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

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University of Chicago Press, 2009 M02 15 - 358 pages
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
 

Contents

Introduction
1
The Politics of Reading Writing and Telling of History
29
Processes of Consolidation and Change Following the Advent of Greek Rule
140
Reconstructin the Passages to Nationhood
218
Afterword
228
Genealogies
240
Tables
247
Notes
262
Bibliography
307
Index
321
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