Between two motherlands : nationality and emigration among the Greeks of Bulgaria, 1900-1949 / Theodora Dragostinova.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dragostinova, Theodora, 1972-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Greeks--Bulgaria--History--20th century.

Greeks.

Greeks--Bulgaria--Ethnic identity.

Population transfers--Greeks--History--20th century.

Population transfers.

Refugees--Greece--History--20th century.

Refugees.

Refugees--Bulgaria--History--20th century.

Greece--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century.

Greece.

Bulgaria--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century.

Bulgaria.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 294 pages) : illustrations, maps

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Nationality and emigration among the Greeks of Bulgaria, 1900-1949

Place of Publication:

Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In 1900, some 100,000 people living in Bulgaria-2 percent of the country's population-could be described as Greek, whether by nationality, language, or religion. The complex identities of the population-proud heirs of ancient Hellenic colonists, loyal citizens of their Bulgarian homeland, members of a wider Greek diasporic community, devout followers of the Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul, and reluctant supporters of the Greek government in Athens-became entangled in the growing national tensions between Bulgaria and Greece during the first half of the twentieth century.In Between Two Motherlands, Theodora Dragostinova explores the shifting allegiances of this Greek minority in Bulgaria. Diverse social groups contested the meaning of the nation, shaping and reshaping what it meant to be Greek and Bulgarian during the slow and painful transition from empire to nation-states in the Balkans. In these decades, the region was racked by a series of upheavals (the Balkan Wars, World War I, interwar population exchanges, World War II, and Communist revolutions). The Bulgarian Greeks were caught between the competing agendas of two states increasingly bent on establishing national homogeneity.Based on extensive research in the archives of Bulgaria and Greece, as well as fieldwork in the two countries, Dragostinova shows that the Greek population did not blindly follow Greek nationalist leaders but was torn between identification with the land of their birth and loyalty to the Greek cause. Many emigrated to Greece in response to nationalist pressures; others sought to maintain their Greek identity and traditions within Bulgaria; some even switched sides when it suited their personal interests. National loyalties remained fluid despite state efforts to fix ethnic and political borders by such means as population movements, minority treaties, and stringent citizenship rules. The lessons of a case such as this continue to reverberate wherever and whenever states try to adjust national borders in regions long inhabited by mixed populations.

Contents:

The mixing and unmixing of Bulgarians and Greeks

Between the Bulgarian state and the Greek nation, 1900-1911

Nationality and shifting borders, 1912-1918

An exercise in population management, 1919-1925

Everyday life after emigration, 1925-1931

People on the margins, 1931-1941

Narratives and memories of the past.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN:

9780801461163

0801461162

9780801460685

0801460689

OCLC:

732957089