EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL POLICIES IN POST-COMMUNIST ROMANIA AND THE MINORITIES

Author(s): Aneta Mihaylova / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2018

The collapse of communism in Romania in 1989 has left its imprint also on the minority policies. The article tries to outline the factors that influenced the minority policies of the Romanian governments and their development over the past quarter of a century, while laying a major focus on education and the use of the mother tongue. The Romanian legislation in these fields in the post-communist period gives good grounds to conclude that there has been a considerable progress towards the extension of minority rights. A major role for that has played the need to harmonize the Romanian legislation with the European rules and directives. A significant factor for the change was also the active policy of the UDMR, which firmly defended the rights of the Hungarian minority. At the same time, it should be noted that while making numerous concessions, the Romanian government had made it clear that these concessions could only be made within certain limits.

THE ALBANIANS IN THE INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA (1991 – 2001)

Author(s): Mariyana STAMOVA / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2018

For more than two centuries the Albanian factor in Macedonia has been an objective and dynamically changing reality. It has manifested itself as an ethnic, demographic, socio-economic factor during the Ottoman rule and in Unitarian Yugoslavia; as an ethnic minority, political and constitutional crisis – at the time of SFR Yugoslavia; ten years after the establishment of independent Republic of Macedonia, since the beginning of 2001, the Albanian factor has turned into a major problem for the existence and sovereignty of the country.

TUDJMAN AND CROATIA’S DISTANCING FROM EUROPE

Author(s): Irina Ognyanova-Krivoshieva / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2018

On 1 July 2013 Croatia became part of the European Union, but that happened nine years after Slovenia. The Croatian nationalism, flourishing in the 1990s was hostile to the very idea of united Europe. In 1991 – 1992 when a great part of the Croatian territory was under Serbian control, the Western countries supported and recognized the new state. But this positive image quickly changed after its participation in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and especially after the military operation “Storm” in 1995, when around 300,000 Serbs were forced to leave the country. As a result, European politicians did not invite Croatia in 1997 to start negotiations for accession to the EU. In late 1990s the country was in complete international isolation. Tudjman was against every initiative for regional or European cooperation. Building its own independent state Croats were very suspicious to all mega-national projects and initiatives.

RESISTANCE THROUGH SOUVLA AND KREMALA – PERFORMATIVE ACTS AND ACTIONS IN A PROTEST IN CYPRUS 2013

Author(s): Mike Hajimichael / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2018

This article explores an actual and online street protest which unfolded over a series of weeks in the Spring of 2013 when Cyprus experienced an economic crisis following the ‘bailout’-‘haircut of March 2013. In an effort to contextualize and explore the performative aspects of these events the author links this to art and protest as an expression of alternativeness and an avant-garde spirit embodying resonances of 1960’s and 1970’s art and protest as performative happenings. It is argued, unlike other similar contemporary contexts of economic crisis in the EU, such as Greece, Portugal and Spain, protests in Cyprus may not have been so massively populated but the spirit of performative art was expressed in innovative ways, as documented and shared through social media as an alternative platform of expression, which ultimately fills a void that exists in the contemporary Cypriot political landscape.

Александър Костов. Транспорт и комуникации на Балканите (1800–1914). Поредица „Регионални изследвания“. София, Университетско издателство „Св. Климент Охридски“, 2017. 312 с.

Author(s): Evgeni Kostov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2018

Book Review

The Common Law and the Canon of Lekë Dukagjini

Author(s): Berat Aqifi,Ardian Emini,Xhemshit Shala / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

This paper contains a summary, chronology and analysis of a specific process that Albania has in general, as it is the specificity of blood feud, which is one of the typical and very current problems of the Albanian people. The implication of the second parties and the third parties on these developments in reconciliation of the lynx and the effect of the Canon of Lekë Dukagjini and other socio cultural implications for overcoming the inter human conflicts that find support at customary law, at the same time it is considered as an act to settle down the disputes, a legal and institutional component for the replacement of the courts. Special emphasis is placed on the Canon that Albanian law is an Albanian institution, institutional history, but also a “formulated idea”. It is the mind and spirit of the Albanians, conceived for centuries in the oral tradition, preserved, protected with fanaticism and transmitted as a message, to be understood, disaggregated and absorbed in the way it was formulated and transmitted, without being changed in form and content. The Canons are the product of an ancestral society, when Canon law was the only right to regulate life. Life becomes fierce not only in the sense of confronting nature, but also of people with each other, which is characterized by a constant competition, which one alone can not withstand. One of the challenges that Albanian society and state faces in this decade is the phenomenon of blood feud and revenge, a habit inherited from the ancient past, incompatible with the principles of civilized society and the rule of law.

Колко струва войната, а колко – мирът?

