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Highlights from our coverage region: asylum seeker abuse in Croatia; opening up in Uzbekistan; Telegram abandons blockchain; stunning fossils in Bulgaria; and a friendly reminder for Georgia.
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The marital partners in mixed families engage in a form of cultural transition as a result of negotiating the differences between them. This leads to the development of a new cultural model which is influenced by or even combines both partners’heritages. An important aspect of this intercultural interaction is the festivities, more particularly the manner of their functioning, especially within bi-religious families. Hence, the festive events appear to form an essential and very visible part of each partner's own cultural heritage, which the couple more or less incorporate into their mixed family’s life. This article focuses on several ethnocultural (including religious), as well as social aspects of the festivities of couples composed by Bulgarians and foreigners of the Middle East and North African countries. The text considers the place of the festivities in the lifestyle of the partners and their children, as well as the agents’attitudes, personal motivations and involvement in certain activities.
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This paper draws on the author’s ethnographic research with 11 – 15 years old adolescents conducted in a “prioriy” middle school in Normandy, France (2014 – 2017) and aims to explore these immigrant students’ experiences of acculturation, sociocultural adaptation and identity formation. In particular, I present the case study of a Moroccan boy in an attempt to uncover more profound aspects of these phenomena. I use the theoretical framework of Berry et al. (2006) regarding strategies for acculturation and identity processes in adolescence in order to analyse data gathered through ethnographic methods. Then, I illustrate how methodological pluralism can produce a nuanced picture and allow for alternative interpretations. In addition, followingPollock and Van Reken’s example of a third-culture kid, I use the concept of a third culture adolescent (Pollock and Van Reken 1999) to demonstrate how a migrant student with a diffuse profile, that defines him as marginal and confused, viewed through an ethnographic lens, can be thought of as someone creating “third culture”.
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The greatly examined story of A Lost Lady usually depicts Mrs. Forrester’s success in meeting and adapting to the challenges of a changing world, a world characterized by materialism and self-fulfilment. However, the overlooked story, one far more disturbing than the privileged story in the text, is the narrative of oppressed groups of people of other races and the lower class. Drawing on some aspects of postcolonial theory, this paper explores Willa Cather’s own reactions to real changes in her society, to the waning power of imperialism, and of her nostalgic longing for the western prairies of her youth, without showing any sympathy for the dispossessed Native Americans and other oppressed races. It will also disclose the unmistakable colonial overtones, which remarkably resonate with the common discourse of “Manifest Destiny” during the time period of American expansion to the Wild West.
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This paper discusses the politics and multi-functionality of storytelling in Diana Abu-Jaber’s novel Crescent (2003). I argue that the strategic use of storytelling places Crescent as a complex hybrid text that projects the nature, and development, of Arab American literature in the contemporary era. In addition to having the practice of storytelling as an apparatus to project identity in Crescent, Abu-Jaber reappropriates its empowered status in Arab culture as well as politicizes its image in the mind of her readers. Besides employing critical and analytical approaches to the novel, this paper relies on arguments and perspectives of prominent postcolonial and literary critics and theorists such as Edward Said, Suzanne Keen, Walter Benjamin, and Samaya Sami Sabry, to name a few.
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The text presents Bulgarian language web radio based on research in 2014 and 2017. It touches on highlights of its development after the first web radios appeared at the beginning of the new century. The article studies the changes in practices of listening portals. It compares data on web radio stations: number, distribution by format and address. It identifies trends: development of music web radios toward alternative group offers, sustainability of radios of idea-based communities, establishment of the 'marketing' radio, emergence of web radio community initiatives.
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The article analyses the educational, cultural, national and political challenges in front of the Bulgarian diaspora in the Romanian town Alexandria from the second half of the 19th century to the Liberation of Bulgaria – keeping the native language, upbringing the young generation in patriotic spirit, relations with the countrymen who remained on the other side of the Danube, inclusion in the national liberation movement. The names of teachers, doctors and other representatives of the Bulgarian emigrant intellectuals who combined their professional activities with intense socially useful activity are mentioned. Part of them turned into notable names in Principality of Bulgaria after the Liberation.
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The article presents research on the Military Order of Courage and Soldiers' Cross for bravery of His Majesty's Navy during the Balkan Wars and World War I. The interest is focused on the conditions in which the ship's crews and shore units were assigned in solving combat tasks, the scale of force of the forces in counteraction to a repeatedly superior opponent, the contribution of the most prominent of them to success, and the assessment that was given to them. The award-winning Naval Officers are presented as an association of professionals and like-minded people who have built an organic society of the Knights of Courage. Later periods of activation of the Military Order are shown in fragmentary form.
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This article aims to provide unknown information about the traditional culture of the Tatars from Northeastern Bulgaria. This ethnic community today is experiencing a process of active linguistic and cultural assimilation. The text analyses the two main cases. The first illustrates the role of the science and the work of researchers as an important tool against forgetting. The second provides the so-called аutosanction. In this example it means suppression and destruction of relics, which are valuable ethno-cultural characteristics of the community. The observations are the result of the analysis of publications in Hungarian ethnographic editions, of fieldwork in the region of Dobrich (Dobrich, Onogur, Yovkovo) and of archival work.
