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“A Plump Amour with an Inverted Torch”: Notes on Pushkin’s “Grobovshchik”

«Амур с опрокинутым факелом»: Заметки о повести Пушкина «Гробовщик»

Author(s): Elena Kardash / Language(s): Russian / Issue: 4/2017

Keywords: 19th-Century Russian Literature; Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837); Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781); Allegorical Image of Death; History of Signboards;

This article is devoted to one of the most enigmatic details of Pushkin’s Grobovshchik (1831), namely, “a plump Amour with an inverted torch.” The author investigates its variable semantic structures, and a range of narrative potentials determined by such contexts as a) classical allegorical tradition, b) patterns of the anecdote genre, c) elegiac language, and d) some elements of funeral practice.

Guest of Dionysian Bacchanalia in the Lower Dniester Area

Гость дионисийских вакханалий в Нижнем Поднестровье

Author(s): Elena P. Sekerskaya,Nikolai Syniak / Language(s): Russian / Issue: 3/2017

Keywords: Lower Dniester area; Greek period; musical instruments; aulos; flute

This is the first article to present a full list of the bone musical instruments found in the ancient colony of Nikonion and the Nadlymanskoe hillfort with Hellenic or Hellenised population. The findings underwent a complex source analysis and an interdisciplinary study. It was established that three out of the four given artefacts are segments of a composite bone auloi. Two fragments, made from metacarpal sheep bones, are the outer ends of the instruments and the third one is a mouthpiece. The instrument from Nadlymanskoe hillfort is confirmed to be an end-blown flute. Specifics of the auloi and end-blown flutes manufacturing are discussed, as well as their part in the religious life of the Hellenic settlers in the Lower Dniester region. The Dionysian rites were a characteristic attribute of the religious ceremonial life existing in the Greek colonies throughout the Northern Black Sea area including the Lower Dniester region. Playing aulos was an essential part of these rites. A comprehensive study of the instruments allowed to find their precise analogues and suggest their local origin. The finds broaden the geographical distribution of the early Hellenic bone auloi.

Territorial competition in the New Economy. Different strategies in different urban settings

Territorial competition in the New Economy. Different strategies in different urban settings

Author(s): Tom Kauko / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

Keywords: agglomeration economies; new economy; territorial competition

Territorial competition in the New Economy comprises a variety of strategies, both direct and indirect ones. In this paper, first the most common direct strategies (traditional, ICT, cultural) are discussed from an interdisciplinary perspective (urban geography, economic geography and urban economics, at least). Then, some indirect real estate and housing strategies (value creation, affordability) are discussed. After that, the post-socialist context (where Richard Florida’s ideas have a high uptake) is examined as a specific case of dynamic territorial competition process. Finally, a summary and conclusions are given.

The Polish Cyborg

The Polish Cyborg

Author(s): Emiliano Ranocchi / Language(s): English / Issue: 7/2016

Far from being enthusiastic “modernolatry” of Italian futurism, Polish futurism demonstrates an attitude of ambivalence toward modernity. This is particularly evident in the Polish approach to that very synecdoche of modernity which is the machine. In his essay of 1923, the leader of the group, Bruno Jasieński, compares the fetishistic cult of the machine, which characterizes the Italian approach, with the utilitarian one of the Russians, exemplified by a quote from Majakovskij. To these two propositions, as a sort of Hegelian synthesis, he adds a Polish one consisting in the conception of the machine as a prosthesis, a continuation of the human body. Thereby he introduces an idea later known as “cyborg”. The category of cyborg is also useful to understand the work of another today almost forgotten Polish writer of the Twenties, Jerzy Sosnkowski. He was the author of a short novel, A Car, You and Me (Love of Machines), in which a whole chapter concerns the chief character’s dystopian nightmare wherein machines take control over the world. The third section of the essay deals with the idea of man a machine – an old, 18th century conception, which became actual anew in the 20th century and whose traces we can findc among others in a well-known poem by Tytus Czyżewski. Thirty years before N. Wiener, Polish modernists seem to have sensed the social, political and anthropological implications of the mechanization of work.