Author(s): Albena Simova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2019

Любомир Огнянов (съставител). Политическа история на съвременна България. Сборник документи. Т. III (1953–1956). София, Държавна агенция „Архиви“, 2018

Author(s): Vladimir Migev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2018

Book Review

Thomas Merton – życie z mądrością

Author(s): Małgorzata Poks,Tomasz Markiewka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 31/2018

The year 2018 marks the quinquagenary of Thomas Merton’s death. A wealth of international events has been organized to commemorate this monk, writer, peace and social justice activist, renewer of monastic life, and significant contributor to interreligious dialogue. This issue of the biennial journal "Świat i Słowo” is a Polish contribution to those events. Consisting of two original articles written specifically for this occasion, as well as translations of several important articles that were first published in "The Merton Annual” - a flagship journal of international Merton scholarschip – Thomas Merton – Living with Wisdom pays homage to the versatility and intellectual and artistic accuity of the famous Trappist monk. Foregrounding the trope of wisdom, the articles gathered here present crucial aspects of Thomas Merton’s life and writing.

Louis Massignon i źródła „monastycznego protestu” Thomasa Mertona

Author(s): Gordon Oyer / Language(s): Polish Issue: 31/2018

In 1964 Thomas Merton hosted a retreat for several peacemakers. This retreat would break new ground for interfaith collaboration in social activism and feed into later anti-war efforts. Its mix of Catholic, mainline Protestant, and historic peace churches voices helped to forge new relationships in peace activism and cross-fertilize theologies of social engagement. What may surprise, however, is that it was not Merton’s monastic tradition that served as his primary resource to prepare for this retreat. For the most part, he sought inspiration for this task in the writings of Louis Massignon, a French Catholic mystic, linguist, and scholar of Islam.

Спектакълът на изисканото хранене заедно. Нови форми на празничност в София и преобръщане на употребите на публичното пространство

Author(s): Velislava Petrova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2018

The article focuses on two forms of appropriation of the urban space by new forms of festivity organized around food consumption. Although the new forms intervene with public space and use its ideology, these practices rather question the general access to it. Usually, they are organized as private events but following the logic of new capitalism, they insist on a higher, often non-commercial, purpose that adds value to the experience. This may be the demonstrative struggle against wastefulness or aestheticization of food consumption in the public space as a form of creating experiences. The new media play a key role in the experiencing and producing of these events: from their disclosure and access to the organization of their visual identity.

Анатол Анчев. Фолклорът на работниците от едно звено на каналджийска бригада. София, 2017

Author(s): Ivanka Petrova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2019

Полша – Между Изтока и Запада

Author(s): Michał Kopczyński / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 6/2016

Полските инженери в България

Author(s): Bolesław Orłowski / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 6/2016

The loss of independence, and then the collapse of the national uprisings against Russia (1831, 1863) forced many Poles to emigrate. Many former military in emigration began working as engineers. A major center of the Polish immigration was the Ottoman Empire and the Polish engineers contributed to the modernization of the state. Some of them worked in Bulgarian lands, building telegraph lines, roads and railways. Several of them remained in Bulgaria after its liberation. Boleslav Anz served as Principal Engineer of Bulgarian railways and Sabin Halatkevich participated in the expansion and completion of the Bulgarian railway network until his death in 1935.

Demeter, Gábor. Agrarian Transformations in Southeastern Europe: from the Late 18th Century to World War II. Series Publications of the Bulgarian-Hungarian History Commission. Vol. 3. Sofia, 2017. 316 p.

Author(s): Penka Peykovska / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2018

Book Review

Реакциите на българските младежи към три „извънредни“ събития за 80-те години на XX век. Архиви

Author(s): Mihaela Samardzhieva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2018

In the following text we will present the reaction of the Bulgarian youths from the 1980s to three extraordinary and practically „new“ events for this period in our country, according to the archives of the Information and Sociological Center of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party. We are examining the reaction of Bulgarian youths to the Revival Process, the Chernobyl accident and the AIDS virus, and our aim is to follow both youth’s views on current events and the behavior of the media and institutions – as a rule they function differently in one closed and authoritarian political system.

Българското радио през социализма. Професионалните медийни издания (1944 — 1989)

Author(s): Vyara Angelova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2018

The text presents the results from a research of professional periodicals dedicated to radio and radio journalism during the socialism period in Bulgaria. The research has following aims: to track the topics discussed by the professional community; to search the correlation between ideological and professional content; to ascertain to what extent the foreign experience penetrates into the radio related periodicals.

Рецензия на книгата „Управление на бедността“ на Вероника Димитрова

Author(s): Zhana Popova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2018

Review of the book 'Governmentality of poverty. Hygiene and medicine in interwar years'. Sofia: Iztok-Zapad of Veronika Dimitrova (2018)

Телевизионният дискурс в България: постмодерно, модерно, носталгия

Author(s): Orlin Spassov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

The text highlights two main ways in which the television discourse in Bulgaria has unfolded in recent years. The first one is connected with postmodernism, but now it looks retro. The second is the result of the influence of social media and networks on television (digital modern-ism). The interweaving and complementarity between these two main types of television discourse produces effects of nostalgia, thus contributing to the maintenance of conservative myths and status quo.

„Глобалните телевизии“ на Мария Нейкова

Author(s): Snezhana Popova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

A review of the book ‚Monologue or dialogue? The controversial world in the lens of global television‘ by Maria Neikova, ‚St. Kliment Ohridski‘ University Press. This is an outstanding study, which is concerned with the topic of the still most popular media product, namely the television newscast. The book is a meeting point of state and media politics, cross-continental, cultural and religious differences, and views on international communication. The enormous literature review and original interpretations are valuable for researchers from various academic fields.