Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood: Passages to Nationhood in Greek Macedonia, 1870-1990

Deftly combining archival sources with evocative life histories, Anastasia Karakasidou brings welcome clarity to the contentious debate over ethnic identities and nationalist ideologies in Greek Macedonia. Her vivid and detailed account demonstrates that contrary to official rhetoric, the current people of Greek Macedonia ultimately derive from profoundly diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Throughout the last century, a succession of regional and world conflicts, economic migrations, and shifting state formations has engendered an intricate pattern of population movements and refugee resettlements across the region. Unraveling the complex social, political, and economic processes through which these disparate peoples have become culturally amalgamated within an overarchingly Greek national identity, this book provides an important corrective to the Macedonian picture and an insightful analysis of the often volatile conjunction of ethnicities and nationalisms in the twentieth century.

"Combining the thoughtful use of theory with a vivid historical ethnography, this is an important, courageous, and pioneering work which opens up the whole issue of nation-building in northern Greece."—Mark Mazower, University of Sussex

List of Maps

Preface

Introduction

Pt. I: Constructing Visions of the Historical Past: The Politics of Reading, Writing, and Telling of History

1: Between Oral Memory and Written History: Re-Membering the Past

2: Exchanging Identities: The Makings of the Guvezna Market Community

3: Converging Frontiers of Greek and Bulgarian Nationalism: Religious Propaganda, Educational Competition, and National Enlightenment in Macedonia, 1870-1903

4: The Macedonian Struggle in Guvezna: Violence, Terror, and the Scepter of National Liberation, 1903-1908

Pt. II: Class Reformation and National Homogenization: Processes of Consolidation and Change Following the Advent of Greek Rule

5: Crossing the Moving Frontier: Group Formation and Social Closure in the Era of Refugee Settlement, 1922-1940

6: Administering the "New Lands" of Greek Macedonia: Class Reformation and National Homogenization, 1913-1940

7: Sponsoring Passages to Nationhood: Material and Spiritual Patronage in Assiros

Conclusion: Reconstructing the Passages of Nationhood

Afterword

Appendix: Genealogies

Tables

Notes

Bibliography

Index