Abstract
Baj Steriu, who considers himself a proud Aromanian, told me in an interview: ""We come from Alexander the Great. There is even a song that Alexander the Great was our Tsar"".
His narrative is one of many stories on the topic of ""who are the Aromanians"". Stories ought to promote legitimacy and persuasiveness of contemporary revitalization efforts of Aromanians in Bulgaria.
Aromanians and their current endeavors are almost unknown in the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, the intent of this ethnographic study is not only to present a unique "revival" project and a little-known group.
An analysis of particular identity politics and revitalization strategies, framed by the ethnicity discourse and negotiated in transnational networks, may offer an inspiration for comparative studies of other similar processes. The book has three parts.
The first part introduces the context of the research and its theoretical and methodological framework. The second one outlines various versions of Aromanian past, covering the period from supposed beginnings of Aromanian history to the present, with emphasis on the moments highlighted by the actors themselves.
The third part focuses on the current situation of Aromanians in Bulgaria. It describes the actors of the revitalization project, strategies they employ to "revive Aromanianess,"" and the socio-political contexts in which this is done.
Special attention is payed to how Bulgarian Aromanians are framing their identity in terms of ""ethnicity"" and how they negotiate the "essence" of this identity. The subsequent analysis of particular revitalization strategies reveals the importance of language revitalization, memory politics, and the politics of ""in-formation"" (related to the processes of education, institutionalization, and transnationalization).
The conclusion of the book is devoted to the discussion of the motivations and limits of the entire Bulgarian Aromanian revitalization project.