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This paper presents the results of a systematic review of the literature (SRL) in the field of Participatory Design (PD), undertaken under the scope of LOCUS – Playful Connected Rural Territories. The project employs an ethnographically, participatory and agile approach to the process of co-designing, developing and evaluating an IoT system to support playful intergenerational engagement in exploring cultural heritage of Portuguese rural territories, by engaging inhabitants, stakeholders and visitors. The SRL aimed to understand how older adults have been integrated and engaged into technology PD teams and processes. This paper focus on the most used methodological approaches and participation methods, along with the challenges in integrating older adults and the strategies to overcome them, which are discussed in the light of project aims.
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This article is dedicated to the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the Bulgarian Folklore Journal. The reflections on the Journal which are discussed here are made in the context of the political and sociocultural development of Bulgaria, as well as in the context of national and international traditions in the study of folklore. At the same time, these reflections address changes in scientific paradigms and theoretical approaches, the problems of the existing boundaries between disciplines, the re-definition of scientific scope and newly defined fields of research. The interdisciplinary nature of the Journal, the development of its scientific profile, and its transformation into a journal for scholarly research in the field of folklore studies, ethnology and anthropology in the 1990s are given special attention. Editorial politics and practices, as well as different aspects of its theoretical sensibility and applied aims are traced. The place of the Journal among Bulgarian humanities periodicals and its international visibility are also highlighted.
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The paper presents the experience and the results of а long-term research of Serbian epics, primarily of singing to the accompaniment of gusle – the most common and preferred form of performing epic songs. Studying the tradition and the personalities proves to be important for the ethnomusicological and interdisciplinary understanding of this genre. The focus on this solo performative genre makes the relations with the guslars (epic singers who accompany their singing with gusle – a one-string bowed instrument), as primary collaborators in the research, especially intensive and complex. In relation to that, the implementation of 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Serbia is recognized as an opportunity as well as an ethical obligation of ethnomusicologists to achieve reciprocity in cooperation with guslars by supporting the safeguarding of epic singing to the accompaniment of gusle. This type of cooperation has brought new challenges and encouraged deeper reflections on social, i.e. socio-cultural responsibility and its impact on national ethnomusicology. Linking research results with cultural practice is one of the distinct challenges in contemporary humanities, so this paper in a broader sense is a contribution to the applied humanities.
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A large number of oral stories about Prince Miloš Obrenović (1780–1860) are preserved as an integral part of wider biographical, autobiographical, memoir, diary, historiographical, epistolary, travel and documentary sources. By identifying and separating anecdotes, historical legends, life stories and proverbs from the tissues of more elaborate narrative units, an extensive corpus is formed in which, through a series of narratives and variants, the narrated biography of Prince Miloš develops in the spheres of his military, political, diplomatic, social and private life. Given the fact that Prince Miloš appears as a very attractive and stimulating person for narrative shaping, the examples of his special administrative and judicial practice, which are characterized by elements of humorous, unusual, witty, but also arbitrary, unscrupulous and cruel treatment emerge as particularly interesting topics. He becomes a type to which are connected themes and motifs well known not only in the domestic tradition but also in the international narrative fund.
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After a theoretical review of the studies of dreams in anthropologically oriented research, the author especially considers folkloristic studies of the dreams symbolism, as well as the dream stories as a genre. The second part of the paper is dedicated to the analysis of field narratives – the stories of prophetic dreams. The focus is on the problems of the interpretation logic, the way of fitting into the autobiographical experience, and the relationship between the individual conceptions of dreams symbolism and the traditional matrices.
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The German population living in the Eastern European territories reached by the Red Army in 1944 was subjected to systematic cleansing. In Bulgaria, this process took place within an institutional framework and generated a substantial dialogue between the Soviet Control Commission, the Bulgarian State, and its German inhabitants. The study of this administrative dialogue reveals movements in the categorical repertoire created on institutional level in order to identify potential foreign enemies. Belonging of the so-called Germans to the national community was assessed through their religious, historical, social, or family affiliations. The heterogeneity of this population grouped from above reveals a strong social reality: the anti-German measures mainly affected individuals from mixed families, legally or ethnically related to the German world. This mixity appears to have been a problematic attribute for the ongoing administrative classification. The specificity of the category of intermarriage and its function multiplied the facets of this population and encompassed through the family institution the existing perceptions of what was an ‘enemy’ or a ‘friend’ of the new order. The classification of undesirable persons from mixed families generated unequal relations with the state, between locals and foreigners, between citizens and non-citizens, but also between women and men. By looking at the diversity of the studied group through the lens of identity representation analysis numerous questions related to the aspects of the complex social reality of the Bulgarian population at the end of World War II arise.
