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Impact of Demographic Factors on Emotional Intelligence in Selected Organizations in the Kathmandu Valley

Author(s): Pramila Thapa,Shyam Akashe,Hemlal Bhattarai / Language(s): English / Issue: 13/2023

Keywords: Demographic Factors; Emotional Intelligence; Organization; Employees;

This study's main goal is to investigate how socio-demographic factors affect employees' Emotional Intelligence (EI), particularly in Kathmandu valley organizations. Cross-sectional, the quantitative study design was used; convenience sampling techniques and the sample size were calculated using Cochran's formula. However, the instruments tested content validity, factor analysis, reliability, and a pilot test. There were 35 EI questions, and socio-demographic features (gender, age, work experience, qualification, marital status, and EI training). Descriptive, Regression, and ANOVA test were utilized to accomplish the goal. The findings reveled that there was a significant relationship between EI with work experiences, EI training, marital status, and social media engagement. In this regards, researchers suggested that; EI is a skill that can be acquired, researchers suggest that; organizations should create a culture where emotional intelligence can be fostered. Factors such as social media engagement, work experiences, and EI training, play a role in an employee's success.

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ASPECTS OF THE “DARK” IN DAVID ALBAHARI’S DARK AND PAUL AUSTER’S MAN IN THE DARK

Author(s): Darko Kovačević / Language(s): English / Issue: 23/2021

Keywords: dark; David Albahari; Paul Auster; novel; trauma;

The idea of the paper is to demonstrate different aspects of the “dark” which occur as a central concept in two novels written by the Serbian writer David Albahari (Dark) and his colleague from the USA, Paul Auster (Man in the Dark). In the introductory part of the paper the two writers are presented, with the emphasis on various similarities which exist between them. The central part of the paper contains the overview of both novels, as well as the comparative analysis of the conceptual use and aspects of the “dark” in each novel. The “dark” is visible at three levels, where the first level marks the lives of the narrators of the two novels as they tell their stories, the second is related to the political situations in the narrators’ (and writers’) countries, while the third level refers to the personal losses (death of loved ones) which characterise the lives of the narrators of both novels and determine their fates in many ways. The final part of the paper investigates the “dark” while treating both novels together and partially relying on the trauma theory. Conclusions are given in the final part of the paper.

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Political Meanings Hidden Behind Enchanting Melodies: How China Delivered Ideological Messages in the Song Cycle “Four Seasons of Our Motherland”

Author(s): Jun Zhao,Marianne Zhao / Language(s): English / Issue: 88/2023

Keywords: Chinese songs; communist party; folk music; minorities; politics; Zheng Qiufeng

Music draws influence from its surroundings and thus, with its political and social setting, becomes a part of the dynamic relationship. The aim of this article is to investigate and introduce this particular feature in the context of Chinese culture and explain, with the help of Zheng Qiufeng’s song cycle “Four Seasons of Our Motherland”, how politics play a part next to folk music elements, enchanting melodies, and patriotic lyrics. The song cycle in question was chosen as an example of how politics can be subtly included in the musical plot. It is one of the very few Chinese song cycles, the most well-known one, and made unique by the inclusion of minority characteristics from different Chinese regions together with its distinctive ideological mission.

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Post-Enescian Lineage in Romanian Post-War Music. The Representative Case of Doina Rotaru

Author(s): Vlad Văidean / Language(s): English / Issue: 47/2021

Keywords: modernism; dreaming in music; heterophony;

