Stefan DORONDEL, Francisc Rainer Institute of Anthropology Bucharest, Romania
Stelu SERBAN, The Institute for Southeast European Studies Bucharest, Romania
This paper examines the movement of the dynamics of the Danubian islands which influences the movement of the thalweg - and thus the border between Romanian and Bulgaria - and the consequences for local communities living on both banks of the river. We tell the story of two Danubian islands, one belonging to Bulgaria (Georgescu island) another belonging to Romania (Bezimen island), which recently merged into one single island. Fifty years ago the thalweg and thus the border between the two states passed between the two island. The movement of the islands and of the thalweg have forced the two states to establish the new border on the middle of the new island but without installing physical marks. The movement of the border has radical consequences for fishermen whose traditional fishing spots have moved within the other state’s border. We explore the conflicts between fishermen and the border police and show that the way the two national states different ways conceive their territory as stable spaces clashes with fishermen understanding of fishing rights. Based on long term ethnographic fieldwork and on using satellite images we show that there are two ways of conceiving border space: one which is technical and political and the other one which is local and based on local ecological knowledge and the establishment of traditional fishing spots. By mapping the two ways of understanding fluvial space and territory (islands) we aim at contributing to the political ecology analysis of a space (Lower Danube) which rarely appears in the international literature.
Mots clés : Border|islands|river|fishermen|states
A103289SD