Bulgarian Culture after 1989

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-302
Author(s):  
Kiril Vassilev
Keyword(s):  
Mass Culture ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
The West ◽  
High Culture ◽  
Financial Difficulties ◽  
The Social ◽  
Arts And Culture ◽  
Modernization Process ◽  
Value Crisis

This article deals with the changes in Bulgarian culture after the fall of the Communist regime in Bulgaria in 1989. The first sections sketch the state of the Bulgarian culture and society during the later years of the communism. They describe the change in official ideology, i.e. the return to nationalism. The controversial role of the Communist regime in the modernization process of society is analyzed, with its simultaneous modernization and counter-modernization heritage. Then we shift to the changes in society and culture that have taken place since the fall of the regime. Attention is focused on the new mass culture, the embodiment of the value crisis in which the post-Communist Bulgarian society is located. The radical transformations in the field of the so-called ‘high’ culture are examined, especially the financial difficulties and the overall change in the social status of arts and culture. The basic trauma of the Bulgarian culture embodied in the constantly returning feeling of being a cultural by-product of the West is brought out. The article concludes that Bulgarian post-Communist culture has failed to create a more complex and flexible image of the “Bulgarian” that can use the energies of globalization without feeling threatened by disintegration.

The Language of Adam, Epistemic Crisis, and the “Radical Truths” of John Dee

2021 ◽  
pp. 161-173
Author(s):  
Anton V. Karabykov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Culture ◽  
The West ◽  
Traditional Epistemology ◽  
Cultural Status ◽  
Linguistic Material

The life and work of John Dee (1527–1608/9), an English mathematician, eru­dite and occultist, remains an enigma that gives rise to intensive controversies, puzzles scholars, and nourishes imagination of mass culture makers. The aim of the article is to consider a magical practice of the late Dee and a unique narrative recorded in his diaries, in a context of the intellectual situation of that epoch. The analysis is concentrated on a role of those practice and narrative in dialectics of the search for the perfect language which took place in the West in 15th–17th cc. A technical facet of crystallomancy and its standing in the Renaissance culture as well as conditions and motives urging Dee to invest his years in practicing the magic of that kind. A special attention is paid to the course and results of re­vealing of the primordial tongue by the ‘angels’ and to the Adamic myth that accompanied the linguistic material and informed of substance, functions, and historical fate of Ursprache. It is argued that despite its reprehensibility crystal­lomancy took a relatively high cultural status and a wide spreading. Dee became its convinced adept due to a deep inner crisis caused by eschatological anxiety, collapse of traditional epistemology, and discontent with his previous intellectual initiatives. As spirits claimed, the language that they were imparting to him con­nected the protoplasts with God and angels in Eden and served Adam as a per­fect instrument of knowledge and magic. Explaining his lasting failure of com­prehending of the revealed language the spirits persuaded Dee that it was not time yet for activation of its potencies but that it was very near though known only to God. That time had never come in the magician’s life. Nonetheless, glad­ness of (seeming) communication with the ‘angels’ compensated for bitterness of futile expectations.

scholarly journals Experiences from families of children with cerebral paralysis in context of social vulnerability

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 956-963 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marja Rany Rigotti Baltor ◽  
Giselle Dupas
Keyword(s):  
Social Vulnerability ◽  
Support Networks ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Financial Difficulties ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
Cerebral Paralysis ◽  
Primary Carer ◽  
Data Result

OBJECTIVE: to describe and to analyze the experience from families of children with cerebral paralysis living under circumstances of social vulnerability. METHOD: six resident families in area with this characteristic were interviewed. It was opted to use the Symbolic Interactionism as theoretic reference and the Thematic Content Analysis of Bardin as analysis method for the data. RESULT: the experience of such families is represented in the subjects: Reorganizing the Life, with the categories "Discovering the way" and "Accommodating the routine", and Stopping a Constant Fight with the categories: "Primary Carer being overcharged", "Coexisting with the preconception", "Having locomotion difficulty" and "Living with financial difficulties". CONCLUSION: the social vulnerability influences how the family bears the chronic condition. Professionals and strategies of public health are a power to minimize impacts including those related to the family budget, but they have not been effective. They need to be sensitized to become supporting resources, to offer and to guide the access to the support networks and to spur the social service in action when necessary. This study adds knowledge to the already existing by pointing out peculiarities of the family experience in situations regarding two variables of difficult handling: chronicity and social vulnerability, evidencing the role of the professional in search of the solution for the confrontation of demands and sufferings together with the family.

