Абитуриентският бал в Пернишко – символи, джендър (полови) специфики и стереотипи

Author(s): Iliana Strahilova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2017

The following article is based on a research on the prom night in Pernik region, Bulgaria. Some of the main problems illustrated in the article are related to the different ideas about the preparations for the prom. The main accents are the male and female points of view as well as the stereotypes deriving from the gender differences. The society perceives this phenomenon mainly as a female ritual, thus one of the main goals of the study is to show that the prom night is as important to the boys as it is to the girls. The article will focus on the gender specifics and the symbols typical of the ritual behaviour of the participants. Thus, we can understand the reasons behind the seniors’ practices during this celebration.

Мюсюлманите в България – изследователски проблеми и приноси

Author(s): Evgenia Troeva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2017

The paper presents the topics and contributions in the contemporary study of the culture of Muslims in Bulgaria. It discusses scientific publications with an anthropological focus from the post-1989 period, when the theme about ethnic and religious minorities in Bulgaria became particularly relevant. One of the main topics of research is the state policy towards Bulgarian Muslims in the 20th century, which receives a new interpretation and evaluation. The study of inter-confessional relationships remains one of the leading lines of research in the early 21st century, too. Numerous studies have been published on the various ethno-confessional groups – Bulgarian Turks (Sunni, Alevi), Roma, Tatars, Muslim Bulgarians. The publications analyze elements of their culture, issues of religion and identity. Ordinary people, their culture, their strategies for adaptation in the changing social environment became increasingly an object of study instead of political history. Changes occur also in the approach to research; attention is redirected from highlighting the common elements in the culture of Christians and Muslims to analyzing the specificities, the alternative memories, local culture and identity of Muslims in Bulgaria.

Русините – един скрит народ в Централна Европа.

Author(s): Kostadin Kostadinov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2017

The article presents in brief the history and the present of the Rusyns – one of the many European peoples “without a state”. They are an indigenous population of the Northern Carpathians inhabiting a territory in the geographical centre of Europe; however, during their millennial historical development they had their own state only once and for one day. Today, their historical region, Carpathian Ruthenia, is divided between five countries. In Ukraine, where the majority of the Rusyns lives, they do not have adequate political and cultural minority rights. In the rest of the countries, although they have different degrees of cultural and administrative autonomy, the Rusyns are facing the danger of assimilation because of their small number. Even though they are a geopolitical and ethnocultural reality, their future is at stake.

“What is Fatmagül’s Guilt?” Ethnology at the End of the Workday

Author(s): Vanya Zhekova / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

The paper offers an ethnological reading of the Turkish TV series “What is Fatmagül’s guilt?” as well as a critical view on its broadcast on Bulgarian television. The central subject matter is a group rape which sets the main theme of the series: violence against women. The authors develop the theme in two main forms:physical/sexual and symbolic violence, the latter regulated and maintained by thewedding ritual. The core of the latter is the problem of virginity.Special focus is paid to the script and the way in which pre-modern culture is presented. There are examples which show that the literary text is not only a super structure over cultural facts or their basic illustration, but in many cases it conducts a dialogue with them, transforms them and even rejects them as cultural practices (the problem of guilt, the ‘besmirching’ of the woman, the first wedding night complex,the cultural meaning of the red colour in a man’s relationship with his wife, the bed,material and spiritual, etc.). The series represents a good example of creative work on and analysis of pre-modern culture.

Българо-полска конференция по проблемите на християнството и фолклора в съвременността

Author(s): Tsvetelina Dimitrova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2018

Scientific Life; Scholarly Conference

Българските градинари под Южния кръст (Общността на българите в град Аделаида, Южна Австралия)

Author(s): Elya Tsaneva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2018

The article follows the historical and the contemporary condition of the Bulgarian immigrant community in Adelaide – the capital of the Australian state South Australia. The general idea is that the settlement of the different waves of Bulgarians who have chosen this part of Australia as their second fatherland is due to the similarity of the climate and sustenance with the ones in their native places in Bulgaria. The author also shares her observations of the link which exists between the immigrants and the forms of sustenance inherited and learned at home – gardening in particular, which has been for years on end not just their sustenance, but also the center of their personal and social life and a marker of their place in the new multicultural society situated on thousands of kilometers from their initial homes in Bulgaria.

Прадед – почит към предците и една старина (Размисли след проучване и консервационни намеси в къща на зограф)

Author(s): Nina Zlateva,Iliya Borisov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 16/2018

The Velyanov house is located in the southwest, not far from the church “The Holy Trinity”, in the ancient neighborhood, in the small, beautiful town Bansko, which more precisely is located in the center of the town. From all the standard and classical descriptions and from its architecture, the house is classified like a typical house from this part of Bulgaria, as a typical house from the Pirin district from the XVIII century. Since the year 1967 the building and its unique mural paintings are announced to be a real monument with National importance.Through the centuries there were numerous and important architectural changes in the house. The authors of the study Nina Zlateva and Iliya Borisov think that in the beginning, The Velyanov house used to be a medieval house with rectangular shape and in its structure there is a two-chamber tomb. There is a proof about the existence of this tomb in the southeastern facade of the Velyanov House, over the frescoes, where there is a built-in stone block that happily survived through the years and it has a carved Runic text all over it. This is not only a proof but also an ancient way to protect the people who used to live in the house.

Практиките на паметта в празника на Джебел

Author(s): Slavka Karakusheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2018

The text analyses the entanglements between the commemorative and the festive aspects of the events organized as anniversaries of the so called “Revival Process” (the forced assimilation of Bulgarian Turks in mid- to late 1980s) and the protests against it. Following the example of the Day of Dzhebel, the study tracks the various forms of remembering the past. On the one hand, it is the “top-down”constructed official memory of the traumatic events presented in the well-established discourses and cultural practices of the commemoration, while on the other hand is the recollection of the shared everyday life that transforms the event into a fest, reviving the memory of the lost social relations in the community.

