Folklore in Baltic History

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sadhana Naithani
Keyword(s):  
Life Stories ◽  
The Other ◽  
Soviet Rule ◽  
Linguistic Identity ◽  
Baltic Countries ◽  
The People ◽  
Folklore Studies ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
The Baltic

Folklore in Baltic History: Resistance and Resurgence is a study of how the discipline of folklore studies was treated under the totalitarian rule of the USSR in the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from 1945 to 1991 and what role the study of folklore has played since independence in 1991. It is a “dramatic history” of what happened to folklorists, folklore archives and folklore departments in the universities under the Soviet rule. On the one hand was a coercive and brutal state and on the other peoples conscious of their national, cultural and linguistic identity as comprised in their folklore. On the one hand, scholars and archivists fell in line and on the other, continued to subvert the coercion by devising ingenious ways of communicating among themselves. When freedom came in 1991 they were ready to create the record of undocumented brutality by documenting life stories and oral history. Sadhana Naithani juxtaposes the work of folklore scholars in the Baltic countries between 1945 and 1991 to the life of the people in the same period to reach an evaluation of the Baltic folkloristics. She concludes that the study of folklore has been an act of resistance and has aided in the resurgence of freedom and identity in the post-Soviet Baltic countries.

scholarly journals The landscape code “water / river” in the ritual folklore of the Forest Yukaghir and its significance in the ethnic history of the people

2020 ◽  
pp. 36-49
Author(s):  
L. N. Zhukova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Fairy Tale ◽  
The Other ◽  
Taiga Zone ◽  
Quick Response ◽  
Potential Danger ◽  
The People ◽  
Ethnic History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Magical Power ◽  
The One

The paper considers one of the main landscape codes of Kolyma Yukaghir hunters and fishermen, namely, the code of water / river. The significance of the water resources of the forest and taiga zone as lactating, transporting, and serving as a reference point in space is captured in the oral folklore of the forest Yukaghirs (Oduls). The image, functions, and significance of water/river according to folklore genres are considered. The pagan appeals to the deified “nursing” elements, their attendant rites, and modern functioning are analyzed. Lyric songs are closely adjacent to this genre, with the maternal nature of the water element functionally highlighted in them. In prosaic texts, the poetic component of the macro image of the water / river is reduced, and the text can directly or indirectly report a real or potential danger emanating from the water. The nursing function of the elements in them is only implied; the river acts as a transport artery, serving as a landmark on the ground. The ambivalent symbolism of water is clearly reflected in the ancient fairy-tale cycle about Mythical old peoplecannibals, legends about the struggle with neighboring peoples, little stories. In the stories about shamans, the magical power of water is actualized. The analysis of the multi-genre texts showed the ambivalence of the water element, on the one hand, lyrically sung in songs and ritual folklore, on the other, bearing a real threat and the potentiality of meeting with hostile creatures. The basis of this algorithm is the feeling of constant anxiety, the need for a quick response, and the adoption of protective responses. The factors identified could influence the formation of the ethno-psychological world of the northern nomad.

scholarly journals Emblems of the Post-Soviet Donetsk Region: Official Ones «From the Bossmen», Upgrades «From the People», Alternatives From the «Russian World» Supporters

2021 ◽  
pp. 58-66
Author(s):  
Kyrylo Mieliekiestsev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Russian Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
Palm Tree ◽  
History And Memory ◽  
Local Elites ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The One ◽  
Historical Methods

