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The Village Project
Rural Revitalization in Contemporary Bulgaria
Sarah Craycraft (Author)
9780299357504, University of Wisconsin Press
Hardback, published 14 July 2026
280 pages, 8 b&w illus. - 1 map - 2 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.513 kg
“A deft, timely analysis. This impressive, original work speaks to the circulation of folklife and contemporary ideological debates in Bulgaria.” - Carol Silverman, author of Romani Routes: Cultural Politics and Balkan Music in Diaspora
“An original argument buttressed by high-quality scholarship and ethnographic engagement. Offers new views on social factors that have driven populism and political instability in Bulgaria and beyond.” - Gerald W. Creed, author of Masquerade and Postsocialism: Ritual and Cultural Dispossession in Bulgaria
Since the collapse of socialism, Bulgaria's population has been on the move—out of rural regions and into cities, or out of the country altogether. Yet today there is a countermovement of young, urban Bulgarians, born around 1989, seeking to repopulate rural villages and reclaim traditional Bulgarian folklife. Though many of these young Bulgarians have no direct experience with a rural lifestyle nor memories of thriving village life, their actions and movements are inspired by a nostalgic vision of the past. And so, beyond a spatial return, this rural revitalization movement speaks to visions of an alternate future, one sparked by dismay with the conditions of contemporary life. Using ethnographic and folkloristic methods, Sarah Craycraft paints a complex, detailed picture of responses to Europeanization, carried out through neoliberal folklife projects as they collide with ongoing efforts to build a revitalized rural Bulgaria in the ruins of the past. Contextualized within a particular Southeast European nation, the study speaks to broader questions of rural revival, public-facing culture work, intergenerational folklore, and the imbrication of folklore with politics and culture.
List of Illustrations
Note on Transliteration
Introduction
1 The Children of Postsocialism: A Generation Encounters the Village
2 Something’
s in the Thicket: Becoming a Villager
3 “
‘
М
О
С
Т
’
WANTED”
: Residencies and Revitalization
4 From Ethnography to Artistry: Radical Imagination for Rural Realities
5 Buying Baba: Craft Work “
Po Proekt”
6 Projects to the Rescue? Networks of Care and Emergency Response
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
References
Index