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Review of: -Cultural security. Theory – selected aspects – case studies, eds. Elżbieta Szyszlak, Rafał Wiśniewski, Radosław Zenderowski, Peter Lang, Lausanne – Berlin – Bruxelles – Chennai – New York – Oxford 2023, ss. 304
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For many years literary utopias have raised interest among sociologists, psychologists and historians of literature. They can also be a very valuable source of information about books and libraries. Such an assumption adds another field of research to bibliology; metho-dological techniques gain new possibilities and interpretative concepts widening our scope of knowledge about books. Utopias are deeply rooted in social myths, that is why the author of the present paper first tries to define the myth of the book connected with the myth of the reason. Utopian images of books can manifest themselves in the functioning of both: the book’s external and internal strata. The perspective adopted by the author helps in understanding of the anthropological meaning of the book in the wide cultural context.
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This paper analyses the ways in which Romanian culture struggles to forge, at the level of historical and cultural discourse, an identity, a “personality”, and a specificity. It observes, within the process of forging its identity through a series of avatars, the discursive strategies through which specificity is revealed as an essential form of national uniqueness as well as the compensatory trends of identity fabrication. The paper also attempts to highlight the forms of historical and literary mystification through which, over time, Romanian culture responded to complexes related to its age, identity, belatedness, heredity, legitimacy, etc. Thus, the analysis reveals that, in essence, all the efforts, complexes and myths through which an identity was negotiated at the level of the histories of literature and Romanian historiographical texts betray, in fact, the same spectrum of the Identity-Otherness dialectic. Romanian culture, like other emerging cultures, was forced, first to survive and, later, in order to have a potential for prosperity, to define itself as a distinct entity by relating to the surrounding cultural reality, its growth and evolution taking place either under the sign of antagonism (i.e. a refusal of allogeneic import), or under that of synchronism (as permeabilization with regard to foreign influence), but, necessarily, as a reference to the Other. Moreover, the paper highlights, at the discursive level, the two main poles that have obsessively polarized the questions of descent and heredity within Romanian culture: its Roman and Dacian ancestries. The nuanced intentions underpinning the cultural need for international recognition by means of belonging as well as differentiation are discussed in the process.
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Professor Cousineau demonstrates an impressive original scholarly kind of comprehension of modernist texts, submitting them under scrutiny with an archetypal critical lens and thus reveals “the uncanny return of the Manole Complex in nine masterpieces of literary modernism”. The intellectual spark that inspired Professor Cousineau was Mircea Eliade’s Commentaires sur la Légende de Maître Manole where Eliade’s claims that Manole’s wife does not actually die: “She is, rather, transformed; her soul leaves her body of flesh and bones and goes to live in the stone and plaster body of the monastery”. (Eliade, 1994, p.168) In each of the chapters of the volume under discussion, the author further elaborates on Eliade’s concept of architectural body, finding it under sundry metamorphoses in the iconic literary modernist works from Europe and USA.
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Frank McEwen's theory of inner vital forces was developed in Paris in the 1930s,where he met Picasso, Leger, Braque, Miro and Brancusi – artists inspired by archaic andprimitive art. These views complemented the teachings of Carl Jung, who described manypositive aspects of spontaneity and vitality, most fully manifested in the works of primitivesocieties. McEwen was looking for a space where artists would not be influenced by outsidefactors. He found such an environment in the 1950s in what was then Southern Rhodesia, wherehe was the organiser of the National Gallery in Salisbury. The Shona people who live in theseareas expressed their artistic creativity mainly through dance and music.Frank McEwen created a school for sculptors where invited locals were to draw inspiration fromeveryday life, from the world around them, in the way they understood it. He worked with eachone individually, trying not to impact the creative process. In 1971, his school succeeded. Museedu Rodin in Paris hosted an exhibition that garnered enthusiastic reviews, and all the exhibitswere sold. Artists such as Joram Mariga, Tapfuma Gutsa, Bernard Takawira and HenryMunyaradzi exhibited their works there. Each of them has developed their own individual style.These artists passed on their ideas to the next generations, considering the perception of a workof art as a kind of a signpost in social life, and the artist himself or herself as an engineer andcommentator of reality. The representative of the next generation was Lazarus Takawira, whofollowed the voice of his heart and abandoned his career in the Rhodesia police in favor ofdevoting himself to sculpture. Following his intuition and the guidance of Frank McEwen, hecreated a unique universe in which women and their role in society were central. His works havebeen exhibited at the Musee du Rodin in Paris, the World Bank in New York, the Africa Museumin Belgium and the Museum of Mumbai, India.
