ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I survey some persistent myths and stereotypes which have guided thinking about politics and national master narratives (as usually imparted at school, and otherwise ubiquitous in public discourse) in Bulgaria and other post-Ottoman nation-states. At times, they are so commonplace that these myths and stereotypes have become ‘transparent categories’ to these countries’ inhabitants, which in turn these populations tend to see as ‘the truth.’ Having gained this status of ‘the truth’ par excellence, such stereotypes and myths are to be accepted, not analyzed, let alone questioned. On the other hand, non-specialists may not know about the origin and history of these myths and stereotypes, because a Western reader can come across them rarely, only when in conversation with a person coming from the Balkans, or when perusing a monograph on the region. Disentangling the past and the present from ‘the national norm’ as imposed by the myths and stereotypes may put conflicts and their causes in sharper analytical relief, thus initiating an open-ended space of communication necessary for imaginative political thinking on how to better comprehend these conflicts and on the ways of how best to defuse them (cf. Kusek, Purchala and Sanetra-Szeliga 2015).
