Anna S. Antonova
Abstract: This article explores narratives of corruption, informal practices, and historical patterns of societal distrust emerging from the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Marked by the legacies of the fraught privatization process after socialism and under pressure from continuing urban and tourism growth, the contemporary Bulgarian coastline sees both frequent concerns with transparency and a plethora of informal practices.
Taking an anthropological and critical geography perspective on corruption – rather than an economic one – I trace how concerns with corruption and informal practices permeate across societal narratives and governance practices and impact the complex interlinkages between them. To do so, I draw on interviews and archival materials collected during two fieldwork studies I conducted in Bulgaria during 2017 – 2018 and 2023. Based on this research, I show that environmental meaning is often intertwined with perceptions and practices of informality on the Bulgarian coastline, complicating the blurred lines between them further.
Keywords: Corruption, informality, societal distrust, Bulgaria Black Sea, coastal communities, environmental meaning
