1923 Nüfus Mübadelesine Mizah Penceresinden Bakmak: Zümrüdüanka

Author(s): Nuray Firindioğlu Yılmaz / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 2/2017

The Greek- Turkish 1923 population exchange has played an important role in Turkish history both politically and socially. Since about 2 million Greeks and Turks were ousted from their homelands, this issue has quickly become problematic due to some main concerns and conflicts over its form and instruments, the definition and the scale of the refugees, and the legal status of their left property. These problems led the refugees to experience a number of tragic incidents from the start of the implementation of the exchange almost until it is completed. This study reviews the Greek- Turkish population exchange that has been engraved in collective memory in every respect by analyzing the texts and caricatures in the comic book, Zümrüdüanka, that reflect its idiosyncratic sense of humor.

Чуждоезиковото обучение в България през 30-те години на XX в. – между каноничното и модернистичното

Author(s): Vesela Belcheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2018

Interest in learning foreign languages in Bulgaria in the 1930s is a direct consequence of the cultural and educational progress and the advancement of modern language teaching across Europe. Publications on the principles and methods of foreign language teaching from that period highlight moot points and contradictions in different approaches to foreign language teaching in the European as well as the Bulgarian educational context. Such papers outline the historical development of FLT in Bulgaria and make up an essential part of our educational heritage since they reflect major trends in the nation’s cultural development in the early 20th century.

Научна конференция „Агрокултурни ориентации и практики: локални трансформации в условията на европеизация и глобализация“

Author(s): Ivaylo Markov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2017

National Character and Folklore in the Distorting Mirror of Bulgarian Animated Cinema

Author(s): Nadezhda Marinchevska / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

The article examines various interpretations of folklore elements in Bulgarian animatedcinema as well as authors’ personal generalizations about main features of theBulgarian national character and ethos in the period from the late 1940s to these days.In the 1960s, the process, which has begun in the framework of ideological censorship,Bulgarian folklore tradition included, quickly transformed into satirical film model aiming its criticism at the Bulgarian national character. This model was based on the unconventional visual representation of folklore through the modern graphics and caricature, through the grotesque and decorative drawing. The next stage of the transformation of mythological and legendary subjects in the 1980s was related to radical neo-vanguard practices in Bulgarian animated cinema, which compared Bulgarian tradition to foreign cultures and ideas on a global scale and in a wide range– from the direct parallels in art to the psychoanalytical interpretations visualized insurrealistic stylistics.After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, all aspects of Bulgarian culture experienced a crisis – institutional, financial, and artistic. One could expect that the abolishment of ideological sanctions would push artists to openly revive topics that were forbidden until then, to interpret plots from folklore that had been unacceptable until that moment, or at least would prompt a new understanding of the meaning of the national character, broadening the worldview from the 1980s. Unfortunately, nothing of the sort occurred.

Bulgarian Educational Policy towards Minorities and the Muslim Students in Al Azhar in the 1930s

Author(s): Dimitar Gyudurov / Language(s): English Issue: 3-4/2016

Bulgaria’s educational policy towards the Muslim minority was determined by international and bilateral treaties, state legislation, economic and social processes in Bulgarian society and was influenced by the foreign policy goals of the state. From a spiritual point of view, the main educational center of the Muslim community in Bulgaria was created after the end of the First World War. The Quranic School in Shumen “Madrasa-t-yun-Nyuvvab” was the only one of its kind in the Balkans. In the 1930s his graduates were the first Bulgarian citizens sent to attend the Egyptian Al-Azhar Spiritual Academy.

Модернизационни процеси на Балканите под османска власт през 19 и началото на 20 в. Издание на БАН – Институт за ист. изследвания и Македонска академия на науките и изкуствата. Под ред. на Илия Тодев и Драги Георгиев), 2017, 336 с. + 16 с. прил.

