ETHNIC GENTRIFICATION THE SILENT FIGHT FOR A MACEDONIAN CITY

Abstract

Since the dissolution of Yugoslavia we can see a significant growth in the importance of ethnic identity in the Balkan states. In effect, since than an irredentist tendency can be seen in the region. The struggle for the creation of a monoethnic country turn into civil wars in the Balkan peninsula in the early 1990s. Macedonia, against a background of ex – republics of Yugoslavia, was relatively stable. However, it does not mean that the ethnicity did not play a great role in independent Macedonia. Ethnicity leaves its mark on politics, society and Macedonian cities. In recent years, the local government of Tetovo-a city in the north-western part of Macedonia-has been trying to impose a new identity. This local policy fits in with the wider national fight for national identity3 and over possession of the city’s public spaces. Simultaneously, we can witness the process of Albanian community emancipation that has influenced social relations. As a result of the changes, the ethnic Macedonians are being pushed out from Tetovo, the second biggest city in the country. In this paper I will argue that what we are witnessing can be called Ethnic Gentrification. I will try to develop the concept of gentrification (Glass 1964) and briefly discuss the legitimacy of broadening well-established concepts.

Keywords

• ethnic gentrification
• ghettoization
• ethnicization
• Tetovo
• Macedonia