For the Romanian post-war composition, Enescu’s music has long been a reference point: rediscovered with much emotion and admiration in the light of the late first Romanian auditions of his last works, the profile of the national composer proved to be not only a propaganda symbol manipulated by the communist state, but also a real creative ferment, particularly fertile at least for that “golden” generation (which is why it is also called the “post-Enescu” generation) of composers who came to the fore at the end of the 1950s. Thoroughly theorised on an analytical level and variously continued on a creative level, the most specific features of the Enescian style – the melodism of tonal-modal synthesis, the parlando rubato type of rhythm, the technique of continuous micro-variation and, above all, the heterophonic syntax – have come to guide the understanding of the “Romanian specific” in music. The Enescian model has not ceased to inspire even beyond the members of that generation, a fact that is amply proved by the oeuvre of Doina Rotaru, who rose to fame in the 1980: its unmistakable character could be explained partly as a possible instance of how Enescian lyricism would have sounded, had it been detached from the matrix of Classical-Romantic tradition, and transplanted instead in the pastel-coloured tissue of extended instrumental techniques specific to the avant-gardist musical idiom. Of course, this is only one of the components of her personal style. It is, however, much valued and assumed by the composer, sometimes even in the form of symbolic references to Enescian quotations, as is the case at the very end of one of Doina Rotaru’s most recent work – the concerto for violin and orchestra Himere [Chimeras].

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“What Is Romanian and What Is Not Romanian?” Enescu's Answers

Author(s): Vlad Văidean / Language(s): English / Issue: 48/2021

Keywords: național specificity; gypsy lăutari; doina;

In a controversial interview in 1912, George Enescu – already the author of the emblems of sonorous “Romanianness”, the Romanian Poem and the Romanian Rhapsodies – disarmed with the naive sincerity with which he admitted his inability to distinguish, in all the myriad foreign influences that he himself identified as predominant in many areas of traditional Romanian music, the element of “specifically national” authenticity. “What is Romanian and what is not Romanian? It’s so hard for me to say...” – such a nebulous positioning, precisely from one already elevated to the rank of national composer, caused a stir at the time. It was, however, only the first of a long series of interviews in which Enescu was questioned on the same burning issue; the answers he gave over the years eventually came to convey some favourite terms, considered defining of Romanian sensibility: “sadness even in joy”, “this uncertain but deeply moving longing”, “that inexpressible nostalgia”, “the weeping string”, “a strange melancholy”. He has also attempted some explications of the concrete ways in which this ineffable yearning is reflected in Romanian traditional music. In fact, by expressing his extremely general and subjective opinions about Romanian traditional music, Enescu shed an additional and decisive light on his own music. The enescian exegesis has repeatedly reiterated the centrality of the ethos of dor in George Enescu’s Romanian works, i.e. the Romanian version of that affective binomial – melancholy and nostalgia – which has been embodied in versions that are just as “specifically national” and untranslatable in the self-consciousness of any other nation (Sehnsucht and Heimweh in the German version, spleen and maladie du pays in French, añoranza in Spanish, saudade in Portuguese, etc.). The present paper aims to briefly revisit the more or less clichéd ways in which Enescu’s creation has been linked to this ethos.

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GRAMMATICAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE SERBIAN TRANSLATION OF "HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE"

Author(s): Vera Vujević Đurić / Language(s): English / Issue: 23/2021

Keywords: translation process; grammatical transformations; source language; target language; Harry Potter;

The aim of this paper is to determine the specific translation transformations and the idiosyncrasies in translating grammatical categories from English into Serbian. The paper focuses on the concept of translation transformations and distinguishes types of grammatical transformations and their functional load in the Serbian translation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. It also offers the classification of translation transformations and the reasons for their use in the novel. Different types of grammatical operations are singled out and analyzed: inversion and replacement of grammatical structures, elliptical and added constructions, sentence integration and fragmentation. The analysis of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone translation into Serbian shows that substitutions (both lexical and grammatical) are the most frequent type of transformations. Such system of transformations is used to preserve and transfer the general content of the source text into the target language.

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Romanian Repertoires in the Programmes of the Bucharest Philharmonic in the Interwar, World War II and Post-War Period. Case Study: Mihail Jora

Author(s): Desiela Ion / Language(s): English / Issue: 48/2021

Keywords: ideology; music criticism; Union of Composers; Communist Party;

The radical changes that the communist regime imposed on Romanian society since the end of the World War II also affected Bucharest institutions such as the Conservatory and the Philharmonic. In the light of these transformations, the analysis of the Romanian repertoires in the Philharmonic’s programmes reflects the trends and ideologies in Romanian musical composition and criticism. Moreover, the ideological directions of the World War II and post-war period would dictate the frequency, quantity and genres of Romanian music in the Philharmonic’s concert programmes (for example, the preponderance of Russian and Soviet music to the detriment of Romanian music until the early 1960s, when Romanian music became mandatory in the weekly concert programmes). In this study I propose a brief analysis of Mihail Jora’s post-war compositional and conducting career, in comparison with his musical presence in the interwar period, reflected in the musical life of the Bucharest Philharmonic.

