Materiality of Magic in Estonian and Finnish Museums

Materiality of Magic in Estonian and Finnish Museums

Author(s): Sonja Hukantaival,Tõnno Jonuks,Kristiina Johanson / Language(s): English / Issue: 88/2023

Keywords: Estonia; Finland; folk magic; folk medicine; materiality; museums;

This paper discusses objects connected with folk magic and medicine found in museum collections in Estonia and Finland. Our perspective is comparative as we compare these collections to other sources and to each other. The focus is on what kind of objects are found in the museum collections and how these differ between the two countries. We also explore how these materials have been acquired and collated. While we see general similarities between the magic objects in the two countries, there are also notable differences: remains of bears stand out in the Finnish collections while fossils are common in the Estonian ones. Although these observations may reflect a true difference in magic traditions, there are still potential sources of bias in the collections. Even though the museum collections in both countries were formed with romantic national overtones, the interests of individual collectors and curators influenced them in various ways.

Traditional Healing Expectations in Light of Placebo and Performance Studies

Traditional Healing Expectations in Light of Placebo and Performance Studies

Author(s): Siria Kohonen / Language(s): English / Issue: 88/2023

Keywords: ethno-medicine; Finnish-Karelian traditions; folklore; performance theory; placebo effect; schema-analysis;

This article examines what expectations lay people (those not considered folk healers themselves) had for pre-industrial Finnish-Karelian healing traditions, how these expectations were represented in archived folklore materials, and how they, in turn, affected the healing traditions. The study represents a cross-disciplinary analysis of the subject, with theoretical perspectives drawn from performance studies, cognitive science memory studies, and placebo studies. Via a two-step analysis, this article examines the different meanings given to traditional healing methods and suggests that these methods increased the placebo effect in several ways, most importantly by fulfilling the general expectations for healing performances. The article also proposes that the placebo effect affected the way that lay people considered efficacious healing performances.

‘Have You Heard of Kalevauva.fi Yet?’ Modern Folklore, Humour, and Gender in the Lyrics of the Finnish Folk Troubadour Duo Kalevauva.fi

‘Have You Heard of Kalevauva.fi Yet?’ Modern Folklore, Humour, and Gender in the Lyrics of the Finnish Folk Troubadour Duo Kalevauva.fi

Author(s): Charlotte Doesburg,Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi / Language(s): English / Issue: 88/2023

Keywords: Finnish music; folk music; gender; humour; Kalevala; modern folklore; online discussion forum; gender; song lyrics;

This article explores the lyrics of the Finnish folk duo Kalevauva.fi. The duo uses extracts from online forums and other social media. We argue that this method of song-writing is a prime example of modern folklore as it reflects the collective, anonymous creativity of people and is reminiscent of the compilation of the Finnish national epic Kalevala. The humour in the lyrics is used to create a sense of community and discuss taboos. It rises from incongruity, for example by mismatch between melodies and lyrical content. We relate the lyrics to internet memes, and examine stereotypical and alternative representations of Finnish men. We place Kalevauva.fi in the context of the Kalevala process as well as contemporary music making.

Messages Behind Self-Gifting Practices: A Phenomenological-Anthropological Approach

Messages Behind Self-Gifting Practices: A Phenomenological-Anthropological Approach

Author(s): Rūta Latinytė / Language(s): English / Issue: 88/2023

Keywords: exchange; gift; phenomenological anthropology; research of everyday practices; social relations;

Using the tools of phenomenological anthropology and the means of research into everyday practices, the article discusses contemporary gift-giving practices, focusing on the special cases of gift giving, revealed through the narratives of respondents who were interviewed for the research conducted in Lithuania – a country on the borders of Western, Eastern, and Northern Europe. The analyzed special cases are self-gifts – the ones purchased by the respondents and originally called “a gift to myself” by them, whereas they emphasize that it was not an ordinary purchase but certainly a gift. This phenomenon is analyzed through a deeper insight into three cases: excerpts of qualitative unstructured interviews conducted for the research and a description of the author’s personal experience. In this article, they are presented along with the comments of the author as is characteristic of the phenomenological research. The analysis seeks to reveal how the experiences with self-gifts occur, acquire meaning and place in memory, and how this affects a person’s relationship with themselves and those around them. Although the self-gifting practice sounds like a paradox, it exists in the language and everyday practices, so this analysis aims to look for a deeper message encoded behind the words of individual stories.

