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The article deals with the history of commercial contacts between Northern and Southern Bulgaria (Thrace) from antiquity to the present day, focusing on the trade routes between the towns of Omurtag and Kotel. The geographic location of the Kotel Pass in particular, which linked the two towns across the Balkan Mountains, made it an important trade route as well as a strategic military line of communication.
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The present research report aims at revealing the evolution of one of the most typical Bulgarian head ornaments in the region of Veliko Tarnovo, namely of the so-called “sokai”. This ornament was very popular from the 18th c. to the beginning of the 20th c. Its construction is very complex: it consists of several parts which are linked together with the help of a big kerchief and it has a wooden base (“buka”). Each part has a unique name. The big metal section in the shape of a crown is called “krazhilo”. According to some researchers from the beginning of the 20th c. the “sokai” dated as far back as the mediaeval Bulgarian royal court. In the opinion of this author however they were first produced in the 18thcentury. The decoration is typical of the Orient. Some new elements were added to it in the beginning of the 19th century.
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This article examines the place of the specialty Ethnology in the structure of the History Faculty of the Veliko Tarnovo University “St. Cyril and Methodius”. Traced are the links of ethnology with other disciplines in the Faculty – history, archeology, geography and cultural tourism. The article explored the common research fields among all specialties.
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At this stage of development of the Bulgarian Ethnology, in the absence of funds for well-paid professional PR, everyone should be able to stand before a camera or microphone to “translate” in popular language the results of their work. Because the media prefers to communicate directly with scientists, rather than professional PR’s or people responsible for this activity. Science is assessed on its public importance and this means that we can not afford to look at promoting it as something frivolous or as “haltura”.
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The article considers the stages through which passes specialized archive of IEFEM and the tests that have been subjected its classification system.
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The article considers the question of tradition as a cultural heritage or scientific reconstruction. Asking the question whether our understanding of “tradition” covers the concept of a model of transmission of cultural values, the author assumes that the tradition should be understood as a modern interpretation of our own cultural background!
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The article focuses on the importance of ethnographic fieldworks in the construction of young professionals – ethnographers. These are the memories of students, members of the study circle of Ethnography, touching the magic of this science in the 80s of XX century.
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The article demonstrates differences between the symbolic landscapes of an oral vernacular culture and a literate culture, drawing on examples of perceiving and depicting sacred natural sites in Estonia. Vernacular oral culture and written national culture are considered as subsystems of a wider cultural system, following Yuri Lotman. In the literate Estonian culture from the 19th century onward, references to oak groves dominate as a typical image of ancient Estonian sacred sites. The symbol of the sacred oak grove is literary in origin, deriving from European examples of the Romantic Era. An important source contributing to the spread of the idea of ancient oak groves has been the Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg by Fr. R. Kreutzwald, first published as a full edition in 1862. An analysis of the text of the epic shows that most references to sacred oak groves and oaks in the epic are rhetorical in nature, featuring as poetic devices, figures of speech or abstract symbols signifying the idea of an ancient golden era. Only in two instances can they be considered to refer to concrete landscapes that can be precisely located. In the 20th century, sacred natural sites known to the local vernacular religion are increasingly interpreted in written national history as monuments of pre-Christian times. This is evidence of the hybridisation of certain features of written and oral culture after the national written culture has become established as the dominant subsystem.
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The article examines the political and socio-economic history of Kvemo and Zemo Khviti, two villages near the occupation line in Shida Kartli, its population dynamics, ethnic and religious composition, village antiquities, fortifications, material and spiritual monuments, lapidary inscriptions and epitaphs. The meaning and origin of the toponym "Khviti" is also researched, along with Khviti’s relationship with the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem. Khviti was the property of the Taktakishvilis’ from ancient times, but apart from them different numbers of serfs here and the lands were owned by Machabelis’, Kherkheulidzes’, Pavlenishvilis’, Tumanishvilis’. The village has been actively appearing in written sources since the 16th century. The population was mainly engaged in agriculture and horticulture. The church of the Virgin Mary is the oldest in the village. According to the inscription, in 1672, Mroveli Episcope Ioane Taktakisdze had built a church on his own lands for himself and his brothers: Ardashel, Philip and Elisbar, to "confess the sins", which had been a “Metoki” of the Virgin St. Mary church of Vredzi. It is noteworthy that the same persons built the chapel of the famous monastery of Tire, north of Khviti, in 1682, with the difference that the older brother Ioane it is not mentioned in the inscription. We have to assume that he is already dead by this time, so “Mroveloba” moves on to his next brother - Philipe.
