NATIONAL IDENTITY AND FEATURES OF ITS REFLECTION IN THE MODERN DRAMA OF THE VOLGA REGION

Статья посвящена вопросу национальной специфики литератур народов Поволжья, соотношению национального и регионального в понимании идентичности как таковой. В работе выявляются общие моменты в отражении национальной идентичности, этнических и общечеловеческих ценностей в современной драматургии Поволжья. В качестве объекта исследования выбраны произведения современных чувашских и татарских драматургов, в которых наиболее ярко выражена национальная проблема. Путем сравнительного анализа в статье рассмотрены формы проявления национальной идентичности в произведениях, такие как национальные мифы, образы, идеалы, архетипы, обращение к далекому прошлому народа, к типичным чертам национального характера. Важным идеологическим ресурсом национальной идентичности на современном этапе выступило историческое прошлое чувашского и татарского народов. В судьбе главных исторических личностей отразилась трагическая судьба булгарского народа. В чувашской драме «Часы с кукушкой» (2016) М. Карягиной и татарской монодраме «Микулай» (2019) М. Гилязова проблема идентичности рассматривается в отношении героев к национальным и общечеловеческим ценностям, таким как родная земля, дом, семья, память, нравственность, долг, ответственность и др. The article is devoted to national specifics of the literatures of the peoples of the Volga region, the correlation of national and regional to the understanding of identity as such. The paper reveals common points in the reflection of national identity, ethnic and universal values in the drama of the Volga region. The works of modern Chuvash and Tatar playwrights, in which the national problem is most clearly expressed, are chosen as the object of research. By means of comparative analysis, the article considers the forms of national identity in the works, such as national myths, images, ideals, archetypes, reference to the distant past of the people, to the typical features of the national character. An important ideological resource of national identity was the historical past of the Chuvash and Tatar peoples. The fate of the main historical figures reflected the tragic fate of the Bulgarian people. In the Chuvash drama “The Cuckoo Clock” (2016) by M. Karyagina and the Tatar monodrama “Mikulai” (2019) by M. Gilyazov, the problem of identity is considered in the relation of their characters to national and universal values, such as their native land, home, family, memory, morality, duty, responsibility, etc.

Sheep genetic resources in Bulgaria with focus on breeds with coloured wool

This review describes sheep genetic resources in Bulgaria with coloured wool and evaluates the country’s potential for coloured wool production. In 2018, Bulgaria counted 125,422 animals belonging to 18 native sheep breeds, six of which are in danger of extinction. Native sheep breeds in Bulgaria can be divided into three groups depending on the fleece colour of the animals: i) sheep breeds with fully pigmented fleece in all animals; ii) sheep breeds with animals with fully pigmented fleece or fully white fleece; iii) sheep breeds with spotted coloured fleece. Colouration in populations of the native Bulgarian sheep breeds can be explained by the phenotypic expression of several alleles of coat colour genes: ExtensionD, Agoutia and Pigmented headT , while white colour is due to the presence of the dominant Agoutiwt allele.Based on the relative share of the animals with coloured wool, the country’s potential for annual coloured wool production from native breeds was estimated at a minimum of 133,791 kg of unwashed wool. Recent tendencies in lifestyle changes of the Bulgarian people are gradually leading to increased interest in naturally coloured wool products, which may benefit the conservation of endangered native breeds by promoting relevant breeding programmes.

Inclusion and Exclusion: Image and Perceptions of Turkish Migrants in Bulgaria and Turkey