scholarly journals ANECDOTE AS A SOURCE FOR MUSEUM ANTHROPOLOGY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE SOCIOCULTURAL FUNCTIONS OF MUSEUMS

2021 ◽  
pp. 174-187
Author(s):  
Иван Александрович Гринько
Keyword(s):  
Mass Culture ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Social Anthropology ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
Museum Management ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Further Development

Проблема определения социальных функций различных институтов является одной из важнейших для понимания их роли и пути дальнейшего развития. Данная дискуссия отнюдь не носит чисто теоретический характер, наоборот, вопрос о социальном функционале музея является одним из ключевых для их дальнейшего развития. Некоторые исследователи честно признают, что непонимание социальных функций ведет к резкому снижению эффективности работы музеев. В статье анализируются функции музея как социокультурного института на основе такого историко-антропологического источника как анекдот. Эта проблематика, несмотря на свою принципиальную важность, редко анализировалось в антропологическом ключе. Кроме того, взаимосвязь музея и смеховой культуры практически не пользуется вниманием исследователей, хотя данная тема явно имеет большой потенциал. В качестве основного источника для работы был взят массив современных российских анекдотов, к которому для компаративного анализа привлекался массив советских анекдотов. В общей сложности исследовалось более 500 текстов. По итогам исследования можно сделать вывод, что социальные функции музея не ограничиваются традиционными для музеологии вариантами: сохранение наследия, образование и коммуникация. Музей в фольклорных текстах обладает гораздо более широким кругом социальных функций от инструмента символического потребления и валоризации объектов искусства, до пространства эротической игры. Анализ анекдотов, связанных с музеем, показывает, что, несмотря на не самую высокую популярность этого института, в массовой культуре и сознании, в смеховой культуре четко фиксируются его ключевые функции и проблемы. Это еще раз подтверждает важность анализа фольклорных текстов для оценки роли музея в сообществах любого уровня. Данный материал может быть использован для решения самых различных задач музейного менеджмента от оценки эффективности социокультурной деятельности музея до проведения маркетинговых кампаний. The determination of social functions of institute is one of the most difficult issues in social anthropology. This discussion isn’t absolutely theoretical; on the contrary, the issue of the social functionality of the museum is one of the key issues for their further development. Some researchers honestly admit that a lack of understanding of social functions leads to a sharp decline in the effectiveness of museums. The article analyzes the functions of the museum as a sociocultural institution on the basis of such a historical and anthropological source as anecdote. This issue, despite its fundamental importance, has rarely been analyzed in an anthropological vein. In addition, the interconnection between the museum and the culture of laughter has received little attention from researchers, although this topic clearly has great potential. For this research we used block of contemporary Russian anecdotes and the anecdotes of the soviet period (1917–1991) for comparative analysis. Totally more than 500 texts were analyzed. The analysis of the anecdotes associated with the museum shows that, despite the low popularity of this institution, in mass culture and consciousness, in the culture of laughter, its key functions and problems are clearly recorded. This once again confirms the importance of analyzing folklore texts for assessing the role of the museum in communities of any level. This material can be used to solve a variety of problems of museum management, from assessing the effectiveness of the socio-cultural activities of the museum to marketing campaigns.

scholarly journals The role of Muslim identity in predicting violent behavioural intentions to defend Muslims

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 1267-1282
Author(s):  
Milan Obaidi ◽  
Gulnaz Anjum ◽  
Joanna Lindström ◽  
Robin Bergh ◽  
Elif Celebi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Path Model ◽  
Perceived Injustice ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
Violent Behaviour ◽  
Military Interventions ◽  
The West ◽  
The Social ◽  
Future Theory

A sense of shared Muslim suffering seems to play a key role in uniting Muslims around the world. Therefore, in the current paper we hypothesized that the social psychological underpinnings of Islamist extremism would be similar for Muslims living in the West and Muslims living in countries with prolonged and ongoing exposure to Western-led military interventions. Across 4 studies among Muslims in Pakistan and Afghanistan ( Ns = 425, 402, and 127) and Muslims living in 20 Western countries ( N = 366), we examined a path model in which group-based anger mediated the link between Muslim identification, perceived injustice of Western military and foreign policy, and violent behaviour intentions. Our results indicate that regardless of whether Muslims live in places with prolonged and ongoing experience of Western military interventions or not, the social psychological factors predicting violent Islamist extremism appear to be similar. We discuss implications for future theory and research.