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The present article aims to carry an overview how the Bulgar/Protobulgarian tribes seemingly kept changing in the 5th – 7th c. or at least they did in the eyes of the contemporary writers and chroniclers. The text follows the main sources and comments on their information, comparing evidence and drawing conclusions. The first period reviewed is the one immediately after the collapse of Atilla’s state and then the 6th c., when Bulgar troops became well-known as enemies and mercenaries of the big empires of the time – Byzantium, the Steppe empire and Sassanian Iran. It is considered that the Bulgar own political organization kept developing, culminating in the establishment of Old Great Bulgaria. The text contain many references to well-known sources, but also to not so popular or even ones that have not been commented at all in the Bulgarian historical tradition as the poem by pre-Islamic poet Al-Asha. Cases like the “Bookolobras affair” from the late 6th c. have been reviewed and connected to early Bulgarian history. The general conclusion is that the Bulgar ethnonym had ethnic but also strong political dimension from its very first appearance until the founding of Danube Bulgaria and the changing political situation also brought significant ethnic changes, described by key scholars as “Second Bulgarian ethnogenesis”.
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One of the Myths of Portuguese History is how this poor Iberian country with only „historical attitude and behaviour”, was able to create an enormous African Empire during the „Scramble for Africa” in the last quarter of th 19th century. In contrast to this, the present article aimes to opt for an opposite thesis and different arguments: an „economical approach” of the Portuguese Imperialism in Africa through some examples in North and Central Mozambique. The „ad hoc character” of the Portuguese presence in the Zambezi river valley demonstrates the vulnerability of the Metropole and the very relative success of the territorial organization of the colony in the hands of „private” capitalist companies.
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The 19th century saw the expansion of the West – and most notably that of the British Empire – in Asia. The growing British presence in the Indian subcontinent through the East India Company culminated in the „Company Rule” from the eighteenth century onward, until the Crown took over its place in 1858. While the Indian subcontinent became the subject of direct colonial administration, the Qing Empire avoided the same fate. Nevertheless, the threat of colonization, especially after the First Opium War (1839–1842) and the „unequal treaties” left a profound impact on the Qing court and the Chinese literati. While the experience of the two regions was markedly different, the Western presence not only altered the history of these two civilizational behemoths, but also the contemporary notions of „history” in both cases. My aim is to compare the effect of this „Western presence” on the historiography of the two regions, through the life and scholarship of two historians, Rajendralal Mitra and Wei Yuan.
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This brief article offers an overview of some of the major works of Gábor Búr in a similar manner as the volume entitled African History Stud-ies (II) does, by selecting several of his earlier publications via which many of his decisive attributes are revealed. Having spent two valuable periods in South Africa in 1990 and 1994, he became a leading academic on the history of apartheid, in particular, but South Africa and its peoples, in general, together with the broader context of the history of Sub-Saharan Africa. Among his 9 books, 63 book chapters and dozens of journal articles, several are considered as fundamental pieces in the Hungarian knowledge corpus on Africa. A true educator of many, Gábor Búr can always grab the attention of the various different audiences he has been engaging with. His new book of 600+ pages will certainly take its readers on yet another enchanting ride on African History.
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Review of: Elena Marushiakova, Vesselin Popov (eds.), Roma Voices in History. A Sourcebook, BRILL, Ferdinand Schoningh, 2021,
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Reviews of: Die Ostsee. Berichte und Geschichte aus 2000 Jahren. Koost Klaus-Jürgen Liedtke. Köln: Galiani Berlin, 2018. 650 lk. Kadri Viires. Kaugelt näeb lähemale. Eesti Kunstiakadeemia uurimisreisid soome-ugri rahvaste juurde 1978–2012. [Tallinn:] Argo, Eesti Kunstiakadeemia, 2019. 335 lk.