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In the simplest terms, the concept of value may be defined as something that is important and valuable to a person. The presented paper provides some reflection on the essence of value and its various understandings and indicates methods of educating young people towards the highest, social, and positive utilitarian values. The fact is, however, that in the modern world the prevailing values, especially among young people, are hedonism and focus on one’s own well-being, benefits, possession of valuable things and comfort of life.This paper discusses the reasons why young people prefer the above values and at the same time points to the dilemmas of teachers, namely, what values should students be guided towards, so that they do not suffer any harm when confronted with the contemporary reality of the world of adults. Should young people be directed towards higher values, if that may make them vulnerable to others especially those who want to use them for their own purposes? Or, should they rather be taught to be uncompromising, to stand up for themselves, which will help them achieve success in their professional and social life? The fact is, however, that hardly any educator will resign from leading students towards the highest values. So, the real question is: How to conduct moral and ethical education of students at the same time helping them prepare for the realities of the modern world? This paper attempts to make recommendations aimed at reconciling these two areas of education.
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Antagonism and convergence seem to be two basic options in Judaism’s relation to Hellenism. Hellenism influenced Jewish culture and religion. This influence was characterized by Greek culture of concepts and thinking which was philosophical in content and mentally religious. In anthropology, it manifested itself in the form of, inter alia, dualistic antagonism, but preserving the Hebrew holism. The Septuagint faced the Hellenistic concept of man, especially in Wisdom and 4Mac. These writings took into account the pressure on Judaism of Hellenic rationalization of thought, as well as Hellenistic universalism and cosmopolitanism. Anthropological issues in Hellenic Judaism indicate the attractiveness and usefulness of Hellenic anthropology for understanding the biblical vision of man
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An attempt at thinking the phenomenon of gratitude in the third decade of the 21st century. Working with tropes from anthropology, literature, and philosophy, it indicates that it is closely related to “weak presences” within the dominant order. To summon and render those presences visible opens a possibility for new being that multiplies existence’s poten-tialities. It is a gift that is perfect in its ephemerality, fragi-lity, and finitude: it is gratitude without obligation—being always in the process of emergence, and being.
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As culture experiences secularization, and the importance of religion and prevalence of peopleholding religious worldviews diminishes, the work of forming Catholics who can live out their profes-sional and Christian vocations as teachers in different types of schools becomes simultaneously morecrucial and more complex. This article explores the importance of preparing Catholic teachers for em-ployment in contemporary educational settings in the United States to respond to accelerating seculari-zation. It argues that the Catholic Church’s vision for education can be implemented within the limita-tions of US education policy, especially through the careful preparation of Catholic teachers in CatholicEducator Preparation Programs (EPPs). First, it presents the unique context of US education, illustratingthe setting in which such programs function and the associated challenges. Next, it shares the Church’svision for well-prepared Catholic educators, identifying three key anthropological conflicts linked to sec-ularization and explaining how the Church’s teaching on Catholic education as presented by ArchbishopMichael Miller’s “Five Essential Marks of Catholic Schools” provides needed guidance for EPPs locatedin Catholic universities. Next, it offers a case study presenting one EPP’s efforts to respond to secu-larization through its program redesign according to a framework that integrates Miller’s Five Marks.Finally, it explains the difficulties facing Catholic EPPs as they integrate their mission with the demandsof professional preparation.
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Rapidly progressing multifaceted secularization processes in Polish society strongly influencethe shape of religious education of children and adolescents in the school environment. They determinea number of dimensions of the social and mental activity of young people. Their effects are visible, es-pecially in the attitudes of children and youth to God, the Church, religious lessons, moral norms, andreligious practices. This situation raises new challenges for the religious education of the young. Readingthis as a “sign of the times,” this article revises religious education in Polish schools. The need to reor-ganize the model of religious education lessons and to introduce changes in the curricular assumptionsof religious education teaching, in student textbooks and methodological guides is pointed out. Pre-evangelization and educational activities, resignation from the mere transfer of religious knowledge, andthe development of preconceived skills and attitudes are considered important. The author emphasizesthe value of providing opportunities for the construction of knowledge and for the student’s own en-gagement during religious education lessons. In this context, much attention is paid to the role of the re-ligious education teacher, who is to be first and foremost a companion on a journey, an educator anda witness of faith, open to new challenges, able to communicate effectively with students, creative, andtolerant. The right personality traits of the religious education teacher and their multiple competencies(including communicative and interpersonal ones) play a key role in religious education. They guaranteethe effectiveness of communication within a group of religious lesson participants. They foster authenticinterpersonal relationships and community-building, thus meeting the natural needs of young people.In practice, they require a paradigm shift in the formation of religious education teachers.
