Ethnic minority group in Kosovo
This article is about the Slavic people. For the language spoken by Kurds, see
Gorani language
.
Ethnic group
The
Gorani
(
[???rani]
,
Cyrillic
:
Горани
) or
Goranci
(
[??r?ːntsi]
,
Cyrillic
:
Горанци
), are a Slavic Muslim
ethnic group
inhabiting the
Gora region
?the triangle between
Kosovo
,
Albania
, and
North Macedonia
. They number an estimated 60,000 people, and speak a transitional
South Slavic
dialect, called
Goranski
. The vast majority of the Gorani people adhere to
Sunni Islam
.
[12]
Name
[
edit
]
The
ethnonym
Goranci
, meaning "highlanders", is derived from the Slavic toponym
gora
, which means "hill, mountain".
[13]
Another
autonym
of this people is
Na?inci
,
[15]
which literally means "our people, our ones".
In
Macedonian
sources, the Gorani are sometimes grouped together with
Torbe?i
.
In the
Albanian language
, they are known as
Goranet
[16]
and sometimes by other
exonyms
, such as
Bullgaret
("Bulgarians"),
[17]
Torbesh
[13]
("bag carriers") and
Poture
("
turkified
", from
po-tur
, literally not Turk but, "turkified", used for Islamized Slavs).
[18]
Population
[
edit
]
Some of the local Gorani people have over time also self declared themselves as
Serbs
,
[19]
[20]
[21]
Albanians
,
Macedonians
,
Bosniaks
, Muslim
Bulgarians
,
Turks
, or just as
Muslims
, due to geopolitical circumstances and in censuses.
[22]
In Kosovo, the Gorani number 10,265 inhabitants,
[2]
which is drastically lower than before the
Kosovo War
. In 1998, it was estimated that their total population number was at least 50,000.
[23]
Settlements
[
edit
]
In Albania, there are nine
[13]
Gorani-inhabited villages:
Zapod
, Pakisht, Orcikel, Kosharisht, Cernaleve, Orgjost, Oreshke, Borje and
Shishtavec
.
[24]
[25]
In Kosovo, there are 18
[13]
Gorani-inhabited villages:
Ba?ka
,
Brod
, Vrani?te, Globo?ice,
Gornja Rap?a
, Gornji Krstac,
Dikance
,
Donja Rap?a
,
Donji Krstac
,
Zli Potok
, Kru?evo, Kukaljane, Lje?tane, Ljubo?ta,
Mlike
,
Or?u?a
, Rade?a, and Restelica, plus the town of
Dragash
.
[26]
[27]
Following 1999, Dragash has a mixed population of Gorani, who live in the lower neighbourhood, and Albanians in the upper neighbourhood constituting the majority of inhabitants.
[27]
In
North Macedonia
, there are two Gorani-inhabited villages located in the
Polog
region:
Jelovjane
and
Urvi?
.
[28]
[29]
[30]
[31]
History
[
edit
]
Contemporary
[
edit
]
The Gora municipality and Opoja region remained separated during the Milo?evi? period.
[27]
After the war, the Gorani-majority Gora municipality was merged with the Albanian inhabited
Opoja
region to form the municipality of
Dragash
by the
United Nations Mission (UNMIK)
and the new administrative unit has an Albanian majority.
[27]
[13]
[32]
In 2007 the Kosovar provisional institutions opened a school in Gora to teach the Bosnian language, which sparked minor consternation amongst the Gorani population. Many Gorani refuse to send their children to school due to societal prejudices, and threats of assimilation to Bosniaks or Albanians. Consequently, Gorani organized education per Serbia's curriculum.
Gorani activists in Serbia's proper stated they want
Gora
(a former municipality) to join the
Association of Serb Municipalities
, causing added pressure on the Gorani Community in Kosovo.
[33]
In 2018 Bulgarian activists among Gorani have filed a petition in the country's parliament demanding their official recognition as a separate minority.
[34]
Most Gorani state that the unstable situation and economic issues drive them to leave Kosovo. There is also some mention of threats and discrimination by
ethnic Albanians
.
