‘If you are a girl, stay at home’ – an ethnographic examination of female social engagement from the rural 19th century to contemporary political protests in Macedonia

Abstract

Balkan history has been presented, in gender terms, as a history of oppressed women, stark patriarchy and male domination. This narrative has rarely been questioned, its echoes still lingering in the corridors of those disci-plines that helped its creation and promotion. Being one of them, ethnology can, and should play a central role in the deconstruction of the role of women in the so-called traditional cultures, thus establishing a potential continuity between their past and their present struggles.

Istorija Balkana nam se predstavlja, kad su rodni odnosi u pitanju, kao istorija potlačenih žena, potpune patrijarhije i muške dominacije. Ovaj narativ se retko propitivao, te i dalje odjekuje u hodnicima onih disciplina koje su pomogle nje-govom uobličavanju i promovisanju. Budući jedna od tih disciplina, etnologija može i treba da igra glavnu ulogu u dekonstrukciji shvatanja položaja žena u tzv. tradicionalnim kulturama, te da uspostavi mogući kontinuitet između prošlih i sadašnjih borbi za ženska prava.