Съхраняване на родовата памет и/или попълване на държавните архивни фондове

Author(s): Tsvetana Manova,Methodi Kanchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2018

Фестивалът на дивите цветя – нови посоки за развитие на селото

Author(s): Yana Yancheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2018

In this article I present the potential of the Wild Flower Festival in the area of the villages of the upper bank of the Arda River as a new type of ‘production’ and an alternative non-agricultural way for development in the rural context. The article follows the history and mission of the festival in its development, the specialized events and the interactions between the main social actors – external NGO specialists and local stakeholders. It reflects the impact of the festival on the local communities through the mobilization of knowledge and experience, the appreciation of local cultural specifics, targeted actions for preservation of the natural and cultural wealth of the Rhodope Mountains. The article explores how local natural and cultural resources are being used as a new type of production in rural areas.

Международна кръгла маса „Поглед към славянската аксиология“

Author(s): Vanya Micheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 37/2018

Растения и идентичност: от биокултурните характеристики към валоризацията на местни растителни ресурси

Author(s): Valentina Ganeva-Raycheva,Dessislava Dimitrova,Teodora Ivanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2018

The paper examines the process of transformation of plant species into emblems that play an important role in the construction of local identity and the specific taste of place. By comparing the case of Raduil and Smilyan beans, the authors seek answers to the questions: how a plant crop that has not been the subject of intense cultivation and extensive commercialization becomes a value and is permanently associated with the name of a settlement (area), how this happens in time, what are the main social actors in the process, which are the economic and socio-cultural preconditions, how the valorisation of certain local plant resources is expressed in cultural forms and can be an incentive for activating local communities and economic revival of the studied areas. The bio-cultural dimensions of beans in Smilyan and Raduil and the process of evaluation of these food plants are the main threads in the study.

Ирански митологични мотиви в римския митраизъм (Неопитагорейско-платонически интерпретации)

Author(s): Emil Kolarov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2015

The Roman Mithraism is an Occidental variant of the cult of the ancient Iranian deity Mithra. The article explores the Iranian origin of some of the main mythological motives found in this Mystery religion and their interpretation through the prism of the Neo-Pythagoreanism and Neo-Platonism in the Late Antique Rome. A hypothesis is formulated about the fundamental significance of the concept of the logos or ratio in the context of the numerological and musical-astronomical allegories of the cult, derived from the Chaldean-Persian teachings and the science of ancient Sumer, permitting to reconstruct yet unsuspected aspects of its esoteric doctrine.

Пространства, празници, практики. Визуално представяне на света на детството при роми

Author(s): Svetoslava Mancheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2019

From an anthropological perspective, the world of childhood is a combination of the world of children as well as the world of adults and it includes a process of cultural learning, which does not end with childhood. The present article seeks to answer the question where and under what conditions these processes take place in the light of the various spaces and their uses during holidays. Using visual narratives, the article presents case studies from the Roma neighborhood in the village of Belozem,Plovdiv District, and a micro neighborhood in the residential district of Stolipinovoin the city of Plovdiv.

Идеология за масова употреба: носталгията и ревитализацията на вещите от всекидневието на близкото минало

Author(s): Nikolay Papuchiev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2018

The focus of the article is on the recent past – the era of socialism, and especially on the goods for mass consumption. In spite of the fact that the objects are not ideologically burdened, their nowadays’ fate is very interesting – they are one of the main transmitters of the feeling of nostalgia about a simpler and better life in the past. No more part of people’s style of living, they are nevertheless rich in personal memories. Such presence provokes a lot of reminiscences and imaginations about slow and safe but already irrevocably lost life. Exploiting nostalgic feelings among big groups in Bulgarian society, nowadays market actors create special places full of objects of the recent past. Two of them – Raketa restaurant and Com.bar in the centre of the city of Sofia are very representative places for entertainment. This is the reason they to be on the focus of the anthropological fieldwork.

Българската обичайна система на наследяване и обичайните системи на наследяване във Франция и на мароканските бербери − опит за сравнение

Author(s): Kamen Dontchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2018

The article is an attempt to compare the customary law system of inheritance in the Bulgarian rural traditional society with that of France. A parallel is made with the customary law system of the Berbers in Morocco as well. The significant difference between the Bulgarian and the French customary law systems of inheritance is that the first one is uniform as a whole, while in the second case is characterized by the existence of different types of customary law systems of inheritance in various regions of the country.Another important benchmark for the comparative analysis is the fact that according to the Bulgarian customary law system of inheritance only the sons have the right to inherit the estate of the deceased. It is pointed out that this peculiarity of the system of inheritance is also characteristic of some areas in France and the reasons for this are discussed. The principle of inheritance in question is also characteristic of the customary law of the Moroccan Berbers – local, pre-Arabic population of Morocco. In support of this, some information is given about their customary law of inheritance.

Eдна „риза“ за нестинарска икона от с. Визица, община Малко Търново

Author(s): Goran Stefanov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2018

За юбилея на Светлана Михайловна Толстая

Author(s): Oľga Vladislavovna Belova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2018

Anniversary

Магдалена Елчинова. Невидимата общност: православните българи в Истанбул. София: НБУ, 2017

Author(s): Valentina Ganeva-Raycheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2018

Book review

Марек Якоубек. Войводово. Историята на едно чешко село в България (не само) през погледа на неговите жители. София: Парадигма, 2016

Author(s): Kiril Hristov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2018

Book review