Ethnologia Balkanica (review)

Ethnologia Balkanicais a new international journal that publishes ethnological and folklore studies related to Southeastern Europe. It is the journal of the Association for Balkan Anthropology (ABA), a scholarly society founded in Sofia in 1995. Its goals are the promotion of research and teaching of Balkan ethnology, the diffusion of ethnological knowledge of the Balkans, the initiation of cooperation, and the organization of international conferences. The first two volumes are the subject of this review.

Although the primary language of Ethnologia Balkanicais English, there are also articles in each issue in French and in German, with abstracts in English. Several of the pieces written in English by German or Austrian scholars have abstracts in German. The coverage is extensive, touching on most of the nations of the Balkan peninsula, and many of the smaller ethnic language groups found there. It soon becomes clear, however, that there are more studies by Bulgarians, and for the most part about Bulgaria, than any other portion of the Balkans. In addition to the articles included, there are reports on anthropology, ethnology, and folklore programs of study in Romania, Macedonia, Croatia, Austria, and Bulgaria. A few articles deal with Albania, one with Greece, and there are two studies that address smaller linguistic and ethnic groups, the Karakachans and the Aromunians. There is considerable treatment of the historical background of various countries, of the political situation in the post communist era, both in the homeland and in the countries of the diaspora, there are descriptions of lengthy encyclopedias, various sociological source books, and good folklore studies. For the folklorist there is much of interest: the insistent problem and the fear of the evil eye when cattle are being moved to their pastures (1:202); the fear that an unclean girl might have caused a deceased person to not receive sufficient water (1:100-101); and the failed socialist transformation of a religious feast in a Bulgarian village (2:127-136).

Each of the first two volumes has a central theme; the first deals with the Danube as a "Bridge of Cultural Interchange." In this volume, there is frequent mention of the river as a boundary between countries and cultures. Even within one country, however, the Danube is not simply looked upon as a dividing line between two countries; it is seen rather as a divide within the country itself, that is, there are large numbers who "turn their backs" to the river and look to the mountains as their homeland. In one study on "Ethnic Space and Death," we find a possible clarification for the incessant debates about who belongs where in the following statement: "In a paradoxical fashion I would say that those who today struggle for the 'ethnic space' don't do it in order to live there but in order to rest there after death" (1:181). The second volume presents the proceedings of a conference on "Ideology in Balkan Anthropology." The papers are devoted to the interpretation and construction of ethnohistory and national history: romanticism and nationalist ideologies as process of nation building and self-definition of nation-states; the effect of socialist ideology on everyday culture; and contemporary nationalist ideologies combined with socioeconomic interests in defining the position and actions of ethnic groups in Balkan countries and in the diaspora.

While the themes of these first two volumes seem only remotely related, a close reading of one report and one article suggest both their connection and perhaps the underlying subtext of the journal itself. In volume 1, Paul Nixon complains concerning the conference on "Ideology in Balkan Anthropology" in the following way: "I register my regret at a general absence of Academicians from Sofia's powerful Institutes. Why did senior specialists not respond to the call for papers—and personal invitations—addressing such an important topic as ideology in regional research? What could have been more timely, informative, and constructive?" (1:205). In volume 2, in an...