“First in Time, First in Right”: Indigenous Self-Determination in the Colorado River Basin

Author(s): Paul Formisano / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

This article adopts the premise “first in time, first in right” to bring Indigenous knowledge about the Colorado River Basin and the natural world more broadly out of the mainstream’s obscurity to reposition these perspectives at the foreground of the region’s water cultures. To initiate what is in essence a decolonization of Colorado River Basin water knowledge, I examine texts representing various tribal affiliations and genres to consider how their particular use of story engages the historic and ongoing environmental injustices they have faced and continue to negotiate in their fight to preserve their sacred lands, identity, and access to reliable, clean water. Such a decolonization occurs through these texts’ use of narrative to work within and against the scientific and instrumental discourses and their respective genres that have traditionally constructed and dictated mainstream Colorado River knowledge and activity. My treatment of narrative within the Ten Tribes Partnership Tribal Water Study (2018) and the Grand Canyon Trust’s “Voices of Grand Canyon” digital project (2020) sheds greater light on the essential relationships the Basin’s nations and tribes have with the Colorado River. Through these counternarratives to the West’s dominant water ideologies and cultures, the Basin’s tribal nations draw attention to past and ongoing struggles to secure equitable water access while amplifying their resilience and determination that defines their calls for environmental justice.

„Geograficzność” w tekstach piosenek zespołu Grateful Dead

Author(s): Andrzej Kowalczyk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4/2019

The Grateful Dead band, existing in 1965-1995, played an important role not so much in shaping new directions in rock music but in shaping attitudes and social relations among youth (though not only) Americans. It has roots in the subculture (Beat Generation), which was created in the 1950s-1960s in San Francisco area. The group belonged to the precursors of the so-called psychedelic rock, although in its works we can find strong relationships with folk, country and blues music. The phenomenon of the Grateful Dead lies not only in the fact that the band had many fans (called Deadheads, who rode with her from the concert to the concert), but most of all in the fact that in the words of the songs you could find many references to traveling, trip around etc. These references made the author of the presented article decide to deal with the issue of „geographicity” of the songs of the Grateful Dead group. After analyzing the texts of several dozens of works, he distinguished several types of „geographicity”. The simplest type concerns songs in which only geographical objects are mentioned (often one), while the most advanced type includes lyrics whose content concerns a plot with a spatial (geographical) dimension.

„Pravi dinarci“. Crnogorci, „dalmatinski Zagorci“ i Ličani u antropogeografiji Jovana Cvijića

Author(s): Višeslav Aralica / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 7/2020

Jovan Cvijić was a Serbian scientist specialized in geology, today famous for his book „the Balkan Peninsula“ written and published in French in 1918. That book has been for decades one of the pivotal books for many historians, ethnographers and ideologists not only among Serbs, but also among other southern Slav’s intellectuals. Key role in „the Balkan Peninsula“ was given to the so called „Dinaric psychic type“, a term forged and used by Cvijić to denote the population of the Dinaric Alps. There have been many critics, particularly those from Croatia, who had emphasized the idealization of those so called „Dinarics“ in Cvijić’s work. The reason for such idealization was seen by those critics in the ideology that served as a foundation for Cvijić’s scientific system. And that ideology was regularly identified as a form of Serbian nationalism, disguised as Yugoslav nationalism. The proof for that was Cvijić’s description and idealization of „Shumadia type/group“, that is the population of the Kingdom of Serbia, in his books in which he presented his anthropology. Those were described by Cvijić as „the best“ among the „Dinaric psychic types“, a type which was seen as „the best“ of all other psychic types of the Southern Slavs. That criticism falls short of truly presenting the complex nature of Cvijić work. Indeed, there is a clear ideological fundament in his scientific system. But to say that his work simply presents the population of the Kingdom of Serbia as „the best of the best“ is oversimplification. The idealization of „Dinarics“ is produced by the reader of Cvijić’s anthropology due to his intentional choice of epic style in describing the „Dinaric psychic type“. But — and here’s the problem for his critics, but also a problem for Cvijić himself — this idealization via epic style is not the same in all of the groups belonging to the „Dinaric psychic type“. That epic style is prevalent in the description of the groups of Old Montenegro, Lika and Dalmatian Hinterland (Zagora), and for the reader of his „the Balkan Peninsula“ they are clearly „the best of the best“ — that is, the groups that present the „Dinaric psychic type“ in its clearest form.

„Warszawa jest przecież tęczowa”. Obraz przestrzeni miasta w autodziecięcych tekstach kultury nagrodzonych w konkursie varsavianistycznym Muzeum Warszawy

Author(s): Grzegorz Leszczyński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2021

The analysis of works submitted by elementary and secondary school students to the writing competition organised by the Museum of Warsaw shows that child authors reproduce schematic depictions of the city space, present in guidebooks and on the internet, while avoiding everything that is oriented towards its young and youngest inhabitants and tourists. This results, on the one hand, from the fact that Warsaw inhabitants themselves have no knowledge of places attractive to children and, on the other, from the desire of child authors to adjust their works to the hypothetical expectations of the adult jury. This second reason also results in an overload of facts as well as historical and topographical details. Child authors are not inspired by contemporary literature directed at them, by writers who want to grow up not to be their readers’ teachers, but to be children.