The purpose of the article is the analysis of the development of Donetsk region emblems (official heraldry and vexillology of Donetsk Oblast, reflection of historical themes in commercial nomenclature, reinterpretations of official symbols by individuals) in 1991–2015, identifying the main trends in the development of emblems, their connections with the views of customers and authors on history and politics, transformations of symbolics. The methodology of the research is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, and systematics. General scientific and special-historical methods were used, such as content analysis, generalization, chronological, retrospective methods. The scientific novelty is based on it being the first attempt to generalize various elements of emblem studies of the Donetsk region, for the first time going beyond the official heraldry and vexillology of the Oblast, while considering their transformation in the hands of non-state actors. Conclusions. The post-Soviet era emblems of Donetsk and the Donetsk Oblast were developed in a unique situation: on the one hand local elites wanted to move away from Soviet symbols and modernize Donetsk as a “brand”, and on the other hand, due to the peculiarities of these elites’ education, origins and political preferences, did not perceive the region’s history. outside of the Soviet stereotypes about “Donbas as the economic center.” As a result, local elites ignored Cossack history of the Donetsk region in contrast to the perpetuation of industrial achievements of the Russian Empire (such as the Oblast’s coat of arms motto with a quote from Dmitri Mendeleev, “The Mertsalov Palm Tree”, as well as various “John Hughes/Yuz” nomenclature). Over the decades, there has been a divergence of traditions of Donetsk emblem use: official, business, and national-patriotic. At the same time, pro-Moscow organizations have been developing and imposing a separate emblem tradition since 1991, based on historical myths around the Donetsk-Kryvyi Rih Soviet Republic, but detached from both the old Soviet symbols and the new official Donetsk emblems. The latter were developed to symbolize the “uniqueness” of eastern Ukraine, the “separateness” of Donetsk region, but did not actually intersperse with Russian symbols (with the exception of the Russian-language motto). In this form, it did not meet the goals of Moscow’s agents of influence, but was accepted and reworked by pro-Ukrainian patriotic forces. Thus, the use of one or the other version of Donetsk region symbols indicates a person’s political beliefs, their understanding of regional history and “memory politics” around it.

The Rhetoric of Rebellion in Hume's Constitutional Thought

2005 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Merrill
Keyword(s):  
David Hume ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Society ◽  
Rhetorical Strategy ◽  
Important Principle ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Constitutional Thought ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right

In hisHistory of England, David Hume suggests that the doctrine of resistance should be concealed from the populace. But this suggestion in the very public location of theHistoryhas the effect of revealing this doctrine as much as concealing it. How should we understand this perplexing rhetorical strategy? Hume's paradoxical rhetoric is a symptom of the problem that the right of rebellion poses for every political society. On the one hand, the right of rebellion undeniably exists; on the other, no regime can recognize that right fully. The problem of rebellion thus reveals the simultaneous necessity and limitations of law. Hume's playful, transparent rhetoric is intended to compel us to reflect upon the deeper tension between liberty and authority in every political society and to furnish us with an example of how that tension might be prudently and honestly handled.At a pivotal moment in theHistory of England, Hume writes: “If ever, on any occasion, it were laudable to hide truth from the populace, it must be confessed, that the doctrine of resistance affords such an example; and that all speculative reasoners ought to observe, with regard to this principle, the same cautious silence which the laws, in every species of government, have ever prescribed to themselves.” On its face, this is a recommendation that the “doctrine of resistance,” perhaps the most important principle of modern liberalism, be kept a secret, hidden away from the people at large.

scholarly journals Discontinuity and Continuity in Representations of 20th Century Estonian History

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 1071-1094
Author(s):  
Tiiu Jaago
Keyword(s):  
Life Histories ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The Other ◽  
Soviet Rule ◽  
Autobiographical Narratives ◽  
Narrative Methods ◽  
The One ◽  
Political Decisions

The theme of this article is how Estonians have described political changes in their autobiographical narratives. The discussion is based on the observation that the establishment of Soviet rule in Estonia in the 1940s is construed in the studies of life stories, on the one hand, as a discontinuity of ‘normal life’, and on the other hand, as continuity. It is remarkable that irrespective of the demarcation of state borders by political decisions, Estonian territory is still perceived as a single and eternal whole. To what extent is the perception of discontinuity or continuity related to experiencing political change and to what extent is it related to the method of narration, and to what extent does it depend on the choices made by the researcher? An analysis of the three life histories discussed in the article indicates that experiencing discontinuity or continuity in a specific historical context does not coincide with its depiction in life histories. The texts reflect both the diversity of narrative methods (coherent representation of different layers of recollections, the comparison and contrast of different situations, etc.), and the context of narratives – for example the interviewer’s effect on discussing a topic or the relation of a story to publicly discussed topics. Recollections are characterised by variability, however this may not become evident as studies focus on certain aspects of the narrative or interrelations of the topic and public discourses. The polysemic and ambivalent nature of the ‘border’ unfolds through the entangled interplay of territorial, political and cultural borders, their narrative articulation in life story telling as well as researchers’ choices.

