Border, Heritage, Heirs
Border, Heritage, Heirs

Summary/Abstract: Based on anthropological field research, the article presents study related to the experience of living in the border region between Bulgaria and Turkey in the part of Strandzha Mountain that is contiguous to the Black Sea (Tzarevo Municipality). This experience of living close to the border influences the individual and collective strategies of social networking and local development. The author discusses the local cultural heritage(s) and the construction of communities of “heirs” of migrants. The border is interpreted by them as being “ours”, as a secure, open, but also dangerous, area. The attitudes to the border are ambiguous: the passage from a strictly protected border to a green one is felt dangerous for “our living here and now”, amidst fears of diseases and migrants that might freely enter the territory. On the other hand the border offers opportunities; the know-how of living close to the neighboring country is included in many economic strategies, policies and projects for local development, based on the valued status of “being local”.

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