THE АТТITUDE OF THE MACEDONIAN ACADEMIC COMMUNITY TOWARDS THE “TORBESHI”: METHOD OF SOLIDARITY OR SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTIVITY?

Abstract

The title of this paper draws inspiration from Lisa M. Tillmann-Healy’s seminal article “Friendship as Method” (2003), in which she advocates an ethics of friendship as a legitimate epistemological and methodological stance in qualitative research. Particularly suited to the study of sensitive and intimate topics, this approach is grounded in interpretivist, feminist, queer, and activist research traditions that challenge the positivist ideal of value-neutral inquiry. As Harding (1991, cited in Tillmann-Healy 2003: 733) argues, the presumed neutrality of research and the notion of universal truths are themselves ideological constructs embedded within specific power relations.

In the context of Macedonian society, ethnicity has long constituted a politically charged and socially sensitive domain. In a relatively young multi-ethnic state, public discourse and academic production alike remain deeply invested in questions of ethnic identification, contestation, and defense. This paper critically examines the persistent tendency within segments of Macedonian social sciences and humanities to approach ethnicity as a matter of establishing “true” or “authentic” identity, even when such categorizations conflict with the self-identifications of the communities concerned.

Against this backdrop, we propose solidarity as a methodological and ethical alternative to adversarial or emotionally charged scholarly positioning. Rather than engaging in normative determinations of ethnic belonging, researchers might adopt a stance attentive to lived experience, relationality, and mutual recognition. This argument is illustrated through an analysis of the attitudes of the Macedonian academic community and broader public discourse toward the Torbeshi, highlighting the epistemological and ethical implications of scholarly interventions in contested identity politics.