Glasnik Etnografskog Instituta SANU

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The Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnography SAS (I-VII)/ SASA (VIII/) is a scientific periodical of international significance which publishes papers in ethnology/anthropology. From its inception in 1952, the Bulletin publishes the results of scientific research projects of scientists and associates of the Institute and other affiliated institutions in the country and abroad. In addition, discussions and articles, supplements, field data, retrospectives, chronicles, reviews, translations, notes, bibliographies, obituaries, memories, critiques and similar are published as well. The Bulletin was founded as a means to publish the results of research of settlements and origins of populations, folk life, customs and folk proverbs. However, the concept of the Bulletin, like that of any other contemporary scientific journal, changed over time to accommodate the social, cultural and political processes and research trends in the social sciences and humanities.

The Bulletin (GEI) is referenced in the electronic bases: DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), Ulrich's Periodicals Directory and SCIndex (Serbian Citation Index). All articles are digitally available in a form typographically true to the original (in .pdf format). The Bulletin is also available in the same form on the website of the Institute of Ethnography SASA.

The Bulletin (GEI SANU) can also be found and read at CEEOL (Central and Eastern European Online Library): http://www.ceeol.com


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From 'brotherhood and unity' to 'friendship for new times'
From 'brotherhood and unity' to 'friendship for new times'
Based on memoires, printed media sources and informants' recollections, this paper discusses relations between towns of Maribor (Slovenia) and Kraljevo (Serbia) and between inhabitants of these two towns. Politics and ideology have immensely influenced establishing of different forms and levels of mutual connections, but also the creation of memories about these relations.
From Center to periphery and vice versa
From Center to periphery and vice versa
This paper discusses the politics of street names in Belgrade since the beginning of 1990s until today. Given the central place of the capital city in the symbolic geography of the nation, subsequent cultural influences of the capitals' 'city text overcomes its actual scale. The past fifteen years of the 'toponymical transition' are characterized by several phases and specifics in commemoration and de-commemoration of various public symbols both in the contents and means of such identity re-construction. Being mostly consistent, the de-commemoration of themes and persons connected with the related historical period and ideology is usually achieved through revision (without restitution) of street names, and also through identity politics which initiate a politically opportune transfer of toponyms in the symbolic center-periphery relation of the city (and national) text.
From gibanica to pizza
From gibanica to pizza
Throughout the history of mankind, the supply and production of food have been basic economic activities in all civilizations. Food is intimately connected with social and ethnic group, one’s way of life, with the family and its financial position. The food of the majority of the Slovenian population in the Twentieth Century was inadequate and monotonous. Although the quantity of food available was adequate, it lacked numerous staples for which cheaper ingredients were substituted. Changes in Slovene diet were mainly connected with the greater mobility of the rural population, employment in the towns, and faster circulation of goods in the 1960s and 1970s. For the most of Slovene population food become more easily accessible as in the past, in comparison to other items, food expense decreased considerably.
From lighting to dust death, funeral and post mortem destiny of Nikola Tesla
From lighting to dust death, funeral and post mortem destiny of Nikola Tesla
This text points out some less known facts about death and funeral of great Serbian scientists Nikola Tesla. Keeping on mind social and political contexts in which Tesla's post mortem destiny took place, author offered possible answers on the issues of ideological usage of his work and character. Different features of public discourses about Tesla in different historical periods 1936-2014, as well as various forms of his post mortem glorification were shown. One of the conclusions is related to different status that Tesla's mortal remains - incinerated two and half months after his death - had in different periods - from complete marginalization in the socialist era in Yugoslavia to main political trump in the time of post socialist transition in Serbia. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177028: Strategije identiteta: savremena kultura i religioznost]
From the anthropology of women to gender ideology
From the anthropology of women to gender ideology
