Family values, customs, traditions and ethics of the Russian family in Bessarabia (the interwar period in Romanian literature)

The article analyzes the essays “Bessarabian Roads” by Mikhail Sadoveanu, written in the genre of ethnographic fiction, and the moral-descriptive novel by Georgy Bezvikonny “The Last Superfluous Man”. Our selection of works was based on the representativeness of these sources for the announced topic. M. Sadoveanu recreates a phantomatic picture of the micro-space of the Russian noble family of Madame Panina (1920s); the system of the images of these essays clearly reveals the atmosphere of social disorientation of the Russian population, as well as the manifestation of clear trends of integration into the Romanian social space. However, the family values, customs, traditions and the morals of the Russian family in Bessarabia during the interwar period retain some elements of continuity. G. Bezvikonny in details recreates the spirit of the era, its historical flavor, retrospectively reflects the life of a typical Bessarabian family with a high social class status (the so-called “Russian boyars”); in his novel, the biopsychological portrait of the family, constituted over generations, emerges in the detailed aspects of family values, customs and traditions. The above mentioned works also substantively consider the issues of “Bessarabian identity”, which were especially relevant in the aspect of studying the Russian family in the interwar period.

Afrasian Entanglements and Generic Ambiguities in Sultan Somjee’s Bead Bai

This article looks at Sultan Somjee’s Bead Bai (2012) which focuses on Sakina, a member of the Satpanth Ismaili community living in mid-twentieth century Kenya. Based on nine years of research and interviews with Khoja women who now reside in Western Europe and North America, Bead Bai is generally described as a “historical novel” or an “ethnographic fiction,” yet it also can be thought of as pertaining to the genre of what Brett Smith et al. (2015) call “ethnographic creative nonfiction.” I discuss the ways in which the ‘genre-bending’ aspects of Bead Bai participate in retracing the little-known history of Afrasian entanglements for Asian African women who sorted out, arranged and looked after ethnic beads during colonial times in East Africa. More specifically, I will suggest that, by toying with the boundary between fiction and ethnography, Somjee opens new gendered avenues for reinserting the category of the imaginary at the heart of Afrasian entanglements.

Konstruksi Latar dalam Fiksi Etnografis Orang-Orang Oetimu

This paper examines the setting construction in the ethnographic fiction of Orang-Orang Oetimu by Felix K. Nesi. Analytical descriptive methods, oral tradition, narratology, and setting theory were used to answer questions about: colonial and decolonial settings, socio-educational, ethnographic, and military violence setting. The results depict that the colonial and decolonial grounds left scars on the nation, which experienced previous neglect and alienation in their land. This long-experienced trauma affects massive social, education, and military violence behaviors. In addition, colonial and decolonial history also intersects with ethnographic, mainly traditional beliefs about local history and myths about “sifon,” which is a tradition of having sex after circumcision. Unpredictable and irreversible patterns of colonial, decolonial, and ethnographic settings are also shockingly strengthening the plot, proofing that the well-constructed set produces quality and innovative story, narrative, and narrating.

ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDIES OF THE PEOPLES OF SIBERIA BY POLISH EXILES IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY

The article provides information on ethnographic studies of Siberian peoples published by Poles in the form of descriptions, notes and diaries in the second half of the 19th century. The ethnographic sketches of the exiled participants of the January Uprising in Poland (1863–1864), P. Argant, A. J. Kon, M. Hruszecki, and J. Koton, published in European languages are still little-studied. The author notes the special contribution of L. Nemojewski, who, while in exile, wrote dozens of essays and the book “Siberian Pictures”, which was published in Polish and English. L. Nemojewski was one of the first to present to the European reader the life of the Siberian peoples — and not only the indigenous, but also the Russian Siberians. Not all his descriptions are accurate, sometimes they are somewhat naive. Of particular value is one of the first detailed descriptions of the Khakasses. Nemojewski paid considerable attention to them, analysing not only their traditions, but also their psychology, folklore and religious beliefs. The paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of the study of published ethnographic observations of the exiled participants of the January Uprising in Poland in 1863–1864. All these essays, articles and books certainly fit into the trend of “ethnographic fiction” or “ludoznawstwa” popular in Poland in the second half of the 19th century.

“BETWEEN EUROPE AND ASIA.” ORIENTALIST NARRATIVES OF ALEXANDRA FUCHS: THE RHETORIC OF WRITING AND THE AUTHOR’S POSITION

The article discusses ethnographic essays and novellas in the poems by Alexandra Andreevna Fuchs. The wife of a famous professor Karl Fuchs, she was resident of Kazan, hosted a literary salon, which was frequented by many local and visiting writers and poets, and met with Alexander Pushkin during his stay in the town. Alexandra Fuchs became the first Russian ethnographer writer; she purposefully traveled to places where the Chuvash, Mari (Cheremis), and Udmurts (Votyaks) lived, and wrote essays about the life, daily routine, manners and customs of these peoples drawing on her personal observations. Her essays took the form of letters and were often accompanied by response letters from her husband. They were published in the Kazan magazine Zavolzhsky Muravey [Zavolzhsky Ant], in the regional newspaper Kazanskie gubernskie vedomosti [Kazan Provincial Gazette], as well as in a number of separate books. The article analyzes the rhetorical peculiarities and author’s position of Alexandra Fuks’ essay writing. The analysis also involves ethnographic-fiction novellas (poems) by A. Fuchs, taken, according to her, “from the Tatar tradition”: ‘Princess Habiba’, ‘Founding of the city of Kazan’, a comment to which was written by her husband. These works fit into the tradition of the “Eastern novella”, popular in Russia since the eighteenth century. Depicting the exotic life of ancient Tatars and the peoples neighboring Kazan, Alexandra Fuchs sought to reconcile the orientation of the region to the East with the Orthodox-Imperial ideology which (in her view) was more advanced and progressive. Her sympathies as the author lay with female characters who contradicted traditional Muslim customs. Alexandra Fuchs’ essays and tales played a considerable role in awakening the interest of a Russian reader to the peoples of the empire, which preceded the mid-19th century rise of ethnography in science and literature.