Author(s): Nikolay Poppetrov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1-2/2017

Book review

Петър Кърджилов. Озарения в полите на Витоша. Летопис на ранното кино в София (1896–1915). София, издателство на БАН „Проф. Марин Дринов“, 2016. 608 с., с илюстрации

Author(s): Nikolay Poppetrov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1-2/2017

Book review

Konstytucyjna zasada oddzielenia państwa od kościoła w działalności Wydziału do Spraw Wyznań Urzędu Wojewódzkiego w Krośnie wobec Kościoła Katolickiego

Author(s): Konrad Dyda / Language(s): Polish Issue: 20/2017

The subject matter of this article is the analysis of the action of the Department for Religious Affairs in Krosno against the Catholic Church in the light of the constitutional principle about Church and State separation. The Constitution of the Polish People’s Republic of 22 July 1952 set forth the separation of Church and State (Art. 70, para. 2) and stipulated that the Church can freely carry out its religious functions (Art. 70, para. 1). This provision applied also to other religious associations. Under the constitutional law at that time, this freedom was understood as the freedom to proclaim doctrine, organize religious assemblies, provide ministry and teaching, establish religious orders, and maintain contacts with the believers abroad. The law was used to discriminate against the Church, which became a kind of standard. For example, legal measures, especially penal and administrative sanctions, were employed to block and restrict the construction of buildings used for religious purposes. The constitutional principle concerning Church and State separation was understood by the Department of Religious Affairs in Krosno as a total secularization of social life. For example, it was used to justify taking actions against the development of buildings used for religious purposes or against any pastoral activities undertaken by the Catholic clergy, especially concerning the youth ministry.

Social History as Revealed by Gesture: Changing Eighteenth-Century Styles of Meeting and Greeting

Author(s): Penelope J. Corfield / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2018

This essay explores the significance of changing styles of interpersonal greetings in Britain in the long eighteenth century (from 1700 to the 1850s). Everyday rituals of hat honour, when men removed their hats and women curtseyed, were increasingly undertaken in a brisker and much less elaborate manner. Yet there was also change within change. A new alternative style of greeting was emerging in the form of the handshake. The urban, social, cultural, and class contexts of such changes are analyzed, pointing to multi-directional historical trends in the intimate rituals of everyday life.

Френската революция и новите идейни парадигми на модерността

Author(s): Dobromir Dobrev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2018

The paper discusses the reasons behind the rise of the French Revolution, as well as the processes that it unlocks in Europe. The various incarnations of the idea of nation, national sovereignty, and their relationship with the bloody conflicts in Europe are explicated.

Васил Левски и Българската православна църква

Author(s): Ivaylo Hristov Hristov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2017

The text of the article focuses on the relations between Vasil Levski and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The fact that Deacon Ignatius was excommunicated is part of the debate about the relationship between Levski, the church and the clergy. Its development is characterized by an interesting regularity: according to the political situation and the worldview of the authors, Levsky’s religious feelings are either muffled to emphasize his radical break with the church or vice versa, his Christian worldview is emphasized at the expense of his revolutionary image. A special place is devoted to the question of the possible „canonization“ of the Apostle – whether it is necessary and whether it would change his bright image of an undisputed political leader, but also of a person who never breaks with the moral norms of a cleric of the nineteenth century.

Защо и как Христо Гандев написа книгата си за Васил Левски?

Author(s): Lyubomila Solenkova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2017

We rarely find a document to show us the motivation with which a researcher sits to write a book. In the personal archive of Hristo Gandev, kept in the Central State Archives, a notebook is preserved, in which the Bulgarian historian wrote a short note on why and how he should write his study about the great Bulgarian revolutionary Vasil Levski. Here, this text is published for the first time and is delivered without abbreviations and in its authentic style, spelling and language.

Митрополитският храм „Св. Неделя“ в София 1820–1821 г.

Author(s): Nadya Manolova-Nikolova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2017

The article examines the history of the 1820–1821 rebuilding of the Orthodox church of St. Sunday, the seat of the Metropolitan in Sofia. The author uses information from the church chronicle as well as from a preserved document of the expenses made in connection with the construction. The analysis of the cost account shows that the construction took place in two stages: from the beginning of August until the end of September 1820 and from mid-November to the spring of 1821. A church was built, which for the most part was wooden. The documents allow the author to track not only the construction but also to highlight the conditions under which it was carried out, as well as to reveal the peculiarities of the very society which undertook the construction. The text of the construction bill is applied at the end of the article.

