Етнография и демография... и проблемът за „нормалната комбинация“ (или как се дефинира „българското“ в българската етностатистика
Ethnography and Demography … and the Problem of “The Normal Combination” (or How to Define “the Bulgarian” in Bulgarian Ethno-statistics)

Summary/Abstract: The problem of the interrelation between the fields of ethnology and of demography (ethno-statistics, specifically) is of particular importance, because its exploration brings to the fore some trends of development in the zone of the cross-section between the fields of these two disciplines. Placing ethnic statistics in Bulgaria in this zone presumes focusing the attention to a specific question, too, concerning the so-called “normal combinations” of ethno-statistical categories. In a series of articles in the preceding three issues of the Bulgarska Etnologia [Bulgarian Ethnology] journal, the ethno-statistical results of the census of the population and the housing stock have been analyzed as a form and way of arranging and reconstructing the identity of the different communities and groups in the territory of Bulgaria in the course of the past 125 years. The deconstruction of the projection of Bulgarian demography in the Bulgarian field of the ethnic has inevitably passed through an analysis of its relationships with the interests of the state and the ruling elites of this state in the period from 1878 to date. In this article I dwell on a more specific problem, deriving from the foregoing analyses: concerning “the normal combinations” of ethno-statistic categories, or, to put it in other words, how “the Bulgarian” has been defined and changed in this sphere during the period under review. A possible view at demography by ethnology has also been presented, through the demonstration of some approaches to the ethno-statistical material adopted by different scientific schools, situated in the field between the two disciplines: formal demography, demographic anthropology, anthropological demography, critical reflexive demography and some others.

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