer examination of this issue. See here S. Trubeta, Die Konstitution von Minderheiten und die Ethnisierung sozialer und politischer Konflikte. Eine Untersuchung am Beispiel der im griechischen Thrakien ansäβigen Moslemischen Minderheit (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1999), pp. 26-57 Trubeta, "'Minorization' and 'Ethnicization.'"
50. and Trubeta, "'Minorization' and 'Ethnicization.'"
51. St. E. Mann, "Albanian Romani. Introduction," Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1933, pp. 1-32.
52. See also Duijings (Religion and the Politics, p. 134), who notes that in "Albania, Gypsies are called 'Evgitë' or 'Magjypë', both derived from 'Egyptian.'"
53. Mann, "Albanian Romam," p. 2.
54. I b i d.
55. I b i d.
56. Ibid., p. 3.
57. I b i d.
58. I b i d.
59. I b i d.
60. I b i d.
61. I b i d.
62. M. Hasluck "I. The Gypsies in Albania," Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, Vol. 17, No. 2, 1938, pp. 49-61.
63. Hasluck, "Gypsies in Albania," p. 49.
64. E. Marushiakova and V. Popov, Gypsies (Roma) in Bulgaria (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1997).
65. According to Primovski ("Kovačite Agupti v gr. Madan" [Egyptian Blacksmiths in the Town of Madan), Iztestija na ethnografskija institut s muzej, Vol. 2, 1955, p. 217), an early text by Benventura Vulkanija dated to the beginning of the seventeenth century mentions groups in Bulgaria called "Agupti" and supposes that they are of Egyptian origin. (For the translation of Bulgarian references and an invaluable exchange of information, I am grateful to Dr Evangelos Karagiannis.) Marushiakova and Popov (Gypsies (Roma) in Bulgaria) address the case of the misinterpretation of a document from 1378, namely the Rila charter ("Rilska Gramota") of Char Ivan Shishman (Šišman), which allegedly refers to the existence of Agupti in a Bulgarian province. They argue that the "place mentioned in the text as 'Agupovi kleti' has often been associated with Gypsies (including its reading as 'Agupti kleti' ('poor Egyptians') both by Bulgarian and foreign scholars" (p. 18). The authors are, however, critical of the unverifiable conclusions drawn by scholars who claim a settlement of "Agupti" in the region in question.
66. K. Ireček, Knjažestvo Bǎlgarija, Čast pǎrva, Bǎlgarska dǎržava, (Principality Bulgaria, First Part, The Bulgaria State) (Plovdiv: Danov, 1899), p. 148.
67. See G. Messing, "Tsinganos and Yiftos: Some Speculations on the Greek Gypsies," Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, Vol. 7, 1981, pp. 155-167.
68. Primovski, Kovačite Agupti v gr. Madan.
69. Ibid., p. 219.
70. See C. Vakarelski, "Altertümliche Elemente in Lebensweise und Kultur der bulgarischen Mohammedaner," Zeitschrift für Balkanologie, Vols 1-2, 1966, pp. 149-172.
71. Cf. E. Karagiannis, Zur Ethnizität der Pomaken Bulgariens (Münster: Spectrum, 1997), p. 38
72. and passim.
73. Primovski, Kovačite Agupti v gr. Madan, p. 248.
74. Ibid., passim.
75. Marushiakova and Popov, Gypsies (Roma) in Bulgaria.
76. Ibid., p. 73.
77. Ibid. The authors regard Agupti as Gypsies "who have almost forgotten their own language and adopted Turkish or Bulgarian together with a corresponding Turkish, Bulgarian or Agupti ethnic consciousness" (p. 97).
78. Zeginis, Oi mousoulmanoi Athiganoi tis Thrakis, p. 54.
79. It should be kept in mind that, especially in the post-war era, numerous Bulgarian Muslims migrated to Greek Thrace. They usually settled in suburbs inhabited by Turkish-speaking Muslims who were perceived as Gypsies by both Greeks and other Muslim groups. However, further groups of Romanes speakers also migrated from Bulgaria both before and after World War II.