[35]
Apart from the multiethnic town of Dragash, the Gorani of Kosovo continue to live in villages primarily inhabited by their community and relations with Albanians remain tense.
[27]
Mixed marriage between both communities do not occur with the exception of a few Gorani families that have migrated to
Prizren
.
[27]
Culture
[
edit
]
Religion
[
edit
]
In the 18th century, a wave of
Islamization
began in Gora.
[12]
The Ottoman abolition of the
Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid
and
Serbian Patriarchate of Pe?
in 1766/1767 is thought to have prompted the Islamization of Gora as was the trend of many Balkan communities.
[36]
The last Christian Gorani, Bo?ana, died in the 19th century – she has received a cult, signifying the Gorani's Christian heritage, collected by Russian consuls Anastasiev and Yastrebov in the second half of the 19th century.
[12]
Traditions
[
edit
]
The Gorani are known for being "the best confectioners and bakers" in former Yugoslavia.
[37]
The Slavs of Gora were Christianized after 864 when
Bulgaria adopted Christianity
. The Ottomans conquered the region in the 14th century, which started the process of
Islamization
of the Gorani and neighbouring Albanians. However, the Gorani still tangentially observe some
Orthodox Christian
traditions, such as
Slavas
and
đurđevdan
, and like
Serbs
they know their
Onomastik
or saint's days.
Gorani are
Sunni Muslims
and
Sufism
and in particular the
Halveti
and
Bektashi
Sufi orders are widespread.
Traditional Gorani folk music includes a two-beat dance called "
oro
" ('circle'), which is a circle dance focused on the foot movements: it always starts on the right foot and moves in an anti-clockwise direction. The Oro is usually accompanied by instruments such as
curlje
,
kaval
,
?iftelija
or
tapan
, and singing is used less frequently in the dances than in those of the Albanians and Serbs.
The "national" sport of
Pelivona
is a form of oil wrestling popular among Gorani with regular tournaments being held in the outdoors to the accompaniment of
curlje
and
tapan
with associated ritualized hand gestures and dances, with origins in the
Middle East
through the
Ottoman Empire
's conquest of the Balkans.
Another popular drink is
Turkish coffee
which is drunk in small cups accompanied by a glass of water.
Tasseography
is popular among all Gorani using the residue of Turkish coffee.
-
Gorani boy in folk costume
-
Gorani girls in folk costume
-
Elderly Gorani woman in traditional clothing
-
Young Gorani dancing at village festival
Language
[
edit
]
The Gorani people speak South Slavic, a local dialect known as "
Na?inski
"
[24]
or "
Goranski
", which is part of a wider
Torlakian dialect
,
[38]
spoken in Southern
Serbia
, Western Bulgaria and part of
North Macedonia
. The Slavic dialect of the Gorani community is known as
Gorance
by Albanians.
[24]
Within the Gorani community there is a recognition of their dialects being closer to the Macedonian language, than to Serbian.
[39]
The Torlakian dialect is a transitional dialect of
Serbian
and
Bulgarian
whilst also sharing features with
Macedonian
. The Gorani speech is classified as an Old-Shtokavian dialect of Serbian, the
Prizren-Timok dialect
.
Bulgarian linguists classify the Gorani dialect as part of a
Bulgarian dialectal
area.
[40]
Despite not bordering Bulgaria and being an Islamic nation, the Gorani are a target of
Bulgarian irredentism
on the belief that if the Gora dialect is Bulgarian, then all Macedonian dialects are Bulgarian.
[41]
Illustrating the Bulgarian interest is the first Gorani?
Albanian
dictionary (with 43,000 words and phrases) in 2007 by Albanian-Gorani scholar Nazif Dokle, sponsored and printed by the
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
.
[42]
In this dictionary, Dokle defined the language as related to "the Bulgarian dialects spoken in the northwest"
North Macedonia
.
[42]
[43]
[44]
Within scholarship, the Goran dialects previously classified as belonging to Serbian have been reassigned to Macedonian in the 21st century.
