scholarly journals Symbolic Images of Stone and Mountains in the Literatures of Abkhazian and North Caucasian Nations

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 344-371
Author(s):  
Vyacheslav A. Biguaa

This article examines the peculiarities of the functioning of symbolic images of stone and mountains in the folklore and literatures of the peoples of the North Caucasus and Abkhazia. The objects of analysis are myths, a heroic epic about the sledges shared by a number of Caucasian peoples, poetry by K. Mechiev, K. Kuliev, A. Keshokov, and R. Gamzatov, novels by B. Shinkuba (Dissected Stone) and A. Gogua (Nimbus). As shown in the article, the images of stone and mountains in each literature function differently within the structure of a literary text, depending on the author’s intention. At the same time, these images are initially closely connected with history, life, mythology, folklore of the people, and with thousand-year historical and spiritual experience of mountaineers. The process of creating a literary image, whose roots go deep into national history and culture, reflects the interaction of different types of thinking — historical, mythological, anthropological, and literary; the nature of the relationship and the dialogue of literature with folklore, historiography, and ethnography speak about the role of this interdisciplinary dialogue in the development of literature; this way, we can also speak of literary or artistic historicism which differs from historicism in historiography or philosophy of history.

Author(s):  
Maryana Adamovna Malish

The paper raises the problem of preserving the his-torical memory of the Caucasian War. The author examines the contribution of long-term republican target programs in the development of the region and the education of youth. It is said about the ap-pearance of traditions associated with monuments dedicated to the memory of this war in Adygea. The paper analyzes the attitude of state authorities and public organizations to the establishment of monu-ments of this type. A brief description of the monu-ments to the victims of the Caucasian War is given. It was revealed that the first initiator of their estab-lishment in the North Caucasus, in particular in Adygea, is the International Circassian Association. The role of the media in the study and dissemination of information about the monuments of the region is indicated. It is concluded that memorials testify-ing to the tragic events of the Caucasian War are symbols of historical memory and reflect the atti-tude of the people to the past.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 76-89
Author(s):  
Zurab D. Dzhapua ◽  

The article analyses the contribution of Meletinsky to Caucasian epic studies. The role of Caucasian epic traditions in the study of the problem of the origins and the early forms of the epos is considered. A significant number of the comparative-typological studies of Meletinsky are based on the materials of mythoepic cultures of Caucasus mountain people. The scholar singled out the Caucasian epics, along with some other traditions, as the special early stage in the history of the epic. Meletinsky was one of the pioneers in the fundamental studies of the Caucasian Nart epics. Based on the analysis of materials available to him at that time, Meletinsky comes to the fundamental conclusions on the genre nature, national versions, images, subjects and motifs of the Nart epic. The scholar considered Sataney and Sasrykua to be the earliest characters in the epic, whose images clearly reflected the features of a cultural hero, especially in the close Abkhaz and Adyg versions. Furthermore, according to Meletinsky, the Transcaucasian legends about the chained heroes – Abkhaz Abryskil, Armenian Mger and Georgian Amiran – represent a kind of interweaving of mythological epic and heroic tales, in which the motives of cultural exploits are largely supplanted by episodes of the heroic struggle with Giants. In the studies of Meletinsky, the epic traditions of the people of the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia are subjected to the deepest analysis at a very high level of comparative studies.


Author(s):  
Zoran Oklopcic

As the final chapter of the book, Chapter 10 confronts the limits of an imagination that is constitutional and constituent, as well as (e)utopian—oriented towards concrete visions of a better life. In doing so, the chapter confronts the role of Square, Triangle, and Circle—which subtly affect the way we think about legal hierarchy, popular sovereignty, and collective self-government. Building on that discussion, the chapter confronts the relationship between circularity, transparency, and iconography of ‘paradoxical’ origins of democratic constitutions. These representations are part of a broader morphology of imaginative obstacles that stand in the way of a more expansive constituent imagination. The second part of the chapter focuses on the most important five—Anathema, Nebula, Utopia, Aporia, and Tabula—and closes with the discussion of Ernst Bloch’s ‘wishful images’ and the ways in which manifold ‘diagrams of hope and purpose’ beyond the people may help make them attractive again.


