![Ивайло Марков. Миграции и социо-културна динамика. Албанците от Р. Македония. София, 2015](/api/image/getissuecoverimage?id=picture_2017_35070.jpg)
We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
The objective of this article is to outline the basic tensions in contemporary Bulgarian society concerning the intertwining of religion and secularism through the prism of relations between national state and different religious organizations and individuals.The general goal is to combine the presentation of national historical context, existing legislation and the current social debate based on anthropological fieldwork.
More...
The paper is the first part of a research, dedicated to the problem of how national identity of Kosovo is forged. It is analysed from the point of view of a particular case study – the missing persons and how their character is represented in the public discourses of Prishtina, Belgrad, and how the international community is involved.The problem of national identity building is considered in its complexity, taking into account numerous rival projects. The museum exhibition, dedicated to missing persons and cultural heritage artifacts could be regarded as case study.All the actors on the terrain apply their own ideological strategies, which could be identified in the concept of the “Missing” exhibition: how the personal memory is being domesticated and turned into history of the nation, how the transition from text to action was carried out, how memory, oblivion and history were (ab-)used as social building ideological toolkits. Particular attention was paid to the problem of the conceptualization of the recent past: how it was interpreted and attributed signs of prestige by the social actors involved in accordance to the interests of each of them.The ethnic conflict paradigm as a key concept widely used in contemporary humanities for explaining the Kosovo case as well as the disintegration of Yugoslavia is put under question. The history of the Museum of Kosovo is also involved, the debate between Belgrade and Prishtina for returning 1247 initially taken artifacts transported to Gračanica monastery and then to Belgrade in 1998 along with the withdrawal of the Yugoslav administration of the region is traced in its history and ideology, establishing references to the Kosovo myth, based on the folklore epics which were first published by Vik Karadžić in the 1820s and later became a canonized version of late medieval Serbian history.
More...
This article presents the situation that prevails in „temporary” sanctuaries known as humanitarian zones, or colloquially speaking – refugee camps managed by UNHCR in sub-Saharan Africa on the example of Kenya. The invention of refugee camps as a kind of modern refugia is increasingly being criticized in the world. „Protection” and „aid” provided there consist in controlling and keeping their residents alive without giving them the opportunity to live independently. This system is quite convenient for both host countries and the whole so-called humanitarian industry operating according to marketing logic. The system removes the burden of dealing directly with refugees from host countries and the humanitarian industry hasa kind of market of suffering and excluded refuges which legitimize its existence. It justifies the question whether the camps really provide security and help that they promise? Refugees get voluntarily to the refugee camps, but why in that case do they have a sense of imprisonment when they are there? Why the international refugee protection system that promised sustainable solutions can not solve their problems? Why do refugees in the camps often feel that they are in a trap, from which it is difficult to escape? In the text I refer critically to the existing ways of providing protection and assistance to refugees. I underline the significant discrepancies between the declarations on the part of humanitarian organizations and results of their actions. I suggest rethinking the humanitarian aid system called the „International Refugee Regime”, entangled in contradictions and helpless in the face of the suffering that he promised to remove.
More...
Muslims in Switzerland are the third largest religious group. However, they are not legally recognized as a religion. The Swiss state is confronted with the necessity of their integration and the problem is constantly present in politics. It is a fact, that the regional differences between Muslims and other religions in Switzerland are very large. The results of referendums regarding the acceptance of the Muslim religion have been in the past only negative. The best example is the initiative and referendum „stop of minarets” in 2009. From a legal point of view, the presence of Muslims in Switzerland provokes many challenges for the Swiss state, because the systems of these two „worlds” are fundamentally different: Muslim law is based on the Islamic religion, while the Swiss Confederation is a democratic state of law and as such is based on the will of society. Recognition of Muslims as a religious minority can take place within the framework of Swiss direct democracy only in the referendum, which is currently impossible.
More...
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.
More...
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.
More...
Conference report on the International Science Conference ‘Culture as Fieldwork: Authentic, Spectacular, (In)visible'
More...
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.
More...
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’.
More...
Selected bibliography in the field of Bulgarian Studies published in the current year
More...
The Karioti are a Greek-speaking ethnographic group from Bulgaria, a large part of which migrated to Greece in the 1920s. The hypotheses about the emergence of the migrant community in the village of General Inzovo as well as the factors influencing the emigration to settlements in Northern Greece (the Municipality of Eginio, Thessaloniki region, and the village of Trikala in Imathias) are diverse: social, economic, political and others. The new environment in which the Karioti settled had a significant impact on the community. Language, traditional clothing and cultural features are part of the external manifestations that distinguish them from other communities. By using certain specific elements in traditional clothing, the community demonstrates a desire to be distinguished among others and vice versa, by rejecting others it reflects a desire to join the urban community.The preservation of the musical heritage of the Greek-speaking communities in the three settlements has gone through several periods, which are not identical in the two countries. Contemporary folklore manifestations and the activities of the community cultural institutions in the settlements aim to preserve the local identity of the Karioti in Bulgaria and Greece.
