Ο καπνός στην περιοχή της Ξάνθης (1950-1974): σύγχρονη λαογραφική θεώρηση

Abstract

This thesis titled “Tobacco in the Xanthi region (1950-1974). A contemporary folkloristic point of view” refers to the Tobacco variety known worldwide as Basma, which used to be produced in the area of the Thracian town of Xanthi. The paper consists of a preface, an introduction, six chapters, conclusions, a summary in English, source references, as well as an appendix of tables, maps, documents and plates. In the first chapter, historic facts of Xanthi and Thrace are related to tobacco events, while oral narrations and local particularities are combined with historic evidence, in order to reveal the daily life of each era. In the second chapter, the natural and social environment of the Xanthi region is presented, in an attempt to search the influences of the Basma Tobacco in humanmade structures of rural and urban space. In the third chapter, a thorough analysis of local society and social formations shows that Basma Tobacco ruled over almost all aspects of social life. In the fourth chapter, Basma Tobacco is presented as a plant and as a product, showing that there exists around it a wide social network, the famous “Tobacco World”, as it is named in Greek; meanwhile folkloristic phenomena are traced down and interpreted according to their connection to Basma Tobacco. In the fifth chapter, an in-depth statistic research shows that tobacco was one of the main products in the national and local economy, which boosted trade exports and inflows in foreign currency. In the sixth chapter, tobacco in general appears as a goal of government politics, as an object of law, as a means in fiscal planning, as well as an important part in local election procedures. In brief, Basma Tobacco in the Xanthi area has been proved to be a complex social and folkloristic phenomenon, which takes part in almost all aspects of social life, while being blended within the social web in a way so as to interact mutually.