Jozef Obrebski Jozef Obrebski was one of distinguished protégés of the renowned anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski, and a pioneering ethnographer of the Balkans. After receiving his masters degree in Slavic ethnography from the University of Krakow in 1930, Obrebski turned to a study of cultural persistence and change among the Balkan peasantry. During the years 1931 and 1932, he traveled, camera in hand, through Volče and other mountain villages in Macedonia recording data about social structure and ritual processes.

Returning to London, Obrebski completed his doctorate in 1934 and shortly thereafter joined the faculty at the Free University of Warsaw. His career, however, was repeatedly interrupted by the course of world events. After the Nazis entered Poland, Obrebski joined the resistance and taught in the Warsaw Underground University, but with the Soviet occupation in 1946, he decided to leave Poland for good. He later held positions at the London School of Economics, the United Nations, Brooklyn and Queens Colleges, and C.W. Post University. He died at age 62 on December 28, 1967.

The photographs in this gallery represent a small sample of the hundreds of images taken by Obrebski during his sojourn in Macedonia. Organized by village and general subject, each is accompanied by a reference number, a description (based on Obrebski's penciled notes on the verso), the village name, and general subject. Between 1954 and 1978, Joel M. Halpern returned to many of the villages studied by Obrebski are photographed them extensively to document the impact of modernization and cultural change.

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