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Ideological Aspects of Romanian Composition. Case Study: June 27, 1952 Meeting of the Romanian Creative Unions

Author(s): Andreea Mitu / Language(s): English / Issue: 48/2021

Keywords: socialist realism; right-wing deviation; appeasement; music for the masses; self-criticism; formalism;

This paper represents a case study of the June 27, 1952 meeting of the Romanian Creative Unions, with the aim of processing party documents on the right-wing deviation of the communist movement. The typescript of the meeting, found and saved by sculptor Dorin Lupea who was sent to work as an unskilled factory worker after graduating the university, is reproduced in full in the book Reconstituiri necesare [Necessary Reconstructions] published by Polirom under the care of Mihaela Cristea (ed.), with additional explanatory footnotes for the names of those who spoke at the meeting out of their own free will or under obligation. The text reveals to the reader the tremendous fear of Romanian intellectuals towards the doctrines of Stalinist ideology and the consequences of not respecting them, the indignities and criticisms they were willing to endure for fear of the terrible suffering both physical and mental that would await them in Communist prisons.

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The Phenomenon of Unmasking: The Case of Mihail Andricu

Author(s): Cecilia Benedicta Pavel / Language(s): English / Issue: 48/2021

Keywords: public denunciations; communist regime; Securitate police;

The phenomenon of unmasking began in Bucharest in 1958, when the Red Army withdraw from Romania. This action involved bringing political cases against intellectuals (usually privileged by the regime) for the most absurd reasons. Workers, agents of Securitate (Romanian communist secret police) and other intellectuals took part in the trials. These public demonstrations were intended to re-educate those who had rebelled against the system, but they also served as a warning to those brought there and to everyone else, as audio recordings of the trials were broadcast to intellectual gatherings in the country’s major cities. The present study focuses on the composer, pianist, teacher and music critic Mihail Andricu, who, on April 7, 1959, was “unmasked” in a political trial held in the hall of the Central Council of Syndicates on Lipscani Street (in Bucharest), directed by organs of the Securitate, at which intellectuals from the music, literature and theatre world hurled accusations.

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Perceptions of Music in Communist Romania and Their Impact on an Emigrant Generation. Case Studies: Costin Miereanu and Mihai Mitrea-Celarianu

Author(s): Ana Diaconu / Language(s): English / Issue: 48/2021

Keywords: avant-garde music; Romanian artistic diaspora; aleatoric music; structuralism; Romanian archives;

While researching several archives, the author retraced the short Romanian careers of the composers born between 1935 and 1945 who settled in France in the early 1970s. In chronological order, the first names that the research focused on were Mihai Mitrea-Celarianu and Costin Miereanu. This paper gathers data about their studies at the Bucharest Conservatory, about recordings and radio broadcasts, and the most revealing information that were discovered pursuing the thread of the entries about the two composers in the minutes of the Symphonic and Chamber Music Section’s Bureau of the Union of Composers, from 1960-1970. The debate on aleatorism and experimentalism in composition that took off at the Union in 1970, following the analysis of a work by Costin Miereanu, is representative. This, together with the changing attitudes in the press and in the minutes of the Union, offers us a starting reflection point on the mentality of Romanian musicians in the 1960s and 1970s. The study aims to make an objective “inventory” of the realities of a professional path that preceded the decision of composers Costin Miereanu and Mihai Mitrea-Celarianu to redirect themselves towards the French musical landscape.

