Publisher: Srpski genealoški centar

Autobiography in Context

Autobiografija u kontekstu

Author(s): Gordana Gorunović / Language(s): Serbian

This is an essay-book whose subject matter focuses on group identity, individuality and subjective consciousness within one particular traditional socio-cultural environment (Orahovac village in the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro), which has undergone radical changes in the course of time, especially in the period following the Second World War, and at the same time managed to adapt and survive. The first two parts of the book provide descriptions and interpretations of the context, both from a wider historical and a narrower ethnographic perspective (for the period preceding and immediately after the Second World War), while the third part is dedicated to the memoirist text written by a member of the studied local community in the late 20th century, who was the key informant in the ethnographic research. It is about the way in which a real person, a "common woman", who had been socialized/enculturated in a patriarchal rural environment, understands her own life “in between historical and personal time ", and seeks to transpose that knowledge into an (auto)narrative and an "autobiography about others", a text which also speaks about other people and other times in this local community. The title itself, "Autobiography of a Woman from Orahovac" is an evocation of the relative reference point which is Didara: Life Story of a Woman from Prizren (Malešević 2004). Herein I outlined an interpretative framework: autobiography vs. life story, and autobiography as self-portrait (William Howarth’s concept) for the reading of the text of the key informant, which is edited and published for the first time as a personal source for history and ethnography.

Urban Legends

Urbane legende

Author(s): Ivan Kovačević / Language(s): Serbian

The aim of the book is to demonstrate two major points: 1) that the long-lasting fieldwork of Anglo-American style is by far not a sine qua non of contemporary anthropological research, and 2) to explain how anthropological analyses of non-ethnographised phenomena could improve understanding of the transformative processes through which American popular culture comes to be global. In the context of the ongoing debate over significance and specificity of anthropological methods after the radical impact of the digital revolution on science-specific information patterns, this book is dedicated to rehabilitation of the so-called "armchair anthropology". "Armchair anthropology", as a comparative analysis of human cultural production based on ethnographic data gathered by anyone, and then selected and bricolaged by an anthropologist trained in sophisticated semiological analyses, is fine and well. Delusional waste of time and squandering of human and institutional resources during the so-called "crisis of anthropolog", poorly focused on pseudo-methodological and theoretically frivolous debates on "postmodern ethnography" is over. It is the right moment for anthropology to engage in social analysis by doing what it is best at.

Folk Religion

Narodna religija

Author(s): Danijel Sinani / Language(s): Serbian

Macedonian Traditional Folk Singing

Македонско традиционално народно певањe

Author(s): Rodna Veličkovska / Language(s): Serbian

The Spirit Possession and Exorcism in Serbia

Опседнутост и егзорцизам у Србији

Author(s): Danijel Sinani / Language(s): Serbian

The Problem of European Identity

Problem evropskog identiteta

Author(s): Ivana Gačanović / Language(s): Serbian

Anthropology of Contemporaneity

Antropologija savremenosti

Author(s): / Language(s): Serbian

Anthropology of Old Age: Retirement Homes

Antropologija starosti: domovi

Author(s): Ljubica Milosavljević / Language(s): Serbian

In Search For Meanings

Traženje značenja

Author(s): Ivan Kovačević,Dragana Antonijević / Language(s): Serbian

This book, written by two authors – Prof. dr Ivan Kovačević and Prof. dr Dragana Antonijević, is a compilation of articles containing different subjects interpreted through socio-cultural anthropology, political anthropology, historical anthropology, economic anthropology and folkloristics point of view, and accordingly has five chapters named: About Anthropology, About Anthropology of Folklore, About Fairy Tales, About Cultural Inheritance and Heritage, and About Dorćol (central and oldest Belgrade municipality). In the section below there are short abstracts of each of presented paper.

