Based on the assumption that, in the last instance, the rigid refusal of the majority of the Greek people to accept a ‘composite name’ solution is connected with the tacit social imaginary of the Greek society, the present paper brings to the fore a complex identity problem. More specifically, drawing on the dialectical interaction between Twitter posts, sociopolitical behaviours and interpretative analytic frames linked to interdisciplinary theoretical discourses, we attempt to understand and interrogate the intellectual structures, value system and operational categories of a large number of Greek groups on the ‘Twittersphere’. In this context, our aim is to critically explore, highlight and discuss the deep-seated and pervasive patterns, representations, attitudes, beliefs, ideas and norms within the Greek social imaginary, as these emerged on Twitter in real-time, during the mass “Macedonia rally” on February 4, 2018. It constitutes both an irresolvable, decades-old international problem and a significant, yet undertheorised, analytical topic. It shows that the city as a lived environment may offer other narratives than that of division, in other words, that alternatives to the divided city do exist.Ībstract The Macedonia naming dispute has been an important issue in Greek affairs. Instead of regarding divided cities as ontologically-given and focusing on a few cities elevated to the status of paradigmatic cases, it emphasises the processes that bring a city to division with the concept of 'dividing city'. Second, it adds to an emerging line of research that seeks to find new ways to think about urban divisions and reflects on the use of static and dynamic concepts to describe urban processes. It first adds an original case study to the literature on urban divisions and draws attention to overlooked cities where processes of division may not be immediately obvious in the urban landscape, but which nonetheless exist. It also explores how ideological and political dynamics and processes affect the lived experience of the city’s inhabitants and, how, in turn, the latter both take part in and resist the construction and division of the city. Based on fieldwork in Skopje, Macedonia, this thesis critically questions orthodox histories of Skopje as a divided city and the role of urban governance in fostering the image of division, from the Ottoman city to the socialist city, and post-1991 redevelopment.
It also examines how these processes may affect the lived experience of inhabitants. This thesis explores the issue of urban divisions and attempts to shed some light on the role of urban policies in the development and reinforcement of processes of social and spatial segregation. External influences and foreign infiltrations and flows to represent the greatest threat to any and every iconography. On the other side of the iconographic coin we find newly produced political and social creations, symbols, picture books, posters, monuments, patriotic songs, populist and nationalistic speeches - all tools created and used by demagogues in order to rule the people more easily. The most powerful iconographies that fortify the identity are the language, customs, tradition, myths and legends as components of the national tissue of one nation. Iconographies bewildered Macedonians, Albanians, Serbs, Croats, the young and the old, the baby boomers and the Coca-Cola, McDonald's and hard rock and punk generations. Orthodox believers and non-believers, Europeans and Balkan people, Nazis, Bolsheviks and Partisans all sacrificed themselves to iconographies.
To the devotees of the ancient Egyptian mythology, the ancient polis and the roman cite. The iconography represents an integral part of any identity.
What is the common bond of Europe and the Balkans? To what extend did Europe influence the Balkans and vice versa? This book attempts to synthesize the shared ties of the European idea and the Balkan iconographies by analyzing the spontaneous or newly created emblematic symbols and breakthroughs. Spaces where numerous despots, dictators, demagogues and populists, ambitious conquerors, tragic heroes, artists, philosophers and intellectuals set foot, where wrecked ethnicities shaped their identities and civilizations, both liberated and captive. Europe and the Balkans - two entities, two geographies lacking clearly distinguished boundaries, two histories, two groups of peoples and religions, two myths, two different fates filled with numerous spiritual symbols and iconography and a wealth of historic and cultural heritages.
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