The European Bear’s Son Tale: Its Reception and Influence on Indigenous Oral Traditions in North America

The European Bear’s Son Tale: Its Reception and Influence on Indigenous Oral Traditions in North America

Author(s): Roslyn Frank / Language(s): English / Issue: 88/2023

Keywords: ontological turn; new animism; ursine ancestors; Euskara (Basque); French folktales; Native American storytelling traditions; human-animal divide; culture-nature dichotomy; other-than-human persons;

The primary purpose of this article is to explore the way that the Bear’s Son tale, a wide-spread European folktale, came to be incorporated into the oral storytelling traditions of Native Americans. The work is divided into three parts. In the first section the reasons that led me to begin to investigate the European tale are discussed. The second part is dedicated to a discussion of the European tale itself, its plotline and geographical diffusion within Europe and North America. In the third section, I reflect on how and why versions of the European tale came to attract the attention of Native American storytellers, as well as the time frame that might be assigned to the transfer of these oral traditions.

Melting in the Melting Pot: The Acculturation Experience of the Ahiska Turks in the US

Melting in the Melting Pot: The Acculturation Experience of the Ahiska Turks in the US

Author(s): Erol Sakallı / Language(s): English / Issue: 88/2023

Keywords: acculturation; adaptation; Ahıska Turks; integration; migration;

This study investigates the acculturation levels of the Ahıska Turks living in the US. The sample of the survey consisted of 124 Ahıska Turks (nfemale = 61 and nmale = 63). The Abbreviated Multidimensional Acculturation Scale (AMAS-ZABB) was employed to measure the significance of age, marital status, education, employment, length of stay, and language competence in the acculturation process. The findings revealed that, similar to literature data, age, marital status, and language competence were significant, but education, employment, and length of stay were not significant among the Ahıska Turks in contrast with the literature data. The findings were discussed within the framework of the existing literature and suggestions for future research were put forward.

The Status and Roles of Women in Terms of Gender in Ancient Turkish History and Culture Based on the Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk – The First Turkish Dictionary

The Status and Roles of Women in Terms of Gender in Ancient Turkish History and Culture Based on the Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk – The First Turkish Dictionary

Author(s): Nesrin Akıncı Çötok,Ender Büyüközkara,Tufan Çötok / Language(s): English / Issue: 88/2023

Keywords: Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk; family; gender; marriage; social status; woman-man relations

In this paper, based on the Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk – the first Turkish dictionary – the female gender is analysed through the categories of ‘women and their social status’, ‘perception of women from the perspective of gender’, ‘woman-man relationships and family structure’, ‘responsibilities of women’, and ‘clothes and belongings of women’. These categories are determined in the context of the data provided by the definitions of the words related to women in the dictionary. It can be seen from the dictionary that women are classified in terms of social status and that they are part of a hierarchical structure. On the other hand, a woman is perceived as the representative of beauty and aesthetics by being described in terms of physical and inner beauty. In addition, a woman is also described as being coquettish, flirtatious, and crafty. In the dictionary, where it seems that a woman is respected as a wife and mother, it was discovered that marriage and family were highly esteemed, that many cultural rituals were practised in the processes of becoming a bride, that having and raising children was considered important, and that there were relations between spouses based on mutual rights and responsibilities. When the dictionary is analysed in terms of women’s clothing and belongings, it can be seen that a great number of things and ways of adornment are mentioned and that being beautiful is highly esteemed.

Folkloric Manifestation of Primitive Impulses: Folk Riddles

Folkloric Manifestation of Primitive Impulses: Folk Riddles

Author(s): İsmail Abalı / Language(s): English / Issue: 88/2023

Keywords: aggression; primitive impulses; psychoanalytic folklore, sexuality; Turkish folk riddles;

It is known that factors stemming from human nature play an active role in the emergence of riddles, which are one of the oral products. It is obvious that the riddle as a genre, which is thought to have been born and developed for purposes such as having fun, having a good time, arousing curiosity, and solving the unknown, has deep traces of the psychological structure of the human being. In this study, the effect of basic impulses on riddles is discussed with different dimensions. The research is based on document analysis and it was conducted on Turkish riddles that were established with obscene associations with a decent answer, creating a threatening perception and containing insult and cursing, and the samples belonging to the genre were analyzed from a psychoanalytic perspective. At the end of the study, some inferences were made such as the one to the effect that sexuality and aggression impulses can be satisfied without being subjected to any censorship thanks to the peculiar structure and characteristics of riddles.

