Трансформации и дистинкции в българското социалистическо село: как ТКЗС „Георги Димитров“ в с. Ръжево Конаре се превърна в демонстративно образцово стопанство
Transformations and distinctions in the Bulgarian village: how the ‘Georgi Dimitrov’ agricultural cooperative in Razhevo Konare became a ‘demonstrative model farm’

Author(s): Stoyka Penkova
Subject(s): Anthropology, Social Sciences, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Culture and social structure
Published by: Пловдивски университет »Паисий Хилендарски«
Keywords: transformations; demonstrative model farm; distinctive place; distinctive identities; inheritance; rituals of institution
Summary/Abstract: This study is an attempt to interpret those transformations that took place immediately after the creation of the „Georgi Dimitrov’ agricultural cooperative in the village of Razhevo Konare and lead to its becoming a ‘demonstrative model farm’, i.e. a distinctive place specially constructed by the new Communist power destined to normalize the identity of the future ‘model’ cooperators who have not yet become what they must be, that is, ‘worthy pioneers of this great cause to the good of the people’ (as Georgi Dimitrov himself bequeathed in the telegram sent from Moscow for the cooperative’s creation). An analytic accent is put on the intricate dual process combining 1) vertical transformations from above of people, places and times, whereby they are bestowed identity by powerful, normative and ideological strategies and discourses; 2) horizontal transformations from below by people, places, times, whereby agents are energized, their practices are temporized, and the effects of distinctiveness are deployed. To describe this specific ‘double reality’ in Bourdieu’s terms, I will first present the historical background of the transformations in Razhevo Konare unfolded. Then I will problematize the link between distinctiveness and inheritance, trying to establish whether and how the distinctiveness is inherited of this chosen place, as well as the ways in which inheriting is done. Finally I will dwell on the praxeological understanding of the process of accepting/transmitting ‘heritage’ in the situation of socialist transformations performed in the village, as they are revealed in the witnesses of archive documents and living narratives of participants in those processes.

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