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C’est à notre honneur national que dans la vie et l’oeuvre de K. Marx, se trouvent ses opinions qui s’attachent à l’Albanie et du monde albanais. Bien qu’elles soient secondaires dans son riche héritage, il faut les connaître et les étudier.
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Le fait qu’on conserve encore, en tant qu’une tradition épique du pays, le cycle des preux dans la contrée montagneuse au nord du fleuve Drin, de Hot, Kuç et Pipër à l’ouest et jusqu’à Kosove à l’est, n’est pas fortuit. Cela est dû à une série de traits particuliers du développement économique, social et politique de ces régions, durant la période du Moyen-Age par rapport aux autres régions voisines.
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This article tries to explore the entrance of Bolu-originated-cooks into the imperial kitchens of the Ottoman Empire. It primarily intends to correct conventional wisdom, telling that during Mehmed II's reign, they were first employed in the palace. Understanding that this information comes from only one source and without a reference, the study tries to determine when they enter the kitchen. To this end, it analyzes wage registers, covering some records from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, reflecting the personnel of the imperial kitchen. By this, it claims that it was unlikely to form teams of kitchen-related employees specifically originated from one or more cities until the mid-seventeenth century. Until that time, the staff of the palace kitchens almost entirely originated from Rumelia. It is after that time when this pattern began to change with the personnel coming from Anatolia. Interestingly, this phenomenon also overlaps with the decline of the devşirme system. The rise of the Anatolian cooks in the kitchens continued in the eighteenth century and some city-based clusters emerged. In the first decades of the nineteenth century, most of the kitchen stuff was from Nevşehir. However, there is no sign of Bolu originated people between 1814 and 1826. After the abolishment of the Janissary corps, cooks from central Bolu, Dörtdivan, Çarşamba (Seben) were intensively present in the royal kitchens. The article shows that these rising employment rates were related to their well-known culinary skills in Istanbul's elite circles.
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This paper aims to present and draw a plan of action to promote the Ottoman trade network of Northern Greece. This network had been developed since the fifteenth century and it was a part of the broader system of communication, administration, urban development and economical flow of the Ottoman Empire. The study focuses on the geographic region extending from Thrace to Central Macedonia, emphasizing its monuments and the urban centers that are important for this multidimensional network. Most of these monuments are constructed on lines of the former Roman road the Via Egnatia, also known as the Sol Kol. These buildings of the Ottoman trade network are of a unified historical site that need for equal management beyond national or state identities. In the context of the inter-cultural dialogue promoted in the European framework, this historical site should be understood as a means for cultural exchange and unity for present-day Balkanic societies, for whom once formed the unified Ottoman Empire.
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In recent years, anthropologists have increasingly identified topics and facets of sport as important fields of inquiry for their discipline. Following a discussion of the rather sporadic and cursory engagement with sport in social anthropology in the German, French, British and American tradition, we examine the changing role of anthropology of sport by discussing its methodologies and the analytical value of key concepts for the study of contemporary social, cultural, economic and political phenomena. Given the ongoing processes of sports’ globalization and commercialization, such phenomena are increasingly visible in and through games, events and changing local body cultures. In order to utilize sports’ increasing potential for central debates in anthropology, we argue for further consolidation and institutionalization of sports research in the discipline.
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The path leading to the Olympic Games is lengthy and laborious, requiring a significant amount of physical training and participation in competitive events. Up to four of the best female gymnasts from a given country can participate in the postponed Tokyo2020 Summer Olympics. The preparation and daily routines of three such gymnasts: Morgan Hurd (USA), Angelina Melnikova (Russian Federation) and Yile Chen(People’s Republic of China) is featured in the All-Around documentary series with new episodes released monthly on the IOC’s Olympic Channel which is available worldwide at the Olympic Channel’s website and the Olympics YouTube channel. The road to the Olympics for these and other female gymnasts is also presented via their personal social media profiles and video-sharing platform channels (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc.). Based on the research of textual and visual online publications by or about women gymnasts preparing for the Olympic Games, the current text is aimed at presenting the everyday life and lifestyle of the gymnasts as featured in the media, including their training routine, participation in competitions, their education and social life (family, friends and other social circles).
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The article follows the establishment and popularization of a Bulgarian martial arts style form the beginning of the 21st century. The emphasis is on the symbolic elements from various time periods, which form the visual presentation of the style. Utilizing ethnographic methods, there is an analysis of the choice of symbols stemming from different historic periods but all proving to be very convenient for contemporary use. Theoretically, the research fits within the frame of invented traditions as per EricHobsbawm. The development of the Bulgarian fighting style is reviewed in a social historic context as well as a dynamic process, which is still active.
