Origins of Bosnian humor and its role during the siege of Sarajevo

This article presents an ethnographic study of Bosnian humour during the siege of Sarajevo. The siege of Sarajevo, which followed the collapse of Yugoslavia, lasted four years. Despite the atrocities and war crimes committed against the residents of Sarajevo during this period, they are known for the spirit they demonstrated, and humour was a crucial element of this spirit. On the basis of two-month fieldwork in Sarajevo, I demonstrate how Bosnians employed humour to comment on this traumatic event, made sense of it, and coped with the experience. Although humour under extreme conditions is mainly viewed as a coping mechanism, by exploring the origins of Bosnian humour and stereotypes about Bosnians, I demonstrate that a notable humorous response to the traumatic events of the 1990s was more than a coping mechanism or just a response to this particular war. As I argue, a humorous attitude toward life in Bosnia belongs to people’s identity; it has developed historically as a response to the sufferings of a peripheral group in the region and, as a result, has become a cultural artifact belonging to Bosnians’ ethnic consciousness. In their attempt to preserve a sense of normalcy and restore dignity during the siege, Sarajevans continued to engage in their traditional humour, as doing otherwise would mean they had lost control over who they were.

Secularism and National in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic: an Empirical Study

Nigeria is a plural state with diverse culture, ethnic and religious institutions. These portray the beauty of the country to the outside world and successive Nigerian governments have not ceased to preach the nation’s desire to forge unity in diversity. However, the reality on the ground is that ethnic chauvinism, ethnic politics, ethnic consciousness, ethnic factionalization, religious fanaticism and extremism have overshadowed the desire for unity, which is a basic ingredient for national development. These are manifested in political and constitutional instabilities, ethnic and religious violence, bad leadership and governance, political competition for power, insecurity of lives and property, corruption, tribalism and nepotism, injustice, immoral acts, bloodshed, and intolerance. The challenges of national development in Nigeria assume such an awful proportion that seems to defy any kind of antidote; this is the stage at which the concept of secularism becomes most apt. This study therefore explored the effect of secularism on national development in Nigeria’s fourth republic. A descriptive method was adopted and data was collected via a survey of 900 respondents comprises of Christian leaders, Muslim leaders, Traditional leaders, leaders of Civil Society groups and Youth leaders. Data collected were analysed using Pearson product moment correlation and linear regression analysis. The result of the study revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between secularism and national development. The result also showed that secularism does have a significant effect on national development in Nigeria’s fourth republic. Requisite recommendations and conclusion were provided in the light of theoretical and empirical findings.

The attitude of Gagauz to inter-ethnic marriages in the context of adaptation culture and ethnic tolerance: the past and nowadays contexts

The article examines the attitude of the Bessarabian Gagauz to mixed marriages. Their inherent ethnic preferences in this matter are revealed. Through the attitude towards mixed marriages, their culture of adaptation and the degree of ethnic tolerance are analyzed. The reasons for a certain distance between the Gagauz and the Bulgarians in the issue of concluding mixed marriages are considered. Based on the results of ethnosociological studies, the author concludes that the Gagauz people are a community that is quite open for intercultural contacts and interaction, but at the same time capable of resisting assimilation processes. It is emphasized that an integral part of the ethnic consciousness of the Gagauz people is a tolerant attitude towards other peoples and cultures, which is also manifested in a rather large number of mixed marriages. It is noted that this attitude is «registered» in the Gagauz code of traditional moral values and is passed down from generation to generation.

