CONOTAȚII RASISTE ȘI XENOFOBE ÎN LIMBILE ROMÂNĂ, ENGLEZĂ ȘI SPANIOLĂ – STUDIU CONTRASTIV

Author(s): Florina-Cristina Herling,Raluca Ghenţulescu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2020

In an epoch in which slavery was regarded as something natural and people of different origins were considered inferior, strange or mad by the majority of the native populations of the so-called civilized countries, racism, xenophobia and discrimination on ethnical criteria were not blamed or discouraged, but, in many cases, even promoted by the politicians, social actors or teachers through the doctrines they presented to the public. At the lexical level, these discriminatory tendencies can still be noticed in phrases, idioms and proverbs, in many languages, including Romanian, English and Spanish. These forms of expression render the majority’s prejudices and stereotypes against the Other, seen as the representative of an unwanted minority. The purpose of this article is to analyze the racist and xenophobic connotations in the three languages, in order to find the common cause of this hatred or contempt against those who are different from us, to get to the root of this phenomenon that, despite current laws and regulations worldwide, still affects the life, career or simply self-esteem of millions of people around the globe. Racism, xenophobia and discrimination should be condemned by all means and, as political correctness has attempted so far, language is one of the main ways to fight against them. Therefore, the expressions provided as examples in this article should be taken only as mere reflections of an obsolete mentality based on the dichotomies of superiority-inferiority, identity-otherness, national-foreign, etc., which have not brought anything good to the progress of mankind, leading to all sorts of conflicts that should be avoided nowadays.

The Principal Kingdoms of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa as reflecting the four puruṣārthas

Author(s): B.N. Hebbar / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

This study looks into the metaphorical understanding of the four principal kingdoms of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, i.e., Ayodhyā, Kiṣkindhā, Laṅkā and Mithilā, in terms of the four puruṣārthas of Hinduism, i.e., dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa. The question is whether Vālmīki was creating a story to illustrate the four puruṣārthas in the form of a magnificent epic with all its plots, twists, intrigues and excitements. Not only do the three main kingdoms fit the trivarga order but seemed to be so aligned geographically north to south with Mithilā being the apavarga as does mokṣa among the puruṣārthas.

The import of Hindi popular films in Communist Romania. Brief radiography of the context

Author(s): Diana Smeu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

During the Communist period, Romania encountered an interesting phenomenon, specific for several Socialist countries: the import of Indian (mostly Hindi) films – a visual and musical treat for the Romanian audience. Their appeal can be analysed in numerous ways: Hindi films were special for their look into foreign places, for their musical quality, for their escapism, for their appeal to the Roma community. Taking into consideration the history of the India-Romania intersection, the import of Indian films provided a premiere: for the first time, Indian cultural objects were accessible for a larger number of people, because of cinema’s quality to address the masses.

review at Ori Z. Soltes (Ed.), Growing Up Jewish in India. Synagogues, Customs, and Communities from the Bene Israel to the Art of Siona Benjamin, Niyogi Books, New Delhi, 2021.

Author(s): Mihaela Gligor / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

review

Трако-римски сюжети от съвременна България: (пре)договаряне на античното наследство в историческите възстановки

Author(s): Ivo Strahilov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2021

This paper explores the interactions between Thracians and Romans visible in historical reenactments in Bulgaria. Situated at the periphery of Classical Antiquity, Bulgarianhistoriography is strongly interested in the indigenous past. The idea of an alternative national Antiquity where autochthonous Thracians are imagined as equally important as Ancient Greeks and Romans has been promoted intensively through academic and cultural activities since the late 1960s. Beyond the official discourse, however, the Roman past appears to be more common among reenactors in Bulgaria than the Thracian one. Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork during thematic festivals in several heritage sites, the article traces some of the contemporary representations of the Thraco–Roman relations. It examines the simultaneous heritagization of Classical and native Antiquity, and questions how modern identities are connected to living history and its ambivalent dependency on cosmopolitism and ethnonationalism.

Историческите възстановки – динамика, статика, масовка. (Три роли, шест преживявания, един въпрос)

Author(s): Iliya Valev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2021

In recent years, so-called historical reenactments have become quite popular. Over time were formed groups of its “fans“ as well as critics. Thus, different research views on this phenomenon are a logical fact. By coincidence of life circumstances, I am in a position to allow a specific study of historical reenactments “from within“, because, in addition to being an ethnologist and museum curator, I am also an active historic reconstructor who participates in reenactments. In this study, I am looking through six historical reenactments in which I have directly participated, recreating three types of personalities – an ordinary unmarried young man from pre-industrial Bulgarian society, a clergyman from the Middle Ages and the Revival and a Bulgarian volunteer from the Russo-Turkish Liberation War(1877 – 1878). My target is, based on the “experience“, to look for the parameters of merging the present with the past in historical reenactments. What is the main reason for a modern person like me to look for a merger with a person from a bygone historical period and is it possible to do more than “playing“ in two events happening simultaneously – “once there“ and “here and now“. To answer this question, I use the method of personal history and critical self-reflection, analyzing the personal experience.