80. See Trubeta, Die Konstitution von Minderheiten und die Ethnisierung, p. 184
81. and S. Trubeta, Kataskevazontas Taftotites gia tous Musulmanus tis Thrakis. To Paradeigma ton Pomakon kai ton Tsiganon (Constructing Identities for the Thracian Moslems. The Cases of the Pomaks and the Gypsies) (Athens: Kritiki, 2001), p. 165.
82. J. Behm, "Durch den Epirus und das neue Albanien. VIII. Im Negerviert von Berat-Aberglaube-Die Zigeuner von Berat-Im Christenviertel-Abreise mit Hindernissen," Durch alle Welt, No. 43, 1931, pp. 11-13.
83. Compare this with Hasluck's assertion (I. The Gypsies in Albania) that Jevgs also lived in Berat.
84. Cited from interviews of members of this "group" conducted during my fieldwork in spring 1997. See also S. Trubeta, Die Konstitution von Minderheiten und die Ethnisierung, and S. Trubeta, Kataskevazontas Taftotites gia tous Musulmanus.
85. D. Lafazani ("Mikta xoria tou kato Strymona: Ethnotita, Koinotita, Entopiotita," Sygxrona Themata, No. 63, 1997, pp. 96-107)
86. and P. Y. Péchoux (Les Paysans de la rive orientale du bas Nestos, Thrace Greque, Études rurales [Athens: Centre National de Recherches Sociales, 1969]) also claim that some members of this group originated in the Sudan.
87. This information comes from several colleagues who have conducted research in the region of Greek Macedonia. I am especially grateful to Ms Miranda Terzopoulou (anthropologist, Academy of Athens). To date, there is no literature on this topic and it is not yet possible to say approximately how long this phenomenon has existed. My first acquaintance with Roma groups of supposedly Egyptian origin in Greece occurred during my fieldwork in Thrace (1997). One interviewee made reference to his encounter with an author who had voiced the intention of writing a study in which he would argue that the Roma of Greek Thrace originally came from Egypt. It seems likely that this intention was an expression of the Greek nationalist attempt to keep away a numerically considerable segment of the Muslim minority from the Turkish nationalism by ascribing to them an "objectively" distinct, i.e. Egyptian, that is, non-Turkish, ancestry.
88. The case of the Ottoman Empire in particular should be examined with respect to both the following factors: the lack among Ottoman rulers of an assimilation strategy for population groups; and the social status of the assimilated groups referred to.
89. H. Poulton, The Balkans, p. 9, and Poulton The Roma in Macedonia, p. 43. Duijzings (Religion and the Politics of Identity p. 145) claims that in Kosovo "all data indicates that the Egyptians recruit their members mainly from the Ashkali ... a term that most of these 'Albanian' Gypsies use for themselves." See also Marushiakova et al., Identity Formation among Minorities in the Balkans, esp. p. 38, about the relationship between Ashkali and Egyptians. For more on such "identity switching,"
90. see Bloom et al., The Current Plight of the Kosovo Roma.
91. Marushiakova et al., Identity Formation among Minorities in the Balkans, p. 34.
92. Ibid., p. 35.
93. See .
94. According to Duijzings (Religion and the Politics of Identity, p. 139), Egyptian leaders in Ochrid claimed that earlier they had already attempted to be included in the census questionnaires as a separate category, but without success. In this way, they attempted to gain official recognition as a nationality (narodnost): "Although their demands had not been granted by the government of Macedonia, at least 200 of them declared themselves to be Egyptians, thus ending up in the category 'unknown.'" As for the census of 1991, "only Macedonia published the census figures for Egyptians: the 1991 figures list 3,307 Egyptians in Macedonia" (ibid., p. 140) while Serbia did not publish figures for Egyptians.
95. See also Z. Barany, The Roma in Macedonia, p. 518.
96. See . In 1991, a book of Egyptian folktales, legend and customs was published in Macedonia. The author was Stojan Ristekis, "a Macedonian from Ohrid, one of the main defenders of their [the Egyptians'] cause." Duijzings (Religion and the Politics of Identity, p. 133) argues that this is obviously a characteristic form of national myth-making, in its typical pattern of European nation building.