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The present article follows the relations of the Gypsy activists from Shumen with the International Roma Union, the attempts to send representatives to three of its congresses, as well as the control exercised by the authorities on these activities in the period 1966–1981. Archival documents and narratives of the witnesses of the events or of their relatives have been used. First of all, the analysis of the documents and narratives shows that the so called Gypsy nationalism (that lead to putting under observation of the Gypsy activists and to the restriction of their attempts to maintain contacts with the International Roma Union) was groundless. The article will also show that the self-study attempt of the Gypsies in Bulgaria were actually the efforts of a small group of representatives of the Roma intelligentsia, but not an all-Roma movement.
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The article analyzes the illustrated postcards of the early twentieth century as a source of the iconography of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 – 1878 and the objectives of the worldview of Bulgarian and Russian societies in the early 20th century. It is emphasized that during 1902 – 1912 the postal cards, dedicated to the events and participants of this military conflict, were repeatedly published in Russia and Bulgaria. It was found that the most popular were postcards with views of battle paintings by V. Vereshchagin, M. Dmitriev-Orenburg, O. Popov and others. It is determined that the theme of this war was relevant until 1912.
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The article presents an analysis of honesty as an important aspect of the Bulgarian economic culture. The focus is on the transition from the Bulgarian Revival to the nation state and the subsequent period 1879 – 1944. The main conclusions are synthesized in two hypotheses. The first is that the transition from Ottoman rule to an independent nation-state is associated with a decline of honesty and integrity in economic life. The second hypothesis points to the low level of honesty and mutual trust in relations between economic agents on the one hand and between economic agents and the state on the other as one of the important reasons for the lack of visible and long-lasting economic success in Bulgaria during the period 1879 – 1944.
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El Estatuto Real is a piece of legislation passed in the Spanish monarchy in 1834, representing a “donated” charter, which does not derive from the principle of national sovereignty, but on the contrary – represents the benevolence of the monarch to his subordinates. Although the text of the decree lacks a description of the rights of the population, does not contain a clear and comprehensive definition of the prerogatives of the various authorities, it should be noted that it puts an end to the theoretical principles and ideological statements of the Ancient Régime. Thе article analyzes this document, which presents the moderate liberal views, and in our opinion is an elegant attempt to strike a balance between the traditional principles, institutions and attitudes of the Catholic monarchy, while presenting Spanish society the opportunity to begin building a limited monarchy where the principles of liberalism are largely imposed.
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Education is the system that allows countries to look forward to the future in a strong, confident, and hopeful way. Teachers are the practitioners of education and teaching is a skill, a competence, moreover, it is a kind of art. Giving good education at schools, the success of the society in a country can be promoted with qualified teachers. Teacher training institutions play an important role in the education of well-equipped teachers. For this reason, by 2000s, many countries have focused on educational research, and the key of this research has become “more qualified teachers for better education”. Teaching requires great dedication, skill, patience and love. Teaching has their own rules, methods and practices. The most important source by 2000s is human resources. It is human intelligence that allows unlimited as it is processed. Teachers are the pioneers of education implementations. This study will focus on the historical development of teacher training in Turkey since the foundation of the Republic of Turkey. Economic losses in the following years in particular, led to a decline in the teaching profession and social status within society. Raising this declining prestige of the teaching profession is absolutely necessary for training good teachers and for recover its economic and social status first. The paper examines some of the inadequacies in education at the beginning of 2000s in Republic of Turkey, such as having less qualified educational operations except specific cities and schools; preventing the development of critical approach abilities because of the memorizing based education system; paying less sufficient attention in student abilities in the arranged education and training programs; training consumer people instead of productive people that is needed by society in the educational institutions; professional improvement problem because of education management. However, it can be said that many of these deficiencies are resolved today.
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The article presents the results of an inquiry conducted among historians and non-historians in the framework of an international research project. The purpose of the survey is to examine the attitude of modern Bulgarian society to Russia/Soviet Union/Russian Federation and its role in Bulgarian history. Respondents answered questions related to the more general problem of the role of myths in history in general and those related to Russia in particular; how myths are born; which factors contribute to their public dissemination; which moments in history are most distorted or falsified in textbooks and in the media; who is interested in this; Is it possible to demythologize the Bulgarian-Russian relations. The inquiry showed the deep differences in Bulgarian society towards Russia. The majority of Bulgarians have a strong emotional attitude towards it, regardless of whether they express negative or positive feelings. And this division is manifested in all professions, ages, social groups. The survey gives grounds to conclude that despite the profound changes from the years of transition and the reorientation of Bulgaria to Western institutions, Bulgarian-Russian relations continue to be important for the Bulgarian society.
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The article presents the results of a survey of BNT and BNR news on social networks during the state of emergency in Bulgaria in connection of COVID-19 pandemic (March 13 to May 13, 2020). The aim is not only to explore how the both media are presented on the different social platforms for media activity, but also whether and how they build their social networks (including on their websites) and what news agenda they set in the conditions of crisis.
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