scholarly journals Air Pollution Mortality in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden

2009 ◽  
pp. 97-108
Author(s):  
Ulla Lehmijoki ◽  
Elena Rovenskaya
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Environmental Kuznets Curve ◽  
The Other ◽  
Kuznets Curve ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
Baltic Countries ◽  
The One ◽  
The Baltic

The adverse health consequences of air pollution are of concern currently and there is a fear that these consequences escalate along with economic growth. The effect of economic growth on air pollution deaths is analyzed in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden by applying the Environmental Kuznets Curve approach, according to which economic growth has competing effects on air pollution and related deaths. On the one hand, emissions tend to increase as the scale of economic activity increases, but on the other hand, consumers and firms in richer countries use cleaner goods and adopt cleaner technologies. In Denmark and Finland, the latter effects are stronger, while in Sweden the opposite is true. Therefore, air pollution deaths will decrease in Denmark and Finland but increase in Sweden. Since country's own emissions do not determine air pollution completely, the paper briefly analyzes emissions from the Baltic countries and Russia.

Early History of Elis and Pisa: Invented or Evolving Traditions?

Klio ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mait Kõiv
Keyword(s):  
Early Period ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Early History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

SummaryThe article discusses the development of ethnic and political identities, and the related traditions concerning the past, in Archaic and Classical Elis and Pisa. It shows that the earliest signs of Pisatan identity can be traced to the sixth century BC, and that the Eleans of the valley of Peneios on the one hand, and the people dwelling in the valley of Alpheios (i.e. the Pisatans) and the so-called Triphylia farther south on the other, nourished distinct traditions about their heroic past, which reflect distinct ethnic identities. Instead of assuming that the Pisatans as a group was intentionally constructed and its ‚history‘ invented during the political disturbances of the fourth century BC, we must accept that the Eleans and the Pisatans had since an early period developed and mutually re-negotiated the traditions confirming their identities and promoting their interests in the changing historical conditions.

scholarly journals Securitizing Russia: Discursive Practices of the Baltic States

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Øyvind Jæger
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Space ◽  
Discursive Practices ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Baltic Countries ◽  
Baltic Sea Region ◽  
The One ◽  
The Baltic

The author argues that the security situation of the Baltic countries cannot be separated from the way the Balts themselves speak of security. This is a discourse of danger producing insecurity in pursuit of security. Moreover, this article is a study of identity by demonstrating how Baltic security issues are constituted by discourses of danger revolving around Russian Otherness and European Sameness. In conclusion, the following aspects are addressed: the prospects for the coming together of East and West in the Baltic Sea Region – and NATO’s role in this process – and whether this process will come to ease with a parallel between sovereignty and regionality as organising principles for political space, or whether the one will succumb to the other in the course of a prolonged contest.

scholarly journals The Story of the Torah from the Perspective of the Qur'an and History

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 268
Author(s):  
Seyyed Mohammad Razavi ◽  
Marziyeh Saemi
Keyword(s):  
Jewish People ◽  
The Other ◽  
Original Version ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Times ◽  
The One ◽  
Over Time

The history of the Bible implies that the Torah has been formed and distorted over time. The Qur'an also confirms this issue. The Holy Qur'an, in addition to introducing the Jews as the People of the Book, uses the word "Torah" eighteen times, "which is a collection of divine teachings bestowed on Prophet Moses." On the one hand, the Holy Qur'an acknowledges and affirms it, and on the other hand, it attributes distortion to this book and introduces the Torah as one of the books that has been distorted throughout history, however, the holy Qur’an considers the part of the Torah that has been preserved to contain the teachings of God and can be acknowledged in general, and considers it a means of guiding the Jewish people and advises them to refer to it. The collection of information in this writing is library-based and their processing is descriptive-analytical. This article seeks to prove the view that the current Torah, with its various versions, has been disappeared in the ups and downs of the times, and that what exists is a very blurred and inconsistent face of the original version, and the Holy Qur'an confirms this.

