Beyond Ethnicity: The Politics of Urban Nostalgia in Modern Macedonia

The paper explores the rural-urban axis in post-socialist Macedonian views of the past, present and future. Social tensions in the Balkans, and the former Yugoslav republics in particular, are often viewed as a direct product of interethnic hostilities. Focusing in particular on Macedonian responses to domestic unrest since 1991, this paper traces the importance of crime, gender roles and mobility as key concerns in the post-Yugoslav context. It offers a complementary interpretation of anti-Albanian discourse, which highlights the enduring significance of the rural-urban distinction in contemporary Macedonia.