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Serial and Aleatoric Music in the Discussion of “National and Universal” in Post-War Romania: The Solutions of Miriam Marbe and Dan Constantinescu

Author(s): Valentina Sandu-Dediu / Language(s): English / Issue: 49/2022

Keywords: socialist realism; communist nationalism; avant-garde; cosmopolitanism;

I have often spoken and written about the Romanian post-war landscape, more precisely about the period between 1950 and 1989, which was strongly influenced by socialist realism, communist nationalism, but also by synchronisation with the Western avant-garde. Romanian composition took off like never before thanks to the musicians born around 1930, who gave birth to a unique generation of Romanian composition. Among them, the voices of Miriam Marbe and Dan Constantinescu make themselves felt with discretion and elegance in two already established directions of new music: serialism and aleatorism, both proposing new and convincing solutions to these techniques. In this paper, I will discuss how these two avant-garde composers, who grappled with the spirit of their times, used intelligence, tact and an inclusive culture to try to overcome the ideological ills of the regime in which they lived and wrote music. For them, openness to the universal, to themes that circulated beyond the Iron Curtain, was vital, because they knew that the sealing off of borders led to a provincial mentality that was completely alien to them.

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Music Nationalism in a Non-Communist Country: The Canonization of National Martyrs in Greek Orthodox Church and Its Impact on Ecclesiastical Hymnography

Author(s): John Plemmenos / Language(s): English / Issue: 49/2022

Keywords: church music and hymnography; Greece; 20th century;

This paper deals with an important aspect of nationalism in south-eastern Europe in the 20th century: the inclusion of several national figures into the list of recognized saints of the Church of Greece. That practice began to take momentum after 1921, when the Church of Greece decided to canonize Patriarch Gregorios V of Constantinople, who was hung by the sultan for his inability to supress the Greek uprising (1821). The canonization coincided with the Greek army expedition to Asia Minor following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and its partition by the Great Powers. The Patriarch’s body was eventually interred in the Athens Cathedral and is still commemorated as national martyr (ethnomartyr). In the same year (1921), Gregorios’ service was published containing various hymns with several nationalistic overtones. Another example discussed is the canonization of Bishop Chrysostom of Smyrna (1992), who was lynched and dragged around the city following the defeat and retreat of the Greek Army from Asia Minor (1922). The paper will also examine other related issues, such as the Church’s involvement in politics, the identity of the hymnographers and composers of the services, their reception by the press and the public, etc.

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Musical Thinking and Aesthetic Reception during Modernity: Between the Project of Searching after the Origins of Art and the Project of Transgressing Art Itself

Author(s): Andreea Stoicescu / Language(s): English / Issue: 49/2022

Keywords: (philosophy of) history; constellation (method); (extreme) nationalism; folklore; organism (as metaphor); avant-garde art; Gustav Mahler; Arnold Schönberg; Pierre Boulez;

My study is an attempt to philosophically account for the competing influence in the 20th century musical understanding and practice of two radical and opposed aesthetics: the ideal of transgressive art (defined by Anthony Julius) associated with the avant-garde and the ideal of recovering the original and authentic art associated with extreme nationalism. My thesis is that these perspectives, under their extreme formulations, are, in fact, kindred sides of the broader philosophy of Modernity as developed since the Enlightenment. Also, as a consequence, by deconstructing the historical meaning and justification of these aesthetic forms of radicalism, one can reinterpret the artistic profiles of personalities such as Arnold Schönberg, thought of either as a revolutionary who totally rebelled against the musical past (as Theodor W. Adorno considered), or as not revolutionary enough (as Pierre Boulez thought). My historical methodology is based on using the two key-terms, “originality” and “transgression”, as regulative concepts within the constellation (a concept proposed by Theodor Adorno in Negative Dialectics) of musical modernism. Thereby, I will show how these key-terms are connected to a network of other romantic concepts: organism, authenticity, aura (Walter Benjamin’s sense), integrity, folklore, and contemplation, in order to reveal how the structural and social meaning ascribed to this set of concepts greatly influenced the process of redefining musical thinking and musical reception. The main philosophies I will use as conceptual landmarks to clarify these interconnections are Martin Heidegger’s remarks about the work of art and Theodor Adorno’s critique of Heideggerian terminology and presuppositions. My overall conclusion will point towards the necessity of going beyond such radical modern oppositions with the aim of finding new types of theoretical principles and perspectives, more adequate as conceptual tools for dealing with contemporary artistic realities.