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One of the wars that happened between 1915-1916 is the Battle of Çanakkale, which is also known as the Battle of Gallipoli. As it is known, in this war in one side were England, France, Russia, and in the other side there were the Ottoman Empire, Austro-Hungary, and Germany. One of the most important facts for our research is that many people of different nationalities from different countries of the world participated voluntarily in this war in the side of the Ottoman Empire, Austro-Hungary, and Germany. Among the volunteers who responded positively to the call and participated in this war were the peoples of the Balkans, especially from places that were part of the Ottoman Empire. The Balkans and Albanians who were part of the Ottoman Empire till 1912, and even though Albanians were not part of the Ottoman Empire any more after that year, they were among volunteers who answered the call for war participation. Although more than 100 years have passed since the war has happened, still this war exists in the memory of Albanians. One of the reasons why this war still exists in the memory of Albanians is the folklore aspect and its impact. Even nowadays songs about Çanakkale continue to be created by composers and singers, and due to this fact they are transmitted from generation to generation and always kept in the memory of people. In this study, we will investigate how this war is perceived by Albanians in folklore today, whether this war is presented in the history textbooks of Albanians, and whether this war is included in the academic work of Albanian writers. In this study it will be answered to many questions, and some of these questions are as follows: whether there is a difference in perception between the public (usual people) and intellectuals regarding the Battle of Çanakkale during and after communism. If there is a difference, what are the reasons for it? And on the other side, why this war still exists in folklore? The methods that will be used in this research are comparative and analytical methods, and the sources used to support the study are songs about the Battle of Çanakkale sung by Albanian singers, and the textbooks and published studies in Kosovo’s scientific journals.
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Many modern scholars consider the Old Testament Book of Jonah being written in a boldly parodic manner. The narrative engages many details that sound humorous for a modern reader. However, from the standpoint of late Antique and early Medieval patristic exegesis, it is often unclear whether Byzantine interpreters perceived such passages laughable or at least inappropriate for a prophetic writing. This study presents a few examples of early Byzantine commentaries to the episode with Jonah and a gourd (Jonah 4:6–11). None of the commentaries expresses any explicit amusement caused by the discussed text. However, the style, method, or context of each commentary appears to be passing the traditional bounds of Bible interpretation. The earlier interpreters adhere to the most expected moral reading of Jonah 4, but they use epithets, metaphors, or omissions, which produce the effect of paradox comparable to the biblical wording itself. The later commentaries tend to involve unexpected and even provocative senses. In such interpretations, God can be thought of as being able to play with a human or even to fool and deceive. What seems us humorous in the Bible, Byzantine commentators take primarily as a paradox, which they did not explain or remove but elaborate further paradoxically. The later an interpreter is, the bolder his paradoxical approach appears. The results of the study provide some clues to understanding how the interpretation of humorous, parodic, or ironical passages were developing in the history of Byzantine intellectual culture.
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This essay provides a brief overview of English jokes targeting Italians, and sets out to show how internet memes are a progression of traditional jokes in which Italians are the butts but with a modern twist.
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This examination of the corpus of anecdotes about the Mormon missionary J. Gordon Kimball (1953-1938), is used to point out, first, that there seem to be no substantive grounds for imputing aggressive motives to their tellers or their audiences. In fact, the central character of this corpus of anecdotes was a much beloved figure in his lifetime, and the character is still regarded with affection by many who only know him through the anecdotes The second point is that these jokes might offer compensations, but compensations unrelated to the release of and relief from libidinal forces. They rather can be understood in a way so that they may offer compensations of a different kind—the consolations of a philosophy.
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People can experience spiritual emotions when they are away from home or under the influence of homesickness they feel. While looking for some escape in the sky above them, talking to birds that people find mysterious may grant them some relief. The act of flying attracts people with its mystic attractiveness. The flying birds revive people’s dreams and hopes. Probably that is why, the birds that are seen as a means of communication of various emotions are frequently used in both folk literature and written literature. Especially in poems about homesickness and strangeness, migratory birds and cranes in particular are seen as both harbingers and confidants. The poems about cranes also manage to reflect the social, historical and political events of each period. At the time of folk poetry development, the symbol of a crane in Azerbaijani written literature reached its peak in “Turnalar” (Cranes) poems of Molla Veli Vidadi (1709-1809), Molla Penah Vagif (1717-1797) and Kasım Bey Zakir (1784-1857). All three poems in which the crane motif is used are original literary works that in spite of some similar aspects differ from each other in terms of the emotions they convey and the events they reflect. In this study, the social, historical and political conditions of that period have been examined in their relation to the poets’ lives and spiritual and psychological states. Through the example of these three poems, the way the poets reflected their mood in the literary art has been traced.
