Is there weak nationalism and is it a useful category?

За ползата от категорията „слаб национализъм“

Author(s): Maria N. Todorova / Language(s): Bulgarian / Issue: 3/2015

Keywords: anthropological analyses;nationalism;

Introducing the category “weak nationalism,” this article emphasizes the scales of intensity and the different operational modes of nationalism across time and space, as well as within the same space. It refuses to create a model or another dichotomy – strong/weak – on a par with earlier ones like organic/civic, Eastern/Western, bad/good. Rather, it approaches nationalism as a binary variable on a scale from weak/low to strong/high. It argues to extend the research focus beyond the fixation on extreme cases to so called weak or weaker manifestations that remain subordinate and underresearched, all the time stressing the changeability of nationalisms in their local context and in the course of time. While it is a category more recognizable in a common sense approach than in a strictly quantifiable one, it can be identified and comparatively evaluated by the mobilizing ability of the nationalist message in the public sphere.

Is Ethnosymbolism Workable in Constructive Perspective? (An Attempt for an Answer Based on the Dynamics of the Bulgarian Territorial Identity)

Приложим ли е етносимволизмът в конструктивистка перспектива? (Опит за отговор върху динамиките на българската териториална идентичност)

Author(s): Elya Tzaneva / Language(s): Bulgarian / Issue: 3/2015

Keywords: anthology;nationalism;

The paper suggests using the potential of the ethnosymbolic approach to nation and identity as an instrument for revealing the mechanisms in the process of their formation and development. The author believes that this approach could be suc¬cessfully applied in constructivist context by combining the ideas and logic of the historical continuity of the symbols of ethnic union, on the one hand, and the modern dynamics of their political mobilization, on the other hand. The paper describes the evolution of one of these symbols as an element of the dynamic ethnic identity – the sense of territorial affiliation, and the possibilities for studying the changes in its con¬tent through the terms in which it is embodied and expressed.

Anthropologists and Ethnographers: Notes from the Periphery

Антрополози и етнографи: бележки от периферията

Author(s): Iliya Iliev / Language(s): Bulgarian / Issue: 3/2015

Keywords: anthropological analyses;

The article compares the relations between Bulgarian and Western scholars in the late 19th and early 20th century and one hundred years later. The author‘s opinion is that the change in the research paradigm requiring the anthropologist to collect his/her own field materials makes Western scholars to deny the existence or to question the authenticity of their local colleagues regardless of the latter‘s will to change. The author thinks that for more than a century local ethnology underwent evolution which made it useful for the present Bulgarian society in a way still inaccessible for anthropology.

The Gender of the Nation-State: Some Balkan Parallels

Полът на националната държава: някои балкански паралели

Author(s): Krassimira Daskalova / Language(s): Bulgarian / Issue: 3/2015

Keywords: anthropology;sociology;

Based on the theoretical insights of Nira Yuval Davis’ and Carol Pateman’s path-breaking research and on a number of Southeast European examples the article spells out the relationship between gender and nation-state (XIX-XX c.). The author shows various practices of (gender) discriminations concerning women’s citizenship in the realms of education, social, political rights, etc. and argues that the social contract in the modern nation-states (including in the Balkans) is a „fraternal social contract“ and the nation-state has а male gender.

National (In)security on Richter Scale – How Much? (Ethnological Aspects of a Local Disaster)

Национална не/сигурност по скалата на Рихтер – колко? (Етноложки аспекти на едно регионално бедствие)

Author(s): Tsvetana Manova / Language(s): Bulgarian / Issue: 3/2015

Keywords: anthropologic study;

The paper presents an individual and group reaction of the population in the town of Pernik during the earthquake of May 22, 2012, in the context of its local and national projection. The text analyzes the causes of the earthquake and the efficacy of the meas¬ures for prevention and overcoming the results of the disaster in the context of their official interpretation and on the level of everyday culture. The conclusions show the shaken trust of the Bulgarian in the political and economic stability of the state; the crisis of life, including as a result of a natural disaster, is comprehended as something permanent and inextricable. The opinion that over the last several years in Bulgaria the complete lack of security in national aspect should be measured on the Richter scale rather than the earthquakes settled permanently in the public space in the region.

Music as Means of Integration of Young People of Immigrant Origin into Host Society (A View on the European Academic Discourse)

Музиката като средство за интеграция на младежи от имигрантски произход в общество приемник (Поглед върху европейския научен дискурс)

Author(s): Valentina Sharlanova / Language(s): Bulgarian / Issue: 3/2015

Keywords: anthropology;

The National Ethnographic Museum – Mission Possible! But What is the Mission?