The Baptism of Relics of Oleg and Yaropolk: Ethical, Theological and Political Aspects

Author(s): Roman Dodonov,Vira Dodonova,Oleksandr Konotopenko / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

A stereoscopic view on a particular historical event, in which contemporary assessments are combined with mental stereotypes of a medieval man, allows a slightly different assessment of the chronicle plot about the posthumous “baptism of bones” of Oleg and Yaropolk, Princes of Kyivan Rus, in 1044. While from theological positions it is perceived as an absurdity and a direct violation of the rules of the church, in the Middle Ages this act did not contradict the mass religious beliefs. From an ethical point of view, the action of Yaroslav the Wise was regarded as concern for the souls of the ancestors who died pagans and therefore did not claim for the salvation. The soteriological optimism that prevailed in the eleventh century in countries of the late Christianization, including Kyivan Rus, gave hope that living people were able to influence the fate of the souls of the dead. From a political point of view, the baptism of the ashes of the ancestors and their reburial in the family tomb of the Princes of Kyiv in the Church of the Tithes was aimed at expanding the circle of heavenly patrons and protectors of the princely dynasty, expanding the period of the Christian history of Kyivan Rus, and, as a result, legitimizing the power of Yaroslav the Wise.

Развитие на Школата за запасни офицери от края на двадесетте години на ХХ век до края на Втората световна война (1928 г. – 1945 г.)

Author(s): Nikolay Pavlovski / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/2021

In the proposed military history study with a focus on the historical review of the preparation of officers from the reserve of the Armed Forces of Bulgaria, an attempt is executed to study the basic form of training of this specific type of servicemen in the defined period. The article gradually examines the gradual restoration of the Reserve Officers' School under the still valid Neuilly Treaty clauses and its functional development until the end of the World War II. The subject of the scientific work is related to the systematization of the relationship between the restoration of the training system for reserve officers, the revival of its traditions and the innovations of its development, the goals of the Ministry of War and the approaching World War II with its inherent requirements in military affairs. The researched problematic, included in the scientific production, is based on the analysis and summary of historical sources in the form of more than twenty archival units, mainly from the school’s fund, extracted from the State Military Historical Archive of our country.

Хигиената като учебен предмет във възрожденското училище

Author(s): Vladimir Terziev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/2021

Understanding the concept of hygiene during the Revival includes a complex meaning as a science that helps to protect human health. The need to study this discipline excites a number of Revival educators, doctors and public figures, especially in the period: the mid-60s of the XIX century until the Liberation. This trend is followed by careful analysis and selection of source material, mainly from the Revival press and textbooks, which contain such information. The conclusions show that hygiene fails to establish itself as a ubiquitous subject, but elements of it are introduced into the learning process. Nevertheless, the foundations of the health culture of Bulgarian students were laid, one of the signs of modernization that Bulgarian society experienced during the Revival.

Метод „хексагон“ в обучението по история

Author(s): Krasimir S. Krastev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/2021

“Hexagon” is an innovative method for the Bulgarian educational system, aimed at developing the logical thinking and creative abilities of students. It not only updates or develops content-based learning material, but also its systematic application in lessons increases the ability to perceive. It allows to move from passive to active form of learning that builds sustainable cognitive interests in the subject of History and Civilizations.

Нов поглед върху социалната и културната история на ранния социализъм в Източна Европа

Author(s): Dobrinka Parusheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/2021

Ново изследване за руското обществено мнение към Балканските войни

Author(s): Svetoslav Zhivkov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/2021

В НОВИТЕ БРОЕВЕ НА СПИСАНИЯТА НА ,,АЗ-БУКИ“ ЧЕТЕТЕ

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/2021

Институционален подход за анализ на историята на законодателството на земеделските земи в България в периода 1989 – 2020 г.

Author(s): Diana Kirova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/2021

In this paper, the institutional approach for analysis of the history of agricultural land legislation will trace legislation changes concerning agricultural lands during the period from 1989 to the beginning of 2021. The following article aims to analyse whether evolutionary update and legislative changes achieve establishment of order and justice in reference to distribution of land resources to society - in the face of the state, in its role as an institution and whether the same it has accomplished the desired result.

BELLS AND BELL RINGING IN MEDIEVAL SERBIA AND BULGARIA

Author(s): Alex Rodriguez Suarez / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

This study looks at bells and bell ringing in the medieval Balkans byfocusing on historical Serbia and Bulgaria. It provides a comprehensive view of the use of bells for religious purposes from the thirteenth century until the early Ottoman period. The evidence examined is organised in two parts; the first one deals with written sources while the second is a catalogue of church bells preserved in the region under study. Dated to the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth century, some of these instruments are recent discoveries while others are not well known among scholars. This is the first time that most extant bells from the region are analysed together, offering the opportunity to trace the development of these artefacts in the Balkans. In a third section the information from written sources and actual bells is discussed in conjunction.