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Burleske for Piano and Orchestra by Richard Strauss

Author(s): Oxana Corjos / Language(s): English / Issue: 49/2022

Keywords: piano concerto; stylistic influences; formal analysis;

The topic of this paper is the result of my over 20 years as a pianist. Although my repertoire comprises a wide variety of concertos, from Bach to Rachmaninoff and passing through Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms, my specific affinities are directed towards a less-known piece, Richard Strauss’ Burleske. In this paper I attempted to share some of my personal experience regarding the way to approach it, with emphasis on Strauss’ novel attitude towards the solo piano, namely, an equal partner of the orchestra.

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Accessibility and Popularity: A Brief History of Romanian Pop Music

Author(s): Andrei Tudor / Language(s): English / Issue: 49/2022

Keywords: “light music”; “heavy music”; romance; fusion genres; composition and performance competitions;

After a brief analysis of the term “light” music, some of the most important characteristics of the genre are highlighted: popularity, accessibility, melody, sincerity, simplicity, freshness, spontaneity, “the ease of free expression” (Anton Șuteu), all of which outline a “specific form” (D. C. Fotea) of musical art. The sources and influences that have contributed to the emergence of the genre in our country are then listed: Romanian romance, Romanian folklore, but also foreign influences such as jazz music, Dixieland, Latin American music, waltz. The fusion genres are also discussed (pop-symphonic, pop-opera) and the importance of orchestrators/arrangers is highlighted. After a brief presentation of the specific form of the light (pop) music song, the essential contribution of the text in this musical genre is underlined and the names of some important Romanian text writers are mentioned. Professional orchestras, revue theatres and the most important festivals that promoted the creation of Romanian composers are highlighted. Finally, some of the Romanian pop music songs or creations of Romanian composers who have crossed the borders of the country are recalled.

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The War in Ukraine from 2022 and Its Impact on the Environment

Author(s): Mihail Haralampiev,Monika Panayotova / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: war in Ukraine; climate-security nexus; defence; climate change; environment; EU

The present article aims to focus the attention on the Russian-Ukrainian war from February 24, 2022 and its impact on the environment. The analysis reveals the importance of climate issues in Ukraine for the past, present and future of the country by considering: a/the war as wake-up call for climate emergency; and b/ the desire of Kiev for accession to the EU as an opportunity for green transition and sustainable recovery. It is claimed that the war in Ukraine from 2022 is an example of how military actions have a significant ecological footprint and how the post-war recovery could be a chance for low-carbon development of the economy and society of the second largest country in Europe, the seventh in terms of population and the eighth of military forces of the old continent. On the one hand, it emphasizes on the multidimensional role of the armed forces and defence sector that should be considered within the wider climate-security nexus. On the other hand, it shows that the pursuit of EU membership has a green transformative effect, considering the strategic targets of the Union to move towards Net Zero by 2050.The analysis leads to the following conclusions: 1) The military conflict between Russia and Ukraine shows the widespread use of various types of weapons, which generates large amounts of carbon dioxide, by strongly affecting the climate of the entire continent; 2) The post-war recovery is a chance for Ukraine for better sustainable development of its economy, society and security; 3) The path of Ukraine to the EU would be a stimulus for the armed forces and defence sector, as causing and suffering the consequences of climate change, to increase the resilience of their capabilities and infrastructure, by investing in green and innovative technologies and at the same time by decreasing their environmental footprint without reducing their operational effectiveness.

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Contemporary Dimensions of Serbia’s Regional Foreign Policy

Author(s): Mihael Dimitrov / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: Serbian foreign policy; energy system; diversification of energy resources; Serbian regional diplomacy; Serb-Russian relations; Serbia and EU

The article gives an insight into the general course of action of the Serbian state aimed at the diversification of hydrocarbon sources with an emphasis on the supply of crude oil. Furthermore, a case with primary goal related to the increase of energy system stability is presented in the light of its secondary psycho-informational influence. Interactions with the Russian leadership are analysed, mainly along the lines of the Serbian position regarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the possible accession to the sanction’s regime against the Russian Federation. The methodology of the study is based on a structuralist approach consisting of synchronic interpretation of separate phenomena directed towards the derivation of gross constituent units of relations.The results extrapolate that the practical steps aimed at guaranteeing the energy security of the country show lack of interest to move away from Russian supply of natural gas and crude oil which is in turn intrinsically related to the future general geopolitical stance of official Belgrade. Active diplomacy in the region is concentrated along the Vienna - Budapest axis. The significance of the results arises from the fact that the represented gross constituent units of relations expose a firm course that is diverging from the EU CFSP.