97. See also Marushiakova and Popov, Myth as Process, p. 85.
98. According to Duijzings (ibid., pp. 132-133), the Egyptian ambassador in Belgrade twice invited Egyptcani to the Egyptian embassy in 1990 and 1991 for the Egyptian national holiday on 23 July. In the spring of 1991, they presented the ambassador with a copy of Stojan Risteskis's book. The Egyptians also extended their congratulations to Boutros-Boutros-Ghali (a Copt from Egypt) after his election as United Nations secretary-general (December 1991) and asked him to do his utmost to solve the Yugoslav crisis peacefully.
99. In September 1990, leaders of the Romani community appealed to all Roma "to stop identifying themselves as Albanians simply on the basis of a common religion and declared 11 October-already a Macedonian public holiday-of that year to be the first official day of recognition of the cultural achievements of Romano Macedonia" (Poulton, The Roma in Macedonia, p. 43).
100. See also Poulton, The Balkans, p. 91 with reference to Tanjug on 1 September 1990. Furthermore, in a letter to the U.N. from March 1993, the Party for the Complete Emancipation of Roma in Macedonia (the main vehicle for Romani political aspirations despite the founding of a rival party in the 1990s) called for "the establishment of a Romany nation and a state, to be called 'Romanistan'" (Poulton, The Roma in Macedonia, p. 45 with reference to Tanjug, 27 March 1993). Nationalistic tendencies among Roma leaders are not a new phenomenon, however. On Romani nationalism
101. see I. Hancock, "The East European Roots of Romani Nationalism," Nationalities Papers, Vol. 19, No. 3, 1991, pp. 251-267.
102. On the Romani political movement, see M. Sewering-Wollanek, "Die Roma in Ostmittel- und Südosteuropa," in G. Brunner and H. Lemberg, eds, Volksgruppen in Ostmittel- und Südosteuropa (Munich: Südosteuropa-Studien, 1994), pp. 253-263
103. G. Puxon, "The Romani Movement: Rebirth and the First World Romani Congress in Retrospect," in Th. Acton, ed., Scholarship and the Gypsy Struggle. Commitment in Romani Studies (Hatfield, Hertfordshire: University of Hertfordshire Press, 2000), pp. 94-113.
104. Interview with Rajko Djuric, Berlin, 11 March 2002.
105. European Roma Rights Centre, "Roma in Albania."
106. The letter is dated 2 January 1997 and signed by both Pëllumb Fortuna and Marchel Courthiade.
107. European Roma Rights Centre, "Roma in Albania," p. 11.
108. I b i d.
109. Cf. K. Clewing, "Mythen und Fakten zur Ethnostruktur in Kosovo-Ein geschichtlicher Überblick," in J. Reuter and K. Clewing, eds, Der Kosovo Konflikt. Ursachen, Verlauf, Perspektiven (Klagenfurt, Austria and Vienna: Wieser, 2000), p. 17.
110. Duijizings, Religion and the Politics of Identity, p. 143.
111. Chr. Promitzer, "Vermessener Körper: 'Rassenkundliche' Grenzziehungen im südostlichen Europa," in K. Kaser, D. Gramshammer-Hohl and R. Pichler, eds, Europa und die Grenzen im Kopf (Klagenfurt, Austria: Wieser, 2003), pp. 357-385.
112. Chr. Promitzer, "The Body of the Other: 'Racial Science' and Minorities in Southeastern Europe," History and Culture of South Eastern Europe Vol. 5, 2003, pp. 27-40.
113. Indicative of the connection between ethnic categories and racial discourse is P. L. van den Berge's view ("Race and Ethnicity: A Sociobiological Perspective," Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 1, No. 4, 1978, pp. 401-411)
114. and the controversial debate it has caused (e.g. G. Fischer and M. Wölflingseder, eds. Biologismus, Rassismus, Nationalismus, rechte Ideologien im Vormarsch (Vienna: Promedia, 1995)).
115. On the central concept of "heritage" in ethnic categorisation, see also E. Balibar and I. Wallerstein, Race, Nation, Classe. Les identités ambiguës (Paris: La Découverte, 1988);
116. E. J. Dittrich and F.-O. Radtke, eds, Ethnizität (Opladen, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1990).
117. On Macedonia in particular, see E. Kofos, "National Heritage and National Identity in Ninetheenth and Twentieth-Century Macedonia," in M. Blinkhorn and T. Veremis, eds, Modern Greece: Nationalism and Nationality (London: Sage, 1990).