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Review of: Pille Arnek. Eestikeelsed tekstid 16.-19. sajandi Põhja-Eesti hauatähistel. (Tallinna Ülikooli humanitaarteaduste dissertatsioonid 54.) Tallinn: Tallinna Ülikool, 2019. 333 lk
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The history of the publication Karl Marx - Însemnări despre români epitomizes the importance of interpreting from a transnational perspective the reformulation of national identity-scripts during communism. The context that underpins this editorial project highlights the fact that the identitarian transformation of the communist regime and the dynamics of the so-called historiographical front at the end of the 1950s and during the 1960s are inextricably tied to the evolution of the socialist camp and of Romania’s European re-positioning during the Cold War. Însemnări despre români exemplifies the role of transfers, exchanges, and entanglements between socialist officials and academics, as well as across Europe despite its ideological divide. This case study defies narratives about presumed isolation of Romania and its representatives under the heavy shade of the Iron Curtain. The article shows how transnational histories alter our frameworks for understanding the international dimensions of local state socialism beyond the usual, exclusive focus on the diplomatic history.
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The article is devoted to analyzing arrival circumstances, population, settlement, work conditions, socio-cultural adaptation and particularities of relations with the local community of builders from Bulgaria who migrated to Western Siberia within the framework of government contracts. The sources for the research were unpublished archival materials, data from journals and field trips recorded in the Tyumen region in 2019–2020. The research has revealed that travelling to the USSR in order to get income played an important part in the individual success strategies of Bulgarian youth in the1970s and became quite widespread. Between 1970 – the late 1980s Tyumen region had 7000 Bulgarians living in it with the biggest groups working in Tyumen, Surgut, Nizhnevatovsk, Urai, and Nadim. Several neighbourhoods, working villages and oil extraction facilities in Western Siberia were built by them. Also, both in Tyumen and Surgut there are squares of Soviet-Bulgarian friendship, and in Surgut there is a monument to Georgi Dimitrov. Upon arrival in the USSR, the Bulgarians had a privileged status. The main adaptation difficulties were associated with the local climate and language barrier. The life of Bulgarians and the work of “Glavbolgarstroy” company in Western Siberia laid a strong foundation for economic activity that gave rise to a large inflow of Bulgarian migrants to Russia in the 1990s. As a result, according to all Russian censuses in 2002 and 2010 Tyumen region had the largest community of Bulgarians registered in Russia. Today Bulgarians in Western Siberia are present as third-generation migrants; they play a significant role in the socio-cultural and economic spheres of Tyumen Region. A large number of them maintain emotional bonds with their motherland and keep in touch with their families and close people in Bulgaria.
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The present article analyzes the state of inter-ethnic relations among the intellectuals of the Hungarian Autonomous Region (in the localities of the current Covasna and Harghita counties). In the beginning, data are presented regarding the ethnic and confessional structure of the communities in the reference period. Then the inter-ethnic relations between Romanian and Hungarian intellectuals are analyzed, differentiated into the main socio-professional categories: political leaders, state officials, teachers, doctors, engineers, priests, etc. The article shows the negative aspects of the inter-ethnic relations between the few Romanian intellectuals left in the area and their Hungarian colleagues, but also moments of “normality”. At the same time, the difference between the period 1952–1960, when the districts of Tg. Secuiesc and Sf. Gheorghe belonged to the Hungarian Autonomous Region from 1960 to 1968, when the two districts were part of the Stalin Region and Brașov, respectively.
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This study presents the innovative results of repeated ethnographic research and brings insight into the contemporary phenomena of lifestyle migration and backpacking. The studied issue is examined on the example of several groups of foreigners in Český Krumlov, Czechia in the period between approximately 1995 and 2015. These groups were located around several hostels. The main focus is placed on the life trajectories and lifestyle preferences of the studied groups, which are illustrated on the stories of particular actors. In conclusion, the transnational backpackers and lifestyle migrants in Krumlov, i.e., on the alleged “new left bank”, were searching for happier and more content lives. Lifestyle migration was perceived as a certain escape from modernity, consumerism, and materialism. In the first decade of the 21st century, the lifestyle of many of the transnational backpackers could be compared to Bauman’s “vagabond”, nevertheless, presently, the town is “flooded” with tourists. These shifts in the tourism industry according to the majority of the transnational backpackers and lifestyle migrants had a negative impact on the town’s “magic”, which has begun to disappear due to its gentrification and disneylandization.
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