scholarly journals The Social Construction of Historical Traumas: The Polish Experience of the Uses of History in an Intelligentsia-dominated Polity

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 911-931
Author(s):  
Tomasz Zarycki ◽  
Tomasz Warczok
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
The West ◽  
Specific Nature ◽  
Polish Experience ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Identity ◽  
And Control

The article argues that Poland’s mainstream national historical narrative, at least as far as the last two centuries of history of the country is concerned, is full of ‘traumatic’ motives which are regularly used and developed in diverse current political and intellectual contexts. Polish history is imagined to a large extent as an endless chain of 200 years of suffering, caused, among other things, by occupations, wars and exploitation, which are usually seen as not fully recognized in other countries, in particular in the West. The article attempts first of all to explain this specific nature of Poland’s historical identity by the privileged role of the intelligentsia, understood as a specific type of elite based on possession and control of cultural capital. It reconstructs the historical rise of the intelligentsia and its impact on the mainstream narrative in question, pointing to a selective choice of potential ‘traumas’ which are assigned a national status. They may be seen as tools to build positions in what can be called the Polish ‘field of power’, to use the notion coined by Pierre Bourdieu. The particular configuration and recent history of the field of power in Poland is reconstructed in order to explain different strategies of what can be called the social and political construction of historical traumas in Poland.

How Old Magic Does the Trick for Modern Politics

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 428-450
Author(s):  
Claudio Sergio Nun-Ingerflom
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
The Self ◽  
The West ◽  
Modern Politics ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Material Form ◽  
Spiritual Ideal

This article attempts to interpret the insurrection led by Razin in the seventeenth century as the beginning of modern politics, because it was founded on the immanence of the social in contrast to the transcendent conceptions of power maintained by the court and church. This advance was made possible by the working of magic. Through performative speech, magic permitted the creation of a verbal presence for the non-existent tsarevich Alexis, who, however, was never given material form. In keeping the self-appointed heir invisible and by declaring his father’s rule illegitimate, the rebels reduced the role of the tsar to a pure signifier. The proof that this uprising represented a turn toward modern politics is that it did not rely upon the invocation of an intangible philosophical or spiritual ideal (as in the West); it was built instead upon an armed people, expressing itself in a language that was still archaic but already oriented toward a new representation of power as socially legitimatized. This analysis opens an important line of argument that has power beyond this specific case.

scholarly journals ON THE ALANIAN HERITAGE IN THE WEST

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Р.Г. ДЗАТТИАТЫ
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
The West ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gold Silver ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Great Migration ◽  
The Military

