Narrating the City, Narrating the Nation

Narrating the City, Narrating the Nation: the Case of Skopje

Goran Janev

I will use the concept of narrative spaces to get hold of the dynamic processes of social production and social construction of space in the Macedonian capital Skopje. While power holders on local and central level persistently divide the territory through symbolic buildings and monuments and other visual displays, citizens of Skopje, at least some have found their voice to protest it. The inspiration comes from both global connections and urban aspirations of a younger generation, but also from the positive example of conviviality as encompassed in the Skopje Old Bazaar. I argue that a serious engagement with locality and spatiality in general has great potential for understanding interethnic and otherwise defined inter-group relations.