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The main aim of this paper is to examine the discourse on Frédéric Chopin that took place in Poland in 1949, when the 100th anniversary of his birth coincided with the culmination of the socialist realist propaganda in the field of Polish culture. The discourse, initiated and moderated under effective surveillance of the Polish People’s Republic’s government, was filled with communist ideology. The authorities aimed at creating a sense of com-munion in the Polish nation, therefore they undertook numerous actions in the area of cultivating memory of Chopin and reception of his works. The composer was used as a banner under which culture of socialist realism was to be consolidated. Chopin was presented by the narrators in the socialist realist context in various dimen-sions. “Deep humanism”, “truth”, “optimism”, “sincerity” and “democratic features” of Chopin’s music were the crucial notions used by them. Chopin was depicted, among others, as a revolutionist and a prophet of tri-umph of communism. The oeuvre of Chopin was said to bring together “fraternal countries and nations”, Polish People’s Republic and Soviet Union, while being simultaneously a crucial element of class conflict. The authori-ties had a tendency to overemphasize folk roots of his compositions, thus among musical genres composed by Chopin the importance of Mazurka was exaggerated. Other genres without such strong folk connotations, as sonatas, ballades and scherzos, were marginalized in the discourse.
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Freedom, in the context of the ethical views of the Russian classics – Berdyaev, Solovyov, Dostoevsky and others, is examined. Emphasis is placed on freedom and the enormous challenges to achieve it. The faith in Man and the possibility for divine incarnation is a distinctive characteristic of Russian religious philosophy. The first part discusses Berdyaev’s statements about God and unbridled freedom. He regarded Christianity as a new beginning in the understanding of freedom. Berdyaev highly appreciates the contribution of Dostoyevsky to this topic. Freedom and related suffering are the big themes of Dostoyevsky. The battle between Christ and the Antichrist is studied.
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The debates about the relation between the national and European identity have recently gained a new impetus as a result of the growing national populism within the EU. In this regard, the article aims at elaborating the points of resemblance and dissonance between the identity-patterns of the two collective identities construction. In addition, it raises the question about the relation between national and European identity – do they compete with each other or they are parts of a bigger postmodern identity mosaic? In the first part of the research the main structural elements taking part in the National identity construction are discussed making a parallel with the European identity composition. In the second part of the text a more detailed analyses on the ethnic and civic model of identity construction is offered revealing two levels at which European identity is being created. Given that the majority of the academic work on the topic is more statistically or case orientated the article might be of interest due its fundamental approach.
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The post-war situation confronts the Turkish population in Bulgaria with the challenges of both the strained relations between Sofia and Ankara and the assimilation-led policies of the communist ideology against the minority. This publication examines the attempts of the Bulgarian Communist Party to build a new view of life among the Turkish women in Bulgaria through the mechanisms of education and culture. By pursuing its goal of depersonalizing the influence of religion at the expense of emancipatory perceptions of women’s active participation in social and political life the state harnesses totalitarian propaganda in order to change the value orientation of the Turkish women. The striving for modernization of the life of the Turkish women is also in compliance with the specific tasks and problems of the simultaneously pursued minority policy in the country.
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The proposed text does not attempt to present in detail the transformations pertaining to the Bulgarian Turks that have taken place in the state system and the society in Bulgaria since November 10, 1989. Rather, it attempts to explore a phenomenon which, at first glance, undoubtedly resembles nostalgia, but reveals, after a more thorough looking into it, the Bulgarian Turks‘ memory of the repressive party line of the totalitarian state and its culmination - the policy of forced assimilation, cynically called „revival process“. Also, the new reality of the Transition evokes a certain perception of the totalitarian regime, not in regards to its construction, normative or services, but in regards to its everyday life expressed through work realization, education, organization of public spaces, etc.
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Conference report on the International Science Conference ‘Culture as Fieldwork: Authentic, Spectacular, (In)visible'
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In this paper we present our research about the economic situation in Eastern Slovakia based on official data and on own surveys in the region of Rožňava. We also present our results concerning the economic situation in Uzhgorod region, Ukrainian Transcarpathia. Additionally we discuss the migration trends in Eastern Slovakia and the Ukrainian migration to this part of Slovakia, and especially the one originated from Transcarpathia. Our results with students at the Universities of Košice and Prešovshow the interest of the Ukrainian young people to stay in Slovakia or to emigrate to neighboring EU countries in order to have more professional opportunities, compared to Ukraine.
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The issue of gender justice has drawn the attention of gender scholars as does gender equality a justice or civilization. Because of this, the paper examined women and gender equality justice or civilization. In discussing these gender issues, several documents, reports, newspapers, magazines, archives, articles, journals, among others, were systematically reviewed to support the argument. Two theories were used in supporting the argument. These are Islamic Feminist and Liberal Feminist theories. The assumptions of these theories centered on gender equality and gender justice in society. The study found that gender equality is not civilization but justice. This is of the fact that both men and women are born equal and need equal justice for the development of the nation. The paper recommended that men and women should be given equal opportunity in all aspects of life in order to ensure gender justice. Parents and religious leaders should adhere to the principles of gender equality for the betterment of society.
