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Homeland (Heimat), love of one's homeland or native country (Heimatliebe), homelessness as deprivation of the homeland (Heimatlosigkeit), or nostalgia as grief for the homeland (Heimweh) are concepts we encounter in everyday life. Aren't we surrounded every day by cultural artifacts that suggest to us that we belong to or are "excluded" from a group, people or nation, outside of their geographical indications? The author examines the following questions: What makes us feel to belong to a country as homeland? Is it possible to build a homeland? What happens when you have more than one homeland – one old and one new – and in general, how much do we need a homeland?
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The problem of the Other, which has a long history and tradition in continental philosophy, has been increasingly articulated in recent years in the context of the problems of recognition, and hence of the rights of aliens in contemporary Europe, and the problems related to multiculturalism and intercultural discourse. Even before 2015, when the great wave of refugees flooded Europe, numerous philosophical discussions unfolded on these topics. The purpose of this article is, on the one hand, to present some of the most important aspects of the debates that took place between some prominent representatives of contemporary philosophical thought, namely - the debates between Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor, Axel Honneth and Nancy Fraser, Paul Ricoeur and Axel Honneth, as well as the discussion between Christoph Menke, Georg Lohmann and Dieter Thomä in the "Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie", and on the other hand to explore the various attempts of conceptualization of these problems by Jean Baudrillard, Bernard Waldefels and Raúl Fornet-Betancourt. The phenomenological-hermeneutic analysis of the arguments of these different au-thors allows us to draw certain conclusions and to suggest possible directions for future resolutions on these conflictual issues. The main thesis defended here is that the problem of the foreign and the aliens (foreigners) cannot be solved if it is detached from the context of the problems of recognition, translation and intercultural or multicultural dialogue.
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The present text aims to trace the evolution of Assen Ignatov’s attitude towards religion, to outline the main features of this change – from being an intellectual whose worldview was initially Marxist, to being a dissident philosopher known also for his respect to Christianity.The first part of the article is devoted to the early professional steps of Assen Ignatov’s life (as a lecturer at Sofia University) when he attacked the 'Bourgeous' philosophy for its affinity to religion. Gradually these initially attitudes have been seriously shaken (also because he was one of the very few erudite thinkers in Bulgaria during the 'socialist' period, witnessing the dogmatism and the narrow interests of the Party philosophers) and his escape to West Europe was also a radical break with the past specifically with regard to religion. Assen Ignatov interpreted communism as a pseudo-religion from the viewpoint of Christian personalism and existentialism. The author concludes that the radical change of Ignatov’s attitude towards religion shows the measure of his general change of worldview.
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The article is an attempt for complete reconstruction of the theses of the Bulgarian thinker Georgi Gachev beyond his traditional inscription in the orbit of Hegel or Kant. An unused perspective on Gachev's "existential culturology" has been chosen, which fits it into the polyphonic choir of the so-called "ontological turn", the essence of which is determined by the shift of the dominant philosophical attention from the theory of knowledge to ontology, the critique of psychologism, the birth of phenomenology and existentialism and the tendency to humanize philosophy. The relevance of Gachev's ideas to the ontological turn is found both in existential terms and in the overall research strategy, in the layered division of "Cosmo-Psycho-Logos" (space-time-world). In the "cosmography" of the thinker the theses about the unique character of the nationalities as spiritual-historical formations deserve special attention.
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The aim of the article is to present Nikolay Milkov's academic path after 1990, when he moved to Germany, as well as some of his contributions to Bulgarian and contemporary Western philosophy. The analyses are focused specially on his book "Kaleidoscopic Mind. An Essay in Post-Wittgensteinian Philosophy", which presents one of his most emblematic inputs.
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The article presents an overview of the philosophical path of the Bulgarian scholar Vesselin Petkov, who was fellow at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences at the outset of 1989 and moved thereafter in France and Canada, where he continued his work in the field of fundamental and applied physics. It presents Petkov's research projects, publications, organizational activities and their international impact.
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The article examines the main topos of the "boundless word", typical of the "emigrant speech" of Peter Uvaliev - this speech that makes him feel "a real Bulgarian", although outside the borders of Bulgaria. Particular attention is paid to his monograph about the art of Turner, whose paintings demonstrate the possibilities of structural analysis. In them he finds a kind of a-topos, i.e., a space without space, but also something more as there is a "structure" in this a-topos that is neither an objective nor a tangible reality.
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The article examines the activities of the Bulgarian painter Boris Mitov Eliseev (1901-1978) immediately before and after his establishment in the United States in 1937. Focused entirely on the European modernism of the Paris School of the early twentieth century, the fate of every freelance artist in Bulgaria was inconceivable without constant attempts to expand the horizon and continuous exchange between the center and the periphery. Boris Eliseev's decision to settle overseas marked the end of his career as a freelance artist in Bulgaria and he returned to painting only much later, towards the end of his life. Without claiming to be exhaustive, the article reviews some of Boris Eliseev's early initiatives to present Bulgarian art in the United States, most notably the first Bulgarian exhibition in New York in 1938. These events are the initial major markers of his life outside his homeland and their results determines the painter's development in the new environment, respectively its remoteness from the center.
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This article is a synthetic history of the production and consumption of beer from the earliest times to the present day, using the examples of Egypt and Sudan, two countries in which it probably began and where beers based on traditional, ancient recipes are brewed to this day. It also explains why the tradition of beer drinking did not cease there, despite the adoption by the people of these countries of Islam and the Arab identity or the onset of modern governments of the so-called Islamic modernists. In conclusion, a postulate is made to return to the, nowadays problematic, concept of “human nature”.
