Oslavy štátnych sviatkov a pamätných dní a participácia príslušníkov maďarskej menšiny v Rožňave v medzivojnovom období

Author(s): Lucia Poláková / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 2/2015

The article describes the celebrations of momentous political holidays in Rožňava in the interwar period. It mainly deals with the national holiday of establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic, birthday of the President T. G. Masaryk and Labour Day. The attention is focused on the analysis of the program during the celebration and a possible national conflicts in a multi-ethnic city Rožňava. At the end of the article there are mentioned holidays celebrated in Hungary and their impact on the Hungarian minority in the southern part of the Czechoslovakia.

Doświadczenie Zagłady w "Ocalałym z Warszawy" op. 46 Arnolda Schönberga: geneza, dzieło, interpretacja

Author(s): Iwona Sowińska-Fruhtrunk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 02 (29)/2016

The purpose of this paper is to examine the way in which the experience of the Holocaust can be represented, embodied and even relived in or through music. The category of experience thus serves as a main methodological tool in this survey, helping to reconstitute the process of expressing it through music, specifically in Arnold Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw Op. 46. A related point to consider is the composer’s engagement in the fight for human rights just before the World War II, a fact that is not yet widely recognized. A brief overview of Schoenberg’s religious, social, and political environment is followed by the history of the Survivor’s… origins, analysis of its literary text, and, finally, interpretation. While discussing the ethical limits of the Holocaust representation, the opinions of Theodor W. Adorno, Ernst van Alphen, Berel Lang, and Giorgio Agamben are consulted.

Spór o "The Death of Klinghoffer" Johna Adamsa. Opera w opinii krytyków muzycznych

Author(s): Maryla Zając / Language(s): Polish Issue: 02 (29)/2016

In October 1985, several members of the Palestine Liberation Front hijacked the cruise ship Achille Lauro during its Mediterranean cruise. After the surrender of the terrorists, it came to light that a disabled passenger, Leon Klinghoffer, was killed by one of the kidnappers. The news of the attack was all the more disturbing that Klinghoffer belonged to the Jewish community. The case of abduction of Achille Lauro has been one of the most important topics in the field of international politics and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for a long time. The idea of creating an opera based on those events came from one of the most distinctive directors of our time, Peter Sellars (1957–), who invited composer John Adams (1947–) to cooperation. Libretto was created by Alice Goodman (1958–). Stage presentation of the fate of the passengers of Achille Lauro was to be a musical background for the wider topic: Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The main aim of the authors of The Death of Klinghoffer, what they repeatedly stressed in interviews, was to present both sides: Jewish and Muslim; not only the design of the libretto and musical development, but also the right direction. Despite these assumptions, since the premiere in 1991 at the Brussels Théâtre Royale de La Monnaie, this opera is consequently dividing the audience into its hot enthusiasts and declared opponents. Demonstrations and protests, accusations of anti-Semitic content, presentation and justification of terrorism have led not only to a change in the score, but today they are almost inseparable elements of issue. This article focuses on the opinions on the opera by critics and music journalists. After presenting the context of creation, examples of the reception, analytical and creative works are shown, such as the opinions found in the reviews of the printed sources, as well as the online ones.

The landscapes of Belgian reconstruction: a balance between modernity and tradition

Author(s): Caterina Franchini / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2014

After World War I, the debate on Belgian reconstruction divided architects. Some claimed that the priority should be the reconstruction of monuments and urban historical centers, others considered the construction of housing more urgent. In the first half of the Twenties, on one hand the well established generation of old architects worked at reconstruction of devastated regions, on the other hand the young „modernist“ generation experimented with the construction of garden-suburbs with low-cost housing. The urban planner and landscaper Louis van der Swaelmen and the modernist architect Victor Bourgeois considered a failure the reconstruction „à l’identique“ and the reconstruction „in style“ that exhibited a sentimentalist and regionalist vision. Indeed, the law on destroyed municipalities (April 8th, 1919) imposed a regional esthetic for reconstruction on pre-existing urbanized sites. By contrast the construction of new garden-suburbs appeared as a great success against the „vieux-neuf“. In 1920 the Office of Devastated Regions opened the „Architectural Section“ under the responsibility of Jean-Jules Eggericx, and a first settlement of 100 social housing units was created a Roulers and named Batavia. It was inspired, at the same time, by the Belgian beguinage and by the English garden-city; and new materials and building technologies were experimented there.