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Bio-politics of Protest: Student Protests in Serbia and Bulgaria as a Mechanism of Security for a Social System

Author(s): Magdalena Tendera / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: student protests; security; bio-politics; post-socialist transformation; Balkans; ethnography

The research-based ethnographic study presented in the paper aims at explaining why the extensive student protests of the last decades in Serbia and Bulgaria do not facilitate the post-socialist transformation. Along with a high occurrence of political upheavals that commonly evoke images of mass unrest and swift social reconfigurations of power, no significant change in politics towards more democratic regime has taken place. Despite the presence of multiple liberal semantics in the public debate, the Balkan discourse on democracy seems fairly remote from the political and social practice. All the well established theories of protest and social movements remain inconclusive in answering this query. In search of an explanation, the concept of security and the bio-political paradigm of Michel Foucault have been adopted. The distinctive conceptual framework helps to explain how protests became a kind of security mechanism preventing an unstable social system from radical changes. Based on that concept the anthropological investigation allowed to identify some systemic milestones, or structural dimensions, bringing some counterintuitive results when it comes to the assessment of key social functions of protest, and a rather expected disclosure of deep authoritarian settings of governing institutions. Finally, the article discusses some similarities between the contentious events in Serbia and Bulgaria, and how the private stories recorded during in-depth interviews conducted between 2014 and 2017 in Belgrade and Sofia combine into one legitimate public narration on the Balkan political issues.

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Social Legitimacy of Mass Privatization: The Case of Bulgaria

Author(s): Antoaneta Getova / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: mass privatization; social evaluation; social transformation

Mass privatization is an important part of the Bulgarian post-socialist transformations. Because of citizens’ direct involvement in it, its social legitimacy is crucial for the social acceptance of the privatization in general. The paper analyzes the problem of the social legitimacy of mass privatization in a long-term period and the main research question is: did privatization succeed in acquiring social legitimacy or did the attitude towards it remain mostly negative. To contextualize the topic, a brief overview of the results of mass privatization in the Czech Republic and Russia is also included in the analysis. The main research hypothesis is that privatization could not legitimize itself as the right path taken in Bulgarian society. The main reason behind this is the non-success of the main wave of the Bulgarian mass privatization. To prove the main hypothesis, data of national representative survey is analyzed in the paper.

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Europe’s New Chapter: Navigating the Future in a Shifting Global Landscape

Author(s): Svetoslav Berchev / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: European Union; the Future of Europe Conference; EU institutions; EU’s foreign policy; Green Europe/European Green Deal

The management of each of the crises that the European Union has been facing in the last decade has shown that individual national approaches lead to a chronic inability to make collective decisions on strategic issues and that this cannot be the future of a swiftly adaptive and geo-politically oriented Europe. The Future of Europe Conference offered the opportunity for European institutions to reconsider the relationship with Europe’s citizens, giving the public a direct voice through innovative participation in the democratic process. But we cannot allow ourselves to stop there, and leave it be a mere listening exercise.The next step is using those tools and the momentum around the conversation of Europe of tomorrow that had started with the Conference of the future of Europe to adapt the Union and its institutions to the necessities of the modern-day world.As European citizens, we need a strong European Union, capable of acting swiftly in a wide range of policy areas, from health and fiscal policy, energy procurement, and climate, to foreign affairs and defence. We need a powerful Europe on the global stage, able to keep its promises to those that aspire to become part of it. A Europe that can tackle new security and defence threats, and foreign interference and that can set new global standards for a clean environment while fighting unfair industrial competition. A Union, that stands up for rule of law and a responsive approach to migration.

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