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Sorabe is a unique system of writing based on the Arabic alphabet, adapted to the specific needs of the Malagasy language. The author, who is a collector of historic artefacts from Madagascar based permanently in the country, tries to shed some light on the mysteries of the sorabe manuscripts, their history and importance for Madagascar’s culture.
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Christianisation of the Kingdom of Kongo and establishing contact with Europeans had a considerable impact on the transformation of the society and the state. Christianity became a crucial part of Kongolese ideology of royal power. The Chrisitan clergy in Kongo strengthened the royal power and played an important role as mediators in internal conflicts. However, they also often condemned the earlier customs and beliefs which persisted in Kongo after the reception of Christianity. This was perceived by the rulers as undermining the royal authority. King Álvaro III threatened to reject Christianity when bishop Manuel Bautista condemned his behaviour. Nevertheless, his threats were only declarations. Christianity had become too important a part of Kongolese culture, and the rulers did not dare to reject it.
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The goal of this paper is to offer a presentation of the role of contagious diseases as a factor supporting or blocking European overseas expansion, using the example of the Cape Colony up to the end of the eighteenth century. South Africa is a useful example, as it shows both the role of diseases brought by Europeans in facilitating their expansion in the region and the significance of the lack of African diseases such as malaria or trypanosomiasis for the development of European settlement there. In this way, the paper also shows the role of those diseases in hindering European penetration of other parts of Africa.
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The author analyzes three narratives about the rebellion of Mombasa garrison in 1874–1875: a literary text, a historical text containing quotes from poetry, and a corpus of documentary sources produced by the British consulate in Zanzibar. The author identifies both the dominant and collateral narratives within these texts and the factors that shape them. The analysis is accompanied by an attempt to reconstruct the factual framework, and in particular to look for silences in the narratives. The identification of the latter is indispensable for the interpretation of texts. The analysis of the three narratives allows the author to go beyond the historiographic convention established seventy years ago by one of the examined texts, which focused on the psychological aspect of the rebellion and on rivalry within the Mombasa elite. The author, without denying the value of individual perspectives, proposes to read the history of the rebellion in a global context related to imperial policy, including the abolitionist policy of Great Britain, the development of the plantation economy and the growing indebtedness of planters.
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Julius Eduard Teusz (born 8 January 1845 in Łąkie, died 21 March 1912 in Lübben) – botanist, explorer of Africa, governor of plantations. The period of his activity in Africa can be divided into three stages. The first one (1878–1881) was his journey to Angola. Employed as a botanist, he discovered various species of plants. The expedition was sent to establish a waterway between the Cuango and Congo Rivers. In 1881, Teusz began a three-year contract for the Committee for Studies of the Upper Congo (Comité d’études du Haut-Congo). His task was to set up and develop gardens and plantations as well as to participate in negotiations with the chiefs of local tribes. Finally, from 1885 he took on the role of the head governor of a plantation. In 1891, Teusz made his greatest discovery by identifying the remains of an unknown dolphin species: Sousa teuszii (the Atlantic humpback dolphin).
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The German colonial activity, which began in the 1880s, was preached not only in the specialized press but also in the illustrated popular magazines, published at the regional or even local level. Press publications of this type were also published in Upper Silesia, including Żory. In this town, the local German-language newspaper, "Sohrauer Stadtblatt", also included a free illustrated supplement, "Ilustrierte Sonntagsblatt", printed in Stuttgart by the Greiner und Pfeifer publishing house and sent to many local newspapers throughout the Reich. In the analyzed period (the second half of the 1880s to 1918), the supplement frequently featured photographs and drawings from the German colonies along with articles discussing various colonial issues.
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This article is an abstract of the author’s PhD dissertation on the specificity of the United States-Ethiopian relations during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, where a key role was played by an ex-Italian transceiving radio station located in Eritrea – which became the American communications base named Kagnew Station. The base, due to its excellent geographical location, became the central element of U.S. interests in Ethiopia, and one of the most important links in the U.S. global communications network. As a quid pro quo for leasing Kagnew Station, the United States undertook to train and arm the Ethiopian armed forces, which resulted in making Ethiopia the biggest beneficiary of American technical and military assistance in the 1960s and creating the largest and best equipped army on the African continent.
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The main goal of this paper is to present the relationships between Angola and neighbouring states and show how those relationships influenced the development of Angolan state structure. This will allow for presenting a set of political, social, and economic interdependencies between Angola and its neighbours. This, in turn, will serve to verify the hypothesis that Angola as a state has become a stabilizer of security in the region. An important aspect that also influenced the shape of the political system, and was therefore also taken into account, is Angola’s relations with international organizations such as the United Nations, Comecon, and the Organization of African Unity. The period that has been analyzed is 1975–2002, that is, from the regaining of independence to the end of the civil war in Angola. This period was chosen because of its crucial nature for the history of modern Angola: it was then that the foundations for the present Angolan state were shaped in practice, and the process itself also influenced all the states of the region. The political system of Angola formed under the influence of wars, including civil wars, which also determined the relationship that Angola has today with its neighbours, who took an active part in those wars. The paper also considers the relationship that Angola’s major political parties of the period had with neighbouring states and the political groupings that were active there, and the involvement of those states in the events of Angola’s civil war. Aspects of the Cold War are also covered, in particular the division of influence between the USSR, Cuba, China, and the USA. The methodology that was used in the creation of the paper is the analysis of historical written sources and newspaper and scientific articles.
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