В результате процессов, сопровождавших Великое переселение народов, аланы, попав в Западную Европу, были ассимилированы, оставив во Франции, Северной Италии, Испании, Англии несколько сотен топонимов, связанных с ними. Следы пребывания алан на Западе впервые были обобщены В.А. Кузнецовым и В.К. Пудовиным. Появление труда американского ученого Б. Бахраха «Аланы на Западе» сняли скептицизм по отношению к роли алан в истории народов Западной Европы. О роли алан в исторических событиях Западной Европы раннего и зрелого Средневековья было отчетливо заявлено в трудах В.Б. Ковалевской, Франко Кардини, Говарда Рида, Скотта Литлтона, Линды Малкор. Особенно замечательна объемная работа Агусти Алемани «Аланы в древних и средневековых письменных источниках». У алан было заимствовано устройство конного войска, а вместе с этим, вероятно, и экипировка всадника, важной деталью которой был воинский пояс. Пряжка со щитком такого пояса служила у алан маркером статуса: в зависимости от того, из какого материала она была изготовлена (золото, серебро, бронза), она указывала на место в социальной иерархии. Трехлепестковый орнамент в результате модификаций вполне мог стать основой или прообразом особого знака-символа – так называемой «королевской лилии». Схему трансформации трехлепесткового узора в лилию можно проиллюстрировать рисунками пряжек. Надо полагать, что аланы оставили свой след не только в топонимике, организации конного войска, но и в орнаментике, фольклоре, антропонимике и других проявлениях культуры, которые необходимо тщательно исследовать. As a result of the processes that accompanied the Great Migration of Nations, the Alans, having fallen into Western Europe, were assimilated, leaving several hundred place names associated with them in France, Northern Italy, Spain, and England. The traces of the Alans' stay in the West were first generalized by V.A. Kuznetsov and V.K. Pudovin. The appearance of the work of the American scientist B.S. Bachrach "Alans in the West" removed skepticism regarding the role of the Alans in the history of the peoples of Western Europe. The role of the Alans in the historical events of Western Europe of the early and mature Middle Ages was clearly stated in the works of V.B. Kovalevskaya, Franco Cardini, Howard Reed, Scott Littleton, Linda Malkor. Particularly remarkable is the voluminous work of Agusti Alemany "Alans in ancient and medieval written sources." The Alans borrowed the device of the horse army, and with it, probably, the equipment of the horseman, an important detail of which was the military belt. The buckle with the shield of such a belt served as a status marker for the Alans: depending on what material it was made of (gold, silver, and bronze) it indicated a place in the social hierarchy. As a result of modifications, the three-petal ornament could very well become the basis or prototype of a special sign-symbol – the so-called “royal lily”. The transformation pattern of a three-petal pattern into a lily can be illustrated with buckle patterns. It must be assumed that the Alans left their mark not only in toponymy, organization of the cavalry army, but also in ornamentation, folklore, anthroponymy and other cultural manifestations, which must be carefully studied.

scholarly journals A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE AS THE RULE OF LAW

2019 ◽  
pp. 116-123
Author(s):  
Sergey N. Smolnikov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
The United States ◽  
The West ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Just Society ◽  
Historical Moment

The article considers the place of social justice in modern law. Various aspects are noted: its relationship with the social state, legal state, civilizational particularities, historical features. The question of the significance of choice between the legality and legitimacy of power as a factor in the establishment of social justice is considered. The article raises the issue of the subject-object essence of social justice. It provides a comparison of two approaches to social justice in modern Russia — liberal and conservative, and notes the contradictory nature of both. Attention is drawn to the role of elites, the intelligentsia and the people in the embodiment of the liberal project. The author reveals the historical and civilizational prerequisites for the conservative project domination, its being in demand on the part of both the authorities and significant segments of the population, and its correspondence to the historical moment. The similarity of the conservative response to the challenges facing the society in the United States, Japan, Britain and Russia is substantiated. A sociological comparison of positions on the issues of law as social justice in the West and in Russia is given. There is an increasing divergence in understanding social justice both in the countries of the West (destruction of the social contract, welfare state) and between the West and the rest of the world. The theme of justice is increasingly playing a role in causing mutual claims rather than in stabilizing and maintaining international and civil peace. The paper considers attempts to create domestic models of a just society. Social justice is regarded as a projective concept and presupposes the existence of models of the expected and ideal future of society. The world trend towards change in the ideas of the subject of law and of the paradigm shift from liberalism to transhumanism is noted. It is argued that it is impossible to identify law with social justice.

scholarly journals Gubernur Jenderal VOC Jan Pieterszoon Coen dan Pembangun Kota Batavia (1619-1629)

Sosio e-kons ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Rani Noviyanti
Keyword(s):  
West Coast ◽  
North Coast ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
The Social ◽  
The City