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. Since early times, Muslims have speculated on the nature of Revelation and the Divine Speech. This has resulted in Muslim scholars developing divergent approaches to this problem. With the constitution of the orthodoxy, the former school became dominant and it postulated that the Quran is the Word of God dictated to Prophet Muhammad through the angel Jabrail. However, during the last decades in Iran emerged scholars, such as Abdulkarim Soroush, who proposed new approaches to understanding and interpreting Revelation. This paper discusses the hermeneutical project put forward by Soroush by discussing his article on the “Expansion of Prophetic Experience”. In this article, the author argues that his modern hermeneutics is radically different from orthodox theology and problematizes that the idea that the Quran as a human creation brings about other implications outside theology, such as for instance opening the Muslim thought and liberating it from scriptural readings.
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Myanmar has crafted a neutral foreign policy since its colonial years to avoid leaning too much on any foreign power, but a spiraling political crisis at home is pushing it toward China as a buffer against international outrage. Myanmar faces charges of genocide against the Rohingya. China has backed Myanmar in the UN. In fact, China is in a similar situation. China is grappling with international criticism over perceived repression of ethnic Uighur people. Myanmar is exposed to various words and loud in the international community. So Myanmar wants to improve relations with China and is turning into an active cooperative attitude as a strategy to secure a friendly army. This paper shows how the diplomatic relations between Myanmar and China are changing, and how Myanmar’s foreign strategy toward China is approaching. Also this article analyzes the outlook of diplomatic relations and the implications of the current situation.
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South Sudan, which separated from Sudan in 2011 after nearly 40 years of civil war, was embroiled in a new devastating conflict at the end of 2013. This happened when political disputes coupled with preexisting ethnic and political fault lines became brutal. This conflict has mostly targeted civilians and most often, ethnic groups, and warring parties have been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The conflict has resulted in a major humanitarian crisis, mass displacement and mass atrocities against South Sudanese citizens. Notwithstanding, instability in South Sudan has made the country one of the most dangerous countries for humanitarian aid workers in the world, especially as majority of them have lost their lives during their operation. In view of this, the article seeks to interrogate the main driving forces that triggered the deadly conflict and also the ramifications brought upon the population as well as the country.
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This paper analyzes the phenomenon of the seasonal workers in Europe before the Covid-19 pandemic and discusses the legislation for intermediation job intermediation agencies in several East European countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and Poland. Additionally we discuss the typical patterns for seasonal migration in European context. We also analyze the situation of seasonal workers in Scandinavia (the berry picking activity in Sweden), in Spain (the orange picking in the Mediterranean regions) as well as the Ukrainian seasonal workers in some of the Visegrad-4 countries (Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia). Finally, we briefly discuss some novel approaches which might be used as regulation mechanisms.
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The constitutional changes of 1989 in Kosovo, in addition to physical, political andpsychological pressure, exerted social pressure through job dismissals. Job dismissalsbecame a “normal” process, becoming a common way of exercising social pressure.In all these impossibilities in front of which a whole society is placed, self-organization oropposition through self-acting is expressed.In this course, the collapsed life on every sphere, and precisely this collapse burdened evenmore the daily life of these citizens, imposing reflection on these inabilities.While therepressive state was exclusive, degrading, and denigrating for a category of the society,precisely this category got self-integrated through resistance, which can not be calledotherwise but self-organization.In this flow, many subsequent developments came to the fore,such as the comprehensive mobilization of the society, so that individual tasks became selfvoluntarycollective duties and obligations.To this society, faced with such a situation, Solidarity was undoubtedly imposed in every areaof life, having the course from similarities, and “solidarity that comes from similarities is atits maximum when the collective conscience completely wraps up all our conscience andcomplies with it on all points” (Durkheim, 2004).
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Many theories of leadership and organisational climate gave been formulated over the years. This paper focuses both on transformational and transactional management and on supportive organisational climates. The theory of transformational educational management was developed as a response to the need for reform in educational systems in the 1970s and 1980s. The central convincing argument for educational staff was the assumption that a transformational leader motivates both teachers and students through increasing their consciousness regarding operational objectives and inspiring them to forego personal interest in favour of the organisational ‘greater good’ (Marks and Printy , 2003, p. 375). This strand of theory attributes certain leadership factors to the transformational leader like idealising influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualising consideration amongst others.The transformational leader came about as a response to the need for schools to be led successfully through innovative reforms. This type of leader underlines and accentuates ideas of change, innovation and the influence teachers have in these processes. On the other hand, transactional leadership is based on promoting a negotiation model which helps reaching a certain motivation level. This level is usually expressed through an accepted amount. Conversely, transformational leadership refers to certain assumed responsibilities and moral principles. Both leadership models aim to improve school environments, ultimately targeting progress through building leadership capacities amongst all those involved in facilitating school activities (apud Nedelcu, 2013).
