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Rusalian ritual processions are a regional feature of southeast Macedonia. The performances of Rusalian dances with their specific characteristics attract the attention of folklore researchers for they represent the most interesting syncretic form. In the richness of form and figures of speech, folklorists find a constant provocation from researching the rituals related to these dances. With their complex organization, the series of taboos which follow them, the specific clothing, the way of movement and dancing, all leave room for various scientific interpretations. The goal of said research is to determine the characteristic elements of the Rusalian dances and the relations with similar dances that widely appear all over the Macedonia.
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The article explores the politics of poverty of upper middle class in one of Indian metropolises. The author analyzes the role of economic and cultural capitals, as well as gender as manifested in and through food practices.
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In this paper we try to compare the female spirits of nature in Polish folklore with those of classical mythology, that is, the nymphs and their different varieties, and also with a particular kind of ancient Greek female demons, the so called ἄωραι (áōrai, ancient Greek word for untimely dead young women). Thus, we follow a research line started by the Polish scholar Witold Klinger, who focused mainly on the Eastern Slavic rusalki; in order to extend our comparative study to Polish beliefs, we shall examine Polish folklore materials that were unpublished when Klinger pursued his studies; likewise, comparison with the ancient Greek áōrai has not been attempted yet, so far as we know. We shall come to the conclusion that neither nymphs nor áōrai are at the basis of Polish female spirits, since the different traits of all those creatures combined in different ways in each cultural context.
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The article presents a suggestion for a new approach towards ritual, one of the key anthropological concepts. Generations of anthropologists have used the term to describe and interpret cultural practices related to different types of liminality and transgression (social relations, religious beliefs, theatrical practices, etc.) in a rigid meaning limited to describing a formalized scenario of symbolic behavior, sanctioned with ancient beliefs and values cherished by a given community. This case makes room for similar symbolic practices, thinned down and scattered among the whole cultural reality (e.g. in fashion, politics, ways of spending free time, etc.), which serve the same purpose, but are deprived of formalized scenarios and boundaries of tradition. Because of all this, a new term – rituality – needs to be used to better convey the essence of the numerous modern-day rituals. This advance in terminology helps to interpret and understand several cultural practices, and to create new terms, necessary for describing the fast-changing modern cultural landscape. Accepting a broad meaning of rituality requires an interdisciplinary approach, in which classic anthropological theories by Malinowski, Redcliff-Brown or Geertz are equally important as Goffman’s symbolic interactionism, Austin’s speech acts philosophy, Rothenbuhler’s social communication, or Csikszentmihalyi’s emotional flow psychology.
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The article tackles the issue of cultural memory. I analyzed the example of Czermin village near a town of Mielec. In the village there was a German colony. The residents of the colony left the area with the end of the Second World War. Today the descendants of the former German colonists regularly visit the village. They decided to rearrange the cemetery and sponsored the monument, which was erected in that place. The research was conducted among the local population declaring their nationality as Polish. My goal was to reconstruct their notions and depictions about former German colonists. The interpretation I undertook is mainly based on the ideas of John and Aleida Assman, Paul Ricoeur and Harald Welzer.
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The object of my study is to analyse the representations of former smugglers in the border forest area, which directly affected the nature of the work they performed. By the analysis of the empirical material through the theory of ecological anthropology, I will refer to the classification of the area indicating the nature of the relationship between man and environment. The classification of this area is the proof, that environment and human exist in mutual interaction and significantly influence one another, they cannot be perceived as separate or contradictory facts. The perception of this environment primarily depends on the actions former smugglers carried out in this area and it is also shaped by how the environment influenced the bearers of studied representations.
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This article analyzes the perception of the eighties in SFRY based on the example of a TV show Black & White World. The basic thesis is that the eighties are a particular cultural construct whose meanings are continuously (re)produced between a producer and a consumer, in this case between the author of the TV show and the audience. The article aims to illustrate the process of construction of the period in question by revealing meanings assigned to it as well as to answer the question why the eighties as such should be a relevant anthropological topic. Apart from the episodes of the show, the material for the analysis includes the comments of the audience derived from discussion on the internet forum Forum.hr.
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The theme of the article is the reconstruction of „unpleasant relationship,” which at least since the eighteenth century characterize the human perception of apes. As a guiding example of modern dilemmas in this asymmetric connection served King Kong movie, as well as the appropriate response it triggered. First part of the work is dedicated to this topic. The second part explores the history of fluctuations regarding the categorization of apes and (un)recognition of their evolutive connectedness with people in natural science. The conclusion suggests the possibility of liberation from fear of the common origin with other primates, and points to the emancipatory potential of „monsters” visions in stick-in-the-mud industrial culture.