Monastic sites visited by A. M. Pozdneev during his second trip to Mongolia (1892–1893)

Monastic sites visited by A. M. Pozdneev during his second trip to Mongolia (1892–1893)

Author(s): Krisztina Teleki / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2014

Keywords: Mongolia; Buddhism; Buddhist monasteries; Pozdneev; Manchu period of Mongolia;

The present paper summarises the results of a survey executed in Mongolia in 2010 with the support of the Stein-Arnold Exploration Fund of the British Academy (SA100018). The aim of the survey was to study the present stage and heritage of the monasteries visited by the Russian scholar, A. M. Pozdneev (1851–1920) in the area of Mongolia in 1892–1893. The survey included documentation fieldwork and research work in local archives and libraries. Pozdneev visited a total of 47 monastic sites that covered different types of monasteries existent in Mongolia at that time including monastic “villages” or monastic “towns”, imperial monasteries, yurt-temples, and others. The present article describes Pozdneev’s journey in brief and lists the monastic sites he visited. Due to the destructive activities of Soviet ideology not much has remained out of these marvellous monastic sites for today: their majority was ruined in 1937–1938, and only few of them were rebuilt after 1990. Due to the lack of written sources, in many cases Pozdneev’s account is the only source that reports on these sites. Based on the sites he visited and his general definition of monasteries, six different types of monastic sites are determined in the present article that existed in Mongolia at the end of the Manchu period (1691–1911).

REVIEWS

REVIEWS

Author(s): Zsuzsanna Muntag-Tabajdi,Anikó Báti,László Mód,Krisztina Frauhammer,Lehel Peti,László Lukács,Julianna Örsi / Language(s): English,German / Issue: 1/2012

Keywords: book review; anthropology; ethnology; ethnography; museology; Hungary; Turkey; tradition; religion; christianity; industiral areas; Finns;

Review of: 1. Dániel BÁRTH: Benedikció és exorcizmus a kora újkori Magyarországon [Benediktion und Exorzismus im frühneuzeitlichen Ungarn]. Fontes Ethnologiae Hungaricae IX. Budapest: L’Harmattan–Pécsi Tudományegyetem Néprajz – Kulturális Antropológia Tanszék 2010, 452 Seiten. by: Zsuzsanna Muntag-Tabajdi 2. Balázs BORSOS – Zoltán MAGYAR: A magyar népi kultúra régiói 1–2. [Regions of Hungarian Folk Culture 1–2]. Budapest: Mérték Kiadó 2011, 402 pp., 421 pp. by: Anikó Báti 3. Miklós CSERI: Néprajz és muzeológia. Tanulmányok a népi építészet és a múzeumi etnográfi a köréből [Ethnology and Museology. Studies on Peasant Architecture and Museum Ethnography]. Debrecen: Debreceni Egyetem 2009. 412 pp. by: László Mód 4. Miklós CSERI – Zsolt SÁRI (eds.): Vidéki életmódváltozások a 20. században [Changes in the Rural Way of Life in the 20th Century]. Szentendre: Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum 2009, 400 pp. by: Anikó Báti 5. Anna FARMATI: Más régi ének. A XVII. századi katolikus népköltészet szövegtípusai és motívumrendszere [Ein anderes altes Lied. Die Texttypen und das Motivsystem der katholischen Volkslieddichtung des 17. Jahrhunderts.] Kolozsvár: Verbum Kiadó 2009, 260 Seiten. by: Krisztina Frauhammer 6. Hermann KURZKE: Kirchenlied und Kultur. Mainzer Hymnologische Studien Band 24. Tübingen: Francke Verlag 2010. 261 Seiten. by: Krisztina Frauhammer 7. Tamás MOHAY: A csíksomlyói pünkösdi búcsújárás. Történet, eredet, hagyomány. [The Whitsun Pilgrimage Feast of Csíksomlyó. History, Origin, Tradition]. Budapest: L’Harmattan 2009, 388 pp. by: Lehel Peti 8. Attila PALÁDI-KOVÁCS: Ipari táj. Gyárak, bányák, műhelyek népe a 19–20. században [Industriegegend. Das Volk der Fabriken, Bergwerke und Werkstätten im 19.–20. Jahrhundert]. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó 2007, 327 Seiten, zahlreiche schwarzweiße und farbige Abb., Karten. by: László Lukács 9. Zsuzsa SZARVAS (ed.): Milyennek a finnek? Finnország magyar szemmel. Kiállítás a Néprajzi Múzeumban. 2009. június 28–2010. szeptember 28. [How We See the Finns? Finland: A Hungarian Perspective. Exhibition in the Museum of Ethnography. 28 June 2009–28 September 2010]. Budapest: Néprajzi Múzeum 2009, 315 pp. by: László Mód 10. Eszter SZENDREI: Törésvonalak. A rendszerváltás hatása Túrkeve társadalmára [Fracture Lines. The Effect of the Change of System on the Society of Túrkeve].Túrkeve: Túrkeve Kulturális Egyesület 2011, 272 pp. by: Julianna Örsi