Варненското македонско/македоно-одринско дружество и националноосвободителното движение на българите в Oсманската империя (1895–1903)

Author(s): Slavi Slavov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2017

The activity of the Macedonian/Macedonian-Odrinian Society in Varna is part of the joint effort of the Bulgarians from the Principality of Bulgaria for the liberation of their compatriots who remained under Ottoman rule. Although located hundreds of kilometers from enslaved Macedonia, the Varna Society stands out as one of the most numerous and well-organized in the country. Its support for the revolutionary movement was mainly financial and material, but it was also directly involved in the liberation struggle sending revolutionists and arms to Macedonia and the Odrin region.

Ценен документален сборник за най-новата история на България

Author(s): Vladimir Migev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2017

Book review

Христо M. Йонков – по случай 90-годишнината му (Био-библиографски чертици)

Author(s): Nikolay Zhechev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2017

Scholar's Jubilee

От съставителя. Етнографският архив – между терен и интерпретации

Author(s): Anni Kirilova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2017

Албум 3618 – семейна история на половин столетие

Author(s): Elka Mincheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2017

In the centre of this study is an album kept in the archive of the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum – BAS. Its inventory number is 3618. The album contains eighty family photographs. The aim of the research is to reconstruct a family history by studying the memory of a Bulgarian kin in the period between 1870 and the 1930s. The fashion tendencies in clothing which stand out,the hair-styles and the studio accessories used for the photographs give information about the type of communication between relatives and friends. By summarizing the results of the analysis, the article attempts to define the social status of the individuals photographed. The aspiration of the author is by means of the photographs to look for and mark the changes which occurred in the family in the concrete period. The topic is examined in two aspects: technical – the technology of making studio and reportage photographs in this period (the paper, the photographic processes etc.); and ethnological – as a family history in certain space, time, family relations etc. Because of the limited size of the article, the emphasis is laid on the ethnographic aspect of the topic.

Power and Society in Pleven on the Verge of Two Epochs: the Fate of the Mihaloğlu Family and its Pious Foundations (vakf) during the Transitional Period from Imperial to National Governance

Author(s): Maria Kiprovska / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2017

The end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 and the subsequent decisions taken at the Berlin Congress of 1878 set the beginning of the state-building process of modern Bulgaria. The newly established nation-state quite naturally and purposefully sought an immediate emancipation from its political past and radical breaking with the inherited Ottoman institutions. This particular goal found direct reverberation in the consequent “de-Ottomanization” of Bulgaria during the process of homogenization of the Bulgarian nation. The Ottoman pious foundations (vakf) and their vast possessions, whose incomes provided for the maintenance and the functioning of the religious and other buildings, regarded by some as a direct implementation of the Ottoman imperial past, fall at the center of the state-building policies of the new Bulgarian state. The article examines one such particular charitable foundation, namely the vast vakf of the Mihaloğlu family in the region of Pleven, during the years after the establishment of the independent Bulgarian state and argues that it could be considered as an emblematic case elucidating aspects of the state-building ideology in the Bulgarian national politics in general and the uneasy process of decisive rupture with the imperial heritage that the new nation-state had to walk through in particular.

What Is the Political Legacy of Stephan Stambolov, How and Why Does It Have To Be Explored?

Author(s): Dmytro Mykolenko / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2017

The interest to the activity of Stefan Stambolov has increased significantly in contemporary Bulgaria. On the one hand it has been caused by insufficient study of some aspects of his policy. On the other hand, it is a result of socio-economic, political and moral crisis in the Bulgarian society after the events taken place in the late 1980s. Stambolov as a historical figure has become an important element of the national politics of memory. And it resulted in a growing interest of the researchers in his activities. However the negative effects of the policy could be deliberately concealed by scientists, journalists and writers in a favour of statesmen. The political legacy of each historical figure who marked the next step in a history of any country, is an important factor that influence a course of political, social, economic and cultural processes. Its study can significantly adjust the established notions about activities of a particular politician, its importance to the state-building processes. The subject of our study is a sophisticated phenomenon and its research requires a number of methodological techniques.