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In this paper, the subject of the research is defined as anthropology of memory and the triumphal narrative of contemporary American war film. Films like Saving Private Ryan (1998), Lions for Lambs (2007), The Manchurian Candidate (2004) etc. use narrative of (character) memory in order to examine the narrative structure. My hypothesis is that on one level contemporary American war film manipulates the memory in order to create a national narrative, and on the second level, the film itself represents memory that is through a different media strategies transformed into cultural memory. The starting point of this paper is that the film is a broader frame of reference in which people think; film provides a model for understanding general social values, solidifies content related to race, sex, religion, nationality, social roles etc. The aim is to get a closer insight on how contemporary Hollywood war movie uses memory to create the triumphal narrative and to analyze the relationship of memory and identity in war narratives of memories.
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Dans cet article, je m’intéresse à l’étude du lien entre les techniques corporelles et les processus cognitifs en centrant ma réflexion sur les effets que les pratiques corporelles peuvent avoir sur le dispositif biologique humain. Je propose une analyse comparative des recherches anthropologiques sur la capoeira et le tai jitsu, en rapport avec mon terrain d’étude: l’Art du Déplacement – un art de mouvement corporel qui consiste en des déplacements dans les espaces urbains et naturels. Je m’intéresse particulièrement à la dynamique entre le corps naturel et le corps en tant qu’entité culturelle. La question centrale est celle du processus de développement des habilités corporelles. Cette réflexion permet une meilleure compréhension de la profondeur du changement du corps, qui survient comme conséquence de l’incorporation du savoir culturel particulier proposé par l’Art du Déplacement
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Evens are descendants of Tunghuz people and are relative of Evenks. This study is comprised of knowledge about their transition period traditions such as birth, wedding and death, and practices and rituals about their beliefs and lifestyles. In the text, answers given to the compilation questions are directly presented without any attempt to make comparative study with any other cultures, and the answers and expressions obtained from the source person are recorded without editing.
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Egyed Ákos: A székelyek rövid története a megtelepedéstől 1918-ig. Pallas-Akadémia Könyvkiadó, Csíkszereda 2006. - A Wass család cegei levéltára. Az Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület kiadása. Kvár. 2006. 602 lap + 10 melléklet. - „Minden örömöm elegyes volt bánattal”. Csáky Kata levelezése. Debrecen 2006. 407 lap. - Tóth Árpád: Önszervező polgárok. A pesti egyesületek társadalomtörténete a reformkorban. L’Harmattan, Bp. 2005. 295 lap. - Balázs Lajos: A vágy rítusai – rítusstratégiák. A születés, házasság, halál szokásvilágának lelki hátteréről. Scientia Kiadó, Kvár 2006. - Magyar Zoltán: A csángók mondavilága. Gyimesi csángó népmondák. Balassi Kiadó, Bp. 2003. 842 lap, 43 fénykép Takács György: Kantéros, lüdérc, rekegő. Hárompataki csángó hiedelemmondák. Magyar Napló, Bp. 2004. 649. lap. - Magyar Zoltán: A Szilágyság mondahagyománya. Balassi Kiadó, Bp. 2007. 585 lap.
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Being a migration area due to its location and fertile lands since the foundation of Ottoman Empire, Sakarya, despite its richness in domestic architecture, has witnessed frequent earthquakes which highly damaged the houses, as located on the 1st grade seismic belt. A few houses in city centre and the districts have survived so far apart from the ones in the district of Taraklı. Not older than the late nineteenth century samples, these houses, in terms of planning and functionality, holds the same characteristics as the houses built in the wide area that the Turkish architecture expands, while in terms of decoration, has been under the influence of the nineteen century fashion trend as a result of its closeness to the capital, İstanbul back then. The Baroque, Rococo, Empire and Neo-Classical elements found in house decorations, has been applied in appropriate with the Westernization policy of Ottoman Empire. Reflecting Western art traditions this fashion trend, followed both in İstanbul and Anatolia after late eighteen century, although did not change the original line and body of the construction, has been dominated in decoration with Western motifs combinations like Baroque elements, garlands “S”, “C” folds, oyster motifs, naturalist blossoms, landscape depictions and still life. Decoration materials in Sakarya and its districts are consisted mainly of wood, paint, metal and plaster. These materials are figured by techniques like hand carving, pounding, engraving, openwork, embossing and hammering. The decorations are mainly observed in the inner sites of the houses, particularly in the headrooms of the houses. In these houses, the decorations are concentrated mostly in ceilings and ceiling roses. Apart from headrooms, decorations are seen in the other parts of the house, along with ceilings and walls, in architectural components like doors, barriers, column heading, eaves and archs.