True Blue: On the Syntax and Connotations of Colour and ‘Class Membership’ Adjectives in Russian

True Blue: On the Syntax and Connotations of Colour and ‘Class Membership’ Adjectives in Russian

Author(s): Anna Mostovaia / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2009

Keywords: colour; connotation; adjectives; noun phrases; semantics;

Colour adjectives are known to refer to different parts of the colour continuum in different contexts. The interpretation of colour adjectives, as well as some other types of adjectives, depends on the noun they modify. The first part of this paper surveys some approaches to the meaning of adjectives, starting with James Mill and J. S. Mill who first introduced the concept of ‘connotation’ in order to clarify the nature of adjectival signification. The second part of the paper contains a discussion of some contemporary approaches to the meaning of adjectives. The third part of the paper is concerned with the meaning of a group of Russian adjectives which all emphasize that an object is a member of a class. These are the words настоящий [real], типичный [typical], обычный [usual/ordinary], нормальный [normal] and средний [average]. A number of differences in the meaning and the syntax of these and a few other adjectives, referring to ‘class membership’, are considered. The fourth part of the paper is concerned with a possibility to combine adjectives like на- стоящий [real] and обычный [usual /ordinary] with colour adjectives in Russian. The meaning of the resulting phrases in real language contexts is considered.

ANTI-PROVERBS AND MASS COMMUNICATION: THE INTERPLAY OF TRADITIONAL AND INNOVATIVE FOLKLORE

ANTI-PROVERBS AND MASS COMMUNICATION: THE INTERPLAY OF TRADITIONAL AND INNOVATIVE FOLKLORE

Author(s): Wolfgang Mieder / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2007

Keywords: anti-proverb; currency; folklore; frequency; humor; innovation; mass media; parody; proverb; tradition; traditionality; variation; wisdom;

While a number of anti-proverb collections as well as linguistic studies of such proverb parodies have appeared in several languages during the past twenty-five years, they have for the most part ignored the folkloristic importance of anti-proverbs as the source of new folk proverbs. There is no doubt that most anti proverbs are one-day-wonders in that they will never enter general folk speech by gaining a certain currency and traditionality. However, there are at least some anti-proverbs that do express new wisdom and which have by now been accepted as innovatively expressed wisdom based on traditional proverbial structures. All of this is taking place in the vast area of the mass media (newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the Internet), enabling such newly discovered wisdom to reach thousands of people who in turn use these texts to such a degree that they can be considered to be new proverbs. It behooves paremiologists to study these new proverbs, and paremiographers should definitely include these proverbs in their revised or new proverb collections. Proverb scholarship throughout the world will not advance if scholars do not pay proper attention to the proverbial lore of modernity, with anti-proverbs at least in part being important sources for such new proverbs.

The Polish Society for the Preservation of Monuments of Culture and Art in Kraków before World War I – attempts at transpartition activities

The Polish Society for the Preservation of Monuments of Culture and Art in Kraków before World War I – attempts at transpartition activities

Author(s): Adrianna Sznapik / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

Keywords: Kraków Polish Society for the Preservation of Monuments of Culture and Art; Galicia; Jerzy Mycielski; protection of monuments; culture and social society; partitions of Poland

In 1902 in Kraków the Polish Society for the Preservation of Monuments of Culture and Art was established with the purpose of protection of all Polish monuments in all the Polish lands under three partitions. The group of founders was dominated by professors of the Jagiellonian University and the Academy of Fine Arts, members of the Polish aristocracy and students from the families of landowners. The Society’s president was Jerzy Mycielski, an art historian and professor of the JU. The main difference distinguishing the Society from others was its activity within the territories of three partitions set forth in the statute. For this reason, an important place within the Society’s structure was occupied by its non-local members who were to recruit new members and collect membership fees, but also to make inventories of Polish historical monuments and take measures for their preservation. Their activities are reflected in a collection of their correspondence preserved in the National Archives in Kraków. Most members were from Galicia, from the Kingdom of Poland and from annexed territories. The letters reveal their zeal and dedication to their tasks; and it should be emphasised here that usually they were amateurs, lovers of history or archaeology, such as the family of Chrzanowski from the Lublin Gubernia, or Father Górzyński from the Kalisz Gubernia, Michał Rawicz Witanowski from Kłodawa, or Wandalin Szukiewicz from Vilnius. The Society, despite organisational problems, had several important successes, such as saving the castle at Trakai, restoration of St Michael’s Church in Vilnius, or salvation from demolition of the Krzysztofory Palace in Kraków. Despite the fact that three-partition operations specified in the statute were carried out only partially, the activities of the Society could be regarded as successful, for it was the first institution protecting Polish historical monuments on the Polish lands under the three partitioning powers. The article is to remind of this pioneering activity in the context of transpartitional cooperation in the name of protection and preservation of Polish cultural heritage.

