The Memoirs of Cola Nicea: A Case-Study on the Discursive Identity Construction of the Aromanian Armatoles in Early 20th Century Macedonia

Abstract

The article begins with a general presentation of Cola Nicea’s Memoirs – the document which is to be investigated using methods drawn from Critical Discource Analysis. The paper continues with a study of the ethnonyms used by Nicea throughout his account, which leads into a discussion of Macedonian Slav and Macedonian Aromanian identities at the turn of the 20^th century. Then it discusses the forms of – and reasons for – cooperation between the Aromanian armatoles and TMORO comitadji, as reflected in Nicea’s text. The information contained in this source-material proves that, philoromanian discourse proving ill-equipped to deal with the radicalization of the Macedonian crisis, Romanophile Aromanians adapt by creatively combining the latter discourse with the TMORO political agenda. Finally, the paper refers to the diverse textual and meta-textual devices which come into play in Cola Nicea’s iteration of the Aromanian armatole subject position.