Paper short abstract:

The paper presents an ethnographic account of a small Bulgarian border town, focusing on specific survival strategies (related with economy, demography and migration) that have been developing there after the demise of local socialist enterprises and in the context of EU integration.

Paper long abstract:

The paper presents an ethnographic account of the town of Svilengrad - a small Bulgarian city, located at 3 km from the border with Greece and at 20 km from the border with Turkey. The focus of interest falls on specific survival practices developed by its inhabitants after the demise of local socialist-time economy and in the context of new opportunities opened with EU membership. What demographic changes shape up the local community at present? What kind of informal economic practices stimulated by the proximity of the border have been developing at the local level in recent years? How does migration influence local development? These and related questions will be tackled in order to show how processes in the small town influence and are shaped by politics and developments taking place in the big urban centers as well as at the national level. The town in discussion is representative of a whole range of similar settlements located at the southern Bulgarian border.