MACEDONIAN ETHNOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY OF WOMEN: A SELF CRITICAL REEXAMINATION OF CONCEPTUAL CONTRADICTIONS

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of scholarly research that may be situated within the field of the ethnology and anthropology of women in the Macedonian context. It examines the analytical approaches adopted by several authors—including the present author—who, in their studies of women’s status within traditional communities, have employed the conceptual framework of the “imagined” and the “real” order as a heuristic model for interpreting gender relations.

The paper critically reassesses this interpretive paradigm by interrogating its epistemological assumptions and methodological implications. Through a reflexive engagement with existing scholarship, it identifies conceptual tensions and analytical limitations that emerge in attempts to represent women’s experiences within established ethnological narratives. In doing so, the study addresses broader questions concerning gendered representation, disciplinary conventions, and the politics of knowledge production in Macedonian ethnology and anthropology. The article ultimately calls for a more nuanced and critically attuned framework for approaching women’s lives, agency, and social positioning within both historical and contemporary contexts.