Anthropology of Clifford Geertz

Antropologija Kliforda Gerca

Author(s): Gordana Gorunović / Language(s): Serbian

Toward Policy of Serbian Anthropology for 21st century

Ka politici srpske antropologije za XXI vek

Author(s): Miloš Milenković / Language(s): Serbian

Essay in Anthropology of Old Age

Ogledi iz antropologije starosti

Author(s): Ljubica Milosavljević / Language(s): Serbian

Political Ethnography and Serbian Intellectual Elite at the Time of Creation of Yugoslavia 1914-1919: Case of Jovan Cvijić

Politička etnografija i srpska intelektualna elita u vreme stvaranja Jugoslavije 1914-1919: slučaj Jovana Cvijića

Author(s): Marko Pišev / Language(s): Serbian

Woman's

Žensko

Author(s): Miroslava Malešević / Language(s): Serbian

History of the Postmodern Anthropology

Istorija postmoderne antropologije

Author(s): Miloš Milenković / Language(s): Serbian

After reassessing "what was postmodern after all" in anthropology, the analysis aims at repositioning the debate into a relatively coherent change in a view of what (social) science is. My main purpose is to demonstrate how anthropology should or has already changed its objects, theories and methods conforming itself to interdisciplinary and multicultural politics of knowledge. In a separate study I suggest that reflexivity in anthropology can be viewed as a coordinative definition that helped anthropology survive its three crises – the crisis of ethnographic representation, the crisis of scientific realism, and the crisis of anthropological authority. In addition, reflexivity, in a specific sense, can be taken as a substitute for experiment, a subsititute even better than comparative studies, and can thus help fulfill the long dream of consolidating anthropology on firm scientific grounds (a dream I believe is, though, no longer necessary). This text should be understood as a part of a series of studies that strive towards the methodological formalization of supposedly formalization-resistant concepts of postmodern anthropology. In reality, reflexive anthropology became postmodern science only by admitting to be experimental art, but the question is who would understand and, more importantly, finance and apply this concept? The incorporation of reflexivity into the core of anthropology enabled it to finally achieve the status of science, in the most conservative and general methodological sense. Therefore, the anti-postmodern frustration present in some relatively recent debates is neither methodologically nor pragmatically founded. Reflexivity can only be useful, not harmful to the discipline, even from the standpoint of traditional, problem-applicative concepts of method. The only remaining assignment is to reformulate it so it could be applied by methodological traditionalists as well. As much of the debate driven by the postmodern critique may well be reduced to the problem of whether there is any relevant epistemic difference between theoretical and observational assertions, my purpose is to suggest that it corresponds with "the entity realism debate" in philosophy of science. Concluding chapter aims at repositioning "the writing culture debate" into the "writing political subjects" debate, and at reaffirming its relevance both for research and acceleration of broader social, political, scientific and educational changes in contemporary Serbia.

Risk and Violence

Rizik i nasilje

Author(s): Bojan Žikić / Language(s): Serbian

This is an ethnography-based study on social epidemiology of seks work. It concerns risk-generating factors for various blood-borne diseases and sexually transmitted infections. It features the world of female and travestite sex-works of Serbian capital city and its surrounding, mostly of those street-based, but some of them working in agency or as an escort also. The main topic of the study is to list, analyse and discuss factors and circumstances responsible for social epidemiological vulnerability of the members of this marginal population. The data is acquired by performing in-depth interviews mostly, but also by using survey on harm-reduction and prevention of HIV/AIDS, HCV and STI. Sex work has been discussed only as a referential frame for social epidemiological analysis, where general theoretical views on it have been featured, but in that matter, which had not obscure the primary goal of the research. The methodology of recruiting the informants and collecting the data has been presented, alongside with the basic ethnography of sex work in Belgrade, including life circumstances leading person to become the sex worker, initiation to sex work, way somebody’s professional routine is organised, and the (il)legal frame of it. Professional behaviour of sex workers, concerning various ways of endangering their health has been discussed, focused primary on the issues like having protected or unprotected sex with clients, partners, and pimps – motives for doing so and circumstances of such performances; economic hardship; substance abuse. Structural violence has been identified as a major force of determination concerning relations within the sex work milieu, where it is revealed that such violence has been multidirected, from- and to every principle category, engaged in sex work milieu this way or another: sex workers, their spouses, relatives or partners, clients, law enforce officers. It is concluded that sex working population could become epidemiological bridge to wider population eventually, but that harm reduction and prevention focused to the sex workers solely would prove to be futile unless it is realised that the legal status of their profession contributes much to their vulnerability, together with customers’ irresponsibility by insisting on risky practices when buying sex.

