scholarly journals The Cross-Cultural Background and Modern Transformations of Religious and Spiritual Symbols of Lithuanian Identity

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 65-101
Author(s):  
Vytautas Tumėnas ◽  

Traditional symbols and codes are very powerful elements of culture. In modernity they have become connected with the paradigm of intertextuality: being actual because of their modern and contemporary treatment, at the same time they are associated with intracultural communication, the national historical background and ethnic traditionalism, as well as having a lot of intercultural features. Paradoxically serving to define cultural boundaries and uniqueness, they also can testify to historical processes of cultural globalization. The aim of this research is to contextualize the iconicity and contemporary meaning of modern national visual symbols (a rue, a six-petal rosette; a sun with wavy rays) and uncover the main differences and similarities between their ancient historical and folkloric meaning and actual modern interpretations based on art, folk art and art-historical, historical, archaeological and folkloric data. This interdisciplinary approach is based on semiotic (i.e. ethnosemiotic), ethnological interpretation and contextual analysis of the function and meaning of visual symbols as elements of culture. The study clarifies how these ornamental signs of national identity, which are related to cultural heritage, but with intercultural historical origins, come alive and come to be newly interpreted by the social imaginary, influenced by scientific concepts in modern religious, spiritual and cultural life and their representations, and how these signs are prevalent internationally. It also analyses how, as logos in highly symbolic forms relating to mythical paradigms, these visual signs are involved in processes of the auto-communication of culture, its transmission, creation and memory, and how they are related to the boundaries of semiotic space or the semiosphere (Lotman 2005: 210; 2009: 131-142).

Author(s):  
Mikhail Fedorovich Ershov

The novel “Helicopter Rhapsody” by L. Babanin describes the daily activities of pilots in the conditions of frontier, on the border of nature and industrial civilization. The subject of this research is the important factors of social psychology of the population of the Far North in the period of oil and gas exploitation. Analysis is conducted on text as a historical-ethnographic source about isolated lifestyle of the population during the exploration of oil and gas deposits in the North of Western Siberia in the late XX – early XXI centuries. Based on information provided in the novel, and attempt is made to reconstruct mentality of the people living in the conditions of Soviet and post-Soviet oil and gas frontier, as well as explicate the specificity of formation of industrial society in the North of Western Siberia. The author's special contribution consists in reliance on the interdisciplinary approach. The novelty is defined by usage of the concepts of frontier, trickstership, and theoretical groundwork in the area of literary studies applicable to the events of the recent past. The acquired results demonstrate that L. Babanin using the imagery means described the breakdown of former cultural regulators, and in many ways, the intuitive, archaic methods of seeking the way out typical to the characters of his novel. The informal functions of tricksters are implicitly present among the social roles. They have, albeit implicitly, in a number of public roles, there are informal functions of the trickster. Study of the novel “Helicopter Rhapsody” proves that the cultural boundaries between profane and sacred components were vague, and former meanings faded away back in the Soviet times. However, the entropy of culture cannot be eternal. It is justifiable to conclude that tricksters in the future may play positive roles for overcoming the national stagnation. This article is valuable for the researchers dealing with frontier and soft scientists studying the culture of Russian province.


2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 521-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quang Hung Nguyen ◽  
Nikolay N. Kosarenko ◽  
Elmira R. Khairullina ◽  
Olga V. Popova

Christian missionaries found Vietnam a spiritual country, and many Vietnamese converted to Christianity. On the other hand, during history, the Christian religious identity has brought various tensions due to the issues of colonialism, nationalism, and communism. Most Vietnamese Christians lived in pure Christian villages (lang cong giao toan tong) or mixed villages with Christians accounting for about a half of the population (lang cong giao xoi do). They have played an important role in the social, economic and cultural life of these villages. This article presents the historical background of a mixed village called Phung Khoang, contrasting the Christian vs. non-Christian cultural-religious views, and then discussing both the collaboration and tension played out over various historical periods.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-168
Author(s):  
Celal Hayir ◽  
Ayman Kole

When the Turkish army seized power on May 27th, 1960, a new democratic constitution was carried into effect. The positive atmosphere created by the 1961 constitution quickly showed its effects on political balances in the parliament and it became difficult for one single party to come into power, which strengthened the multi-party-system. The freedom initiative created by 1961’s constitution had a direct effect on the rise of public opposition. Filmmakers, who generally steered clear from the discussion of social problems and conflicts until 1960, started to produce movies questioning conflicts in political, social and cultural life for the first time and discussions about the “Social Realism” movement in the ensuing films arose in cinematic circles in Turkey. At the same time, the “regional managers” emerged, and movies in line with demands of this system started to be produced. The Hope (Umut), produced by Yılmaz Güney in 1970, rang in a new era in Turkish cinema, because it differed from other movies previously made in its cinematic language, expression, and use of actors and settings. The aim of this study is to mention the reality discussions in Turkish cinema and outline the political facts which initiated this expression leading up to the film Umut (The Hope, directed by Yılmaz Güney), which has been accepted as the most distinctive social realist movie in Turkey. 


