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What Will History Say About the Prespa Agreement?

Lecture byKeith Brown

Professor, University of Arizona

The Canadian Macedonian Heritage Society welcomed Professor Keith Brown, Director of the Melikian Center for Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies at the University of Arizona, for an engaging lecture examining the historical and political implications of the Prespa Agreement and its impact on the writing of Macedonian history. Professor Brown, a distinguished anthropologist and historian and author of The Past in Question and Loyal Unto Death, brought decades of scholarship on Macedonian history, identity, and revolutionary movements to this timely discussion.

Rather than asking simply how future historians will judge the Prespa Agreement, Professor Brown reframed the question: how does the agreement shape the future writing of Macedonian history? He addressed concerns among Macedonian scholars that the agreement may constrain authentic historical scholarship by imposing political frameworks onto historical interpretation. Brown argued that while the agreement contains controversial provisions, it should be understood as a turning point—an attempt to move beyond entrenched nationalist narratives that have long shaped the region’s political and historical disputes.

Drawing on his extensive research into the Ilinden Uprising, the Macedonian revolutionary movement, and the evolution of national consciousness, Brown emphasized that history must be understood within the realities of its own time rather than through the lens of modern borders and nation-state assumptions. He explored how revolutionary actors in 1903 imagined Macedonia beyond the political divisions imposed later by the Treaty of Bucharest and how these imposed borders continue to shape competing national narratives today.

A significant portion of the lecture focused on the Prespa Agreement itself and its often-overlooked provisions. Brown argued that while the compromise of the name “North Macedonia” remains deeply controversial, the agreement also secured formal Greek recognition of the Macedonian language, heritage, and identity—an outcome many had believed impossible. He noted that the inclusion of the principle of erga omnes (universal application of the constitutional name) prevented future diplomatic instability while also affirming Macedonian cultural existence on the international stage.

Professor Brown also addressed the broader regional implications of the agreement, including ongoing disputes with Bulgaria over historical figures such as Goce Delčev and the continued vulnerability of Macedonian historical narratives to political reinterpretation by neighboring states. He cautioned that history cannot be negotiated like politics, emphasizing that historical truth is complex, plural, and always subject to reinterpretation.

Central to Brown’s lecture was a call to move away from exclusive nationalism toward what he termed a more “civicist” approach—one rooted in pluralism, justice, and respectful coexistence. Reinterpreting Goce Delčev’s famous phrase about the world as a field for cultural competition, Brown proposed a more inclusive reading: the world as fertile ground for respectful encounter among peoples, cultures, and histories.

In conclusion, Professor Brown presented the Prespa Agreement not as a final settlement of identity questions, but as an imperfect yet significant opportunity to reshape regional relationships and historical understanding. His lecture challenged attendees to think critically about the relationship between politics and history and to consider how Macedonian history can be written with intellectual freedom, complexity, and dignity in a region still shaped by contested memories and national narratives.