The Soldier’s Return – the Canadian WWI Veteran Care System

The Soldier’s Return – the Canadian WWI Veteran Care System

Author(s): Magdalena Paluszkiewicz-Misiaczek / Language(s): English / Issue: 15/2017

Keywords: WWI; veterans; reintegration; pensions; shell shock

In Canada World War I has been called the Great War until now. As part of the British Empire, the Dominion of Canada entered the war when Great Britain declared war against Germany on 4th August 1914. During four years of this conflict over 600 000100 soldiers served in the Canadian army , among whom 66 000 were killed and app. 150 000 wounded. This article presents the most important challenges and problems connected with the process of creating a pioneer state veteran care system in Canada for veterans of Expeditionary Force fighting in the western front. In effect of efforts of the Ministry of Demobilization and Reintegration of Soldiers, an extensive (at that time) system of medical care, allowances, disability pensions and professional training for the disabled veterans was successfully established. Thus, Canada offered the highest standard of benefits offered to veterans and became a leader among other countries taking part in WWI. Nevertheless, imperfections of the pioneer system and an unfavorable economic situation in the first two years after the war and during the great crisis caused that before the outbreak of WWII, veterans had become a social group who often demonstrated their discontent.W Kanadzie I wojna światowa do dziś nazywana jest Wielką Wojną (The Great War). Jako część Imperium Brytyjskiego Dominium Kanady przystąpiło do niej z chwilą wypowiedzenia przez Wielką Brytanię wojny Niemcom 4 sierpnia 1914 roku. W trakcie 4 lat konfliktu w armii kanadyjskiej służyło ogółem ponad 600 000101 żołnierzy, z których ponad 66 000 poległo, zaś ok. 150 000 zostało rannych. Tekst niniejszy przedstawia najważniejsze wyzwania i problemy związane z procesem tworzenia w Kanadzie pionierskiego, państwowego systemu opieki nad weteranami Korpusu Ekspedycyjnego, walczącymi na froncie zachodnim. Dzięki wysiłkom Ministerstwa ds. Demobilizacji i Reintegracji Żołnierzy udało się zbudować szeroki, jak na ówczesne czasy, system opieki medycznej, zasiłków, rent i szkoleń zawodowych dla inwalidów wojennych. Tym samym Kanada stała się pod względem zakresu i wysokości oferowanych weteranom świadczeń liderem wśród pozostałych państw biorących udział w I wojnie światowej. Niemniej jednak niedociągnięcia pionierskiego systemu w połączeniu z niesprzyjającymi warunkami ekonomicznymi w pierwszych dwóch latach po wojnie oraz podczas wielkiego kryzysu sprawiły, iż przed wybuchem II wojny światowej weterani stali się grupą społeczną często demonstrującą swoje niezadowolenie.

On the Formal Ontology of Being and Time

O formalnej ontologii bytu i czasu

Author(s): Andrzej Biłat / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 1/2018

Keywords: ontological notions; logical ontology; explicative formal ontology; empirical formal ontology; monadic second order logic; filled time; real world

In the paper the concept of ontological theory is defined according to the general principles of Aristotelian metaontology. The following question concerning the structure of ontology is formulated: What are the main methodological types of axiomatic ontological theories and what basic relationships occur between them? It is noted that there are three distinct ideas of formal ontology in both traditional and analytic philosophy: logical, explicative, and empirical ontology. The aim of the paper is twofold: 1) to indicate a homogeneous concept of formal ontology that takes into account these ideas and provides a solution to the question of the structure of ontology, and 2) to use this concept for the construction of basic examples of theories of being and time. The paper consists of the following sections: Introduction. 1.1 Three concepts of formal ontology. 1.2 On logical ontology. 1.3 On explicative formal ontology. 2.1 Monadic second order theory of identity and membership. 2.2 Explicative theory of filled time. 2.3 Towards the empirical ontology of real world. Conclusion