Joint Estonian–Hungarian Seminar “Global and Local Elements in Contemporary Folklore in Hungary and Estonia”

Joint Estonian–Hungarian Seminar “Global and Local Elements in Contemporary Folklore in Hungary and Estonia”

Author(s): Katalin Vargha / Language(s): English / Issue: 88/2023

A new academic cooperation started in 2022, bringing together researchers of contemporary folklore from two institutions: the Estonian Literary Museum in Tartu, Estonia, and the Institute of Ethnology of the Research Centre for the Humanities in Budapest, Hungary. The aim of the project is to collect and analyze jokes, memes, contemporary legends and other contemporary folklore forms (e.g., school lore), their usage and dynamics in order to detect playfulness and creativity in the (new) formats they take and address the way they reflect the social reality that gives rise to them. The project aims to take into account cross-cultural as well as diachronic and synchronic perspectives, offering a unique and innovative perspective in folklore studies of Estonia, Hungary, and Belarus. The first joint seminar within the framework of the cooperation was held at the Institute of Ethnology in Budapest on November 29, 2022. The nine presentations were connected in many ways, at the same time covering a wide range of topics.

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Migration

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Migration

Author(s): Mare Kõiva / Language(s): English / Issue: 88/2023

Review of: Mila Maeva & Magdalena Slavkova & Plamena Stoyanova & Mina Hristova (eds.) Between the Worlds: Migrants, Margins, and Social Environment. Vol. 3. Sofia: IEFSEM – BAS & Paradigma, 2021. 338 pp.

Disaster management in a dystopian novel: A case study of JJ Amaworo Wilson’s Damnificados

Disaster management in a dystopian novel: A case study of JJ Amaworo Wilson’s Damnificados

Author(s): Antony Hoyte-West / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: flood; crisis management; PPRR model; Torre de David; dystopian fiction; emergency response

Several years ago, the large number of people living illegally in the so-called Tower of David, an abandoned high-rise building in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, caught the attention of the world’s media. Based on this unlikely source of inspiration, a similar such skyscraper forms the centrepiece to Damnificados, a dystopian novel by JJ Amaworo Wilson, which was first published in 2016. Set in a nameless country, this innovative and engaging novel frequently turns to magic realism in its depiction of the ‘damnificados’, a motley crew of squatters who are under constant threat from external perils, both natural and man-made. Under the guidance of the novel’s hero, Nacho, strategies to manage these threats are developed and implemented, with significant implications for the building’s inhabitants and their welfare. Accordingly, this exploratory contribution aims to identify and apply a relevant disaster management framework to the first of the many calamities portrayed in the novel, which is where the building and the city surrounding it are inundated by a catastrophic flood. In evaluating the inhabitants’ response through the lens of the framework, this study thereby provides an interdisciplinary overview of how disaster management strategies can be represented in literary texts.

The use of ditransitive constructions among L1 Lugbarati speakers of English in Uganda: A preliminary study

The use of ditransitive constructions among L1 Lugbarati speakers of English in Uganda: A preliminary study

Author(s): Peace Yikiru,Bebwa Isingoma / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: English; Uganda; ditransitive; Lugbarati; substrate influence;

One of the important features of structural nativization of L2 varieties of English is how their grammar converges with and/or diverges from their parent variety, usually, British English. Building on Isingoma (2016, 2021a), this study is set out to augment discourse on verb complementational profile in Ugandan English, focusing on ditransitive constructions. Using naturalistic data from semi-structured interviews involving 50 participants from L1 Lugbarati (a Central Sudanic language) speakers of English, the study shows that the Prepositional Phrase Construction (PPC) involving goal verbs is preferred over the Double Object Construction (DOC) configuration. Moreover, our data did not have a single incidence of benefactive DOCs. Substrate influence from Lugbarati, among others, appears to be a contributing factor, given that DOCs are rare in this language, as they are constrained by the semantic criterion of ‘prior possession’ of the theme/patient by the recipient/beneficiary referent. The findings thus show that Isingoma’s (2016) monolithic generalizations about this phenomenon are debatable, as he indicates that the DOC is overwhelmingly acceptable with goal verbs in Ugandan English and that the particularities observed in ditransitive constructions in the variety are influenced by Bantu languages (where the DOC is the norm). Likewise, the assertion that Ugandans ubiquitously use the non-canonical PPC configuration for benefactive verbs (Isingoma, 2016) does not hold for L1 Lugbarati speakers of English, as the configuration was manifestly sporadic in our data, as opposed to the canonical PPC. The current study thus underscores the fact that there is substantial interspeaker variability in Ugandan English along ethnolinguistic lines (cf. Isingoma & Meierkord, 2022).