This paper deals with the image and perceptions that Turkish migrants from Bulgaria had about the Turks in Turkey, the Turkish state, Bulgarians, and the Bulgarian state both before and after 1989. Perceptions of the Turkish minority among the Bulgarian communist elite are analysed according to published reports and statements made by Bulgarian Communist Party members. The perceptions that Turkish migrants had about Bulgaria and Turkey are the main focus of this study which is based on field research and interviews conducted with Turkish migrants from Bulgaria now living in Turkey. This article shows that these migrants held both positive and negative perceptions of Bulgaria and Turkey, largely depending on the context. The Turkish minority in Bulgaria was regarded as a problem for the Communist government and as an in-ternal enemy to the Bulgarian state. Moreover, the locals in Turkey regarded the Turkish migrants from Bulgaria as “Bulgarian migrants” who possessed a non-Muslim or “liberal” culture. In this way, they experienced exclusionary attitudes from their neighbours both in Bulgaria and in Turkey. The Turks of Bulgaria perceived the Communist regime as oppressive and as a threat to their Turkish identity. Despite their dislike of the regime, prior to the period of forced assimilation that began in 1984, they still possessed a relatively positive perception about the Bulgarian people. Interestingly, while they perceive Turkey as their homeland, they nonetheless held certain prejudices against the local population in Turkey. All of these various interaction helped to strengthen their group identity as migrants from Bulgaria.This paper deals with the image and perceptions that Turkish migrants from Bulgaria had about the Turks in Turkey, the Turkish state, Bulgarians, and the Bulgarian state both before and after 1989. Perceptions of the Turkish minority among the Bulgarian communist elite are analysed according to published reports and statements made by Bulgarian Communist Party members. The perceptions that Turkish migrants had about Bulgaria and Turkey are the main focus of this study which is based on field research and interviews conducted with Turkish migrants from Bulgaria now living in Turkey. This article shows that these migrants held both positive and negative perceptions of Bulgaria and Turkey, largely depending on the context. The Turkish minority in Bulgaria was regarded as a problem for the Communist government and as an internal enemy to the Bulgarian state. Moreover, the locals in Turkey regarded the Turkish migrants from Bulgaria as “Bulgarian migrants” who possessed a non-Muslim or “liberal” culture. In this way, they experienced exclusionary attitudes from their neighbours both in Bulgaria and in Turkey. The Turks of Bulgaria perceived the Communist regime as oppressive and as a threat to their Turkish identity. Despite their dislike of the regime, prior to the period of forced assimilation that began in 1984, they still possessed a relatively positive perception about the Bulgarian people. Interestingly, while they perceive Turkey as their homeland, they nonetheless held certain prejudices against the local population in Turkey. All of these various interaction helped to strengthen their group identity as migrants from Bulgaria.

Multicultural Europe: The case of Bulgaria

The article aims at analyzing the cultural and linguistic diversity in Europe as values worth being preserved since they are a guarantee for open consciousness. Multiculturalism and multilingualism contribute to the goals of job creation and sustainable growth. Multilingualism, which is a vital and integral part of Europe's rich and cultural diversity, is a way out of the deep crisis that has gripped Europe because the continent is a huge labor market, where English is the working language, but knowledge of a universal language is not enough. The paper emphasizes upon a very significant issue whose essence is: the task of our time is to be able to realize that the unity of the human race lies in diversity. It is therefore not accidental that the motto of the European Union states “United in diversity”. The case of Bulgaria as a part of the European Union is also scrutinized in the article. Bulgarians have lived for centuries at a crossroads between Europe and Asia along with various peoples and ethnicities. This serves as an explanation as to why the Balkans are a multicultural region despite the fact that it was often associated with fragmentation and wars. An inference has been drawn that it is apparent the modern Bulgarian people can find their identity at the European Union level, at the Balkans’ level, at the level of the Bulgarian tradition, even at the level of the local community. And it is feasible to have productive cooperation between these levels of identities.

КЪМ ВЪПРОСА ЗА БЪЛГАРСКОТО ЕТНИЧЕСКО МАЛЦИНСТВО В ОЛТЕНИЯ, РУМЪНИЯ. ЕЗИКЪТ НА СВИНИЧАНИТЕ КАТО ЕТНОГРАФСКА ГРУПА НА БЪЛГАРСКИЯ НАРОД / ON THE BULGARIAN ETHNIC MINORITIES IN OLTENIA, ROMANIA. THE LANGUAGE OF THE INHABITANTS OF SVINIȚA AS AN ETNOGRAPHIC GROUP WITHIN THE BULGARIAN PEOPLE

The inhabitants of the Sviniţa village in Mehedinţi County are Bulgarian natives who have preserved their ethnic identity and 15th-century dialect which shares common features with the one spoken in Novo Selo (Vidin). Bulgarian, Hungarian, Serbian and Romanian linguists have proved or, on the contrary, have put into question the Bulgarian origin of the population of Sviniţa, based on the study of its material and spiritual culture as reflected in local vocabulary, ethnonymy, onomastics, etc. This dialect represents both old and new grammatical features of Bulgarian, such as: the reduction of unstressed vowels: а:ъ (браздḁ), е:ъ (е) (бóлън); Bulgarian-specific reflexes ь:ъ, ър/ръ, ъл/лъ, (бърдо, бръв, вълна, ябълка) which are impossible to pronounce in Serbian; phonetic changes such as the elision of h (aiduk); the absence of the infinitive, etc. The presentation of this material is not intended to question the scientific value of previous works and earlier authors’ capacity to account for certain aspects of the history and language of the Bulgarian minorities in Oltenia, but rather aims at providing an overview of the abundant bibliography, mostly unknown to Romanian scholars, and at emphasising that the language and culture of this minority may still represent a viable subject for research.