Studying and teaching ethnic African languages for Pan-African consciousness, Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance: A Decolonising Task

In order to conquer and subjugate Africans, at the 1884 Berlin Conference, European countries dismembered Africa by carving her up into pieces and sharing her among themselves. European colonialists also antagonised Africans by setting up one ethnic African community against the other, thus promoting ethnic consciousness to undermine Pan-African consciousness. European powers also imposed their own “ethnic” languages, making them not only “official”, but also “international”. Consequently, as the Kenyan philosopher, Ngũgῖ wa Thiong’o, persuasively argues, through their ethnic languages, European colonialists planted their memory wherever they went, while simultaneously uprooting the memory of the colonised. Cognisant of efforts in some South African institutions of higher learning to promote African languages for the purpose of promoting literacy in African languages, this article argues that while this exercise is commendable, ethnic African languages should be deliberately taught to “re-member” Africa and rediscover Pan-African consciousness. By doing this, African scholarship would be aiding Africans’ perennial and elusive quest for Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance. Keywords: African Renaissance, Ethnic African Languages, Ethnic European Languages, European Colonialism, Pan-African Consciousness, Pan-Africanism

Axiological Linguistics and Nationally Oriented Lexicography: Experience of Interaction (On the Material of Russian-Vietnamese Comparisons)

The article touches upon the issues of theoretical and applied nature and reflects the essence of two adjacent linguistic scientific disciplines interaction, each studying the phenomenon of values that influence the formation of speech, behavioural and the communicative competence of a person. The authors consider this interaction future implementation in a unique lexicographic source designed to optimize the process of learning a language as a means of intercultural communication. Thus, authors are talking about a future dictionary, called "linguistic and cultura" and introducing the cultural component of the semantics of the units included in its vocabulary. The methodology for creating the concept of a dictionary is based on the analysis of the linguo-cognitive value system, where the concepts accentuate phenomenon, which allows one to explicate the specifics of the ethnic consciousness of a non-lingual culture representative. As examples of considering the semantic content, the authors offer the values as "love" and "labour", which are included in the primary system of values of the native speakers of the Russian language and culture. A strategy for the study of interaction of two related scientific disciplines was introduced: axiological linguistics and educational lexicography enable the creation of a new type of dictionary – a nationally oriented linguistic and cultural dictionary for the Vietnamese audience studying Russian as a means of intercultural communication. The article describes the experimental procedure, which is based on the theoretical and methodological framework. The analysis of the results obtained, revealed the specificity of the value orientations of the compared linguocultures. The research data relevance to educational lexicography theoretical and applied aspects is established. The contrasted research material, represented in the article, corresponds to the goals and objectives of the nationally oriented study.

Culture: The Socio-Political Base of Ethnic Consciousness and Conflicts in Nigeria

Nigeria suffers conflicts whose causes are pinned on ethnic consciousness and factors other than culture. As such, culture is considered as an epiphenomenon. But at the base of Nigerian conflicts is culture which shapes and stirs ethnic consciousness, and remains a divisive factor in human societies. Thus, Nigeria is socio-politically polarized along cultural lines and conflicting cultural contents despite the present world of traversing cultural boundaries. This paper analytically exposes culture as the socio-political base of ethnic consciousness and conflicts in Nigeria, and reveals the philosophical foundation of cultural character as well as axiological panacea to conflicts in Nigeria. The paper finds that in every socio-political setting, ethnic consciousness does not happen in a vacuum, and nobody speaks and acts from nowhere but from a cultural orientation; for culture is the matrix of human existence and nothing happens outside it. As such, ethnic consciousness and human socio-political exercises; behaviours, dispositions and actions are shaped, posited, viewed and interpreted from cultural spaces. But to bridle the negative impact of culture and enhance national unity, consciousness and patriotism of the citizenry, the study concludes that there is need for a national culture that is replete with indigenous values and overlapping similarities to form the content of curriculum in Nigerian education system.

Historical, Cultural and Ethno-psychological Connotations of the Image of the Homeland in Chinese Literature

