Perception of the “Neighbour” in periods of crisis : the beginning and the end of the twentieth century in Bulgaria and in Greece

Abstract

The report compares the characteristics of Bulgarians and Serbs in the
beginning and at the end of the 20th century in Greek sources. An attempt is
made to compare elements of these national images with their analogues of
Serbs and Greeks in the Bulgarian literature. This comparison in chronological
and geographical terms brings out two interesting trends: attitudes and
stands from 70-100 years ago, related to the strong tension among the Balkan
countries around the period of the wars (1912-1922), appear in scientific
(popular science) publications of 1999-2000 addressed to a relatively broad
reading public. It is also interesting that in the last 5-6 years in Bulgaria and
Greece efforts are made (successful at that) to “clean” the school literature
from any negative references to the neighbour and in this way overcome the 

negative stereotypes in the collective consciousness placing “the neighbour” in
the field of “the enemy”.
The report has two accents, placed on the analysis of diverse sources from
the early 20th century, and on newly published articles in the Bulgarian and
Greek periodicals (2000). The latter are of interest because they elucidate,
from the viewpoint of the present day and in its development, the issue of the
relative invariability of the features of the “Balkan neighbour”, inspecting this
image from a comparatively great chronological distance.
Use was made of conclusions in studies of the image of “the other” (“the
neighbour”) in Bulgaria and Greece based on various sources: scientific,
scientific-propaganda and epistolary literature, travel notes, fiction, as well as
history textbooks for 5th-8th grade in the two countries.