19th-Century Slovenian Ethnographic Map of the Bulgarian Lands

This article aims to examine and call more attention to an old, unduly disregarded ethnographic map from 1874, drafted by the Slovenian intellectual Maks Pleteršnik. The „Ethnographic Map of the Bulgarian Land“ outlines the territories across European Turkey populated by ethnic Bulgarians at the time. It is the first known ethnographic map authored by a non-Bulgarian to deal exclusively with the Bulgarian people, which makes it a document of particular importance. This article retraces the map‘s history in brief, elucidates the historical situation and the reasons for its drafting, and attempts to determine the sources used in its composition. The map is then subjected to an extensive analysis, with the goal of explicating its specific peculiarities as well as its shortcomings and virtues/ contributions. The book „Slovanstvo,“ wherein the map was first published as an appendix, is also given its due consideration. This article fills in a certain gap in research and hopefully will be of use not only to the scientific community, but a much wider readership as well.

The Imperial Society of History and Russian Antiquities and its development of Bulgarian research

The article discusses the history of the Society of History and Russian Antiquities (SHRA,1804–1929), highlights its academic and publishing activities in the first half of the 19th century in relation to the study of Bulgarian issues. On the basis of this material it is concluded that the SHRA aimed at increasing the prestige and development of national historical academic research and contributed to the formation of an academic community of people passionate about the ideas of knowledge and national service: a “scholarly community”. Although Bulgarian research was not dominant in Slavic scholarship which was actively developed by the SHRA members from the 1830s, its emergence testified to increasing interest in the Bulgarian people. The work of the SHRA contributed to the accumulation of knowledge about and understanding of the Bulgarian people, their history and culture.

The role of the Moscow Slavophils in the release of Bulgaria from the Ottoman yoke

In 1396 the Ottomans occupied Bulgaria. It disappeared from the world map, becoming part of the Ottoman Empire. In the XIX century Russian society contributed to the spiritual revival of the Bulgarian people. I.S.Aksakovbelieved that Russia should help not only the spiritual revival of the Bulgarians, but also the acquisition of political freedom, lost in the XIV century.On April 12, 1877, Emperor Alexander II declared war on Turkey. At the cost of enormous human sacrifice, the Russian people freed Bulgaria from slavery, which, after 500 years of non-existence, reappeared on the world map. In the modern press, it can be observed that Russia's role in the liberation of Bulgaria from the Turkish yoke is reappraising. Some scholars believe that the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 was not liberating, but conquering, occupying. The article refutes the opinion of false scientists who seek to distort the truth based on archival documents, as well as on the testimonies of eyewitnesses of historical events (including the testimonies of Bulgarian writers of that time - Petko Rachev Slaveykov, Ilya Blyskov, Vasil Drumyov, Ivan Vazov and others). Ivan Vazov called the Russian soldiers "Knights of Good." P.R. Slaveykov wrote: "Russia has given us freedom with its blood."

The Bulgarian-Macedonian poet, journalist and translator, Rayko Zhinzifov

The article highlights the life of the famous poet, translator, writer and publicist R. Zhinzifov (1839–77), whose work belongs equally to the cultural heritage of two modern states: Bulgaria and North Macedonia. The article draws attention to the relationship between Zhinzifov and members of the Moscow Slavic Charity Committee, P.I. Bartenev and I.S. Aksakov, reveals the reasons why Zhinzifov did not return to his homeland in the Ottoman Empire after studying at Moscow University, notes his contribution to the creation of literature during the period of the Bulgarian national revival and his contribution to the education of the Bulgarian people.

Bashkir Mythological Beit "Sak-Suk" and Tales, Legends of the Bulgarian People

The Bashkir bait "Sak and Suk" is one of the most popular poetic works of folk oral poetry. Bait is widespread among the Bashkirs, Tatars and Chuvash. This article is devoted to the study of parallels in the plots of the Bashkir texts of the mythological bait "Sak-Suk" with the tales and legends of the Bulgarian people about the cuckoo (owl) and the owl. It turned out that these folklore works have a similar plot basis: the mother curses her naughty children and turns them into birds that are not destined to meet each other. The differences are only in the names of the birds, although in the two peoples the main characters turn into night birds from the owl family. And in some cases, in Bulgarian folklore works, one of the heroes (mainly a daughter) turns into a cuckoo. Keywords: Bashkirs, Bait, Folklore, Expedition, Variant, Plot, Parallel, Mythology, Folk Art