118. L. Danforth, The Macedonian Conflict, Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995). With respect to the Republic of Macedonia, the recent currency of this tendency is reflected in the term "ethnic Macedonian space," i.e. the so-called "Makedonija etnički prostor" as expressed by St. Kiselinovski, Etničkite promeni vo Makedonija (Skopje, 2000), 49, cited by Chr. Voss, "Der albanischmakedonische Konflikt in der Republik Makedonein in zeitgeschichtlicher Perspektive," Südosteuropa Mitteilungen, Vol. 3, 2001, p. 275. Ethnogenesis and historical continuity have been crucial aspects of Macedonian nationalism since 1991 due to the dispute with Greece regarding Macedonia's origin and historical past. Voss (ibid. p. 279) calls the proclamation of the Albanian "Republika Ilirida" in Struga (Macedonia) and instance of "delusional continuity and aboriginalness" (Kontinuitäts- und Autochthonizit)ätswahn).
119. See also K. S. Brown, "Seeing Stars: Character and Identity in the Landscapes of Modern Macedonian," Antiquity, Vol. 68, No. 261, 1994, pp. 784-796.
120. see V. Roudometof, ed, The Macedonia Question: " Culture, Historiography, Politics (New York: Columbia University Press 2000)
121. St. Troebst, "Geschichtspolitik und historische 'Meistererzählungen' in Makedonien vor und 1991," in A. Ivaniševič, A. Kappeler, W. Lukan and A. Suppan, eds, Klio ohne Fesseln? Historiographie im östlichen Europa nach dem Zusammenbruch des Kommunismus. Österreichische Osthefte, Vol. 16 (Veinna: Peter Lang, 2002), pp. 453-472.
122. Duijzings, Religion and the Politics of Identity, p. 143.
123. It is worth mentioning that the attempt to divide the Muslim community has been legitimised by emphasising linguistic divergence among Muslims. Support for Macedonian speakers is not a new phenomenon and occurred as early as the 1970s.
124. See E. Kraft, "Die Religionsgemeinschaften in Makedonien," Österreichische Osthefte Special Edition (Vienna: Böhlau, 1998), pp. 339-376.
125. For details of this debate in Bulgaria see e.g. Karagiannis, Zur Ethnizität, and Marushiakova and Popov, Gypsies (Roma) in Bulgaria.
126. Part of the Muslim minority in Grecian Thrace is regarded by both the larger Greek society as well as the other members of the minority as "Gypsies," whereas they define themselves as Turks. In the Greek-Turkish conflict over the Thracian Muslim minority, the Turkish state claimed the presence of a unified Turkish minority. Subsequently, Muslim Roma were declared by Turkish politicians to be Turkish. The Greek state, attempting to counter the Turkish claim, ascribed a political neutrality and even a folkloric "Gypsiness" to these groups. In support of this tactic, Greek scholars argued for supposedly objective differences between "Turks" and "Gypsies" and included the controversial groups in the latter category. In the framework of this discourse, scholars tended to argue with a general bias toward Gypsies, especially concerning the alleged "lack of real faith" and "ostensible" conversion to Islam by the groups in question. The latter were thought to practise Christian rituals. Furthermore, it was asserted that they did not convert to Sunni Islam but to that form of Islam practised by the Bektashi brotherhoods (Zeginis, Oi mousoulmanoi Athigganoi).
127. See Trubeta, Die Konstitution von Minderheiten, pp. 208-215, and Trubeta "'Minorization' and 'Ethnicization.'"
128. See G. G. Arnakis, "The Role of Religion in the Development of Balkan Nationalism," in B. & C. Jelavich, eds, The Balkans in Transition (Berkeley: Elgar, 1974), pp. 115-144;
129. V. Roudometof, Nationalism, Globalisation and Orthodoxy. The Social Origins of Ethnic Conflict in the Balkans (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001).
