Семейството в житейските разкази на бесарабските българи

Author(s): Zhenja Pimpireva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2016

The article is devoted to the role of life stories in the study of the family of theBessarabian Bulgarians. The eyewitnesses’ stories (or the stories of their loved ones)contain various appreciations, experiences, feelings, values, and meanings whichallow the reconstruction of their world. The study is based on the life stories collectedduring field ethnographic expeditions conducted in 2009-2010 in villages witha predominant or significant Bulgarian population in the Republic of Moldova andUkraine.The life stories are an invaluable source for the study of the Bessarabian familyin traditional and contemporary perspective. Sharing them requires a climate of trustbetween the respondents and the researcher. The life stories represent a collection ofselected facts and episodes, in which many hidden, suppressed and forgotten thingsremain beyond the narrative. Because of their subjective character, the family is representedin an estimative and emotional way enabling the identification of the trendsin its development and the judgement of its values and morals.

Цветан Тодоров (1939–2017) – апостолът на хуманизма, мечтателят за свобода

Author(s): Valentina Sharlanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2016

Изложба „Д-р Евдокия Петева-Филова – завръщане в Двореца“

Author(s): Anita Komitska / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2016

Компетентен разказ за историческия път на българите

Author(s): Teodorichka Gotovska-Henze / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5-6/2016

Book Review

Мила Маева. Българските емигранти в Англия – минало и съвременност. София, 2017

Author(s): Anelia Kassabova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2017

На бойното поле на символите: безследно изчезналите в Косово между паметта и историята (Част 1)

Author(s): Dimitar Atanasov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2018

The paper is the first part of a research, dedicated to the problem of how national identity of Kosovo is forged. It is analysed from the point of view of a particular case study – the missing persons and how their character is represented in the public discourses of Prishtina, Belgrad, and how the international community is involved.The problem of national identity building is considered in its complexity, taking into account numerous rival projects. The museum exhibition, dedicated to missing persons and cultural heritage artifacts could be regarded as case study.All the actors on the terrain apply their own ideological strategies, which could be identified in the concept of the “Missing” exhibition: how the personal memory is being domesticated and turned into history of the nation, how the transition from text to action was carried out, how memory, oblivion and history were (ab-)used as social building ideological toolkits. Particular attention was paid to the problem of the conceptualization of the recent past: how it was interpreted and attributed signs of prestige by the social actors involved in accordance to the interests of each of them.The ethnic conflict paradigm as a key concept widely used in contemporary humanities for explaining the Kosovo case as well as the disintegration of Yugoslavia is put under question. The history of the Museum of Kosovo is also involved, the debate between Belgrade and Prishtina for returning 1247 initially taken artifacts transported to Gračanica monastery and then to Belgrade in 1998 along with the withdrawal of the Yugoslav administration of the region is traced in its history and ideology, establishing references to the Kosovo myth, based on the folklore epics which were first published by Vik Karadžić in the 1820s and later became a canonized version of late medieval Serbian history.

Култът към католическите мъченици на тоталитаризма в България (1944–1989)

Author(s): Valentin Voskresenski / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2020

The article presents religious practices and politics of memory, related to the cult of the “new martyrs” (“martyrs of totalitarianism”) in the Catholic Church in Bulgaria after 1989. The paper is based on terminological apparatus and methodology in the field of anthropology of memory and anthropology of religion, and describes the procedures of beatification of Blessed Eugene Bossilkov (beat. 1998) and bishops Fr. Kamen Vichev, Fr. Pavel Dzhidzov, Fr. Iosafat Shishkov (beat. 2002), Fr. Fortunat Bakalski, Fr. Rafael Peev, and others. The objective of this study is to elucidate major moments related to the institutionalisation of the cult, the processes of construction of sacredness, the creation of new religious practices, the commemoration practices, and the places of memory. The study explores the elements of the veneration of the “new martyrs” in Bulgaria, the connection between cult and history, and the issues of memory and the policies of memory as a form of heritage. The observations and the examples are obtained through field research and interviews conducted in several settlements in the Diocese of Sofia and Plovdiv and the Diocese of Nicopolis (primarily the towns of Plovdiv, Rakovski, Ruse, and Belene, the village of Oresh, and the city of Sofia). Relics, testimonies of martyrdom, stories of miracles, hagiographical and iconographical innovations, commemorational festivities, places of memory, related to the “new martyrs” – all of these are analysed through the prism of processes of invention of cultural-historical heritage, renovation of confessional identities, and creation of reworking models of traumatic memory in the period of socialism. The article looks for answers to the following questions: What is the character of the totalitarian martyrology in Bulgaria? How are the confessional consciousness of the Catholic communities and the character of their religious culture being transformed through the religious cults of the “new martyrs”?