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The resettlement of the inhabitants of the village of Bara, Bulgaria, due to the construction of the ‘Aleksandar Stamboliyski’ Dam prolongs from 1942 to 1953. During this long period, social and economic life in the village is marked by uncertainty. A number of unpredictabilities, caused mainly by political and economic factors, hinder people from making informed choices and adequate decisions. My research interest is focused on the context that produced uncertainty and on resettlers’ worries. The reconstruction is based on archival documents dealing with the resettlement; they include also local complaints.
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The ways in witch advertising uses folklore motifs are rather varied and interesting. In this article, we first clarify what the essence of advertising is at a theoretical level, who it is aimed at, what is presented and how it is presented, and of course, also who orders the advertisement. This synthesizing theoretical introduction is necessary in order to fully understand the differences between audio advertising, visual and audio-visual presentation, as well as how contemporary advertising permeates the media environment including Internet and social networks. Also significant is the psychological effect on the costumers, which uses a number of traditional stereotypes and expected behaviour patterns. Subsequently, we will look in more detail at the role of folklore and especially folklore narratives in advertising, including its changes in the last century, which we will illustrate with two specific examples. The next part of the article consists of an analysis of two contemporary advertising campaigns with dominant folklore motifs in the Czech media environment (Equa bank and Seznam.cz), in which we show in detail the way they communicate with the costumer, the folklore stereotypes used and the comments of the clients and creators of these advertisements regarding the expected effect of the campaign.
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This article examines the process of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage as a factor for sustainable development. It traces and highlights the synergies between intangible cultural heritage and sustainable development. At the same time the author explores the interconnections between the different domains of intangible cultural heritage and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, through the normative documents of the leading international organisations in the field.
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The political changes after 1989 in Bulgaria and the country’s difficult economic transition, temporarily led to a decline in patriotic feelings among the Bulgarian people. With few exceptions, such as Bulgaria's triumphant performance at the 1994 World Cup, which led to unprecedented national pride, the idea of belonging and unity began to dissolve in the harsh and uncertain conditions of the transition from socialism to a market economy. This led to a deterioration of relations in Bulgarian society, a sharp revision of values, a decrease in tolerance, and the entering into everyday life of the so-called language of hatred. Political parties were created which, under the guise of patriotism, openly promoted more radical sentiments toward various types of minorities. An increase in domestic crime at the time proved to be a fertile ground for such rhetoric. The fact that from the beginning of the new millennium until now, some Bulgarians have been invariably supporting nationalist parties, shows that these political formations are an expression of permanently present sentiments in the Bulgarian society. The current text will focus on nationalist manifestations towards the second-largest ethnic minority in the country – the Roma. For this purpose, specific events will be examined and analysed, and an attempt will be made to provide answers to several questions such as: What is the role of the Bulgarian minorities in these nationalist attitudes? Is it possible to build an identity based on the rejection of the other, and what are the manifestations of this rejection? How do such manifestations of intolerance and confrontation reflect on the identity of the minority itself? Who benefits from this rhetoric, and what are its consequences for the Bulgarian society?
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The article proposes to refine the periodisation of Russian and Russian-speaking immigration in Bulgaria. It examines the necessary context, describing changes in motivations and identity projects of these groups from (relatively) 2013 to 2023. The text outlines the specific tool - the blog, reinvented in a modern context – the text highlights the differences between it within the visual platform Instagram and its classical visual version. Thus, some of the main features of Russian-speaking users’ own online representations are brought to the fore through the implicit and (counterintuitively) explicit discourses of Russian-speaking users. They focus the analysis on their identifications and the specifics of adaptation and its dynamics, maintaining a sense of community but also accumulating social capital that directly reflects their plans and strategies for the present and future.
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