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Навлизането на хелоуинския маскарад в празничната система на българите
The text analyses the spread and the popularization of the Halloween holiday in Bulgaria. The invasion of foreign models and patterns, their quick adaptation to the contemporary urban environment is at the core of the discussions about the celebration of the foreign holiday, as well as in the discussions about the traditional, “ours” and “theirs”, urban and village, eastern and western, moral and satanic, etc. Is Halloween a holiday on Bulgarian grounds, how and to what extent the traditional holidays of the other nations can be emulated by the Bulgarians, does the Bulgarian mentality also experiences the foreign holidays as sacral, does it internalize their meaning and symbols or does it simply understand them as rejoicing – these are part of the questions discussed in the text. The analysis of the comments in the Internet forums, blogs, events, articles and sites, as well as the interviews with schoolchildren offer different points of view to these problems, connected with the contemporary individual approaches to the traditional – both native and foreign, as well as to the creation of festive events or experiences, disseminated as marketing products.
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The article is focused on three important aspects of intangible cultural heritage: the designation of intangible cultural heritage and the meanings imparted to it; the spheres of cultural activity within its scope, and the safeguarding measures which are implemented by the state. On the basis of the definitions and statements from UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, I offer an overview of the situation in Bulgaria: the growing usage of the new concept and the different contents attributed to it; the substantial discrepancies between the essence of intangible cultural heritage and the popular notions about it; some of the state’s cultural policies regarding the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage; and the increased media focus on these issues. In the analysis of the current situation, I draw on my comprehension and experience as a researcher and as an expert involved in the implementation of some of the state cultural policies in this sphere.
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This article offers the concept of folklore nostalgia, derived from Michael Herzfeld’s definition of structural nostalgia as an aspect of the broader notion of cultural intimacy. The concept is discussed in regards to the areas of fieldwork within Bulgarian ethnology and folkloristics. The aim of creating this juxtaposition is not to formulate theoretical propositions, but rather to discuss the extent to which and directions in which the use of this concept would be applicable for the methodology of anthropologically oriented disciplines. The place of the internet is of particular importance here as a ‘new’ field and, at the same time, a ‘new’ source for anthropological research. Studying the specific type of communication on the internet—the characteristics of which resemble the folk(lore) interaction—it is highly interesting to explore this private sphere where interpretations of the official discourse, as presented by the media, take place.
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This paper is dedicated to the legend of seven maidens connected to Yedi Kızlar Türbesi (the Tomb of the Seven Maidens) in Manisa, the Republic of Turkey. Two versions of the legend are discerned: one (pseudo)historical and one ritual-mythical. The author shows that the former version is not actually based on historical facts. The second version is compared to legends which were recorded among the Turks of the Eastern Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria. In this way, the paper outlines similarities in how the Seven Maidens are depicted in both regions. A comparison with a legend from Ossetia confirms the hypothesis that the Seven Maidens were originally a personification of the Pleiades star cluster. Owing to its peripheral position in relation to central religious issues, this cult was preserved during the Christian (Byzantine) and Muslim (Ottoman) periods, thus providing an opportunity for a manifestation of religiosity among women.
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This article is dedicated to the New Age pilgrimages in Bulgaria in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It presents various types of pilgrim destinations: natural landmarks and cultural sites with a primarily religious character. Some specific aspects of the New Age pilgrimages in Bulgaria are outlined, such as the interest in ‘Thracian’ and ‘Proto-Bulgarian’ sites and beliefs, the influence of Dаnovism, and the inclusion of Orthodox religious centres in New Age sacred geography. The New Age pilgrimages are seen as a manifestation of postmodern religiosity, in which the leading idea is to acquire a personal experience of the respective sites of energy/power in the search for spiritual transformation.
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Die Philosophie der Technik, die den Ursprung, das Wesen und das historische Geschick der Technik als der Schaffenskunst im Allgemeinen sowie im Verhaltnis zur Natur und zur Welt betrachtet (tehne, technica), verbindet der bekannte französische Denker Mikel Dufrenne mit seiner Philosophie des Menschen (Pour l'homme), d.h. mit der philosophischen Anthropologie, sodass er sich dabei die Fragen nach dem Sinn, nach den Aussichten sowie nach der Zukunft der Menschenwelt, insbesondere der technisierten Gesellschaft stellt. lm Gegensatz zu den suspekten und pessimistischen Auffassungen von Technik, die meinen, dass die Technik geistige Dürftigkeit bringe, den Menschen unterdriicke und ihn von der Naturumgebung entfremde, betont Dufrenne ihre schöpferische und humane Möglichkeit, die in der ursprünglichen Bedeutung von tehne und poiesis gegenwii.rtig ist. In dieser urspriinglichen Bedeutung von tehne und poiesis wird der Mensch als Subjekt und Autor der Technik beachtet. Die Technik erfordet nicht unbedingt, laut Dufrenne, die Technokratie, sondern sie kann als Ausdruck der schopferischen Menschennatur, nach dem Vorbild der Kunst und der Philosophie, dem Menschen in seinem Gang zur Selbstverwirklichung behilflich sein, d.h., sie kann und soll keineswegs einen Selbstzweck darstellen, der den Menschen gefangen nimmt und in dessen Dienste der Mensch steht, sondern vielmehr eine Möglichkeit und Befreiungsart des Menschen sowie eine Humanisierungsweise seiner Welt.