[39]
Gorani speech has numerous loan words, being greatly influenced by
Turkish
and
Arabic
due to the influence of Islam, as well as
Albanian
areally. It is similar to the
Bosnian language
because of the numerous Turkish loanwords. Gorani speak Serbo-Croatian in school.
According to the last 1991 Yugoslav census, 54.8% of the inhabitants of the Gora municipality said that they spoke the Gorani language, while the remainder had called it Serbian.
[45]
Some linguists, including Vidoeski, Brozovic and Ivic, identify the Slavic-dialect of the Gora region as
Macedonian
.
[46]
There are assertions that Macedonian is spoken in 50 to 75 villages in the Gora region (Albania and Kosovo).
[47]
According to some unverified sources in 2003 the Kosovo government acquired Macedonian language and grammar books for Gorani school.
[48]
In 2008 the first issue of a Macedonian language newspaper,
Гороцвет
(
Gorocvet
) was published.
[49]
Example of a traditional Gorani song
- Verno libe
- Gledaj me gledaj libe, abe verno libe,
- nagledaj mi se dur ti som ovde.
- Utre ke odim abe verno libe dalek-dalek
- na pusti Gurbet.
- Racaj poracaj libe ?o da ti kupim.
- Ti da mi kupi?
- abe gledaniku cerna ?amija, ja da ga nosim
- abe gledaniku i da ga ?elam.
- Racaj poracaj abe verno
- libe ?o da ti pratim
- Ti da mi prati? abe
- gledaniku ?arena knjiga
- Ja da ga pujem abe
gledaniku i da ga ?elam
Politics
[
edit
]
Notable Gorani
[
edit
]
- Fahrudin Jusufi
, former Yugoslav footballer, born in Zli Potok.
[50]
- Sascha Jusufi
, retired footballer, son of Fahrudin Jusufi.
- Miralem Sulejmani
, Serbian footballer, of Gorani descent
[51]
- Almen Abdi
, Swiss footballer, of Gorani descent
- Zeli Ismail
, English footballer born in
Shishtavec
[51]
- Zufer Avdija
, former Israeli-Serbian basketball player, of Gorani descent
- Deni Avdija
, Israeli NBA basketball player, of Gorani descent
- Danel Sinani
,
Luxembourg
footballer, of Gorani descent.
- Dejvid Sinani
, Luxembourg footballer, of Gorani descent, brother of Daniel Sinani.
- Veldin Hod?a
, Croatian footballer.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Program politi?ke stranke GIG"
.
Do Nato intervencije na Srbiju, 24.03.1999.godine, u Gori je ?ivelo oko 18.000 Goranaca. U Srbiji i biv?im jugoslovenskim republikama nalazi se oko 40.000 Goranaca, a zna?ajan broj Goranaca ?ivi i radi u zemljama Evropske unije i u drugim zemljama. Po na?im procenama ukupan broj Goranaca, u Gori i u rasejanju iznosi oko 60.000.
- ^
a
b
"Population by gender, ethnicity and settlement level"
(PDF)
. p. 11. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 27 April 2014
. Retrieved
30 June
2014
.
- ^
ETHNICITY: Data by municipalities and cities
(PDF)
. Belgrade: Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. 2023.
ISBN
978-86-6161-228-2
.
- ^
"1. Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in the Republic of North Macedonia, 2021 - first dataset"
(PDF)
. State Statistical Office of North Macedonia
. Retrieved
5 August
2022
.
- ^
"1. Population by ethnicity - detailed classification, 2011 census"
. Statistics of Croatia
. Retrieved
29 May
2014
.
- ^
"Table CG5. Population by ethnicity and religion"
.
Montenegrin Office of Statistics
. Montenegrin Office of Statistics
. Retrieved
30 June
2014
.
- ^
"1. Stanovni?tvo prema etni?koj/nacionalnoj pripadnosti - detaljna klasifikacija"
. Retrieved
28 December
2017
.
- ^
The Palgrave Handbook of Slavic Languages, Identities and Borders
. Palgrave. 29 April 2016.
ISBN
9781137348395
. Retrieved
15 April
2016
.
