Сolor and Space in the Traditional Сulture of the Оirats of Мongolia and the Kalmyks of Russia

The traditional culture of homo mobilis has been the subject matter of research both in Russia and abroad. It is the nomadic way of life, largely of the past, that has come into the focus of scholars. This applies, in particular, to Kalmyks, the heirs of the Oirats, who came in the 17th century from Western Mongolia to the steppes of the Northern Caspian region. Nomadic herders explored and developed a vast area resorting to the traditional form of farming. Thousands of years in the constant movement of nomadic life and close linkages with the natural environment affected not only their way of living, but also their cosmovisions, i. e. perceptions of the world. From the point of view of nomads, the “middle world” (the world of people) exists in close contact with heaven and earth. Heaven is the founding father, the creator of all things, the source of everything that happens on earth. This image of the world is associated with a dialectical idea of the mutually exclusive and complementary phenomena of arga and bilig. The philosophical teaching of the Mongols, arga-bilig, extends to the traditional symbolism of color, which expresses ideas about interrelation between the Universe and a Man. The artistic embodiment of religious and philosophical ideas, developed in detail within the worldview of the Oirats of Mongolia, has been further elaborated in the cross-border culture of the Kalmyks of Russia. They preserved and transformed the traditional symbolism of color and space. Comparative analysis of artistic traditions accompanied by the usage of methodologies of history, ethnocultural studies, art history and philosophy enables one to identify the common and different between the cultures of the Oirats of Mongolia and the Kalmyks of Russia.

Mediteran u hrvatskoj književnosti i kulturi. Pogled izvana

Croatian literature and culture belong to the three neighboring civilizational and cultural circles: the Mediterranean, the Central European and the Balkanian. The role of each respective circle and the proportions among them depend on the place and the historical context in question. In both diachronic and synchronic perspectives, Croatian culture is an illustrative example of a polycentric and (cross)border culture whose identity is primarily Mediterranean and Central European. Its uniqueness, originality and unity stem from the richness and diversity of the cultural content of which it is composed. The Mediterranean component as a whole is very diverse and complex. This paper examines the importance of the categories of space and place in the humanities and the role of the Mediterranean in Croatian culture.

Never Happier in Her Life

This chapter explores the lives of working-class and poor white women of the border South. Their story reveals the potential of border culture—how it gave a voice and agency to women whose stories could be more easily suppressed in a less fluid community. The border created fertile ground for ideas of mutuality and individualism. While this led many to pursue friendship, love, and partnership in their relationships, elite and middle-class husbands and wives of the border South still often adhered to a social ethic which dictated certain gendered behaviors to men and women. In working-class society, however, these philosophies gave women a greater sense of independence and authority, allowing them to push the boundaries of the household and assert themselves in new ways.

Tourist assets of the cross-border railway line Brest–Włodawa–Chełm

The article is to show tourist assets of the cross-border railway line Brest–Chełm, which is disrupted by a state border and the lack of a bridge on the Bug River barring access to Brest–Włodawa line section on the Belarus side and to Włodawa–Chełm section on the Polish side. The locally operating sections, built in the eighties of the twentieth century, of the strategic railway linking the Warsaw–Terespol line with the Vistula River Railroad (Nadwiślańska) have a great potential for the development of railway tourism. The line runs along prized nature areas of the macro-regions West Polesie and Wołyńskie Polesie. Sundry landscapes of the border countryside and their biological diversity are decisive in enjoying the highly valued scenery along the line on the Polish side. The attractiveness of the Belarus side – in practice accessible to foreigners following the introduction of the tourist and recreation zone ‘Brest’ in 2018 – is usually associated with the uncommon rules of travelling by train in the Belarus cross-border region. Both fragments of the line Brest–Chełm lead to and run through interesting tourist localities and cross-border culture sites. The article also touches on the present restrictions for railway tourism along this route, and the chances of reviving regular traffic in the Polish section in view of the governmental programme Kolej+.

Towards Subaltern Modernity: Geo-politics in the Life-narrative of C.K. Janu

The paper attempts to contribute to the debate on modernity from the perspective of resisting subaltern subjects, generating transformative effects of universal relevance. Choosing one’s life for narrative elaboration has often been seen as a distinctive marker of modernity. This is empirically informed by the narrative of C.K. Janu. The rallying cry of resistance as reflected through her life narrative Mother Forest: The Unfinished Story of C.K. Janu has shaped the notion of knowledge as emancipation in a regional context, but with a universal relevance. Mother Forest: The Unfinished Story of C. K. Janu is a brave project to revive a border culture. It can also be read as a counter-hegemonic practice, a resistance and a unique struggle against social exclusion. The narrative of C K Janu figures out as a resistance against social exclusion foisted on the sidelined subjects, interpreting subalternity in context. This life-narrative expresses a new subaltern modernity unraveling the duplicity of our institutionalized economy and polity. It provides a critique of the essentialist underpinnings of subalternity foregrounding the heterogeneity of the subaltern subjects in the process.

Repensando la educación rural en una zona transfronteriza entre Costa Rica y Nicaragua: El caso de la Región Huetar Norte (RHN)

This essay discusses education in a rural cross-border area of Costa Rica, the Región Huetar Norte (Northern Huetar Region). It aims to raise the need of promoting educational processes that respond to the conditions of this territory. To do this, concepts such as rurality, border, and interculturality are problematized. Later comes a description of the historical conformation of this region, emphasizing the important role of Nicaraguan populations in the colonization of the northern territories; these territories constitute a space of cultural identity favored by the interconnection between both countries. Under the assumption that the inclusion of this “cross-border culture” constitutes a pending challenge for national educational policies, the essay argues for an intercultural education that contemplates the binational experiences of this territory in order to contribute to the exchange, the interaction and cooperation between both borders.

The Line and the Limit of Britishness: The Construction of Gibraltarian Identity in M. G. Sanchez’s Writing

From Anthony Burgess’s musings during the Second World War to recent scholarly assessments, Gibraltar has been considered a no man’s literary land. However, the Rock has produced a steady body of literature written in English throughout the second half of the twentieth century and into the present. Apparently situated in the midst of two identitary deficits, Gibraltarian literature occupies a narrative space that is neither British nor Spanish but something else. M. G. Sanchez’s novels and memoir situate themselves in this liminal space of multiple cultural traditions and linguistic contami-nation. The writer anatomizes this space crossed and partitioned by multiple and fluid borders and boundaries. What appears as deficient or lacking from the British and the Spanish points of view, the curse of the periphery, the curse of inhabiting a no man’s land, is repossessed in Sanchez’s writing in order to flesh out a border culture with very specific linguistic and cultural traits.