130. Classical studies on unorthodox Christian and Islamic brotherhoods and their secular tendencies with respect to social issues of poverty, wealth, power, etc., include D. Angelov, Der Bogomilismus auf dem Gebiete des Byzantinischen Reiches-Ursprung, Wesen und Geschichte, Ist Part: Ursprung und Wesen (Sofia: Imprimerie de l'Université, 1948 and 1950
131. G. Jacob, "Die Bektaschijje in ihrem Verhältnis zu verwandten Erscheinungen," Abhandlungen d. I.Kl.d.K.Ak.d.Wiss, XXIV, Vol. 3, 1909, pp. 1-52
132. H. J. Kissling, "The Sociological and Educational Role of the Dervish in the Ottoman Empire," American Anthropologist, Vol. 56, No. 2, 1954, pp. 23-35
133. M. D. Lembert, Ketzerei im Mittelalter. Eine Geschichte von Gewalt und Scheitern (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1991).
134. P. Dinzelbacher, "Zur Erforschung der Geschichte der Volksreligion. Einführung und Bibliographie," in P. Dinzelbacher and D. R. Bauer, eds, Volksreligion im hohen und späten Mittelalter (Paderborn: Schöningh, 1990), pp. 9-27.
135. K. S. Brown, "Seeing Stars: Character and Identity in the Landscapes of Modern Macedonia," Antiquity, Vol. 68, No. 261, 1994, pp. 784-796.
136. Cf. K. Buchenau, "Verspätete Ernüchterung: Die serbisch-orthodoxe Kirche im Kosovokonflikt 1960-1999," Arbeitspapiere Geschichte und Kultur des Osteuropa-Instituts der Freien Universität Berlin, Vol. 2, 1999, pp. 5-43 Recent violent events (March 2004) in Kosovo and Serbia in which churches and mosques were destroyed by Albanian and Serbian nationalists are indicative of the increasing relevance of religion at least in symbolic terms.
137. Barany, The Roma in Macedonia, p. 517.
138. Duijzings, Religion and the Politics of Identity, p. 148.
139. See e.g. ibid., pp. 147-150.
140. A. Petrović, "Contributions to the Study of the Serbian Gypsies. 'Bijeli' or white Gypsies," Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, Vol. 19, No. 3, 1940, p. 89.
141. C. Silverman, "Negotiating Gypsiness. Strategy in Context," Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 101, No. 399, 1988, pp. 261-275.
142. V. Popov, "La conscience ethnique préférentielle des Tsiganes," Études Tsiganes, Vol. 38, No. 2, 1992, pp. 38-43.
143. Uwe Pörksen, Plastikwörter. Die Sprache einer internationalen Diktatur (Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1998), p. 11.
144. For more on this controversial debate, see Rogers Brubaker and Frederic Cooper, "Beyond 'Iidentity,'" Theory and Society. Renewal and Critique in Social Theory, Vol. 29, 2000, pp. 1-47;
145. Lutz Niethammer, Kollektive Identität. Heimliche Quellen einer unheimlichen Konjunktur (Hamburg: Rowolt Taschenbuch, 2000);
146. Stuart Hall, "Who Needs identity?" in Stuart Hall and Paul du Gay, eds, Questions of Cultural Identity (London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage, 1996), pp. 1-17;
147. Lawrence Grossberg, "Identity and Cultural Studies-Is That All There Is?" in Stuart Hall and Paul du Gay, eds, Questions of Cultural Identity (London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage, 1996), pp. 87-107.
148. The relationship between national, ethnic and racial concepts has been addressed in several works. See "'Minorization' and 'Ethnicization' in Greek Society: Comparative Perspectives on Moslem Migrants and the Moslem Minority," History and Culture of South Eastern Europe/ Jahrbücher für Geschichte und Kultur Südosteuropas (Munich), Vol. 5, 2003, pp. 95-112;
149. Die Konstitution von Minderheiten und die Ethnisierung sozialer und politischer Konflikte. Eine Untersuchung am Beispeil der im griechischen Thrakien ansässigen "Moslemischen Minderhiet" (Frankfurt: Peter Lang), esp. pp. 26-57
150. "Minorities and ethnic identification" (in Greek: Journal of the Greek Society for Ethnology (Athens), Vol. 8, 2001, pp. 173-219
151. Max Weber, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Grundriss der verstehenden Soziologie. (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1972), p. 237.
152. On ethnic categorisation in the case of the Roma, see Thomas Acton, Gypsy Politics and Social Change. The Development of Ethnic Ideology and Pressure Politics among British Gypsies from Victorian Reformism to Romani Nationalism (London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974), esp. pp. 9-24.