Slovjacké regionálne hnutie v rokoch 1907 – 1918

Author(s): Veronika Gayer / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 2/2014

The aim of the paper is to investigate the regional elite of Šariš and its weekly, Naša Zastava which was published in an Eastern Slovak dialect between 1907 – 1918. A considerable amount of Slovak and Hungarian works has been already published on the so-called Slovjak movement. The main sources of research were the documents of the so-called Public Educational Association of the Šariš County. The paper uses this organisation to examine the way how a regional elite contructs the imagined community of Eastern Slovak people before 1918.

Etnický obraz Košíc v slovenskej historiografii od jej počiatkov do roku 1918

Author(s): Ondrej Ficeri / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 1/2014

The article aims to reconstruct the ethnic image of the town of Košice produced by members of Slovak historiography in the period of existence of the historical Hungary. In the development of the ethnic structure of Košice, the most decisive role played the town’s location on the ethnic border between areas with prevailing Slovak, and on the other side Hungarian inhabitants. To define the affiliation of Slovak historiography to the multi-ethnic town of Košice, it was necessary to trace contemporary images of Slovak scholars about the ethnic composition and realia of Košice and answer the question, whether they considered Košice as one of the Slovak towns, and whether Košice became one of the places of Slovak collective memory. The article contemplates what role did Košice play in constructing the Slovak national discourse and, eventually, it outlines reasons why the town, despite a huge potential, did not become one of the significant centres of the Slovak national life before 1918.

Muzykalia w zbiorach Państwowego Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau

Author(s): Hubert Szczęśniak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 01 (32)/2017

The article presents the conclusion of the research conducted by the author in the collection of the State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau, former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp. The sources are fully featured and described for the first time. The article focuses on showing a complicated post-war history of the camp items connected with music (musical instruments, printings, manuscripts, handwritten copies of instrumental books), which are auxiliary sources to reconstruct the repertoire of chapels in KL Auschwitz-Birkenau. The main aim of the article is to also discuss the preserved repertoire. In the last chapter, the author presents a short characteristics of original works composed by musicians and composers in slavery with a short analysis of all of them. Presented musical printings are a reflection of tastes of the German public in the 1930s as well as an example of ridiculous anthropological establishments of Nazi music scientists and no ability to implement it on listeners practice. In addition, the work contains annexes: musical instruments, original works composed during camp existence, and musical printings – a list of music materials which survived in the collection of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

Българи в Словения. Първоначални наблюдения върху българската диаспора в Словения

Author(s): Mila Santova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2016

Млечният път в космическото и обредното пространство

Author(s): Nikolay Sivkov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

In the folklore of many peoples, the luminous bodies and phenomena are related tothe traditional concepts of the world structure. In the Bulgarian popular astronomythe Milky Way is seen as a Straw Road. The folklore texts present the “road” as both aborder and a bond between the “own” and the “alien” space, between the earthly andthe “divine” world. It is a process of movement in the mythological space but it couldalso be a place where the worlds in this space meet. Such development of the conceptof the “road” in the Bulgarian popular tradition is related to liminal rituals typical ofcalendar festivals including Christmas.

Пътят на ромската литература в Източна Европа

Author(s): Sofia Zahova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

The article makes a brief historical review of the development of Roma publicationsin the countries in Eastern Europe by emphasizing the processes in each country andthe interrelations between their policies regarding the Roma culture and the Roma literary production. The aim of the article is to show that the development of Roma literature is related to the political, social and cultural context in the country or region of its creation. The comparative historical approach is the most appropriate for the purpose since the tendencies in the development of the Roma literature are related to the policies of identity (in general or directed to the Roma population) in different historical periods and regions.

Пътят на север и намирането на дом

Author(s): Mila Maeva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2017

The article examines the movements from Bulgaria to Norway and is based on anethnographic fieldwork. Using the methods of the oral history, the article analyzes the road to the north and the settlement in an almost unknown and cold country. Th epersonal stories of the Bulgarians present their visions of the road, their views onNorway and the founding of home as a personal experience in the context of the complexmigratory situation there. The specifics of the Bulgarian settlement in Norway predetermine the understanding of home and road. The successful and relatively fast realization, the high standard of life, the social model and the opportunity for quicklybringing together the separated families transform the migration to the north from amovement into a fixed way of life. For the Bulgarians, the new home in Norway has different aspects – it is the heart of the family, of calmness, cosiness and security. For the emigrants, the road to the north is both a road and a way back to the “native” andthe “Bulgarian” which could be seen in the founding of a “Bulgarian home” by different emigrant institutions and organizations. The new transnational and transcultural home of the Bulgarians in Norway becomes their comfort zone.