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Interview with Dariusz Czaja, by Paweł Drabarczyk.
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Interview with Szpilka Kuba, by Próchniak Paweł and Monika Sznajderman.
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J ak to jest możliwe, że Stwórca doskonały stworzył świat pełen braków i straszliwych ułomności, pełen zła i zbrodni? Pytanie nurtujące od wieków. Kabalista Izaak Luria widział ten stan jako następstwo nieszczęśliwego wypadku, do którego doszło w samym procesie stworzenia. Naczynia, które miały zebrać Boskie światła, aby je potem skierować dalej do właściwych kanalików, nie wytrzymały tej ogromnej energii i pękły (szewirat ha-kelim). Od tego momentu część Boskiego światła jest rozproszona po świecie. Iskry mieszane z materią lub nią przykryte to silna i wyrazista metafora, która obrazuje galuth – diasporę. Zadaniem człowieka jest zebranie tych iskier, wydobywanie ich spod materii, żeby w ten sposób przygotować świat na przyjście Mesjasza. Zbierając te iskry, człowiek praktykuje tikkun olam, przyczynia się do „naprawy świata”, którą w tym kontekście należy zrozumieć jak najbardziej dosłownie.
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Redefining and reaching for ethnographic museum collections as well as private collections results in presenting them in assorted contemporary perspectives and cultural contexts. The archive of the Editorial Board of “Konteksty” at the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences contains a sizeable collection of personal files of folk artists, amassed since 1950. The artists in question died several decades ago. The presented text evokes several artists “enclosed” in archival files and featured at contemporary exhibitions: Józef Lurka, Katarzyna Gawłowa, Jadwiga BudziszBuynowska, and Adam Zegadło.
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Xhubleta is a traditional dress of the communities of North Albania. A significant aspect of the dress is the visual language of the embroidered patterns on it, and this paper aims to address the visual aspect of them. They have been continuously modified, invented, elaborated by women bearers and subject to their subjectivism, thus shaping different and simultaneous denominations. Comparing the denomination given by the bearers with those given by non-bearers, it is observed different points of view influenced by cultural context, worldview, and interpretations shaped by present-day ideologies propagated through mass media and dominant historical narratives. Drawing on Bakhtin's concept of heteroglossia and the work of A. Smith, this paper argues that the embroidered patterns in xhubleta cannot be simply interpreted as reflections of a historical past, as some non-wearers might wish to interpret them today. Instead, these patterns represent heteroglot, multivoiced realities wherein contradictory meanings of past and present converge within the xhubleta. The fieldwork was conducted in North Albania from 2019 to 2021. In-depth interviews, quantitative observations, and online questionnaires constituted the primary methods used in the analysis. The fieldwork data was then compared to ethnographic accounts provided by Albanian ethnologists, and further supplemented by artefacts and visual data to enrich the analysis.
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The two film manifestations – the International Ethnological Film Festival and the International Festival of Amateur Film (on the topic of Village Life) – ŽISEL, deal with various but complementary domains, author’s documenting and interpreting as well as artistic views of various aspects of the lives of existing or missing traditional communities and their contemporary reorganizations. Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade, as the organizer of Ethnographic film festival and an institution that primarily deals with the protection of ethnographic cultural heritage, should include the audio visual results of both festivals in its fund with the aim of enriching and modernizing of activities in the system of protection of cultural heritage.
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In many parts of Serbia old country cemeteries are the objects by which periods of time can be identified based on various influences that prevailed in the making and decorating of gravestones. Cemeteries which represent the ambiental entities in which traditional craftsmanship and stylistic determinations in decoration of tombstones are visible were no longer well maintained and therefore are subject to various forms of endangerment and destruction. There are six cemeteries in the village of Gojna Gora – Galjensko or Jovičić cemetery, Trnavsko, Lazović or Bojović, Babović and the youngest – Šumljansko or Kecović graveyard. Each one of these cemeteries has its specific character, but Jovičić or Galjensko cemetery is the most interesting. The subject of this work is its factography, formed as field documentation, on the basis of which the whole cemetery, as well as particular monuments, ornaments, inscriptions and measures, as well as records about the craftsmen who built them, form the system of protection of cultural heritage.
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