Book Talk: The Village Project: Rural Revitalization in Contemporary Bulgaria

Since the collapse of socialism, Bulgaria’s population has been on the move—out of rural regions and into cities, or out of the country altogether. Yet today there is a countermovement of young, urban Bulgarians, born around 1989, seeking to repopulate rural villages and reclaim traditional Bulgarian folklife. Though many of these young Bulgarians have no direct experience with a rural lifestyle nor memories of thriving village life, their actions and movements are inspired by a nostalgic vision of the past. And so, beyond a spatial return, this rural revitalization movement speaks to visions of an alternate future, one sparked by dismay with the conditions of contemporary life. 

Using ethnographic and folkloristic methods, Sarah Craycraft paints a complex, detailed picture of responses to Europeanization, carried out through neoliberal folklife projects as they collide with ongoing efforts to build a revitalized rural Bulgaria in the ruins of the past. Contextualized within a particular Southeast European nation, the study speaks to broader questions of rural revival, public-facing culture work, intergenerational folklore, and the imbrication of folklore with politics and culture. 

Sarah Craycraft is Head Tutor and a lecturer in the Committee on Degrees in Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University and incoming Assistant Professor of Folklore in Louisiana State University’s Department of English (starting January 2027). Her first book, The Village Project: Rural Revitalization in Contemporary Bulgaria (July 2026) explores the practices and stakes of intergenerational approaches to “rural revitalization” in Bulgaria’s rapidly depopulating villages. Her broader work and publications address genre, the circulation of value and meaning; the role of youth in tradition, cultural transmission, and strategies of recuperation; and intergenerational relationships to place. Prior to joining Harvard, Sarah was Visiting Assistant Professor of Folklore at Indiana University. She has served in leadership and advisory roles for the Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Folklore Association, the International Connections Committee of the Appalachian Studies Association, and Midwest Folklorists and Cultural Workers Alliance. Sarah’s service, outreach, teaching, art, and community engaged scholarship aim to build bridges between academic and public folklore, spaces of formal and informal learning, and fields adjacent to folklore studies. Sarah earned her PhD in Folklore and Comparative Studies from the Ohio State University in 2022.  

Link to info on panel afterwards Attendees are welcome to attend one or both events.