Културната политика към българите в Молдова, Украйна и Румъния и предизвикателства на COVID-19

Author(s): Elena Vodinchar / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2021

This study is developed within the framework of the research programme Cultural Heritage, National Memory and Social Development. Without setting the goal to exhaust thoroughly the question, it starts with a survey of the cultural policy of the Bulgarian state towards the Bulgarian communities in Ukraine, Moldova and Romania before the epidemiological situation of the COVID-19 pandemic was officially announced in Bulgaria. Afterwards, in comparative perspective, the author presents the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Bulgarian state policy aiming to delineate the different points of view to the current situation. She notes the first reactions to the “new reality” and identifies some suggestions for coping with the pandemic crisis.

Гръцко-български сдружения за приятелство в България след 1989 г. и ефектите на пандемията от COVID-19

Author(s): Daniel Fokas / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2021

The article offers a survey of the activities of the associations for friendship between Bulgarians and Greeks in Bulgaria in the last decades. These associations are viewed as a contemporary form of mutual cultural communication between the two peoples and the meaning of the two communities as a “bridge” between Bulgaria and Greece is highlighted. The study focuses on the present condition of these processes and on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on them. It examines concrete examples of changes in the activities of the associations in Sofia, which are indicative for the life of the communities with Greek self-identification in Bulgaria in the pandemic situation.

Социокултурни изражения на съвременната трудова миграция от България в Италия

Author(s): Vladimir Domozetski / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2021

The article investigates contemporary labour migration of Bulgarians to Italy. An important analytical instrument for drawing a complete picture of the Bulgarian presence in the host country are the research perspectives: “from above, generalized” or “close and detailed”. The sociocultural expressions of migration are interpreted on the basis of in-depth interviews, in which sharing personal experience is of major importance. The personal experience of different groups of Bulgarian migrants is viewed as a source of information for the degree of their integration and adaptation. Some comments are suggested on the peculiarities of the communication between the interviewees and the researcher. The author problematizes notions and images of the Bulgarians in Italy through the lens of employment types and through auto and hetero stereotypes that are delineated in interviews and free conversations. Another subject of attention are the questions about the visibility of Bulgarian migrants in Italian society. The results of the study demonstrate that the Bulgarians are well adapted to the living conditions in Italy. At the same time, they do not always feel presented clearly enough in the host society.

„Етничният синдром“ четвърт век по-късно – едно научно откровение за народа, паметта и историята

Author(s): Elya Tsaneva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2021

For almost three decades now, there is an ongoing, but also inconsistent search for a new conceptual framework for the study of ethnicities and identities. Against this background, the article offers an interpretation of a fundamental monographic text on this subject from the recent past, a contemporary evaluation of a book from the arsenal of ethnic/national dialectic theory. Written by an insightful connoisseur of culture and history, the book presented some innovative and provocative ideas about the relationship and the dynamic combination of the most important phenomena and characteristics of the ethnonational process. The author shares some thoughts about the ways in which these ideas can be interpreted from the point of view of today’s methodological explorations.