Pedagogical conditions for the use of electronic educational resources in the context of the modernization of linguistic education

Pedagogical conditions for the use of electronic educational resources in the context of the modernization of linguistic education

Author(s): Dana Bartosh,Maria Kharlamova,Tatiana Pochinok,Elena Stoyanova / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: electronic educational resources; language education; higher education; pedagogical conditions for the use of EER; teaching foreign languages;

The aim of this paper is to analyze the main parameters of electronic educational resources (EER) in foreign language education at university level, and to identify the pedagogical conditions for their optimal use with the final goal of motivation of students for learning activities and as a result the quality of education and optimizing language training. Using theoretical methods, data were obtained on the current trends in the use of electronic educational resources in the study of foreign languages; оn the basis of systematic observations of the students’ activity in the classroom and the evaluation of their productive activities, pedagogical conditions were identified and justified that contribute to the activity of students when working with EER, taking into account the purpose of these resources. The identified pedagogical conditions for the use of EER in the educational process, according to the intended purpose of these resources and taking into account the peculiarities of perception and the needs of modern students, contribute to a more rational integration of EER in teaching students foreign languages, the optimal use of these resources to motivate students to study and increase the productivity of the educational process. Some of the conclusions reached are that EERs have a significant potential for intensifying the educational process, provided that the identified pedagogical conditions for their use are met. These conditions relate to the objectives of a particular stage of learning, taking into account the cognitive characteristics of students, the possibility of choosing and determining the relevant information by them, the interactive nature of computer tasks. The increase of the open tasks in the educational process and multimedia resources are intended to orient the teacher in the choice of the necessary EER and the methodology for its application.

An investigation of the Saudi EFL teachers’ pragmatic awareness

An investigation of the Saudi EFL teachers’ pragmatic awareness

Author(s): Abdullah Ahmed Zughaibi / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: pragmatic awareness; pragmatic competence; EFL teachers; language learning;

This study aims to investigate Saudi teachers’ pragmatic awareness and the impact of their gender and qualification. A lack of appropriate knowledge and pragmatic activities may limit students’ pragmatic growth in the target language. Thus far, most pragmatic research has focused on issues concerning learners’ pragmatic competence, with only a few studies focusing on teachers’ pragmatic competence, particularly in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. A total of 86 EFL teachers from Saudi public schools participated in this study. The questionnaire created by Ivanova (2018) was used to collect data for this study. The findings indicated that even though some teachers did not respond or provided irrelevant or incorrect examples of speech acts, Saudi EFL teachers have a relatively high level of awareness in general, and teachers’ qualifications and gender have no significant effect on pragmatic awareness, with female teachers having slightly higher pragmatic awareness than male teachers, and master’s degree holders having slightly higher pragmatic awareness than bachelor’s degree holders. This suggests that, while individual characteristics, such as gender and degree, have no apparent effect on awareness, teachers should be aware of their own pragmatic competence to develop their students’ pragmatic competence.

English language pre-service teachers’ perspectives on TED Talks as an educational support

English language pre-service teachers’ perspectives on TED Talks as an educational support

Author(s): Burcu Koç,Paşa Tevfik Cephe / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: TED Talks; teacher education; pre-service language teachers; educational support;

The study examines the potential educational value of TED (technology, entertainment, and design) Talks as supplementary resources in the form of an assignment for teaching English as a foreign language in a teacher education context. Three questions guided our research: (1) What are English language pre-service teachers’ perspectives on the use of TED Talks in a course for teacher education? (2) What are the problems uttered by English language pre-service teachers on the use of TED Talks in a course for teacher education? (3) What are English language pre-service teachers’ suggestions for improving the use of TED Talks as educational support? The data for this case study were collected by means of an open-ended survey questionnaire prepared by the researchers. Sixty-one first-grade university students majoring in teaching English as a foreign language participated in this study as a part of their regular listening and pronunciation course for a semester. The data were analyzed using a simple thematic analysis. The results revealed a number of factors affecting the pre-service teachers’ perspectives on the use of TED Talks in a course for teacher education. Varying, interesting, and informative content, exposure to various accents, listening and pronunciation practice outside the class, embracing a positive mindset, and being granted the autonomy to choose the video to watch each week were among the most frequently mentioned positive factors, while workload, time constraints, and difficulty finding a suitable video to watch were among the most frequently mentioned negative ones. Implications for integrating TED Talks into language teacher education and foreign language teaching were discussed.