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The article treats the particular interweaving of continuity and discontinuity in tradition as a major paradox in Balkan cultures throughout centuries. Thus a paradigm in the cultural system is revealed as manifested in binary oppositions such as openness versus closeness, the East versus the West, the native as opposed to the foreign and the regional to the European, respectively. Certain clarification upon the age of Modernity and Europium of Balkan art creativity will be beneficial for the outlining of the unique essence of the cultural setting and the experience of Balkan men as a realization in a global world. As a key to the understanding of art and literature Europium is relevant to the disclosure of an aesthetic, spiritual and intellectual wealth and to the particular identity of the peoples on the peninsula. The article treats the particular interweaving of continuity and discontinuity in tradition as a major paradox in Balkan cultures throughout centuries. Thus a paradigm in the cultural system is revealed as manifested in binary oppositions such as openness versus closeness, the East versus the West, the native as opposed to the foreign and the regional to the European, respectively. Certain clarification upon the age of Modernity and Europium of Balkan art creativity will be beneficial for the outlining of the unique essence of the cultural setting and the experience of Balkan men as a realization in a global world. As a key to the understanding of art and literature, Europium is relevant to the disclosure of an aesthetic, spiritual and intellectual wealth and to the particular identity of the peoples on the peninsula.
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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.
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The article is focused on one type of the protest activity in Russia, the two rounds of the car-rallies “White Ring“ in Moscow, on 29th of January and 19th of February 2012, which are studied in the frame of the Russian oppositional movement “White ribbon“. Initiated in December 2011, after the parliamentary elections, the “White Ribbon“ movement has gone through an impressive rise, but has not resulted in any positive political and civic transformations. It brought in, though, many new sym-bols, means and forms of protesting, among them the car-rallies, remembered by the participants as the “most optimistic and creative acts“ (Boris Nemtsov).The big amount of visual and verbal data on the Moscow car-rallies, collected by the author, enables the ethnological, visual anthropological and linguistic analysis of general political appeals and special features of the “White Ribbon“ movement (fair elections, change of the political elite, symbolism of the white color and mov¬ing, the rally as a festival, etc.), as reflected in the “White Ring“. These rallies are also investigated with regard to urban and technological ethnology, since they cor¬relate with the Moscow city plan and the central circle high-way in Moscow (The Garden Ring) and thus highlight the unifying and protecting symbolism of the cir¬cle. The automobile theme (idiomatic phrases, slang, the cars’ decorations, posters and cartoons) transforms the general political pleas, makes them more artistic, vivid and clear. The author comes to the conclusion that the quickly and easily forgotten forms and models of the local and national protest rallies have first to be thoroughly recorded in order to provide a precise basis for further comparative analysis of the universal protest language.
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This chapter explores issues of inspiration and motivation on how a poem (in turn becoming a song) was created in connection with a specific situation of injustice, namely the Police Raid on the ‘Occupy’ protest in the Buffer Zone in Nicosia, Cyprus, on the 7th of April 2012. Taking into account a number of ethical considerations that embrace the role of art and free speech, expression and social critique (Islam, 2015), a set of ideas and discourses will be explored through an autoethnographic journey – from context to inspiration/motivation/creation and sharing as a form of alternative media via online social media platforms (Facebook and Soundcloud). Contextualization will also be discussed through the sub-genre of dub poetry as a practice of cultural resistance against oppression (Linton Kwesi Johnson) and a much wider set of debates on the presence/absence of songs with political content. Additionally, the chapter will focus on a detailed contextualization of ‘Occupy’ in Cyprus as a non-hierarchical grass roots protest moment and the manner in which this was destroyed by state police intervention. This will consider the specificity of ‘Occupy’ in Cyprus in the Buffer Zone as expression against militarism and occupation, as well as the more generic aspect of ‘Occupy’ worldwide as a counterhegemonic form of political activism.
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The text is based on an anthropological research of the protest movements in Bulgaria in the period 2009-2013 and suggests an analysis of in-depth interviews with activists and participants in these movements. The data is interpreted in the light of the anthro¬pology of democracy which studies the understandings of democracy of the ordinary people and the various forms of participation in the democratic process, as well as the possibilities of expanding the democracy from below. By using the three notions in the title the respondents describe their discontent and draw the contour of the desired change. The analysis shows that even when they talk about the same thing (e.g. de¬mocracy), the protestants do not agree with each other. The many-voiced expression of discontent supports the hypothesis that the protest movements form heterogeneous multitudes but fail to settle their differences and to work out a common vision about “democratism“.
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Historical factual and literary documents testify not only about described phenomena and current period, but also about ideological structure of society and its individual relations. Andrej Deško and Bohuš Nosák-Nezabudov described cultural, linguistic, confessional and political structure of society of Eastern Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia taking into account the religious, social, economic and political stereotypes that formed not only simple population, but also representatives of national-revival life in the 40s of the 19th century. Although only A. Deško was indigenous who knew conditions in Subcarpathian Ruthenia by his own autopsy, Bohuš Nosák-Nezabudov had also knowledge acquired before and during the travels in Eastern Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia. Even his descriptions brought a wide range of information that can be appreciated in the systematic Slavistic researches of the Carpathian region and other researches focused on linguistic, ethnic and confessional stereotypes as well as linguistic and cultural diversity of its population.
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