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
"Goranis want to join community of Serb municipalities"
.
B92
. B92. 3 August 2013
. Retrieved
15 April
2016
.
- ^
"Gorani decide against forming minority council"
.
B92
. B92. 20 August 2014
. Retrieved
15 April
2016
.
- ^
"Slow exodus threatens Kosovo's mountain Gorani"
.
Reuters
. Reuters. 11 February 2008
. Retrieved
15 April
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
Бурса? 2000, pp. 71-73 (Орхан Драгаш)
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Bardhoshi 2016
, p. 83.
- ^
Xhelal Ylli, Erlangen: "Sprache und Identitat bei den Gorani in Albanien: 'Nie sme nasinci'."
[
page needed
]
- ^
Murati, Qemal (2016).
"E tashmja dhe e shkuara e Kosoves permes fjalorit: Shtresimet leksikore"
.
Gjurmime Albanologjike
(46): 179?196.
"Goranet jetojne ne krahinen e Gores, qe sot ndahet mes shteteve te Shqiperise, te Kosoves ete Maqedonise, krahine nga ku e marrin edhe emrin."
- ^
Miranda Vickers; James Pettifer (1997).
Albania: From Anarchy to a Balkan Identity
. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. pp. 205?.
ISBN
978-1-85065-279-3
.
- ^
Dokle, Nazif. Recnik Goransko (Nashinski) -albanski, Sofia 2007, Pecatnica Naukini akademiji "Prof. Marin Drinov", s. 5, 11
- ^
"Проф. др Дарко Танаскови? - Гора на слици-Гора у срцу"
(PDF)
. Retrieved
12 September
2012
.
- ^
"Порекло Петра К. Кости?а к?ижевника и сенатора из Призрена"
(PDF)
. Retrieved
15 September
2022
.
- ^
"О Горанцима"
(PDF)
. Retrieved
15 September
2022
.
- ^
Bardhoshi, Nebi (2016).
"Small Numbers, Big issues: The Border areas as Social Arena of Legal Systems"
. In Schuler, Sonja (ed.).
Exchange, Dialogue, New Divisions?: Ethnic Groups and Political Cultures in Eastern Europe
. LIT Verlag. p. 85.
ISBN
9783643802095
.
- ^
Eastern Europe: Newsletter
. Vol. 12?13. Eastern Europe. 1998. p. 22.
- ^
a
b
c
Steinke, Klaus; Ylli, Xhelal (2010).
Die slavischen Minderheiten in Albanien (SMA). 3. Gora
. Munich: Verlag Otto Sagner. p. 11.
ISBN
978-3-86688-112-9
.
"In den 17 Dorfern des Kosovo wird Na?inski/Goran?e gesprochen, und sie gehoren zu einer Gemeinde mit dem Verwaltungszentrum in Draga?. Die 19 Dorfer in Albanien sind hingegen auf drei Gemeinden des Bezirks Kukes aufgeteilt, und zwar auf Shishtavec, Zapod und Topojan. Slavophone findet man freilich nur in den ersten beiden Gemeinden. Zur Gemeinde Shishtavec gehoren sieben Dorfer und in den folgenden vier wird Na?inski/Goran?e gesprochen: Shishtavec (?i?taec/?i?teec), Borja (Borje), Cernaleva (C?rnolevo/C?rneleve) und Oreshka (Ore?ek). Zur Gemeinde Zapod gehoren ebenfalls sieben Dorfer, und in den folgenden funf wird Na?inski/Goran?e gesprochen: Orgjost (Orgosta), Kosharisht (Ko?ari?ta), Pakisht (Paki?a/Paki??a) Zapod (Zapod) und Orcikla (Or?ikl’e/O?ikl’e)’. In der Gemeinde Topojan gibt es inzwischen keine slavophone Bevolkerung mehr. Die Einwohner selbst bezeichnen sich gewohnlich als Goranen ‘Einwohner von Gora oder Na?inci Unsrige, und ihre Sprache wird von ihnen als Na?inski und von den Albanern als Gorance bezeichnet."