Aspects of teaching and learning verbs of perception

Aspects of teaching and learning verbs of perception

Author(s): Tsvetalina Aneva / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: perception verbs; classification; active and passive perception; language teaching;

The present research takes a practical and methodological approach to verbs of perception with a focus on some specific characteristics of the basic perception verbs, paying special attention to the difference between active and passive perception. It aims at investigating the difficulties that students face when studying perception verbs and applying grammar rules. The study applies qualitative and quantitative analysis to examine learners’ deviations in the use of perception verbs. The analysis of students’ errors reveals that it is difficult for learners to identify the main differences between the three types of perception verbs: those denoting actions, perceptions and properties.

Major and local railways in Bukovina before World War I

Major and local railways in Bukovina before World War I

Author(s): Volodymyr Klapchuk,Lesia Polyova,Liliya Loyak,Iryna Mendela / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: Galicia; circle; district; voivodeship; county; administrative and territorial division; ethnic groups; religious groups

The article analyzes the history of railway transport in Bukovina. Railway connections have played and continue to play an important role in the social and economic development of the region. Railway connections created new opportunities for the organization of cost-effective passenger and cargo transport. Railway lines organically combined passenger needs with the region’s economic interests. Railway transport also facilitated the general mobilization in the country on the eve of World War I. The study explores the evolution of major and local railways in Bukovina. The strategic importance of the network of major and local railways for the region’s development and its positive impact on all areas of life in Bukovina were analyzed. Special emphasis was placed on the strategic importance of Bukovina’s railways in the overall railway system of the Habsburg Empire. The study demonstrated that on the eve of the World War I at the beginning of the 20th century, Bukovina had numerous connections to external railways and played an important role in Austria-Hungary’s railway system. The railway system contributed to Bukovina’s status as a trade hub that exchanged goods with other districts in the empire as well as foreign partners.

The influence of Сaritas charitable organizations on the development of religious diplomacy

The influence of Сaritas charitable organizations on the development of religious diplomacy

Author(s): Nataliia Lukach,Nadiia Rusko,Halyna Lutsyshyn / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2022

Keywords: non-governmental organization; network of charitable organizations; new transnational actor; global system; religious diplomacy; civil society

The article analyzes the influence of the Caritas network of charitable organizations on international relations during the period of political transformations. The network’s direct influence on the complex process of social democratization is discussed. The study demonstrated that Caritas is an important transnational actor and an effective religious diplomatic tool that has contributed to the formation of a new global order.

The relationship between religious and state press censorship in the Enlightenment-era Kingdom of Hungary

The relationship between religious and state press censorship in the Enlightenment-era Kingdom of Hungary

Author(s): András Döbör / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2023

Keywords: press history; church censorship; state censorship; Kingdom of Hungary; enlightenment; enlightened absolutism

In my study, I briefly summarize the process, as a result of which church press censorship in the Kingdom of Hungary from the 16th century was transformed into state censorship in the 18th century. Censorship, by controlling the content of written works appearing in print, served the purposes of enlightenment, enlightened absolutism instead of religion, and protected the interests of the ruler who controlled the absolutist state. After the definition of censorship and its historical antecedents in Europe, I present its beginnings in Hungary, during which the Catholic Church and the Protestants exercised control, and the rulers and the parliament fighting for orderly rights tried to create decrees to limit the operation of the press. By the end of the 17th century, overlapping jurisdictions created confusing conditions. Finally, I present the press policy of the enlightened absolutism that abolished church censorship, Maria Theresa’s and Joseph II’s decrees, which opened a new era in Hungarian press history.

PhD Dissertation Progress Report

PhD Dissertation Progress Report

Author(s): Gellért Ernő Marton / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2022

Keywords: Péter Koháry; Peace Treaty of Szőny (1627); territorial negotiations at Szécsény and Buda (1628–1629); Habsburg–Ottoman diplomatic affairs; quantitative and qualitative analysis of a collection of cor

The aim of this paper is to present a report about the status of the author’s ongoing doctoral dissertation. Since the author’s first publication had been published in Rocznik Przemyski. Historia in 2019, further archival research was made as well as other publications were finished concerning the Habsburg–Ottoman territorial negotiations in Szécsény and Buda in 1628–1629. In the following, one can find information regarding publications related to the topic of the dissertation, and information regarding the first partial results.