Along the Gypsy trail: A field-course in Bulgaria
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Date: Sat, 4 Apr 1998 19:13:04 +0300 (EET DST)
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Subject: Along the Gypsy trail: A field-course in Bulgaria
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Bulgarian Society for Regional Cultural Studies
<[email protected]>
Along the Gypsy trail: A field-course in Bulgaria
A field-course of the Bulgarian Society for Regional Cultural Studies
(BSRCS)
19 October - 14 November 1998.
Base - camp Hamlet of Hadjiyska, Bulgaria
1st Announcement
ALONG THE GYPSY TRAIL: ST. DIMITER'S DAY LIVESTOCK VILLAGE FAIRS IN
THE BALKANS (BULGARIA)
Following the Workshop of September 1997 (Muslim Communities in
Bulgaria Seven Years After the Exodus of 1989) and the field-course
Mountain Pastoralism: A Field Course with a Muslim Community (15 July
- 10 August 1998) the BSRCS organizes a third such event, focussing on
the mainly Roma (Gypsy)traders who realize a live-stock market for
pastoralist Christian and Muslim communities in Bulgaria.
The field-course is addressed mainly to students or practioners of
anthropology or related disciplines who are interested in problems
concerning Roma, Bulgarian Turks, and Bulgarian Muslims. Its aim is to
gather together a relatively small group of researchers (10 - 15
persons), independently of levels of academic seniority. They are
invited to help with their efforts to gain an understanding of current
processes within these three communities after the dismantling of the
socialist state and the liquidation of collective farming .
This field-study focuses on the inter-cultural relationships between
two groups of economic actors. These are the primarily Roma animal
traders, on the one hand, and Muslim mountain pastoralists (Turks and
Pomaks), as well as Bulgarian farmers, on the other, who appear on the
scene as sellers of live-stock and related products. The relationship
is tensed by the fact that animal-thiefs are associated mainly with
the Roma group, Roma traders being accused of acting as scouts for
subsequent raiding parties. Despite this tension and suspicions the
relationship between Roma traders and Muslim/ Christian sellers is a
stable one, as neither party wishes to change sides in the established
economic environment and its attendant inter-ethnic ecology. What we
have is a model of inter-cultural economic behaviour balancing between
necessity and fear, and the field-study will attempt to probe into its
inner mechanisms. These, we believe, bear relevance to the more
general inter-ethnic situation in the Balkans.
The specific method of the field-course will be for the team to act as
'traders' (in contast to the previous field-study when they were
'pastoralists'). The researchers will travel around the established
'Gypsy trails' in a truck, camping Roma-style. Focus points will be
live-stock village fairs on St.Dimiter's Day - the day of traditional
closing of the pastoralist year, when surplus animals would be sold
before the coming winter. It will be arranged that the team
participates in the trading. St.Dimiter's Day falls on 26 October
(New Style) and 8 November (Old Style). Most villages have the fairs
on the latter date still.
An initial one-week introductory course will be followed by discussion
at the end of each working day and the event, as a whole, shall rely
for its effectiveness on an open-ended exchange of ideas in a friendly
informal atmosphere.
The event follows previous research of the BSRCS, carried out since
1990, and details about that can be sent upon request.
Registration
Participants should indicate their wish to join at their earliest
convenience. There are available places for not more than 15 persons.
Work shall be more effective if participants have a working knowledge
of Bulgarian or a related Slav language (Russian), and/or Turkish, and
have conducted previous research in Muslim communities. In the
absence of such skills, language problems shall be solved by
interpreting. The working language of the event is English.
The project relies on a budget provided mainly by participants' fees
of USD 750, covering board, lodging, and travel for the duration of
the course. Fees should be sent to: Bulgarian Society for Regional
Cultural Studies; b/acc No 1 160 165 118 (USD). Raiffeisenbank
(Bulgaria) JSC; Bank Code: 15591550. Correspodent Bank: Chase
Manhattan Bank, N.Y. Swift Code: CHASUS33 Acc. No. 400-220520.
Preferences will be given to participants coming for the whole period
and registering before 1 September 1998.
Equipment and logistics
Participants should be prepared to travel around in a truck and camp
outside villages whenever necessary. Basic camping equipment shall be
therefore needed - small tent, sleeping bag, and suitable clothes. The
Hamlet of Hadjiyska is situated in Central Bulgaria, in the foothills
of the Balkan Range. Nearest Municipal Centre - Zlataritsa (15
kms.), Regional Centre - Veliko Turnovo (30 kms.), Railway station -
Gorna Oryahovitsa (30 kms). The nearest international airport is Sofia
or Varna (both at a distance of 250 kms.). Recommended travel is by
train from Sofia to G.Oryahovitsa (travel time 5 hours). The
field-course
begins and ends in G.Oryahovitsa.
Contact-address: Yulian Konstantinov/ Petya Mankova, Bulgarian Society
for Regional Cultural Studies (BSRCS) BG-1233, P.B.59, Sofia,
Bulgaria.
Tel. (+359 2) 325 248;
e-mail: [email protected]
http://www.cit.bg/home/bsrcs
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