Situating the Kim Mun: Religious Texts, Ethnic Identity and Academic Discourse

As a social phenomenon and an ideology, anti-gypsyism is sustained on essentialized narratives, which reify ethnic borders (between those considered as Roma and non-Roma) and assumes internal homogeneity of all members of the Romani group based on vaguely-defined and generalized notions of “culture” or “ethnicity”. These narratives tend to exclude plural and diverse representation of social realities and intersecting Romani identities, which can challenge the dominant and stigmatizing discourse. In this paper, I analyse how academic discourse contributes to sustaining essentialist representations of Roma and assess how more nuanced, plural, and context-sensitive interpretations of ethnic identity can contribute to challenging anti-gypsyism. By reviewing the scholarship of Brubaker (2002, 2004), Hall (1996) and Vertovec (2007), I discuss the potential of definitions in deconstructing homogenized and essentialized discourses on Roma in knowledge production and beyond. Furthermore, I discuss how the emergence and dynamic development of Romani scholarship has been gradually challenging the legacy of Romani Studies and providing an entry into new avenues of research, conducted primarily from the standpoint of Romani scholars. I argue that their engagement in knowledgeproduction is essential for promoting diversified, balanced and context-sensitive discourses. In this article, rather than prescribing a specific, normative framework for Romani Studies and elaborating a fixed research agenda, I point to possible directions and promising theoretical avenues which may provide a refreshing counter-balance to an otherwise homogenizing scholarship. In doing so, I assess possible implications for adapting diverse notions of ethnicity as a tool for de-essentializing academic discourses on Roma – including advantages and existing risks. Such an approach enables the mapping out of issues and challenges relevant for the process of elaborating a Critical Romani Studies research agenda.

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NEW SIBERIAN JERUSALEM: ORIGINS, TRANSFER, TOPONYMICS IN THE XVII-BEGINNING OF THE XX CENTURY

ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ Journal of Visual Semiotics ◽

10.23951/2312-7899-2020-2-182-198 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 182-198

Author(s):

Михаил Сергеевич Шаповалов

Keyword(s):

Gold Mining ◽

Academic Discourse ◽

The Urals ◽

Religious Texts ◽

New Jerusalem ◽

The Social ◽

The Status ◽

Active Transfer ◽

The Creation ◽

The Universe

В статье, основанной на материалах религиозных и светских текстов сибирских авторов XIX – начала XX в., документах региональных архивов, рассматривается феномен сибирского Иерусалима. Особое место уделено вопросам анализа иерусалимской и палестинской топонимики в Сибири. Автор преследует цель проанализировать процесс формирования феномена сибирского Иерусалима: какова его семантика, как соотносятся понятия «сибирский Иерусалим» и «Новый Иерусалим» и соотносятся ли вообще. В методологическом плане статья опирается на разработки в области иеротопии (А. М. Лидов) и культурно-семиотического трансфера (С. С. Аванесов). Автор приходит к выводам, что Иерусалим на протяжении XVII–XXI вв. оставался одним из пространствообразующих сакральных символов Сибири. В разное время в общественно-религиозном и научном дискурсе к сибирским Иерусалимам относили Тобольск, Енисейск, Томск, Каинск, Новокузнецк. Сибирские паломнические и религиозные тексты XIX – начала XX в. указывают на факт разделения в сознании сибиряков понятий Старого и Нового Иерусалима. Сибирский Иерусалим можно рассматривать в качестве образа Нового Иерусалима, продолжением процесса иконизации Московской Руси. До 1917 г. сибирским Новым Иерусалимом жители Зауралья признавали Тобольск. Статус Тобольска подкреплялся культурно-семиотическим трансфером иерусалимского топоса в Сибирь в формах идеи (Тобольск как центр Вселенной), образа (комплекс Тобольского кремля) и литургии (обряд «шествия на осляти»). Строительство сибирского Иерусалима сопровождалось активным переносом символов Иерусалима в Сибирь, что нашло отражение в топонимике региона. Реконструкция происхождения наименований раскрывает несколько источников создания палестинской топонимики в Сибири: церковное строительство, золотодобыча и еврейское присутствие. The paper examines the phenomenon of the "Siberian Jerusalem" based on both materials of religious and secular texts of Siberian authors of the XIX – early XX centuries and documents of the regional archives. Special attention is paid to the analysis of Jerusalem and Palestinian toponymy in Siberia. The author aims to analyze the genesis of the phenomenon of Siberian Jerusalem: its semantics, the relation between the concepts of Siberian and New Jerusalem if such a relation exists. In terms of methodology, the article relies on developments in the field of hierotopy (A. M. Lidov) and cultural-semiotic transfer (S. S. Avanesov). The author comes to the conclusion that Jerusalem during the XVII–XXI centuries remained one of the space-forming sacred symbols of Siberia. At various times, in the social-religious and academic discourse, Tobolsk, Yeniseisk, Tomsk, Kainsk, Novokuznetsk were attributed to Siberian Jerusalem. Siberian pilgrimage and religious texts of the XIX – early XX centuries point to the fact of separation of the concepts of the Old and New Jerusalem in the consciousness of the Siberians. Siberian Jerusalem can be regarded as the image of the New Jerusalem, a continuation of the iconization of Moscow Russia. Until 1917, residents of the territory beyond the Urals recognized Tobolsk as Siberian New Jerusalem. The status of Tobolsk was reinforced by the cultural-semiotic transfer of the Jerusalem topos to Siberia in the form of an idea (Tobolsk as the center of the Universe), an image (the Tobolsk Kremlin complex) and liturgy ("the procession on the donkey"). The construction of Siberian Jerusalem was accompanied by an active transfer of the symbols of Jerusalem to Siberia, which was reflected in the toponymy of the region. Reconstruction of the origin of names reveals several sources of the creation of Palestinian toponymy in Siberia such as church construction, gold mining and the Jewish presence.

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