- ^
Schmidinger 2013
, pp. 98?99
[1]
- ^
Schmidinger, Thomas (2018).
"Forced return to empty villages: A case study of the Gorani in Kosovo"
. In Hornstein Tomi?, Caroline; Scholl-Schneider, Sarah; Pichler, Robert (eds.).
Remigration to Post-Socialist Europe. Hopes and Realities of Return
. Lit Verlag. p. 265.
ISBN
9783643910257
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Schmidinger, Thomas (2013).
Gora: Slawischsprachige Muslime zwischen Kosovo, Albanien, Mazedonien und Diaspora
. Wiener Verlag. p. 65.
ISBN
9783944690049
.
- ^
Гласник Српског географског друштва (1947).
Volumes 27-30
. Srpsko geografsko dru?tvo. p. 107.
"Данаш?и становници Урвича и ?елов?ана на супротно?, полошко? страни Шар-Планине, пореклом су Горани. Много су више утицале на исе?ава?е Горана политичке промене, настале после 1912 године. Тада се скоро четвртина становништва иселила у Турску, за ко?у су се преко вере и дуге управе били интимно везали. ?ош ?една миграци?а ?аче ?е захватила Горане, али не у нашо? зем?и, него оне ко?и су остали у границама Арбани?е."
- ^
Vidoeski, Bo?idar (1998).
Dijalektite na makedonskiot jazik. Vol. 1
. Makedonska akademija na naukite i umetnostite. pp. 309, 315.
ISBN
9789989649509
.
Во западна Македони?а исламизирано македонско население живее во неколку географски региони на македонско-албанската погранич?е:... во Полог (?елов?ане, Урвич)." "Автентичниот горански говор добро го чуваат и жителите во муслиманските оази Урвич и ?елов?ане во Тетовско иако тие подолго време живеат во друго ди?алектно окружува?е.
- ^
Rexhepi, Besnik; Mustafa, Behxhet; Hajdari, Avni; Rushidi-Rexhepi, Jehona; Quave, Cassandra L.; Pieroni, Andrea (2014). "Cross-cultural ethnobotany of the Sharr Mountains (northwestern Macedonia)". In Pieroni, Andrea; Quave, Cassandra L. (eds.).
Ethnobotany and Biocultural Diversities in the Balkans
. Springer. p. 70.
ISBN
9781493914920
.
- ^
Koleva, Krasimira (2012).
"Balkanisms today: The dialect of ?upa (Kosovo)"
. In
Kahl, Thede
; Metzeltin, Michael; Schaller, Helmut (eds.).
Balkanismen heute ? Balkanisms today ? Балканизмы сегодня
. LIT Verlag. p. 351.
ISBN
9783643503886
.
- ^
Krasniqi, Elife (2016).
"Social Change in Relation to Patriarchy after 1999 war in Opoja, Kosovo"
. In Roth, Klaus; Kartari, Asker (eds.).
Culture of Crisis in Southeast Europe, Part I: Crises Related to Migration, Transformation, Politics, Religion, and Labour
. LIT Verlag. p. 191.
ISBN
9783643907639
.
- ^
"Goranci: Ne ?elimo u Draga? ve? u Zajednicu srpskih op?tina"
(in Serbian). Blic. 8 November 2013.
- ^
Bulgarian National Radio, Ethnic Bulgarians in Kosovo demand recognition of their community.
Published on 5/30/18.
- ^
Update on the Kosovo Roma, Ashkaelia, Egyptian, Serb, Bosniak, Gorani and Albanian communities in a minority situation
,
UNHCR
Kosovo, June 2004
- ^
Religion and the Politics of Identity in Kosovo
[
page needed
]
- ^
Sini?a Ljepojevi?; Milica Radovanovi? (2006).
Kosovo and Metohija: reality, economy and prejudices
. TANJUG. p. 124.
ISBN
9788680981161
.
- ^
Browne, Wayles (2002): Serbo-Croat. In: Bernard Comrie, Greville G. Corbett (eds.),
The Slavonic Languages
. London: Taylor & Francis.
