MARIN DRINOV’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE DISPUTES OVER THE IDENTITY OF THE SLAVIC POPULATION IN MACEDONIA IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY

Abstract

The article is dedicated to Marin Drinov’s active participation in the late 19th-century disputes in Slavistics over the ethnic affiliation of the population of the region of Tran and Pirot on the Bulgarian-Serbian border as well as of the Slavic population in Macedonia. In these disputes, national propaganda relies on linguistic and ethnographic facts proclaimed as ethnic markers, such as the dialect characteristics, the specific character of the family celebrations of the Serbian slava type etc. In response to the speculations of some Serbian and Russian scholars, particularly the then Russian consul in Bitola, Ivan Jastrebov, Marin Drinovhas published his own study on the Bulgarian nature of the language and culture of this population.

The article presents the social context and the contributing points on the subject of the research of Marin Drinov, professor at Kharkiv University at the time.