Our motivation to reflect on the origin and the ways of using the concept of gender in the work of (mostly female) associates of the Zagreb Institute for Ethnology and Folklore Research was prompted by the recent social moment, often recognized as the "cultural war", within which the term ‘gender’ occupies the central place of dispute. The need for an ethnological articulation of gender-sensitive approach to cultural phenomena in the domestic context emerged as the result of two outcomes. First, female scholars started to reflect shortcomings of their social and academic position in socialist society, and second, they were influenced by Western feminist critique within historiography, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, literary theory, which resulted in women’s studies, later to be followed by gender studies as academic field and civil activism. Bearing in mind these diverse epistemological outcomes and the intellectual tradition of social critique of scholars in the IEF (sub)disciplines, this article aims to show when and how the concept of gender was created and constructed, starting with the female authorship of Radić-inspired ethnography (Kata Jajnčerova), through sociology and anthropology of family (Vera Stein Erlich), the ethnology of everyday life and the zadruga studies (Dunja Rihtman-Auguštin), feminist historiography (Lydia Sklevicky), and interdisciplinary research of the past twentyfive years in which almost all IEF associates have participated to a greater or lesser degree.
From “Woman with Child” to “Stranger”
From “Woman with Child” to “Stranger”
At the beginning of the 20th century in Serbia, female painters, following modern European artistic trends became leaders in the dissemination of avant-garde ideas. Women’s art became the object of sharp critique or was ignored by the critics and completely marginalized. Feminists strove to fix the imbalance in practices of subject production, to establish institutions and models of life in which the existence of ones did not entail the suppression of all others. Despite their significant opus, certain Serbian female artists are only now the subject of monographs. In the late 20th century, only M. Pavlović Barili got respect, and even that was posthumous. The ork of Nadežda Petrović, Zora Petrović and Kosa Bokšan was also valued later, most often with the presence of other (male) authors, which confirms that the patriarchy always values men, while the role of women was to be unnoticeable and meaningless, always outside the focus. In this paper the focus is on the art of Nadežda Petrović, and its reception indicates not only the individual path of the artist, but the problem of female expression through painting. By establishing the value of art in the spirit of contemporary strivings, Nadežda Petrović comes up against the outcry of painter colleagues who label her art as “naive” and “primitive”, neglecting and refusing to acknowledge her artistic individuality. As an illustration of the feminist engagement of Nadežda Petrović in her artistic expression, three paintings from different phases of her career were chosen: Woman with child, Portrait of Kosara Cvetković and Xenia. Nadežda Petrović radically oversteps the conventional way of looking at women from the viewpoint of men. Visual expression represses and destroys the traditional framework of seeing (in which man is the subject and woman the object), pointing to the projected viewer outside the painting and the woman’s gaze which prepares the establishing of dialogue. Creating in the time of establishment of new sociocultural relations on the ladder of male/female determinations, Nadežda Petrović did not want to run from problems, but heralds and “insists” in an open and direct way, flaunting her cosmopolitanism, desire for independence and aversion toward universal ideologies. The art of Nadežda Petrović maps the mosaic of incorporated fragmented positions of women in former as well as in contemporary society. By deconstructing and questioning the dominant presumption about creativity, as well as the meaning of the term artist, artists such as Nadežda Petrović directly pointed to the unspoken idea that the language of art is created by men, uncovering the relationship between language, art and ideology, thanks to them, women’s art becomes noticed and valued, which kickstarts the process of constituting an equal art, outside the categories of “male” and “female”. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 47016: Interdisciplinarno istraživanje kulturnog i jezičkog nasleđa Srbije. Izrada multimedijalnog internet portala "Pojmovnik srpske kulture"]
Fudbal u antropologiji i drugim humanističkim naukama
Fudbal u antropologiji i drugim humanističkim naukama
Đorđević, Ivan - Fudbal u antropologiji i drugim humanističkim naukama - Glasnik Etnografskog instituta SANU
Functional interpretation of ritual whirling among Serbs
Functional interpretation of ritual whirling among Serbs