„Българин по професия. Българин по потекло” (Записки върху идентичността)

Author(s): Mina Hristova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

The aim of the article is to provide a possible interpretation of identity in one of the contested border regions on the Balkans well known for the competing politics and interests by the two bordering countries – Bulgaria and Serbia, for the past century. This region is known as „Western Outlands” in the social and political life. The communal memory of the Bulgarian minority in Bosilegrad, Serbia, leads the narration through different historical periods and their respective politics to uncover an identity which has become a survival strategy at the intricate periods. This will reveal a complex picture of the multiple identity levels where the individual and social identity are tightly related and are further shaped by the existing number of internal and external „others.“

„И до Исланда су стигли“ – економска и политичка миграција Горанаца из Горе

Author(s): Jadranka Đorđević-Crnobrnja / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 3/2015

Migration from Gora have been almost always driven by certain economic and political situation, both in Gora and in the region. The migrations became more intense due to the economic crisis of the 1990s and the political changes in Kosovo during and after 1999. This paper discusses the impact of economic and political crisis in Serbia and in Kosovo in the late 20th and the early 21st century, on the migration of members of the Goranci community from Gora. The paper also deals with the impact of migration on changes in cultural practices among members of the first and second generation of Gorani in Belgrade.

„Калиница“ в Асеновград като пример за конструиране на съвременен градски празник

Author(s): Zlatina Bogdanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2016

The paper is dedicated to a modern urban festival at the heart of which lies thetraditional celebration of „Kalinitsa“ preserved in Asenovgrad. The study reveals how this tradition is reconstructed today and turned into a cultural resource for the local community. The emphasis is on the cultural representations and functions ofthe festival and the importance attributed by local residents. The analysis identifiesthe main discourses related to „Kalinitsa“, paying attention to the role of collectivememory in shaping modern practices and models of celebration in the community. Who are the carriers of this local memory? To what extent it defines the essence ofthe festivities? In addition, the paper aims to answer the following questions: whatmakes the festival unique to Asenovgrad and what is its place in the modern urbanculture? In the disclosure of all aspects of this tradition the author relies on personal observations, stories of participants and earlier ethnographic researches.

„Скривена незапосленост“ у Републици Србији – обесхрабрени за тражење посла

Author(s): Natalija Mirić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 10/2013

In conditions of difficult economic situation in our country, discouraged persons, the category of inactive population, are gaining in significance. Because the job seekers are convinced that the jobs are not available, not all the discouraged job seekers do meet the definition of unemployment. But they want to work and are able to work when the job is offered, and an unused portion of labor resources can appear in the context of "hidden unemployment".

„Тъз история да се изкове на каменна плоча“ – за фолклорната биография на мястото и дописването ѝ

Author(s): Vladimir Demirev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 17/2019

A variant of interpretation of the folklore biography of the place Zhelyovi kamani near the village of Orizari in the region of Tvarditsa is submitted with a view to the opinion about the folklore biography of the place as a main topos with centre-organizing functions in the settlement space and an active participant in the construction of the settlement biography. The affair in question is the attitude to this biography, motivated through myths, legends, traditional ritualism in the local knowledge. It is expressed in the active appreciation towards the inherited knowledge and its own interpretation of its aspects even “faking” of the contents through the view of a local resident.

„Чикаго – българският град“ – поглед отвън и отвътре

Author(s): Dilyana Ivanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2016

By using the methods of the ethnological research, the present article presents the dynamic of the state of the Bulgarian community in Chicago and its manifestations,as well as the reasons behind the designation of Chicago as the „Bulgarian city“not only by the local Bulgarian group but by the „others“ as well – the society, the authorities and the media in the United States. The study focuses on the spaces ofthe Bulgarians in Chicago and the metropolis, the representative institutions of thecommunity – its churches, schools, cultural and public institutions, the media, thefeasts, the events as well as the places of memory. As a certain manifestation of self-confidence and successful integration of the local Bulgarians in the multiculturalenvironment of Chicago, the article analyses also the book „Chicago – the BulgarianCity“ in which the Bulgarian community describes and identifies itself. This book as well as the examination of the social life and cultural activities of the Bulgarians in Chicago and the suburbs show that the diaspora is interwoven in the American social structure but at the same time maintains its own parallel structure which fits the American nation with its specific character.

Японците

Author(s): Bratislav Ivanov / Language(s): Bulgarian

Bratislav Ivanov's new book is dedicated to the values and traditions of the Japanese culture. Already in the early twentieth century, French scientist Henry Dumolard draws attention to the fact that the Japanese people are guided by their logic and draw conclusions that are often incomprehensible to Europeans. To understand the Japanese people, we need to know the values that form the core of their culture. A key to their understanding is the geographical environment, mythology, religion, and Japan's history.

الفتوى الشرعية وأهميتها في المحافظة على الهوية الحضارية لمسلمي دول جنوب شرق أوربا

البوسنة والهرسك نموذجا

Author(s): Junus Al-Azuzi / Language(s): Arabic Issue: 23/2019

Geographically, Bosnia and Herzegovina is part of Eastern Europe, while in a historical and religious sense, it has been associated with the Islamic world since the Ottoman conquest of this region during the 15th century. It is inhabited by Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats, Albanians, Turks, Romanies and others. Throughout its history, from the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, through communist Yugoslavia, to Serbo-Croatian ambitions in the last war, Bosnia and Herzegovina has been exposed to a number of disasters, most of which were related to wars and aggressions. These have caused Muslims living in Bosnia and Herzegovina to be repeatedly cut off from their brothers in other countries, to be prevented from performing religious practices and establishing religious education, and to live divided among nationalities and forces constantly seeking their subjugation and disappearance. Therefore, Muslims in these areas needed a clear legal sharia solution (fatwa) that would facilitate their social, religious, political and military life and protect them from the iron grip of their enemies. Thus, several fatwas have appeared known by the names of those who issued them, (...)