<p>ABSTRACT</p><p>The establishment of the city of Batavia on the west coast of the north coast of Java, cannot be separated from the role of a figure named Jean Pieterzoon Coen. Although previously Jayakarta (the name before Batavia), was controlled and built by Pangeran Fatahillah, the situation and conditions in the social and economic fields of Jayakarta were not like the management of J.P. Coen. After Jayakarta was controlled by the VOC, through a military expedition policy designed by JP. Coen, the condition of the city of Jayakarta slowly gradually increased in the social and economic fields. The increase in the city of Batavia in the social and economic fields was based on three JP policies. Coen was quite brave, namely increasing trade activities in the Sunda port of Kalapa, revitalizing the position of the islands in northern Batavia as a base of administration and defense and security, and opening the widest door for Chinese traders and immigrants. The three policies, in fact, were purely based on the thoughts outlined by JP. Coen, after taking over the Jayakarta area from the mastery of Prince Fatahillah.</p><p>Keywords: J.P. Coen, Kota Batavia.</p><p><strong><em>ABSTRAK</em></strong></p><p>Pendirian kota Batavia di sebelah barat pesisir pantai utara Jawa, tidak dapat dipisahkan dari peran seorang tokoh yang bernama Jean Pieterzoon Coen. Meskipun sebelumnya Jayakarta (nama sebelum Batavia), dikuasai dan dibangun oleh Pangeran Fatahillah, akan tetapi situasi dan kondisi dalam bidang sosial dan ekonomi Jayakarta tidak seperti pada masa pengelolaan J.P. Coen. Setelah Jayakarta dikuasai oleh VOC, melalui kebijakan ekspedisi militer yang dirancang oleh JP. Coen, keadaan kota Jayakarta perlahan demi perlahan semakin meningkat dalam bidang sosial dan ekonomi. Peningkatan kota Batavia dalam lapangan sosial dan ekonomi dilatari oleh tiga kebijakan JP. Coen yang cukup berani, yakni meningkatkan aktivitas perdagangan di pelabuhan Sunda Kalapa, merevitalisasi kedudukan pulau-pulau di utara Batavia sebagai basis adiministrasi dan pertahanan dan keamanan, serta membuka pintu seluas-luasnya bagi pedagang dan pendatang etnis Tionghoa. Tiga kebijakan tersebut, sejatinya meurpakan murni hasil pemikiran yang dituangkan olh JP. Coen, setelah mengambil alih wilayah Jayakarta dari penguasaan pangeran Fatahillah.</p><p>Kata Kunci : J.P. Coen, Kota Batavia.</p>

scholarly journals Walden como ponto de chegada da reflexão sobre modernidade em América / Walden as the arrival point for the reflection on modernity in America

2022 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 120
Author(s):  
Vanessa De Paula Hey
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Henry David Thoreau ◽  
Social World ◽  
American Writer ◽  
The Social ◽  
Modernization Process ◽  
Arrival Point

Resumo: Monteiro Lobato participou de forma ativa do processo de modernização pelo qual o Brasil passou nas décadas iniciais do século XX. O escritor vivenciou a modernidade sentindo o abalo nas estruturas referenciais que davam aos indivíduos estabilidade no mundo social. Ele experienciou, assim como seus contemporâneos, as profundas transformações pelas quais a sociedade passava e, a partir disso, buscou por meio da literatura e de suas outras atividades cumprir o papel de crítico dessas experiências, reagindo, portanto, ao “turbilhão de permanente desintegração e mudança” (BERMAN, 2007, p. 24), que, a nosso ver, figura-se como uma maneira de caracterizar a modernidade. Compreende-se, então, que um estudo sobre a obra de Monteiro Lobato deve incluir a discussão sobre a modernização e a modernidade. Escolhe-se, para tanto, América, obra desse autor que de forma mais explícita e constante discute essa temática. O presente artigo objetiva, assim, analisar uma das formas pelas quais a modernidade se vê representada nessa obra, a saber, através do diálogo que ela estabelece com a obra Walden, do escritor norte-americano Henry David Thoreau, pensada aqui como ponto de chegada para a reflexão sobre a modernidade em América.Palavras-chave: Monteiro Lobato; América; Henry David Thoreau; Walden; modernidade.Abstract: Monteiro Lobato actively participated in the modernization process that Brazil went through in the early decades of the 20th century. The writer experienced modernity feeling the shock in the referential structures that gave individuals stability in the social world. He experienced, as did his contemporaries, the profound transformations that society was going through and, from there, he sought through literature and his other activities to fulfill the role of critic of these experiences, reacting, therefore, to the “turmoil of permanent disintegration and change” (BERMAN, 2007, p.24), which, in our view, appears as a way of characterizing modernity. It is understood, then, that a study on the work of Monteiro Lobato must include the discussion on modernization and modernity. To this end, America is chosen, as the work of this author that more explicitly and constantly discusses these themes. This article aims, therefore, to analyze one of the ways in which modernity is represented in this work, namely, through the dialogue it establishes with the work of Walden, by the American writer Henry David Thoreau, thought here as a point of arrival for reflection on modernity in America.Keywords: Monteiro Lobato; América; Henry David Thoreau; Walden; modernity.

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