On the basis of the ethnographic materials collected within Serbian ethnic area, ritual whirling and swinging are compared in order to mark the differences between them, since they have been understood as synonym actions till now. With the aim to discuss their inner ritual logic, the ethnographic data are analyzed by: 1) defining the annual calendar of their performance; 2) discussing their accompanying rituals and beliefs; 3) analyzing technics for the construction of the devices used for whirling and swinging; 4) comparing these data to the similar practices in other traditions of the world. The attention is drawn to the differences in the annual calendar of their performance, while Christmas and the Lent preceding week are marked as those during which both ritual actions were practiced at the same time. The results of analysis indicate that these two actions are closely inter-related, especially during the Lent preceding week, when whirling and swinging were the most intense and performed simultaneously in the same place. However, even then, their ritual functions were not synonymous, but complementary. Although both were performed to encourage fertility, their inner ritual logics were different: whirling was the simulation of a new cosmogonic process, while swinging was performed to awaken the biocosmic rebirth. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 47016: Interdisciplinarno istraživanje kulturnog i jezičkog nasleđa Srbije. Izrada multimedijalnog portala „Pojmovnik srpske kulture“]
Funeral ritual and power
Funeral ritual and power
The paper discusses the development of the traditional genre of lament for the deed in Greek antiquity, that is possible to follow since the earliest written traces (of oral tradition such as Iliad) all up to Modern Greek times. However, focus of the paper is made on the development of this female oral genre and restrictive laws and measurements against this traditional form as a consequence of the formation of the first Greek city-states. What were these measurements like, who were they aimed against and why was it necessary to control ritual lament? Was this control successful?.
Gallipols in Pehčevo, Macedonia. Narratives about origin and settlement
Gallipols in Pehčevo, Macedonia. Narratives about origin and settlement
Gallipols in Pehčevo, a small town in what is today Eastern Macedonia, are descendants of population originating from the Gallipoli (Gelibolu) Peninsula in Turkey. Until the end of the First World War their ancestors had for several centuries lived in the village of Bajramič (Bayramli); in 1922 they were expelled and resettled in the village of Pehčevo in Macedonia, then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In the first part of this paper historical data and facts from the literature are presented, as well as informants’ accounts on the origin and migration of Gallipols, collected during field research in August 2016. The second part contains the analysis of the formation, modification, passing down, and interpretation of the traditions on community’s origin in the past and present. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177027: Multietnicitet, multikulturalnost, migracije - savremeni procesi]
Gavril Stefanović Venclović’s pioneer work on transferring Christian tradition to vernacular language
Gavril Stefanović Venclović’s pioneer work on transferring Christian tradition to vernacular language
Gavril Stefanović Venclović, hieromonk, hard-working scribe and inspired orator from the first half of the XVIII century, marked one of the key periods in the history of Serbian culture. He left some 20000 hand-written pages behind, out of which some 9000 written in vernacular language. His transcripts were primarily made for church service needs, yet, trying to reach his flock, Venclović was translating and adapting them to vernacular language. In his effort to make them understandable and available to “illiterate peasant”, not only that he translated the sermons, but also tried to explain segments that were abstract or of more complex terminology by inserting examples from everyday life. Trying to be as closest to his audience, Venclović used expressions and terms they were familiar with, thus his sermons were entered by numerous details from folk language, customs and everyday life. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177028]
Gender affiliation and inheritance
Gender affiliation and inheritance
Looking at the inheritance matter in the socialist period, the author concludes that it was based solely on gender. This paper explains the relationship between gender, inheritance, ownership and possessions among kinsmen in the Vranje district. During the socialist period so called customary law of inheritance (a right to inherit a deceased father, that is, a mother) was socially and legislatively accepted. The women from the Vranje district are aware of their unfair position in matters of inheritance, but also they know that even if they are to inherit a property they will not become equal to men. It is obvious that it was an illusion that a socialist organization with its legislative system (or any other, as a mater of fact) could establish the gender equality in inheritance and thus solve the dualism between the customary law and the law.

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