За дуалистичния характер на българския граждански празничен календар

Author(s): Grigor Har. Grigorov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2022

The paper puts forward the proposition that today’s Bulgarian civic festive calendar may be examined as a system composed not of individual holidays but of corresponding holiday pairs (3 March – 2 June, St. George’s Day – St. Michael the Archangel’s All Soul’s Day, 24 May – 1 November). The holiday pairs have been formed gradually, and in the course of time a ‘strong’ and a ‘weak’ holiday came to exist, the former – honouring a supreme community value, whereas the latter – paying respect to the memory of the heroes who devoted their lives to its achievement. The paper makes an attempt to substantiate the thesis that dualism is the leading trend in the development of the festive calendar, which might be observed in its past historical stages as well.

Гергьовден в Поморие – разделящ и споделян

Author(s): Lina Gergova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2022

The genesis of St. George’s Day as the day of Pomorie displays the mutual development of its modern historical political myth and the last three decades’ festivity. After the democratic changes in 1989, the patron holiday of the Anhialo monastery that continued to be observed even during socialism and the fair that accompanies it were developed and transformed into an official holiday, but invented rituals brought about a myth shift: from the established in the course of a century narrative about the fight for and the restoration of justice to a story of the offered fraternal hand and forgiveness. Based on the research of the myth–ritual interaction, the author searches for answers to the questions about the significance of St. George’s Day for the local community and about this holiday’s ability to serve both national and pluralistic tasks.

Странстващи идеи по пътищата на хуманитаристиката. Изследвания по фолклористика, културна антропология и славистика в чест на доц. д-р Катя Михайлова. София: Издателство на БАН „Проф. Марин Дринов“. Т. 1, 2020. Т. 2, 2021

Author(s): Albena Georgieva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2022

Book review

Етнологията в променящия се свят. Сборник в чест на 80-годишния юбилей на проф. д.ф.н. Радост Иванова. Съст. А. Лулева и кол. София: Издателство на БАН „Проф. Марин Дринов“, 2020

Author(s): Ekaterina Anastasova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2022

Book review

Ива Кюркчиева. „Етнология и футбол“. София: Издателство на БАН „Проф. Марин Дринов“, 2020

Author(s): Stanoy Stanoev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2022

Book review

Нематериално културно наследство. Актуални проблеми. Съст. и н. ред. Мила Сантова, Валентина Ганева-Райчева, Ива Станоева, Миглена Иванова, Милена Любенова, Стела Ненова, Мирена Станева, Даниел Фокас. София: Издателство на БАН „Проф. М. Дринов“, 2021

Author(s): Petya Bankova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2022

Book review

Политическият виц през втората половина на XX век и днес

Author(s): Jaroslav Otčenášek / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2023

Book review

Европейски измерения на съвременната идентичност на българските граждани

Author(s): Albena Nakova-Manolova,Vanya Ivanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2023

The article is based on the results of a nationally representative sociological survey conducted in 2021 within the project “National and European Dimensions of the Contemporary Identity of Bulgarians” (KP06-H50/6/30.11.2020), funded by the Bulgarian National Science Fund. The transformations in the identity of Bulgarian citizens are traced in today’s world of increased mobility, migration and communication with representatives of other ethnicities and nations, which changes the meaning of national borders, eliminates the closedness of national cultures and leads to the formation of a consciousness of supranational or European identity. The analysis of the ongoing processes in the contemporary identity of Bulgarian citizens is based on the understanding of identity as a social construct which has relational and situational/contextual structure, determined by the nature of interaction with “others” and changing over time. The results show that although at this stage the national identity is the leading and determining one in the self-identification of the Bulgarian citizens, the processes of formation of the supranational/European identity have begun and represents an important part of their self-identification. Over 50% of all Bulgarian citizens have consciousness of belonging to supranational structures, i.e., we can talk about processes of formation of supranational identity; and in 30% of them it is a question of a declared consciousness of belonging to Europe, including the identification as citizens of the European Union.

Българските културно-просветни организации в Чехия. Homo Bohemicus, 2021, № 1–2

Author(s): Vladimir Penchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2023

Book review