Unchanging boundaries: the reconstruction of Skopje and the politics of heritage |
| |
Authors: | Fabio Mattioli |
| |
Institution: | 1. Department of Anthropology, The City University of New York, 365 5th Avenue, 10016, New York, NY, USA.fmattioli@gc.cuny.edu |
| |
Abstract: | This study discusses the politics of urban planning and heritage in the city of Skopje, Macedonia. I compare three phases of urban reconstruction under three political systems: the inter-war Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes, the communist regime and present-day ‘democracy’. I show that the ambiguous marginalisation of Ottoman heritage has been a continuous practice, despite today’s reading of communist planning as ‘open’. Through a discussion of Yugoslav politics towards religious and national ‘minorities’, I show that Ottoman heritage has been preserved only insofar as it fits within the state’s definition of power. I specifically detail how the construction of ‘European’, ‘secular’ public space has worked as a tool through which state/nation building established new hierarchies of power. I show how this is reflected most clearly in the specific politics of heritage by discussing the creation, regulation and management of ‘?ar?ija’, the ‘old Turkish’ neighbourhood of Skopje. |
| |
Keywords: | reconstruction Balkans ethnicity socialism secularism |
|
|