More...
Selected bibliography in the field of Bulgarian Studies published in the current year.
More...
The study presents the contributions of Raina Katsarova (1901-1984) - one of the pioneers in establishing the Bulgarian traditional music in the first specializated music programs on Rodno Radio and Radio Sofia. It presents a researcher with experience in field work and thousands of recordings of traditional music, with publications of song collections and academic works, but also a citizen, cultural figure, public activist, media figure. The activities of Raina Katsarova as an educator, music journalist and media critic are discussed; her talks and song tales on the radio; her activities in defense of faith and rituals in the media of totalitarian Bulgaria; her role in publicizing Bulgarian traditional music on air around the world as an ambassador of Bulgarian culture, folklore and science. It is concluded that the traces of her activity in the media cover the history of Bulgarian radio, understood in the middle of the twentieth century as a public good and cultural force. It is clear to everyone that music on the radio matters. Raina Katsarova's radio appearances show how ethnomusicology is also important in and for radio.
More...
En 1629, une ambassade dirigée par l’archimandrite Varlaam est arrivée à la cour du tsar Mikhaïl Féodorovitch Romanov, demandant la permission de passer une commande aux peintres moscovites, afin depeindre deux icônes pour le prince Miron Barnovschi. Les sources documentaires nous renseignent sur la dédicacedes icônes et sur le fait qu’elles appartenaient à la typologie des icônes hagiographiques, avec des portraitsde saints au milieu et des scènes narratives de leur vie sur les bords. Bien qu’achevées et payées intégralementpar le prince moldave, les icônes ne sont jamais parvenues à leur commanditaire. Le patriarche Philarète Nikititchles a retenues à Moscou sous prétexte qu’elles étaient ‘inconvenablement’ peintes. Sept ans plus tard,alors que Varlaam occupait le poste de métropolite de Moldavie, le prince Vasile Lupu envoya une autre ambassadeà la cour de Moscou, pour tenter de les récupérer. Le tsar organisa une enquête, les peintres furent interrogéssur les modèles suivis, mais le résultat resta le même : les icônes avaient été peintes de manière noncanonique et ne pouvaient pas être remises aux messagers moldaves. L’enquête sur cet intéressant ‘échec’ diplomatique fait l’objet de la présente étude. En suivant André Grabar, qui soulevait pour la première fois laquestion du prétendu manque de canonicité de ces icônes, l’article reprend toute la question des causes possiblesdu refus inhabituel des autorités moscovites de les remettre à leurs commanditaires. En corroborant lesinformations documentaires avec l’analyse des sources visuelles disponibles, dans le contexte plus large de lacommande des icônes et de l’évolution du culte de saint Jean le Nouveau à l’époque, l’étude suggère qu’uneraison possible de ce rejet pourrait être la représentation du martyr de Suceava – et ce, non pas parce qu’ils’agissait d’un saint inconnu en Russie à l’époque (cf. A. Grabar); mais surtout à cause de l’utilisation d’uncertain modèle iconographique employé dans l’entourage du métropolitain Anastasie Crimca. Ce modèle étaitsans doute susceptible d’avoir déplu au patriarche Philarète Nikititch. Varlaam connaissait bien ce type dereprésentation et avait probablement donné des instructions précises aux peintres moscovites, qui les ont sansdoute suivies à la lettre. En effet, à la suite de cet épisode, Varlaam enverra également au tsar une hagiographie etune icône de saint Jean le Nouveau, qui semblent avoir dynamisé le culte et les représentations iconographiquesdédiées au martyr de Suceava en Russie à la même époque.
More...
L’étude collective de cette inscription s’inscrit dans lecadre du projet erc Starting Grant graph-east (2021-2026), financé par le programme de recherche et d’innovationHorizon 2020 de l’Union européenne dans le cadrede la convention de subvention n° 948390. Son but est d’étudier les inscriptions et graffitis en alphabet latin de la Méditerranée orientale, de la Grèce à l’Égypte en passantpar la Turquie, la côte syro-palestinienne et Chypre, du VII au XVI siècle.
More...
The article studies the role of the musician in Alevi-Bektashi culture in the region of Kardzhali, Southern Bulgaria. The musician in that culture performs simultaneously religious, social and artistic roles. He is a figure whose qualities allow the researcher to associate him with the cultural type of the epic musician. His non-professional but specialized activity is presented from an insider’s viewpoint detailing the specific characteristics of that activity, the approaches applied in the process of training in it, through the qualitative evaluation of the musicians and the differences in their performance manners. The author presents the biographical trajectory and the performance style of a contemporary young Bektashi musician from the region in order to depict his portrait. The interaction between his outstanding talent and his strong religious devotion define his complex development as a musician and a member of the Heterodox Muslim community.
More...