scholarly journals Johann Caspar Lavater in Estland. Über seinen Einfluss, einige Portraits und einige Gedanken über die Portraitkunst

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Tiina-Mall Kreem
Keyword(s):  
Art Museum ◽  
History Museum ◽  
Baltic Countries ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
History Of Art ◽  
Art And Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
The Impact

The article focuses on Johann Caspar Lavater (1741–1801), the Enlightenment-era thinker, pastor and writer, art collector and physiognomist, whose work and activities affected thinking from Zurich to America and Russia, including the Baltic countries. Of Lavater’s Estonian acquaintances, Johann Burchard VII, the Tallinn Town Council pharmacist, is the one that primarily emerges from the article. The famous Swiss maintained a correspondence with the latter for over ten years, and in 1792, gifted him a miniature portrait of himself (now in the Estonian History Museum).In addition to the miniature portrait after Johann Heinrich Lips (?), there were two graphic portraits of Lavater in Estonia that were associated with Georg Friedrich Schmoll (Tallinn City Museum, University of Tartu Library) as well as a masterful oil portrait by August Friedrich Olenhainz (Art Museum of Estonia’s Kadriorg Art Museum). The article examines all of these against the background of Lavater’s successful book of the day “Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe” (“Physiognomic Fragments for Furthering the Knowledge and Love of Man”, 1775–1778) and in regard to Lavater’s discussions about people and the art of portraiture.An attempt is made thereby to see Enlightenment-era portrait art through the eyes of Enlightenment-era people – Lavater and his audience. While the author of the article is convinced of the impact of Lavater’s physiognomic research on the portraiture of the day (on the artists, clients, viewers) and also more indirectly on the history of art, she emphasis that, for Lavater, portrait art was primarily a tool for his physiognomic research and even if Lavater’s teachings lost their popularity after his death and were relegated to the periphery of science, Lavater should not be excluded from the history of art and culture in the Baltic countries.

The Question of Interpretation: Qin History in Light of New Epigraphic Sources

Early China ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 1-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri Pines
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Apparent Contradiction ◽  
Warring States ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
New Evidence

Recently discovered epigraphic sources of Qin's history often seem to contradict the conventional wisdom regarding the history of this state. Thus, the recently published inscription on the jade tablets records a prayer to Mountain Hua by one of the last Qin kings, in which the latter surprisingly laments the demise of the Zhou house–an action for which traditionally Qin was blamed. On the other hand, some of the Shuihudi Qin statutes contain equally surprising statements according to which the Qin populace on the eve of the imperial unification was clearly differentiated from the members of the Xia ethno-cultural community. In both cases the apparent contradiction between the new evidence and the conventional interpretation of the received texts caused most of the scholars to neglect the confusing evidence altogether or to reinterpret it in accord with the traditional views.In my paper, I suggest that the new evidence can be reconciled with the received texts, if due attention is paid to the complexity of cultural and political dynamics in the state of Qin prior to the imperial unification of 221 B.C.E. During the last two centuries of the Warring States period Qin appears to be engulfed in two contradictory processes of estrangement from and re-integration with the “Central States.” On the one hand, radical reforms of the mid-fourth century B.C.E. brought about not only sociopolitical but also cultural changes, creating the cultural gap between Qin and the rest of the Zhou world. Concomitantly, endless military conflicts between Qin and its neighbors further strengthened the cohesiveness of Qin's populace, increasing furthermore the sense of antagonism between the people of Qin, particularly among the lower strata, and the dwellers of eastern states. On the other hand, however, Qin's eventual separation from the rest of the Zhou world was counterbalanced by the equally powerful integrative factors. The influx of eastern advisors perpetuated cultural ties between Qin and its neighbors, while the desire of Qin rulers to facilitate incorporation of the eastern territories into their expanding realm dictated a more flexible policy of building rather than destroying political and cultural bridges with the Zhou world. Understanding this ongoing tension between conflicting integrative and centrifugal tendencies allows us to build a new interpretative framework for the Qin history, fully incorporating the received and the unearthed texts.

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