Migration and Mobility – Research Focus of Searches of Contemporary Bulgarian Science

Abstract

The article analyzes the development of interest in Bulgarian communities abroad in recent decades, focusing on clarifying the different terminology and typological problems in this area and as well as important research contributions of scientists from the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at BAS to development and deepening of our knowledge of the Bulgarian presence in other countries. Further, the article presents the results of the research on the labor mobility on the Balkans, conducted by the scientists of the IEFSEM during the past two decades. Presenting the various methodological approaches towards the problematic field of migration, the text also analyses the difficulties accompanying the academics in their work, such as: lack of statistical data in historical perspective, the hardship of understanding the construction of identities and methodological nationalism in the context of the study of transborder migration