The Classical Message in a Bottle - Should "Classical Wisdom" Determine Our Identity and Future?

Author(s): Ljuben Tevdovski / Language(s): English Issue: 14(43)/2021

“No one finds it easy to live uncomplainingly and fearlessly with the thesis that human reality is constantly being made and unmade, and that anything like a stable essence is constantly under threat.” These were the words used by Edward Said in the late 1970’s in the context of introduction of the new paradigms for the identity of the people, communities and societies in the East and the West, as well as the world as a whole. He was ahead of a wider decades long process of re-evaluating and reimagining of our identities and values, leading to exposure of serious and numerous misconceptions and illusions in the perceptions and analyses of the self and the other. The growing tendencies of scientific relativism and constant re-evaluation of the key paradigms, especially in social sciences and humanities, of the last decades, were further emphasized by the massive waves of globalisation, that have shaken societal traditions, norms, and principals all over the world. One of the key aspects of this transformative process in the West was the confrontation with the societal and scientific biases created by the Eurocentric views of the world and human history, connected to the dominant classicistic traditions in both society and academia. This paper provides a novel multidisciplinary approach in thinking about our classical traditions and examines if the classical principals, ideals, and “wisdom” are still relevant in confronting contemporary challenges of the world and reimagining our own identity and our vision for the future.

ХРОНИКА НА ЕДНА (НЕ)ПРЕДИЗВЕСТЕНА И „СИНЯ“ СМЪРТ: ХОЛЕРНИТЕ ЕПИДЕМИИ В БЪЛГАРИЯ И НА БАЛКАНИТЕ (20-те ГОДИНИ НА XIX–20-те ГОДИНИ НА XX ВЕК)

Author(s): Orlin Sabev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2021

The paper provides a chronological timeline of the cholera epidemics in Bulgaria and the Balkans from the 1820s through the 1920s. In the course of a century these territories were eight times heavily struck by the so-called “blue death” – the cholera. This acute infectious disease was usually imported through the dislocation of military units, as well as maritime and rail transport. It penetrated first the seaports and then the inland settlements. Both the official statistics and the unofficial judgements reveal relatively great fatality numbers which dropped drastically only in the early twentieth century due to mass vaccination among the military and the civil population. The author reminds Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s worldwide famous novels Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Love in the Time of Cholera, and concludes that the mankind should learn better the lessons of history in order to be able to save its honour in the face of new pandemics, the COVID-19 pandemic including.

ОТЕЦ АРТУР ДРУЛЕС И ЛАЗАРИСТКАТА МИСИЯ СРЕД БЪЛГАРИТЕ В МАКЕДОНИЯ

Author(s): Raya Zaimova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2021

The study is mostly based on the writings of Father Arthur Droulez of Congregation of the Mission. Special attention is paid on his accounts about the Bulgarian Uniates in Macedonia, published recently (1839–1939) in French. The main themes are presented, supplemented by information newly obtained from the private Bulgarian archives.

Македонският научен институт с неговите основатели – интелектуален продължител на солунските български гимназии (просопографски аспекти)

Author(s): Naoum Kaychev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2020

The article analyses biographic evidence on the educational formation and professional activity of all the fifty two founders of the Macedonian Scientific Institute in 1923 in view of their interconnectedness with Salonica (Thessaloniki). According to the available data over half of them, 27 out of 52, were directly associated with Bulgarian educational and academic institutions that functioned in the city until1913. Prosopographical analysis of that specific key group is one of the proofs that Macedonian Scientific Institute could be considered as an intellectual inheritor that directly continued the traditions and spirit of the Bulgarian secondary schools (gymnasiums) in Salonica.

Faktizität, Identität und Emotionalität: Kulturelle Strategien zum Umgang mit Genozid-Leugnung im Fall Srebrenica

Author(s): Thomas Schad / Language(s): German Issue: 05/2021

Twenty-six years after the Srebrenica genocide, the topic remains a discursive minefield.On the one hand, there are the facts and a self-confident commemorative culture of the genocidal events of July 1995. On the other hand, revisionism, negation and counter-memorialization.This essay is grounded in three sources: first, the findings of the “Srebrenica Genocide Denial Report 2021” by the Memorial Center Srebrenica; secondly, the proposals for breaking the narrative of genocide denial by Jasmila Žbanić, director of the film “QuoVadis, Aida?”; and finally, the results of the anti-revisionist, cross-national projects “Ko/Tkoje prvi počeo?” (Who started first?) and “Histoire pour la liberté” (History for freedom) complete this contribution. The aim of the essay is not merely to identify reasons, backgrounds,and interests in the revisionist discourse. Rather, it suggests possible solutions to this polarized situation which could be relevant beyond the regional framework.