[2]
. p. 383
- ^
a
b
Friedman, Victor (2006). "Albania/Albanien". In Ammon, Ulrich (ed.).
Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society, Volume 3
. Walter de Gruyte. p. 1879.
ISBN
9783110184181
.
"The Gorans, who are also Muslim, have a separate identity. The Goran dialects used to be classed with Serbian, but have more recently been assigned to Macedonian, and Gorans themselves recognize that their dialects are closer to Macedonian than to Serbian."
- ^
Младенов, Стефан. Пътешествие из Македония и Поморавия, в: Научна експедиция в Македония и Поморавието 1916, София 1993, с. 184. (Mladenov, Stefan. Journey through Macedonia and Pomoraviya, in: Scientific expeditions in Macedonia and Pomoraviya 1916, Sofia 1993, p. 184)
Асенова, Петя. Архаизми и балканизми в един изолиран български говор (Кукъска Гора, Албания), Балканистични четения, посветени на десетата годишнина на специалност "Балканистика" в СУ "Св. Климент Охридски", ФСлФ, София, 17-19 май 2004
(Assenova, Petya. Archaisms and Balkanisms in an isolated Bulgarian dialect (Kukas Gora, Albania), Balkan studies readings on the tenth anniversary of the major Balkan studies in Sofia University, 17?19 May 2004)
- ^
Motoki Nomachi
;
Tomasz Kamusella
; Catherine Gibson (29 April 2016).
The Palgrave Handbook of Slavic Languages, Identities and Borders
. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 439.
ISBN
9781137348395
.
- ^
a
b
Dokle, Nazif. Recnik Goransko (Nashinski) - Albanski, Sofia 2007, Pecatnica Naukini akademiji "Prof. Marin Drinov", s. 5, 11, 19 (Nazif Dokle. Goranian (Nashinski) - Albanian Dictionary, Sofia 2007, Published by Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, p. 5, 11, 19)
- ^
Raymond Detrez, Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria; Historical Dictionaries of Europe, Rowman & Littlefield, 2014,
ISBN
1442241802
, p. 225.
- ^
Vasil Belo, Nazif Dokle ? a Devoted Local Erudite of Gora, Albania, Bulgariaca, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2020, Issue 41, pp. 71-74, Language: Bulgarian.
- ^
"Gorani speech by dr. Radivoje Mladenovic"
(PDF)
.
rastko.org.rs
(in Serbian). Archived from
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(PDF)
on 22 February 2014.
- ^
"Macedonian by Victor Friedman, pg 4 (footnote)"
.
seelrc.org
.
- ^
"Macedonian by Victor Friedman, pg 6"
.
seelrc.org
.
- ^
Focus News (4 July 2003) Kosovo Government Acquires Macedonian language and grammar books for Gorani Minority Schools
- ^
"Матица на иселениците од Македони?а"
. Archived from
the original
on 5 December 2021
. Retrieved
1 November
2008
.
- ^
"Goranac sam. Ako to uop?te nekog i interesuje" (in Serbo-Croatian). No. 1338.
Tempo (Serbia magazine)
. 16 October 1991. p. 14.
- ^
a
b
"Li?nost Danas: Miralem Sulejmani"
. 2009. Archived from
the original
on 7 November 2014
. Retrieved
5 May
2015
.
Sources
[
edit
]
- Books
- Journals
- Symposia
- Bursa?, Milan, ed. (2000),
ГОРАНЦИ, МУСЛИМАНИ И ТУРЦИ У ШАРПЛАНИНСКИМ ЖУПАМА СРБИ?Е: ПРОБЛЕМИ САДАШ?ИХ УСЛОВА ЖИВОТА И ОПСТАНКА: Зборник радова са "Округлог стола" одржаног 19. априла 2000. године у Српско? академи?и наука и уметности
, Belgrade: SANU
- Antonijevi?, Dragoslav (1995), "Identitet Goranaca",
Međunarodna konferencija Polo?aj manjina u Saveznoj Republici Jugoslaviji, zbornik radova
, Belgrade: SANU
External links
[
edit
]
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