List of Aromanian cultural organizations

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The Aromanians, a stateless Romance-speaking ethnic group in the Balkans, have often organized themselves into cultural organizations to preserve their culture and identity. Today, there is a large number of Aromanian cultural organizations in the countries in which they live.

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List of Aromanian cultural organizations

Albania

The first Aromanian cultural organizations in Albania appeared in 1991, in Korçë and Selenicë. [1] German researcher Thede Kahl reported in 2002 that almost every town in central and southern Albania had an Aromanian association, and that in many cases, two different associations, not always officially registered, had emerged in the same place due to differing views. [2]

Bulgaria

Because the number of Aromanians in Bulgaria is low, there are few Aromanian ethnic organizations in the country, with the first having been established in Sofia. There also are such organizations in Dupnitsa, Peshtera and Velingrad. According to Kahl, most settlements in Bulgaria with Aromanian inhabitants have Aromanian folklore groups. [4]

Greece

As of 2002, there were over 200 Aromanian organizations in Greece, many not officially registered. None of them had a name in Aromanian at the time, and most did not have the word "Vlach", the common name used to refer to the Aromanians in the country, in their names. [5]

North Macedonia

The first Aromanian associations in what is now North Macedonia were founded in Bitola and Skopje in the 1970s, when North Macedonia was part of Yugoslavia. However, more notorious activities from these associations started only in the early 1990s, when North Macedonia became independent and efforts for the ethnic revitalization of the Aromanians intensified. [7]

Romania

The history of Aromanian organizations in Romania is relatively long, with many of the first ones having been founded to represent Romania's interests in the Aromanian question. Many new Aromanian associations appeared in the country in the 1990s with the aim of preserving Aromanian folklore, identity, language and traditions. Furthermore, there are Aromanian folklore groups in almost every village in Romania with an Aromanian population. [10]

Serbia

Diaspora

Since the 18th century, Aromanians outside their homeland in the Balkans have played a key role in the struggle for the preservation of Aromanian culture, identity and language. [13]

Czech anthropologist Markéta Zandlová defined the Trâ Armânami Association of French Aromanians, the Society Farsharotu and the Union for Aromanian Language and Culture as the only Aromanian cultural organizations in the diaspora that have gone beyond the local level in their activities. [14]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panhellenic Federation of Cultural Associations of Vlachs</span> Aromanian cultural organization in Greece

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Society Farsharotu</span> Aromanian cultural organization in the United States

The Society Farsharotu, officially the Aromanian Cultural Society Farsharotu, is an organization of Aromanians in the United States, with its headquarters at Trumbull, Connecticut. The Aromanians are a Balkan ethnic group scattered over many countries in the region. These are Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia. The organization's former full name used to be "Romanian Cultural and Benevolent Society Farsarotul".

The Aromanians in Bulgaria, commonly known as "Vlachs" and under several other names, are a non-recognized ethnic minority in the country. There are an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 Aromanians in Bulgaria, although estimates coming from Bulgarian Aromanians themselves raise this number to 6,000. They live in the Western Rhodopes, the Blagoevgrad, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv and Sofia provinces and in the city of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria itself. More precisely, the Aromanians of Bulgaria are concentrated in the villages of Anton and Dorkovo and on the cities and towns of Blagoevgrad, Dupnitsa, Peshtera, Rakitovo, Samokov, Sofia and Velingrad, as well as on parts of the aforementioned provinces located in the Balkan Mountains. Some also live on the towns of Bratsigovo and Pirdop and on the cities of Plovdiv and Pazardjik, as well as on the Rila mountain range.

The Aromanian diaspora is any ethnically Aromanian population living outside its traditional homeland in the Balkans. The Aromanians are a small Balkan ethnic group living scattered throughout Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia. Historically, they also used to live in other countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, although they have ever since been assimilated.

The Union for Aromanian Language and Culture is an organization of Aromanians in Germany headquartered at Freiburg im Breisgau. It was founded in 1985 by the Aromanian professor Vasile Barba, who had migrated to West Germany from Romania two years earlier together with his wife Katharina Barba, an ethnic German of Romania.

Recommendation 1333 (1997) on the Aromanian culture and language, often simply referred to as Recommendation 1333 (1997), is a recommendation on Aromanian minority rights by the Council of Europe. It was voted unanimously by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 24 June 1997 and formally adopted by the Council of Europe on 15 June 1999. Recommendation 1333 (1997) was issued following the efforts of the Union for Aromanian Language and Culture (ULCA) and its founder and president at the time Vasile Barba, and aimed to improve the ethnic rights of the Aromanians on the countries in which they live. Though considered a great success for the Aromanians, it failed to be implemented appropriately in most of the countries it was supposed to.

The Trâ Armânami Association of French Aromanians is an Aromanian cultural organization in France headquartered at Paris. It was founded in 1978 by Iancu Perifan.

References

Citations

Bibliography

  • Kahl, Thede (2002). "The ethnicity of Aromanians after 1990: the identity of a minority that behaves like a majority". Ethnologia Balkanica. 6: 145–169.
  • Zandlová, Markéta (2015). Aromuni v Bulharsku. Revitalizace a její kontexty (PhD) (in Czech). Charles University.

Further reading