The relevance of the research is due to the interest of modern literary criticism in the study of conceptual images of national literatures formed by the basic universals of ethnic consciousness. The novelty lies in the appeal to the image of homeland in Chinese literature through the prism of the historical-etymological and historical-literary reconstruction of the concept that reflects the ethno-psychological foundations of Chinese consciousness. The problem of the study is comparing a number of lexemes, concepts, artistic images that have formed over the centuries the modern idea of the homeland in the Chinese picture of the world. The purpose of the work is to an­ alyze the evolution of the concept of “homeland” in the Chinese ethnic and national consciousness on the basis of dictionaries and works of Chinese literature from the Tang era to the 20th century. The methodology is based on the etymological, lexical and semantic reconstruction of the concept of “homeland” in the Chinese picture of the world, based on the historical and cultural context. The main research methods are comparative-historical and structural-semantic ones. As a result of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that the image of the homeland in the ethnic picture of the world of the Chinese was formed as the statehood and national identity of the peoples inhabiting China. In ancient China, the concept of homeland was associated with the place of birth of ancestors, native places, and the country of exodus of alien peoples. These connotations are most clearly found in the lyrics of the Tang era. By the beginning of the 20th century, with the rise of the national movement, the image of the Motherland, drawn from European culture, appeared in the Chinese ethnic consciousness. The Xinhai Revolution allowed the Chinese to discover the world and foreign lands. The image of the motherland-fatherland in this context appears as a correlate of the concept of a foreign land (Japan, England, America). The image of the Motherland, the Father land is used most actively in new Chinese literature during the period of anti-Japanese resistance. After the formation of the PRC and the formation of the national consciousness of a united China, which united many nationalities, among the connotative meanings of ideas about the homeland, the concept of the homeland as a home state is of primary importance. Keywords: the Chinese, ethnic consciousness, land of ancestors, Motherland, foreign land

Ornithosymbols of the Kalmyk Language: Thanatological Aspect

This article is devoted to the ethnolinguistic study of the bird symbolism in the culture of Kalmyks and other Mongolian peoples. The work presents the main characteristics of bird symbolism, reflecting the most common images in the conceptions of Kalmyks, however, the main attention is paid to the thanatological aspect, this is due to the special specifics and a number of stereotypes in perception of some bird species. The most widespread thanatological symbol in the Kalmyk language and in the culture of the Mongol peoples dedicated to death is the raven and the owl. The objective of the work is to conduct an ethnolinguistic study of thanatological symbolism of birds in the Kalmyk culture, which is based on folklore and ethnographic material. The methodology of the study has been a complex method, which involves a comprehensive study of the material. The result of the work shows that traditionally, the Mongolian peoples have developed a set of symbols that are the most significant and revered. Signs and superstitions allow us to reconstruct the ethnic picture of the world and have a pronounced ethnocultural specificity, in which the experience of the people and stereotypes of ethnic consciousness are concentrated.

THE “CIVILIZATIONAL CHALLENGE / CORRECT RESPONSE” PROBLEM AND THE ARTISTIC LITERATURE OF THE SMALL-NUMBERED PEOPLES OF THE SIBERIAN NORTH: THE CASE OF A. P. NERKAGI

The article covers the reaction strategy of ethnic consciousness of the indigenous small-numbered peoples in the Russian North to the breakdown in understanding of the correctness of the response (Soviet civilization) within the civilizational challenge to the country. This overview is based on the case of tundra Nenets and a Russian-speaking prose writer A. P. Nerkagi. The article introduction presents the humanitarian approaches used in the analysis of the specific functioning of a territorial macro-object receiving a challenge. The concept devoted to the permissibility of the correctness/incorrectness of response, proposed by Arnold Toynbee, allows us to identify the mechanisms in functioning of complex phenomena (the literature of the empire) through segments of large territories and their authoritative subjects (the writer as an exponent of ethnic consciousness in an expanded text). This makes it possible to accumulate material for creating a new sociology of literature, improving its categorical apparatus and intersubject relations. Presented in the concluding section, the thematic complex of abnormalities in the ratio of internal and external in A. P. Nerkagi’s image of the characters supports the research concept of the syncretic and traditionalistic nature of the Nenets writer’s literary creativity. It also proves the existence of different phases in the development of Russian national literatures in accordance with the allocation of a three-link scheme in historical poetics. The purpose of the article is to describe the logic behind the search by an ethnosubject of restoring the supporting bases of world perception and the generation on this basis of a new narrative strategy corresponding to the deep organics of folk culture. All of this is due to such conditions where a total crisis of the previous cultural matrix is manifested.