Власите в България – между "голямата" и "малката" история
The Vlachs from Bulgaria between the ‘Great’ and the ‘Little’ History

Summary/Abstract: In the Southeast European space there are widespread plenty of ethnic, religious and/or local groups, whose identities strikingly differ from those of the dominant population. In this vein the so-called “Vlachs” represent an illustrative case and by I show the reasons for that in the beginning of the article. The hypothesis of the article is that the official and academic discourse regarding the history of the Vlachs is wholly ignored by the Vlachs themselves. Moreover, speaking about themselves Vlachs use two main references: first, the ideological versions regarding their origin and, second, the local practice that the successive economical and social arrangements shaped at the level of local society. My arguments lay on the personal fieldwork undertaken in the Bulgarian regions of Belene-Nikopol and Vidin. In addition, I will refer also to the sources grounded mostly on that sort of inquiry. As a conclusion I state that whilst the matter of their historical origin is, for Vlachs, not at all a sensitive issue, the economic, social and cultural conditions/frame of their everyday life on the contrary, provide the ground of a rich self-reference. It is more important hence, in their view, to justify the ‘nativity’ and ‘localism’ against the influence of the macro social/global spheres of the society.

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