153. See Michael Taussig, Mimesis and Alterity. A Particular History of the Sciences (New York and London: Routledge, 1993);
154. Homi K. Bhabha, The Location of Culture (London and New York: Routledge, 2004).
155. T. P. Vukanović, "The Gypsy Population in Yugoslavia," Journal of Gypsy Lore Society, Vol. 42, Nos 1-2, 1963, pp. 10-27.
156. Ibid., p. 11.
157. I b i d.
158. Ibid., p. 12.
159. Theodore M. Porter, Trust in Numbers. The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995).
160. Acton, Gypsy Politics and Social Change, pp. 93-53.
161. S. Trubeta, "'Gypsiness', Racial Discourse and Persecution: Balkan Roma during the Second World War," Nationalities Papers, Vol. 31, No. 4, 2003, pp. 495-514.
162. One of the best analyses of this discourse is Robert J. C. Youngs, Colonial Desire. Hybridity in Theory, Culture and Race (London and New York: Routledge, 1995).
163. See the interesting remarks about postcolonial discourse by Jonathan Friedman and in particular his thesis on "postcoloniality and cultural elitism" (pp. 242-245) in his article "The Hybridization of Roots and the Abhorrence of the Busch," in Mike Featherstone and Scott Lash, eds, Spaces of Culture: City, Nation, World (London/Thousand Oaks/New Delhi: Sage, 1999), pp. 230-256
164. See e.g. D. Gresham, B. Morar et al., "Origins and Divergence of the Roma (Gypsies)," American Journal of Human Genetics, Vol. 69, 2001, pp. 1314-1331, .
165. David A. Hollinger, Postethnic America. Beyond Multiculturalism (New York: Basic Books, 2000), p. 117.
166. This is not to imply that racial/biologistic elements in recent scholarly treatments of the Roma are infrequent. See e.g. E. Sunderland, "The Population Structure of the Romany Gypsies," in M. H. Crawford and J. H. Mielke, eds, Current Developments in Anthropological Genetics, Vol. 2: Ecology and Population Structure (New York: Plenum Press 1982), as well as the often quoted
167. A. Fraser, The Gypsies (particularly the chapter "Physical Anthropology," pp. 22-25)
168. and Gresham et al., "Origins and Divergence of the Roma (Gypsies)." With respect to the Bulgarian Roma
169. see e.g. I. Tournev, A. Todorova et al., "C283Y Mutation and Other C-Terminal Nucleotide Changes in the g-Sarcoglycan Gene in the Bulgarian Gypsy Population," Human Mutation, Vol. 14, 1999, pp. 40-44
170. A. Todorova, I. Tournev et al., "Screening for C283Y Gamma-Sarcoglycan Mutation in High Risk Group of Bulgarian Gypsies: Evidence for Geographical Localization and Non-random Distribution among Gypsy Subgroups," Community Genetics, Vol. 5, No. 4., 2002, pp. 217-221.
171. Concerning Greek groups see K. N. Zafeiris and N.I. Xirotiris, [Oi Roma tou Aratou: Dimografiki kai genealogiki meleti ("The Roma of Aratos: A demographic and genealogical study")], In: Oi Roma stin El lada (The Roma in Greece)], edited by Greek Society of Ethnology, Athens, 2002, pp. 25-109.
172. William G. Lockwood, "An Introduction to Balkan Gypsies," Giessener Hefte für Tsiganologie, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Giessen, 1985) pp. 17-23.
173. As Troebst "The Politics of Macedonian Historiography," in James Pettifer, ed., The New Macedonian Question (Basingstoke, England: Macmillan Press, 2001, p. 62) has argued, historical conceptions of "Egyptian Roma," just like those of Balkan titular nations and other groups such as Aromunians, Torbeshs, etc., "assume one single line of tradition that ... is considered to be decisive and is extended rigorously in both directions along the axis of time. Contemporary ideas are easily projected back into the past, just as historical facts are extrapolated into the present and then on into the future."
174. E. Hobsbawm, On History (London: Abacus, 1998), pp. 9-10.
175. Ibid, p. 8.
176. M. Foucault, Dispositive der Macht (Berlin: Merve-Verl., 1978), p. 51.
177. Hollinger, Postethnic America.
178. Ibid., p. 117.
179. Ibid., p. 116.