SIPANewS - SIPA - Columbia University

When I was with other Peace Corps volunteers
in Macedonia, we played a game we called
Balkan RISK. Styled after the board game RISK,
Balkan RISK pitted the Byzantine, Italian,
Greek, Balkan, and Austro-Hungarian empires
against each other for total control of Eastern Europe. Marching my
sunflower seed armies across the map provided visual evidence of a
simple fact: the Balkans were a profound crossroads of empires.
For centuries, the Balkan cultures have
absorbed the influences of empires north and
south, east and west. As a result, the nation that
is now the Republic of Macedonia has a culture
that seems at once Turkish and Hellenistic,
Slavic and European, Christian and Islamic.
While this fermenting of influences has produced
a varied national identity and an anthropologically
fascinating culture, the Macedonians
of today are faced with a curious issue: how does
a culture of such diverse influence market itself
to the rest of the world?
In the 20 years since the breakup of Yugoslavia,
many of its newly independent states have dusted
off the scars of war and made themselves attractive
tourist destinations: Slovenia, Croatia, and
even Bosnia’s war-ravaged capital—Sarajevo—
bustle with Western Europeans in the summer
months. Further south, however, Macedonia’s
sprawling vineyards, craggy mountains, and clear
lakes are glaringly empty of tourists.
In December 2008, the Macedonian government
debuted a commercial campaign marketing
Macedonia across Western Europe, Russia, Turkey,
and the United States. “Macedonia: Timeless” was
a visually stunning series depicting the natural,
historical, and cultural beauty of this Vermontsized
republic in the southern Balkans. But the
Macedonia: Timeless campaign didn’t match up to
the Macedonia of my experience. What stood out
most was not the rich display of Hellenistic and
Christian influences, but the total and resounding
absence of Macedonia’s Eastern and Islamic
heritage. The Macedonia I knew was not nearly as
homogenous as Macedonia: Timeless suggested,
and I wondered why the government chose to
present such a one-sided view of its country.
Apparently, I was not alone. Macedonia:
Timeless drew harsh criticism from two camps:
the Muslims and the Greeks. Both contested the
video’s historical accuracy, but for interestingly
disparate reasons. The Muslims of Macedonia—
Albanians, Roma, and Turks who, together, comprise
about one-third of the population—decried
their utter lack of representation. Where were the
mosques? The major Albanian cities? Allusions to
the 500 years of Turkish rule?
The Greeks, on the other hand, accused
Macedonia of overusing Hellenistic culture.
Over the past several decades, the Greeks have
become increasingly sensitive about Macedonia’s
use of traditional Greek (or Hellenistic) imagery
and nomenclature. So when one installment of
Macedonia: Timeless featured a woman feeding
grapes to a man in a toga as he lounged in
a pavilion with Ionic columns and nude statues,
Greece’s outrage was quick and pointed. Surely
the Macedonian government, when funding the
ad campaign, knew this imagery would be inflammatory
to its southern neighbors. So why did it
figure so prominently in the way they represented
themselves to the world?
The mountain lake Labunicko in Macedonia.
These two sets of questions stem from
Macedonia’s post-Yugoslavian quest for a cohesive
national character in the face of ongoing
ethnic tension. In 2001, Macedonia erupted
in a violent conflict between ethnic Albanians
and ethnic Macedonians. Religious, cultural, and
political issues hit a boiling point, resulting in a
conflict that functionally segregated the country
and left the issue of Macedonian cultural identity
simmering. What is a Macedonian? Can ethnic
Albanians living in Macedonia call themselves
Macedonians? Are Macedonians exclusively
Orthodox Slavs? What determines one’s identity—ethnic
culture or national citizenship?
With Macedonia: Timeless, the Macedonian
government walked squarely into this quagmire.
The commercial series unequivocally shows
Macedonia as a Christian and Western nation.
Strong Hellenistic undertones, paintings of
Orthodox saints, and ancient hillside churches are
significant and ubiquitous elements of Macedonian
culture. But the absences speak volumes. Save for a
brief flash of Turkish writing, there is not a single
cultural fragment of the Albanians, the Turks, or
the Roma. Mother Teresa, an ethnic Albanian
born in Macedonia’s capital, is completely absent.
The video captures none of the vibrant imagery
of Tetovo’s 600-year-old Painted Mosque. No traditional
Turkish dress, no smiling Albanian grandmothers,
no Bajram feasts. The government-funded
Macedonia: Timeless campaign not only alienates a
cultural segment of the country, it in effect erases it.
Macedonia: Timeless was not designed as a
political piece but rather to attract tourists to
SIPA NEWS 5