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peoples music, state socialism, people's democracy, Bulgarian radio, soft powerThe article describes the main power concepts and practices, related to music in Bulgarian radio during the first years of socialist Bulgaria – the Fatherland front period (1944-1947), when the authorities start to take possession of state radio, under the guise of “people’s democracy”; and the totalitarian period (1948-1956) – a period of “classical Stalinism”, a time of the completed control of radio and media music by the communist power. The focus is on the so called folk music in radio, which turns out to be one of the main conduits of “soft power” in the first years of Bulgarian national socialism. Its presence in the narratives of communist power, its place in radio programs, its main figures and formats, its power uses as “music for the people” and some discourses as “correct” and “incorrect” music, according to authorities, are examined.
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The text presents the state of the web TV in Bulgarian based on the results from the project ‘Web radio and TV in Bulgarian language’ funded by the Research fund of Sofia University with supervisor prof. DSc Snezhana Popova.It is hard to show precise data about the number of web TVs in Bulgarian or with Bulgarian addresses in 2017. The platforms do not use the term web TV, ‘online TV’. In 2017 three types of web TVs prove to be sustainable: regional, lifestyle and radio and TV. The announcement style TVs that present service information as well as the only regional station ‘Epohi’ TV have disappeared. The sports TV projects do not function (with the exception of the TV of FC ‘Levski 1914’). At least formally the ‘music online TVs’ are the largest number. However, the research showed that behind this title on some of the platforms exist websites with pornographic content. Most of them are announced as pop-folk music TVs. The main problem in making web TVs in Bulgarian is the ambiguity of who is expected to watch them. Apart from regional TVs everyone else say they a looking for their audience instead of building a message for a specific group.The text presents the state of the web TV in Bulgarian based on the results from the project ‘Web radio and TV in Bulgarian language’ funded by the Research fund of Sofia University with supervisor prof. DSc Snezhana Popova.It is hard to show precise data about the number of web TVs in Bulgarian or with Bulgarian addresses in 2017. The platforms do not use the term web TV, ‘online TV’. In 2017 three types of web TVs prove to be sustainable: regional, lifestyle and radio and TV. The announcement style TVs that present service information as well as the only regional station ‘Epohi’ TV have disappeared. The sports TV projects do not function (with the exception of the TV of FC ‘Levski 1914’). At least formally the ‘music online TVs’ are the largest number. However, the research showed that behind this title on some of the platforms exist websites with pornographic content. Most of them are announced as pop-folk music TVs. The main problem in making web TVs in Bulgarian is the ambiguity of who is expected to watch them. Apart from regional TVs everyone else say they a looking for their audience instead of building a message for a specific group.
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The book Тhe Мediatized Dimension of Foreign Policy presents the results of a study of foreign policy claims in the election campaign for the early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria on March 26, 2017. The study was carried out by Prof. Dr. Maria Neikova and Dr. Ralitsa Kovacheva under a project financed by the Scientific Research Centre at the Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’.The book Тhe Мediatized Dimension of Foreign Policy presents the results of a study of foreign policy claims in the election campaign for the early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria on March 26, 2017. The study was carried out by Prof. Dr. Maria Neikova and Dr. Ralitsa Kovacheva under a project financed by the Scientific Research Centre at the Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’.
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In 2018/2019 the Radio and Television Department stated the Master’s program Digital Media and Video Games in the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communications of SU St. Kliment Ohridski. The program is developed together with leading companies on the video games market.
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Despite the growing body of research on authoritarian regimes, few studies address the issues of their legitimization through exaggerating external threats and constructing enemy images. Targeting the gap in the literature, this article explores the discursive strategies of ‘evilization’ and demonization of the ‘other’, with a focus on their implications for legitimating and sustaining the authoritarian regimes in post-Soviet space. Examining the cases of Russia and Azerbaijan, the qualitative, comparative analysis presented in this article uncovers a series of essential similarities between the regimes’ legitimization strategies. Findings suggest that there has been a strong tendency in both Russian and Azerbaijani discourses to ‘externalize’ major problems facing the countries and scapegoat ‘evil forces’ as their main causes. Frequent appeals to the external threats have been accompanied by a heightened emphasis on the necessity of strong presidential power, with ‘strongmen’ that are capable of withstanding the enemies’ conspiracies. Remarkably, one of the core similarities between the two regimes is their unstoppable drive towards monarchical presidencies.
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