Singing with the Gusle

Пјевање уз гусле

Author(s): Dimitrije Golemovic / Language(s): Serbian

Sex/Gender and Religion

Pol/rod i religija

Author(s): Lidija Radulović / Language(s): Serbian

The study explores the social and cultural construction of gender in the traditional religion of the Serbs in the course of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. Investigation of gender, with the anthropology of gender and the study of religion and gender as the focal points, is problematized through the key themes. Taking the perspective of gender-oriented research, the study is primarily based upon the constructionist paradigm and the various theoretical approaches in the analysis of religion. The discourse analysis, together with diverse research methods, is applied to the study of popular religion. In general, this study aims to, throughout the analysis of gender constructions in traditional culture, propose an alternative representation of the popular religion, and vice versa, to propose an alternative representation of cultural construction of gender and gender-based relations through the research of popular religion. The study also questions the theory that the popular religion of the Serbs is primarily entrenched in the principle of hierarchically organized sex/gender relations. Quite the opposite, the study suggests the principle of situational and contextual heterarchy: various dimensions and sorts of power stem from particular constructionsof religious discourses of masculine and feminine. Accordingly, through the analysis of magic and mytho-ritual spheres of popular religion, the study concludes that the absolute supremacy of men does not exist, even though religion has traditionally and ina variety of ways sustained their patriarchal role and power. The realm of sacred is actually the realm of power redistribution;therefore, it is context-sensitive and alterable. Some of the problems considered in this study are: 1) notions of femininity, masculinity, parenthood (motherhood), sexuality are the socio-cultural constructions an the patterns of their representation can be perceived in ritual-mytohological corpus of traditional culture; 2) recognizing magic as a strategy of symbolic power is relativizing representation of magic as exclusively women practice, which contributes to women subordination in particular social spheres; 3) reconsidering thesis that men control over reproduction is not absolute, furthermore, various strategies can bi noticed of women themself trying to obtain control; 4) it is shown that a consequence of collision of various masculine discourses is leading to demonization of alternative discourses.

Religion here and now

Religija ovde i sada

Author(s): Lidija Radulović / Language(s): Serbian

Demons and Rituals

Demoni i rituali

Author(s): Danijel Sinani / Language(s): Serbian

U monografiji Demoni i rituali dr Danijela Sinanija, profesora na Odeljenju za etnologiju i antropologiju Filozofskog fakulteta u Beogradu,obrađeni su rituali vezani za najveće religijske praznike - one koji su to po dogmi, ali čija se proslava vrši na način koji se razlikuje od njihove katehitičke propisanosti, što je jedna od osnovnih karakteristika naše narodne religije. S druge strane, posebna pažnja je posvećena demonologiji, koja predstavlja važan činilac svakog religijskog sistema, s obzirom na to da ukazuje nastavove i vrednosti koje pripadnici neke zajednice pripisuju određenim pojavama, procesima i događajima - kako iz sveta prirode, tako i iz ljudskog sveta, sveta kulture. Autor se usredsredio na osnovne demonološke kategorije naše narodne religije, u kojima se reflektuje tradicijska kulturna misao o ljudskom ponašanju i organizovanju, njegovim vezama s prirodom od koje zavisi i koju koristi, te s drugim ljudskim grupama - aposebno značajnom se čini uvodna studija o „srpskoj“ demonologiji. Studija Demoni i rituali predstavlja celovit i ujednačen pristup najznačajnijim fenomenima iz jedne izuzetno značajne oblasti duhovne kulture našeg naroda. Potenciranje savremenih pristupa, promišljanje teorija i metoda, kao i insistiranje naantropološkoj perspektivi u posmatranju problema, otkriva skrivene”dogme” narodne religioznosti i prikazuje ih kao ujednačen sistem koji ima nemerljivu funkciju u organizaciji života - kako tradicionalnih, tako i savremenih seoskih i urbanih zajednica u Srbiji. Prof. dr Ivan Kovačević