Author(s):  
Z.Kh. Guchetl ◽  
◽  
O.I. Kuskarova ◽  

In this article, the authors comprehend the moral and ethical phenomenon of "Adyge habz the problems of its preservation and development in modern society in the context of globalization. The study of traditions is undoubtedly relevant in modern conditions, when many ethnic groups persistently retain interest in past values, their origins and prospects. The authors note that this problem is relevant not only for the Adygs, but also for other peoples of the North Caucasus, which have their own analogues of national moral and ethical codes. Based on the results of the conducted sociological research, it is concluded that the role of Adyghism (adygag) in the system of traditional ethno-cultural values of the Adyghes has decreased, and therefore there is a need to revive and develop the national identity of the Adyghes.


Author(s):  
HAIYAN DUAN ◽  
KAMRAN AHMED ◽  
MARTHIN NANERE

We examine the effects of different types of executive incentives on technological innovation of declining firms and the moderating effects of the degree of decline and organisational slack on executive incentives and enterprise technological innovation. We also assess the synergetic effects of different types of executive incentives on technological innovation of declining enterprises. We find the following: first, executive compensation incentive, equity incentive and control incentives are beneficial to promote technological innovation in declining enterprises. Second, the degree of decline negatively moderates the relationship between equity incentive and technological innovation. Third, organisational slack positively moderates the relationship between equity incentive and technological innovation, as well as the relationship between control incentives and technological innovation, especially for severely declining enterprises. Fourth, there are synergistic effects between executive control incentive and compensation incentive, control incentives and equity incentive on technological innovation. The contributions are as follows: first, taking declining enterprises as sample, we suggest that to increase the role of compensation incentive and equity incentive in promoting technological innovation in declining enterprises, the control incentives should be strengthened. Second, organisational slack should be fully exploited for severely declining enterprises so that executives should have the motivation and conditions to carry out technological innovation and further help declining enterprises to turnaround successfully.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Galina Yemelianova

Following the break-up of the USSR in 1991 the Muslim peoples of the Caucasus – corresponding to present-day Azerbaijan and the Russian North Caucasus – have been in a continuous process of renegotiating their Islamic identity and the role of Islam in the processes of nation-building. This has involved a complex set of factors, including the correlation between the rise of Islam and socio-economic well-being (or the lack of it), the level and longevity of Islamic heritage, the relationship between Islam and the nature of the ruling post-Soviet Caucasian regimes, and the degree of susceptibility to the region’s exposure to foreign influences, Islamic and Western. This article examines some of these factors from an historical perspective, concentrating on how the political elites and the populace variously dealt with essentially external influences in the course of their centuries-long incorporation within successive political empires. From the seventh century AD these were Islamic, emanating from the Umayyad, Abbasid, Timurid, Ottoman and Safavid empires; and from the nineteenth century, Russian Orthodox and Soviet atheist. An analysis of the dynamics set up by these influences and the distinctively Caucasian Muslim responses to them is crucial in understanding how current elites and their antagonists in the region embrace, reject and otherwise instrumentalise Islam.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska Hartung

Sound symbolism – the idea that there are motivated links between the sound of a word and its meaning has been established to be an existing phenomenon across different languages. Especially size sound symbolism seems to be a functional feature in many languages meaning that different types of vowels in words are associated with different physical size. Words with front vowels (e.g. little, tiny) are more likely to be used to indicate small physical size whereas words with back vowels (e.g. humungous, huge) are more likely to indicate large physical size. Because physical size plays an important role in ratings of attractiveness, we tested whether vowels in first names can influence how attractive the bearer of the name is perceived. In our experiment, participants saw faces paired with popular first names and rated the attractiveness of the depicted person. Masculine names were paired with pictures of men and feminine names with pictures of women. The names either contained a front or back vowel in the accented syllable and were within gender group randomly paired with pictures. We found that female raters preferred faces paired with back vowel names while male raters preferred faces paired with front vowel names, showing that the rater's gender – far more than the gender of the depicted person – determined the relationship between vowel quality and perceived attractiveness of faces. Our results confirm the role of sound symbolism in perception of attractiveness.


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