Националният етнографски музей – мисията възможна! Но каква е мисията?

Author(s): Svetla I. Kazalarska / Language(s): Bulgarian / Issue: 3/2015

Keywords: anthropologic study;museology;

Topics and Methods in Ethnology. (Self)Critical Analysis

Topics and Methods in Ethnology. (Self)Critical Analysis

Author(s): Anelia Kassabova / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

Keywords: anthropology;

This paper is an attempt at a critical self-reflection, through which the author presents essential issues about understanding and defining ethnology and about the basic research methods used in the field. The central problem highlighted in the paper concerns the role of science in the process of not only reconstructing, but also constructing, reality.

Migration and Collective Forms of Support of the Birthplaces at the Case of Albanians from Macedonia

Migration and Collective Forms of Support of the Birthplaces at the Case of Albanians from Macedonia

Author(s): Ivaylo Markov / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

Labour migration has become a mass phenomenon among Albanians from the Republic of Macedonia – during the last five decades, tens of thousands of people have left their native areas, seeking profit in Western European countries in order to better their living standard. Remittances sent by migrants are an important source of income for relatives in their places of origin.Most surveys examining the effects of migration tend to deal with remittances spent on food, clothing, housing, education, and health services. Investments in family-based business activities often are another accent of analysis. In this paper, however, I pay attention to issues of community-based or collective remittances. In the theoretical literature, collective remittances are seen as donations which are turned into investments of public interest. Various community projects financed through collective remittances have taken place in localities with high rates of migration. What distinguishes these projects is, namely, the collective benefit or good they provide.This paper examines different forms of such local projects based on collective remittances and mutual community engagement in Albanian villages in Macedonia. With such resources, people urbanize their villages and also support seriously ill people or people who have been devastated by a disaster. Questions about the existence, uses, and impacts of collective remittances are analysed in relationship to the broader discussion of remittances and development.

Informality, Gender, Tourism. The Case of Borovets Resort

Informality, Gender, Tourism. The Case of Borovets Resort

Author(s): Ana Luleva / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

Keywords: anthropology; tourism;

The functioning of informal practices as a part of the labour culture and entrepreneurship in two different economic and political regimes is discussed in view of the case of the Borovets Resort. This paper focuses attention on the participation of women in the tourist business in the resort and discusses the thesis that Bulgarian women working in the sphere of tourism are among the ‘winners’ in the transition, in contrast to men working in other fields of the economy. The ethnographic research carried out in the resort in the winter and summer of 2012 and the comparison with previous observations in the same field do not provide evidence to support such a thesis. Viewed in the broader socioeconomic context, the situation of women employed in the tourism sector does not differ considerably from the situation of women employed in other spheres. They live within and are a part of the same gender regime: a common gender ideology and culture. The problematic development of the formal economy, including the field of tourism (regarded as successful), compels men as well as women to search for additional income by working in the informal sector (e.g. the household farm, hourly labour without a contract, self-employment, and so on). Women retain high employment by combining work in the formal and informal economy; however, their situation could hardly be considered a ‘success’. Those working in hotels, the self-employed, and those employed in family businesses evaluate the situation as ‘coping’ or ‘surviving’ in a long-term and harsh economic situation. In order to overcome the unpredictability of this situation, they use all available resources – their cultural, social, and economic capital.Some of the informal practices which are known from the socialist period lose their meaning under the conditions of the new market economy and free access to goods, but others – such as party patronage, personal loyalty, and purchasing access to sources of income – gain new power and produce an exclusion (of those who are ‘not our people’) from the presumably free market and widely accessible formal procedures.

Clothing between Secular and Religious: Policies and Identity

Clothing between Secular and Religious: Policies and Identity

Author(s): Iva Kyurkchieva,Maya Kosseva / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

Keywords: anthropology; religion;

This paper focuses on the question of how clothing which expresses religious identity is used and perceived in Bulgarian secular society. The authors discuss different strategies in the choice of religious symbols and clothes corresponding to individual roles in society, as well as to the ethnic and religious communities in general. The exposition follows through several basic cases in which the activities of state institutions and public opinion are discussed. The strategies in regard to the religious elements of clothing in the public and private spheres in Bulgaria are viewed in terms of a historical and contemporary perspective of the relations between the religious and the secular in the context of the traditional ethnic and religious variety in Bulgaria. Research on the topic indicates that there is a necessary and clear position on the part of the institutions and civil society in order to build adequate mechanisms to influence or control the processes in the future.