A HOME FOR THE IMMORTALS: THE LAYOUT AND DEVELOPMENT OF MEDIEVAL DAOIST MONASTERIES

A HOME FOR THE IMMORTALS: THE LAYOUT AND DEVELOPMENT OF MEDIEVAL DAOIST MONASTERIES

Author(s): Livia Kohn / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2000

Keywords: monastery; community; immortals; architecture; halls; layout; oratory; Buddhism; Daoism;

Monasteries typically have a structure and layout that suits both the spiritual and mundane needs of their communities: a central area that has a place of worship or meditation, a kitchen, refectory, dormitory, guest house, library, and basic work space; an outer layer with more specified workshops, stables and animal hutches, huts for solitary practice, memorial hall, and cemetery; and a third, most outward ring with orchards, fields, mills, and manufacturing sites. Studying the specific layout and organization of medieval Daoist monasteries, which came to flourish from the sixth century onward, it becomes evident that they follow mainstream Chinese models in their basic layout, imitate Buddhist structures in their buildings and their names, and continue traditional Daoist community centres and meditation retreats. In addition, one can also compare them to ancient Indian and medieval Western institutions, recognizing thereby the unique nature of the Daoist monastery. Planned and executed to imitate celestial landscapes and palaces, it served to attract immortals from above and prepare earthly aspirants for a more divine form of life, while also providing spiritual support for the state and a venue of merit-making for aristocratic sponsors.

China’s One Belt, One Road and Energy Security Initiatives: A Plan to Conquer The World?

China’s One Belt, One Road and Energy Security Initiatives: A Plan to Conquer The World?

Author(s): Almir Mustafić / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

Keywords: One Belt; Silk Road; Five Principles of Co-existence; Security; Trade; Asia; Africa; Europe;

In less than 50 years China has grown from a poor country to a global power. Export of goods to the developed markets of the West and the insistence on the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence have elevated China to the second largest economy in the world. China's development plans function on a basis of a two-way road and the principle behind it is pretty straightforward, energy import and goods export. The scale of diplomatic efforts to strengthen China's relationships with Asian, African and European countries brings astounding results almost on a daily basis. The Chinese mobile providers in Africa had 475 million users in 2013 and the total trade between China and Africa from rose to US$198.49 billion by 2012. Chinese success stories are not too different in Asia and Europe, where they invest billions of dollars in various infrastructure projects. In March 2016, China came up with its most ambitious project, outlining a $50 trillion plan to create a world electricity network that heavily incorporates wind energy from the Arctic and solar energy from the Equator regions. As the report states, the project could come on line by 2050, but the State Grid wants to begin pilot projects within the next 10 years. This paper analyzes the complexity and multidimensionality of the Chinese plans within and outside the scope of the One Belt, One Road initiative and makes an attempt at predicting one of the possible outcomes of the Chinese plans.

Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day: A Deleuzian Reading of Pynchon’s Language

Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day: A Deleuzian Reading of Pynchon’s Language

Author(s): Ali Salami,Razieh Rahmani / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2018

Keywords: Major and minor language; deterritorialization; non-representation; asignification;

This study explores Pynchon’s mammoth novel, Against the Day, in terms of the minor practice of language as proposed by Deleuze and Guattari in their book Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature, which opens up new possibilities for literary criticism. With his idiosyncratic, intensive, and inventive practice of language, Pynchon shatters the already existing notions of appropriate and homogenizing forms of major language. The novel demystifies the language’s institutionalized system of signification and defies identifiable decipherable meaning in many ways, such as covert and overt deterritorialization of language, escape from “territorial” and “representational” language, defiance of signification, neutralization of sense, asyntactical language, phantasmagorical and absurd tales, quizzical jokes, silly songs, and asubjective free indirect narration. Against the Day’s practice of language prefers the territory of asubjective insignification to subjective, symbolic, and signifying usage of language so as to dismantle the territory of representation; thus, it pushes the major language towards or even out of its limits.

Sensing Athletes: Sensory Dimensions of Recreational Endurance Sports

Sensing Athletes: Sensory Dimensions of Recreational Endurance Sports

Author(s): Stefan Groth,Yonca Krahn / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2017

Keywords: senses; materiality; endurance sports; everyday culture; cycling; triathlon;

Sport has become increasingly popular with recreational athletes over the last couple of decades. This has only gained minimal attention so far from scholars interested in the relations between recreational sports and everyday culture. With this paper, we seek to contribute to this field by scrutinising the sensory dimensions of recreational sport. Rather than probing into or highlighting isolated senses, we look at sensory dimensions understood as a combination of different, non-separable sensory experiences featured in recreational endurance sports. We are interested in how the senses play a role for recreational endurance athletes in running, triathlon and cycling both in training and competition. We start by examining how cultural and social dimensions are inextricably linked to doing sports. Secondly, we show how different configurations of the senses and their communicative mediation are contingent on sport disciplines, specific settings, technology, development and change as sensory careers over time. Thirdly, we discuss the kinaesthetic dimensions of doing sports in relation to the senses and the role of atmospheres. We conclude by arguing that highlighting specific senses by athletes is a cultural practice that calls for a holistic analysis of senses in sport, and outline some methodological implications for research on the senses.