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Clothing, socio-economic status of the people in their community, age, taste, character, mood, reflecting that is a phenomenon that refers to the individual social or national characteristics. Clothing history are examined, clothing is seen through many stages from ancient times until todays. People have created clothes according to their level of civilization. Every nation own traditions, customs, beliefs have shaped their clothing according to the conditions of life. The purpose of the research; in crates, the traditional (regional) clothing in the bundle fabric, color, pattern, ornament, examining the features of the model and mold, to remove the light of day, recognize traditional clothes, to introduce. In this study the decoration with the traditional characteristics of the garments is intended to keep alive the emergence of the original design and the cultural values considering the resources to be reflected in the contemporary fashion design fashion designer. In this study, outer clothing and underwear was investigated from the traditional Bosnian clothes in Düzce. Clothing, by created in line with the observation examines in terms of chips, materials, color, pattern, cutting, sewing, lining and decorative features, have documented set of design elements, photographs pulling.
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Mircea Eliade, the scholar of history of religions defines legends as “a sacred history”. Scientists who consider myths as an expression of events that had really took place in the distant history try to turn the myths into more reasonable accounts by eliminating the “holiness” of myths and to uncover the hidden truths underlying them. According to them, the gods of legends are human beings who lived in the past. The kings who reigned in the past and heroes are narrated by deifying them in the legends. Our topic is Odin (Woden) which is the supreme god of Scandinavian mythology that portrays gods and superhuman beings and narrates the events in a fantastic and adventurous way, and which is the one who endowed people with the holy scripts (runic script) and taught them the arts. Snorri Sturluson (XIII) who is an Icelandic medieval historian, priest and statesman describes Odin as a real historical character (not a god) that knows magic and sorcery and as a real ruler (the king of As people) thus considered as a god wherever he goes in his saga corpus (Heimskringla); and the migration of Odin with his people from Asia, TurkLand to Scandinavia is narrated at the introduction of Heimskringla (which isYnglinga Saga). Saxo Grammaticus presents Odin as a real character and a real king of ancient times in his work, Gest Danorum (XIII). Nowadays some historians consider the narratives about Odin as total legend, thus fabrication, while some others try to prove that Odin is a real personality, As people existed in history and a real migration event took place, based on the data of Snorri Sturluson and Saxo Grammaticus. These scholars try to find out the places (Asaland, Turkland) and the identities of the folks mentioned in Ynglinga Saga and Prose Edda. Various views co-exist about the ethnic affiliations of As people and the real location of their motherland. A view identifies legendary As people with Turkic people that appeared as Az Budun in Orkhon inscriptions and proposes that this Turkic folk spread from Western Asia to Northern Europe. If this thesis is correct, Odin and his people have to have cultural properties peculiar to As (Turkic) people and the migrated locations have to have elements related to Turkic culture. With a focus on this topic, in this paper, Turkic cultural elements are sought for; the similarities and compliance with Turkic social order and the notion of ruler-arch priest (secular leader, warrior leader as well as a person who functions as a fortune teller) in the image of high-class people (Odin, Jarl, Kon, Rig) in Scandinavian culture and Turkish shamanist elements in Odin are uncovered by considering Scandinavian mythology, Edda and Sagas; runic script culture is reviewed; and the etymology of the names of Scandinavian mythological heroes based on Turkish language is explained.
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In Turkish culture "fire" and "hearth" has become a cult as a result formed around the various beliefs and practices. It is believed to be familiar spirit of fire and hearth and called “familiar spirit of fire and hearth” to this spirit in general. Because familiar spirit of fire and hearth is believed to be alive, it has been treated like a creature is treated this familiar spirit, insomuch that it was loaded with some human characteristics to this familiar spirit. But, it is called “ot ana” to the familiar spirit in the Turkish world in general and this familiar spirit is illustrated like a woman. In addition to these features, the familiar spirit of fire and hearth in the Turkish culture situated in a divine and in-between position. Some rules and taboos has been formed around the fire and hearth on account of this. In the article, the familiar spirit of fire and hearth will be evaluated in terms of antropomorphic aspect, female appearance, formed around the rules and taboos and its relationship with the harmful spirit.
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Epic takes a special place in world culture when it comes to learning and understanding history, philosophy, and aesthetics of any nation. By the themes that are common to the whole Turkic world, the heroic epic "Idegei" depicts social, cultural, and religious life of Tatars. This epic reflects all the dreams, hopes, traditions, customs, and government system of Tatars and of many other Turkic peoples that had all lived in one state- Golden Horde- for three centuries. Important transitional periods in a person's life such as "birth", "marriage", and "death" are pictured brightly in this epic. They are crucial in understanding human values of the main characters of?"Idegei". In conclusion, it is worth mentioning, that the traditions and customs gathered in the epic are common for many Turkic peoples. It is another proof that the great Turkic world has been historically united.
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In this study, research techniques of music, one of the forms of behaviour and symbols which reveal our culture that consumes our society, will be dealt with. Music isn't not only a voice system, but also a combination of behaviour which is formed by an ethnologic structure. As long as the principles and expectation of that culture isn't fully understood, it will never be understood why the composer uses this kind of composing technique. Every research technique has an inner-dynamic and priciples which are suitable for the aim. The datum which will make the relationship between societ-culture and music clear is only reached by the principles of music ethnography.
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