In the ‘Family’ of the Different Others. (SubcultureIdentities: Styles, Ideologies, Prejudices)

In the ‘Family’ of the Different Others. (SubcultureIdentities: Styles, Ideologies, Prejudices)

Author(s): Vihra Barova / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

This paper presents a study of the formation and transformation of subcultural group identity in postsocialist Bulgaria. A number of stylistic orientations are presented (punk, hardcore, skinhead, casual), along with related ideological dispositions (‘extreme left’, ‘extreme right’, apolitical). Both paint a real picture of the development of these youth movements as being bound to a distinct class background and to a specific form of opposing the dominant culture. The maintenance of subcultural identity is related to several compulsory prerequisites: clothes, music, presence in a defined real or virtual space, and the practising of specific activities (having tattoos, attending concerts and/or football games, and participating in street protests). The current field material is based on participant observation in the groups carried out in Plovdiv between January and October 2012. In addition, the author discusses some of the prejudices connected to the distinctiveness of these subgroups, whose access to work and education is dif¬ficult. The study is part of the project ‘Youth Subcultures in Postsocialist Bulgaria’, financed by the National Science Fund’s ‘Young Scholars – 2011’ competition.

Markova, M. Food and Nutrition: between Nature and Culture. Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Academic Publishing House, 2011.

Markova, M. Food and Nutrition: between Nature and Culture. Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Academic Publishing House, 2011.

Author(s): Galina Lozanova / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

A “Bulgarian Connection” in the Anthropological Research on the Catastrophes: Disasters and Cultural Stereotypes.Ed. by ElyaTzaneva with Fang Sumei and Edwin Schmitt. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle, 2012.

A “Bulgarian Connection” in the Anthropological Research on the Catastrophes: Disasters and Cultural Stereotypes.Ed. by ElyaTzaneva with Fang Sumei and Edwin Schmitt. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle, 2012.

Author(s): Rachko Popov / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

Keywords: anthropology;

Zhenya Pimpireva (Ed.) Besarabskite balgari v postsavetskoto prostranstvo.Kultura, politika, identichnost. [The Bessarabian Bulgarians in the Post-Soviet Space. Culture, Politics, Identity]. Sofia: LogisPublishing House, 2012.

Zhenya Pimpireva (Ed.) Besarabskite balgari v postsavetskoto prostranstvo.Kultura, politika, identichnost. [The Bessarabian Bulgarians in the Post-Soviet Space. Culture, Politics, Identity]. Sofia: LogisPublishing House, 2012.

Author(s): Valentina Vasseva / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

Keywords: anthropology;migration;

Ana Luleva, Evgenia Troeva-Grigorova, Petar Petrov. The Forced Labor in Bulgaria (1941-1962). Memories of Witnesses.Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Academic Publishing House, IEFSEM, 2012.

Ana Luleva, Evgenia Troeva-Grigorova, Petar Petrov. The Forced Labor in Bulgaria (1941-1962). Memories of Witnesses.Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Academic Publishing House, IEFSEM, 2012.

Author(s): Ivanka Petrova / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

Keywords: anthropology;

Petko Hristov (ed.), Migration and Identity: Historical, Cultural and Linguistic Dimensions of Mobility in the Balkans. Sofia: Paradigma, 2012

Petko Hristov (ed.), Migration and Identity: Historical, Cultural and Linguistic Dimensions of Mobility in the Balkans. Sofia: Paradigma, 2012

Author(s): Valentina Ganeva-Raycheva / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

Keywords: anthropology;ethnography;migration;

Vihra Baeva. The Thread of Life.Between the Fertility Belt and the Holy Girdle of the Virgin. Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Academic Publishing House, 2012.

Vihra Baeva. The Thread of Life.Between the Fertility Belt and the Holy Girdle of the Virgin. Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Academic Publishing House, 2012.

Author(s): Albena Georgieva / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

Keywords: anthropology;

Sofia Zahova. Cherna Gora sled Yugoslavia: Dinamiki na identichnostite [Montenegro after Yugoslavia: Dynamics of Identities]. Sofia: Paradigma, 2013.

Sofia Zahova. Cherna Gora sled Yugoslavia: Dinamiki na identichnostite [Montenegro after Yugoslavia: Dynamics of Identities]. Sofia: Paradigma, 2013.

Author(s): Mila Maeva / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

Keywords: anthropology;nationalism;national and cultural identity;

Issue Authors

Issue Authors

Author(s): / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015