Contested Locations and Unfixed Borders: A Study About the Frontiers of Greece and North Macedonia

ABSTRACT

The paper explores the complex dynamics of border regions between Greece and North Macedonia, focusing explicitly on the areas of Florina and Edessa. Drawing on ethnographic data from the 1990s until now, the study shows how multilingual cultural performances shape the perceptions and interpretations of location and identity. As well, the paper advocates for a spatially focused approach to border studies, one that examines relationships and interactions within specific locations, therefore employing the concepts of crosslocations and aural border to analyze how coexisting locating regimes interact and produce multiple experiences of place in both the same space and across locations. These bordering processes highlight current transformations, such as the performance of Macedonian songs primarily, the Greek state institutions’ challenges in monitoring situations involving non-Greek linguistic expressions, and the prevalence of Macedonian as a term of reference to the language and songs. Finally, the study concludes that cultural performances have the power to transcend state control, reshape border spaces by symbolically abolishing state border regimes, and ultimately produce alternative lived realities concerning place-making and identity.

KEYWORDS:

• Borders
• nation state
• cultural performance
• crosslocations
• aural border
• SouthEastern Europe

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The terminology used to describe the populations and languages in northern Greece reflects the intricate and politically sensitive nature of studying these border areas. The local discourse encompasses various terms that refer to the Slavic dialects spoken in the region (Hill 1991; Ioannidou 1997). These terms, such as dópia or dópika. [native, in Greek], diká mas [ours, in Greek], makedonítika, makedónika or makedoniká [in Greek], naši [ours, in Slavic], makedónski [in Slavic], vulgárika [Bulgarian, in Greek], slavo-makedoniká [slav-macedonian, in Greek], topiko idioma [local idiom, in Greek], dopiolalia [local oral speech, in Greek], have been shaped by various historical events of the 20th century, and carry different connotations and political symbolism. In our effort to contextualize the cultural and linguistic aspects we encountered in our research, we employ the terms Dópia/Dópika and Macedonian as the emic terms people use to reproduce the verbal expressions and meanings conveyed to us during discussions and/or refer to lyrics, melodies and other performative elements they either perceive as local or as originating from North Macedonia.

2 For the rendition of expressions, song titles, and other words in Slavic, we use the International Organization Standardization (ISO) system (Comrie and Corbett 2002 [1993]).

3 People in Florina and Edessa often refer to the songs by the main characters' names. We adopt this practice in our paper to reflect these cultural and linguistic preferences and render the names of the songs as Annoula and Stojan for Florina and Leno and Lenče for Edessa.

4 The term designates the Greek origin of the song.

5 Both melodies share similar lyrics but are danced to different rhythms. For a comprehensive comparative analysis of the two melodies, see Gourani (2014, 146–55).

6 The first sheet music of the song appeared in 1926 (Djorjević 1926, 179–80).

7 For a more in-depth comparative analysis of these variations, see Gourani (2014, 146–7).