Panggung ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Indrayuda

ABSTRACT This article aims to explain the existence of Tari Piring dance as a culture identity of Minang- kabau people, both the people who live in the origin area and outside the area. Tari Piring dance is a traditional cultural heritage of Minangkabau people which is used and preserved by Minangkabau people in their life so that it becomes culture identity of Minangkabau people. As the identity of Minangkabau people, Piring dance is able to express attitudes and behaviors as well as the charac- teristics of Minangkabau people. The dance can serve as a reflection of social and cultural life style of Minangkabau society. Through Tari Piring performance, the outsider can understand Minangkabau people and their culture. Tari Piring, therefore, is getting more adhere to the social life of Minang- kabau people in West Sumatra and in the regions overseas. In the spirit of togetherness, Minang- kabau society preserves the existence of Piring dance as the identity and cultural heritage up to the present time. Keywords: Piring Dance, Minangkabau culture  ABSTRAK Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menjelaskan keberadaan Tari Piring sebagai identitas bu- daya masyarakat Minangkabau, baik yang berada di daerah asal maupun di daerah peran- tauan. Tari Piring merupakan warisan budaya tradisional masyarakat Minangkabau yang digunakan dan dilestarikan oleh masyarakat Minangkabau dalam kehidupannya sehingga menjadi identitas budaya Minangkabau. Sebagai jati diri masyarakat Minangkabau, Tari Piring mampu mengungkapkan sikap dan prilaku serta karakteristik orang Minangkabau. Tari Piring dapat berperan sebagai cerminan dari corak kehidupan sosial budaya masyara- kat Minangkabau. Melalui pertunjukan Tari Piring, masyarakat luar dapat memahami orang Minangkabau dan budayanya. Oleh karena itu, sampai saat ini Tari Piring semakin melekat dengan kehidupan sosial masyarakat Minangkabau di Sumatera Barat maupun di daerah perantauan. Dengan semangat kebersamaan, masyarakat Minangkabau mampu mempertahankan keberadaan Tari Piring sebagai identitas dan warisan budayanya hingga masa kini. Kata kunci : Tari Piring, budaya Minangkabau


Hypatia ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-118
Author(s):  
Alice Pechriggl

Author(s):  
Steven J. R. Ellis

Tabernae were ubiquitous among all Roman cities, lining the busiest streets and dominating their most crowded intersections, and in numbers not known by any other form of building. That they played a vital role in the operation of the city—indeed in the very definition of urbanization—is a point too often under-appreciated in Roman studies, or at best assumed. The Roman Retail Revolution is a thorough investigation into the social and economic worlds of the Roman shop. With a focus on food and drink outlets, and with a critical analysis of both archaeological material and textual sources, Ellis challenges many of the conventional ideas about the place of retailing in the Roman city. A new framework is forwarded, for example, to understand the motivations behind urban investment in tabernae. Their historical development is also unraveled to identify three major waves—or, revolutions—in the shaping of retail landscapes. Two new bodies of evidence underpin the volume. The first is generated from the University of Cincinnati’s recent archaeological excavations into a Pompeian neighborhood of close to twenty shop-fronts. The second comes from a field survey of the retail landscapes of more than a hundred cities from across the Roman world. The richness of this information, combined with an interdisciplinary approach to the lives of the Roman sub-elite, results in a refreshingly original look at the history of retailing and urbanism in the Roman world.


Author(s):  
Peggy J. Miller ◽  
Grace E. Cho

Chapter 12, “Commentary: Personalization,” discusses the process of personalization, based on the portraits presented in Chapters 8–11. Personalization is not just a matter of individual variation; it is a form of active engagement through which individuals endow imaginaries with personal meanings and refract the imaginary through their own experiences. The portraits illustrate how the social imaginary of childrearing and self-esteem entered into dialogue with the complex realities of people’s lives. Parents’ ability to implement their childrearing goals was constrained and enabled by their past experiences and by socioeconomic conditions. The individual children were developing different strategies of self-evaluation, different expectations about how affirming the world would be, and different self-defining interests, and their self-making varied, depending on the situation. Some children received diagnoses of low self-esteem as early as preschool.


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