Продължаваща мобилност: случаят на слугинчетата от Тузлука
Continuing Mobility: the Case of the Housemaids from the Tuzluk Region

Summary/Abstract: In historical ethnology, women’s servants is a social phenomenon related to the so-called “West European” family model characterized by late matrimony. In Bulgaria, under the influence of socio-economic factors in the country and the modernization of the Bulgarian society in the first half of 20th century, the servantship developed and became very popular in the decades after World War I. In the next decades, it underwent numerous changes which led to slow but steady turn in the understanding of it. The study of its development and the outlining of the different stages with their age and gender characteristics allow us to trace the changes in the Bulgarian society in the previous century. It is also important to outline the regional characteristics which show important specifics of the existence and development of women’s servantship. Because of its strong influence over the life of different social groups in the society and its transformation into a vehicle of cultural exchange between them, the servantship could be defined also as a social mediator. It creates a peculiar bridge between the village and the city and facilitates the penetration of the new West European culture and urban patterns in the small local village community. The changes in the attitudes towards servantship as well as its popularity give us important information about the society as a whole and allow tracing the changes in the matrimonial models. The article is dedicated to the labour mobility of the young girls from the Tuzlukregion (Municipality of Antonovo, District of Targovishte) which expands in the course of time and to their hiring as housemaids mainly in the capital of Sofia. The study is based on the narratives of local people gathered during two short fieldworkresearches in the Municipality of Antonovo.

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