Да живееш в три държави: промени в земеделието и всекидневието на селяни от Северозападна България

Author(s): Ilia Iliev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 6/2017

In this paper I briefly investigate the impact of three types of state agricultural policies on rural households in Valchedrum region, North West Bulgaria. I argue that the state remains a key factor, capable to transform the local economies, identities, and everyday life in a few years. I argue that unlike the situation in socialist Bulgaria, when the state lacked resources to implement its policies and had to rely heavily on coercion, the local people have rather limited options for agency now against powerful and efficient EU agricultural policies.

Аспекти на патернализма и популизма на българския социалистически модел (държавната грижа и закрила в нормативните актове)

Author(s): Ina Pachamanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2018

The article seeks to ascertain whether and to what extent the state policy of “care” and “protection” of the family, woman-mother, children and youth in the period of socialism in Bulgaria is the result of the paternalism and populism typical of the Bulgarian socialist model.

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

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

Ранната печатна кирилица: графичен опит и културни функции

Author(s): Mariyana Tsibranska-Kostova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2018

The article is dedicated to one aspect of the long-lasting life of the Cyrillic alphabet, namely the use of Cyrillic script as base for the Slavonic book publishing in its initial period from the end of the 15th – the 16th centuries. The main goal is to illustrate some peculiarities in the grapheme inventory, and to point out the cultural-historical functions of the early printed Cyrillic, the major of which was the preservation and the reproduction of the religious and spiritual identity. Supplementary, but not less important functions were the creation of cultural communities, the integration of the Bulgarian written legacy in Europe, its cognitive, moral, entertaining function, and others. The statement is subjected to the pursuit of shaping historically the relation between alphabet and identity, which should be realized as value, especially in the year of the Bulgarian presidency of the European Union, and the Cyrillic as one of its symbols.

Проблемът за културно-историческите паметници в българо-румънските взаимоотношения

Author(s): Spaska Shumanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2018

The problems concerning research, preservation and management of Bulgarian cultural monuments in Romania have attracted the attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and particularly the Embassy of the People‘s Republic of Bulgaria in Bucharest for many years. The Art and Culture Committee, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and other institutions are also involved in solving of these problems. Although many meetings of political and cultural leaders of various fields and the exchanged diplomatic notes the targeteted specific measures have not been achieved. The first reason for this is the lack of coherence, systematicity and organization and the lack of persistence, flexibility and purposefulness in solving of these problems by the People‘s Republic of Bulgaria.The second reason is the „special line“ of the Romanian government towards Bulgarian cultural interests and monuments. Remarkable in this aspect is the case of the Bulgarian School „Hristo Botev“ in Bucharest, which accordingly to the new architectural planning, were destroyed in February 1988 with an old Bulgarian church on Str „Kalarashilor“ (present-day „Cornelius Coposu“ Blvd.).

The Revolution of the World’s View: Distruction of Traditional Spiritual Values of the Western Ukrainian Peasantry in the Conditions of the Soviet Totalitarism in 1939 – 1941

Author(s): Volodymyr Starka / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2018

Social transformations, the rapid development of scientific and technological progress, the change of the ruling regimes pose many challenges to the modern citizen. An average person is often not ready to psychologically resist rapid changes, and tries to adapt to them in a different way. In terms of fleeting social changes, we can observe an increase of interest towards religion in certain categories of population, because in a faith in God, people are trying to find spiritual support, protection and answers to the challenges of the present time. In view of this, studies of the transformation of religious consciousness in the conditions of socio-political transformations acquire a special relevance.

Отношенията между държава и религиозни институции: българският случай

Author(s): Maya Grekova,Iva Kyurkchieva,Maya Kosseva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2017

The objective of this article is to outline the basic tensions in contemporary Bulgarian society concerning the intertwining of religion and secularism through the prism of relations between national state and different religious organizations and individuals.The general goal is to combine the presentation of national historical context, existing legislation and the current social debate based on anthropological fieldwork.

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.

Encounters between Disability Studies and Critical Trauma Studies: Introduction

Author(s): Anne-Marie Callus,Arleen Ionescu / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2018

When setting up the premises for a dialogue between disability studies and critical trauma studies and embarking on editing this pilot issue on ‘encounters’ between the two disciplines, we necessarily welcomed interdisciplinary approaches, ranging across disability studies, trauma studies, literary and cultural studies, media studies, as well as many other disciplines in the humanities. The first step in introducing this issue to our readers will be to present the histories of both disability studies and trauma studies in order to see how they evolved and see why our proposal that they should meet half way or at least more often can be considered a valid one.