Стратегии за справяне с бедността в постсоциалистическото българско село. Примерът на община Сатовча
Strategies for Dealing with Poverty in Post-socialist Bulgarian Village. On the Example of the Municipality of Satovcha

Summary/Abstract: At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, the post-socialist Bulgarian rural areas experienced fundamental transformations, along with the challenges of the economic decline, population ageing and the depopulation. Depending on the ecological characteristics, the economic resources and the specific historical trajectories, the villages in different Bulgarian regions experience these processes with varying degrees of intensity. One of the most alarming Bulgarian public sphere issues is the poverty in rural areas. This paper discusses on the strategies for coping with poverty in Bulgaria in the period of post-socialism. The analysis is based on field research, done in the Satovcha region (Western Rhodopes). The underlying theoretical position of the anthropological study is the assumption that the radical economic change from state-socialist to market economy is socially and culturally embedded: the functioning of the post-socialist market economy is influenced by socio-cultural factors and in turn, affects social life and culture. Individual and family coping strategies like resilience, family care and transnational migration are discussed. Finally, we argue that it is necessary to address the notion of poverty carefully, to relativise its homogenising use, i.e. its presentation as a total and pervasive phenomenon in local communities.

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