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The man from the traditional Romanian communities imagined the Evil through the phenomenological prism of Christian morality. Good and Evil, in various forms and aspects, are in constant confrontation. Man, infinitesimal component of the deity, takes an obligatory, (un)consciously, (un)assumed part in this conflict. Most of the time, such confrontations are centered around some noteworthy popular heroes. In these cultural products (fairytales, legends, ballads, etc.), the heroes fight evil, whatever/whoever it may be, in order to restore the moral balance, the harmony disturbed by the manifestation of evil, and, ultimately, the conceptual Good. The Romanian fantastic fairy tale is, in this aspect, perhaps the most fertile epic field of representation, valorization and symbolization of this eternal struggle between Good and Evil, with an obvious formative function. I don`t think there is any fairy tale that doesn’t have, as a synthetically-narrative core, such a conflict. Most often, this subject became the theme of the action and the narrative itself. This study deals with the evil beings which are present in the the fantastic fairy tale epic. For an easy comprehension of the epistemic dimensions given to evil by traditional mentality, both generator and consumer of fantastic fairytale, I have chosen to divide these categories of evil beings according to their area of manifestation. Every category emphasizes both the human appetite for evil, as well as the cathartic discharge given by one`s struggle with such evil tendencies. We have, therefore, anthropophagous, forestry, pandemic, demonic (in the Christian sense) fantastic beings, sometimes with important physical descriptions of them.
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Different phenomena related to humour and laughter, such as humour styles, gelotophobia, gelotophilia and katagelasticism, were investigated in a series of psychological studies in Russia. As far as the samples were rather heterogeneous in regard with age, gender, region of Russia, and included besides big cities also small towns and villages, the data allows to discuss not only psychological, but also a certain cultural perspective. It is concluded that self-defeating humour style plays an important role in the structure of Russian cultural attitude towards humour and laughter. The most adaptive affiliative humour style is highly connected with self-defeating and aggressive styles. Similar pattern was shown for humour and laughter perception: a fear of being laughed at paradoxically provokes active involvement into exchange of jokes. A comparison between the two Russian capitals and regional sample revealed more similarities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg with western data than with the regional Russian sample which is supposed to reflect more of traditional national character.
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The history of genocide is replete with various humorous treatments by different actors with distinctive objectives. This type of dark humour treats the topic, which is usually enveloped with solemnity, in a satirical manner. This essay aims to study the functions of humour by comparatively examining victimized individuals’ and groups’ use of humour during and after violent episodes such as genocide. Why do victims use humour under conditions of extreme peril, threats to life, and fear? It draws on published and unpublished memoirs, pamphlets, video clips, and most importantly victims' artistic and literary responses to the Nazi repression and the mass violence in Bosnia (1992-1995) and Syria (2011-2013). The essay argues that dark humour seems to be widespread among victims and survivors, as it functions as a complex mechanism for coping with anxiety and fear, group cohesion and critique of perpetrators. Our conclusions suggest that victimological approaches in genocide studies can benefit considerably from focusing on oppressed groups’ humoristic responses to mass violence.
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The restoration of traditional Bulgarian clothing (garments) from the end of the 19thand the beginning of the 20th century requires a specific approach, concerning the intervention itself. Every reinforcement, every repair, every retouching with the needle and thread must be so well made that it gives durability of use over time and does not differ from the general vision. Traditional approaches to restoration techniques arenot always appropriate enough for this type of intervention. Owners of such clothing,stored in chests of drawers and closets, require for it to be useable afterwards. The authentic costume, that is about to live its second life, must remain soft, flexible and strong. These qualities are not necessary for a museum exhibit. There, the approach is rather conservative. The retouch in the restoration intervention is the final stage of the professional work on the original. In the case of privately owned costumes,the approach is rather different. Even the base on which the retouching will be done should be as close as possible to the original in terms of structure, texture and color,so that the intervention will be barely noticeable. At the same time, in retouching, the restoration must be strong enough to withstand further use of the costume.
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