Power and the French Revolution: Toward a Sociology of Sovereignty

Power and the French Revolution: Toward a Sociology of Sovereignty

Author(s): Isaac Ariail Reed / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2018

Keywords: state of exception; Robespierre; Haitian revolution; sociology of revolutions; G. W. F. Hegel

In what sense was the French Revolution exceptional – a moment of potential liberation both unique and uncertain? “Exceptionality” has a specific meaning in political philosophy, and, using this meaning as a departure point, this paper develops a specifically sociological typology of states of exception – enunciative, reciprocal, and structural – grounded in a Hegelian sociology of power. The schema is useful for parsing and interpreting several of Robespierre’s most important speeches during the Revolution. This analysis leads to retheorization of modernity in the French Revolution, with specific attention to the interpretation, in Paris, of the revolution in Saint Domingue.

Culture and Religion as Key Factors in Contemporary Marketing

Culture and Religion as Key Factors in Contemporary Marketing

Author(s): Neviana Krasteva / Language(s): English / Issue: 9/2017

Keywords: marketing ; marketing mix; culture; religion

The research is devoted to the phenomenon of the influence of culture and religion on the development of the marketing programs of the companies. Various case studies have been dealt with by attempting to cover diverse cultures and continents – Scandinavian countries, Mexico, Islamic marketing, Japan. Conclusions are drawn on the different marketing approaches to be applied. JEL Classification: M31 M3

A Taste of Diplomacy: Food Gifts for the Muscovite Embassy in Venice (1582)

A Taste of Diplomacy: Food Gifts for the Muscovite Embassy in Venice (1582)

Author(s): Laura Mesotten / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2017

Keywords: Venice; hospitality; gift-giving; food gifts; diplomatic expenditure

A vital factor governing early modern diplomatic relations was the practice of hospitality. To assure that the embassy began amicably, ambassadors had to be received with generosity. The nature and extent of diplomatic hospitality differed according to the host state, but it often included the offer of housing and victuals. This critical edition of a primary source aims to shed new light on the characteristics of diplomatic hospitality by carefully examining a list of expenses drafted by the Venetian office of the Rason Vecchie. This archival document provides a detailed account of all the food that was supplied to host a Muscovite delegation that visited Venice in 1582. In the first place, the article unravels the qualities and dynamics of Venetian food gifts by contextualising and comparing the source with additional Venetian records. Furthermore, it argues that the type of foodstuffs offered, the amount of money spent on them, and the splendour of festive banquets all communicated strong symbolic and political messages. By focusing the analysis on lists of expenses, the relevance of these documents for the study of diplomatic practices is illustrated. Overviews of financial transactions might seem static and dry accounts at first sight, however, when analysed closely, they reveal a great deal about the day-to-day operation of early modern diplomacy.

Karolina Lanckorońska (1898-2002)

Karolina Lanckorońska (1898-2002)

Author(s): Mieczysław Wieliczko / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 27/2006

Identity-Related Media Consumption: Bridging the Literatures from Audience Research, Consumer Research and Material Culture Studies

Identity-Related Media Consumption: Bridging the Literatures from Audience Research, Consumer Research and Material Culture Studies

Author(s): Laura Toma / Language(s): English / Issue: 13/2018

Keywords: identity; media consumption; audience research; consumer research; material culture;

Although identity has been omnipresent in the typologies of media use defined by various theoretical frameworks within the field of media studies since 1940s until recent years, and simultaneously a consumer research staple for over twenty-five years, the lack of collaboration between audience research and interpretive consumer research discouraged a complex view of media consumption practice. To resolve that problem, we propose an integrative review of identity-related media consumption by building bridges between these two areas of knowledge - audience research and consumer research. The paper additionally employs a material culture perspective to highlight the role of materiality in specific forms of media. To illustrate the usefulness of this literature integration, we focus on the role of media in the identity projects of audience members and we further discuss other potential interpretive relationships between media consumers and media products.