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
Pages
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- Religion and settlement as preservers of ethnicity
- A separate ethnic group living in an isolated settlement could preserve ethnic identity even when surrounded by an alien ethnic environment. This is even more likely to happen if the ethnic group in question has a different religious affiliation than the rest, since the religious affiliation and ethnicity were often equated in the area examined. This paper presents a few cases of ethnicity preservation (sometimes its loss), namely: (1) The Sarakačans group (a Greek speaking ancient Balkan population); that is, its lineage Ašana in Goč (nearby Kraljevo); (2) Serbs in White Krajina (Slovenia) and Zumberka (Croatia); (3) Serbs from former Montenegro settled in the village of Peroj, in Istria; (4) Catholic Albanians, tribe Klimenti settled in Srem' villages Nikinci, Hrtkovci and Jarak, who declare themselves to be Croatians today; (5) A Serbian population from Montenegro and parts of Herzegovina (various tribes from Ceklina, Bjelopavlić, Riječka nahija, Njeguš, Grahovo and Zubac), from Petlovo Selo, in northeast Serbia (6) Torbeša families, from the group Mijaka, an originally Slav-Islamic population in the Crni Drim area, that immigrated in the 1960's to Izmir, in Turkey; (7). Janjevci, Catholics of a mixed Slavic origin, from Janjevo near Priština; in the past they declared themselves natives of Dubrovnik but lately declared themselves Croatians; (8). Slovak Adventists from Gospođinci, in Srem, who declare themselves to be Serbs; and (9). Slovaks Greco-Catholic, from Kučura, Bačka, who declare themselves as Ruthenians although their native language is Slovakian. In conclusion, the author argues that ethnic identity preservation depends on a lot of factors and circumstances, among which the most important are settlement and religious affiliation. Many of the positive experiences of multilingual, multinational and multireligious tolerances in the area could serve as a model in other potentially troubled multicultural environments.
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- Religiosity and readiness for reconciliation
- This paper is an anthropological study of processes that lead to the traumatization of a society, and of processes that result in forgiveness and reconciliation as chosen ways of dealing with post-conflict situations. The area on which the research is focused is Southeastern Europe, or more precisely Croatian and Serbian societies and relations. As cultural anthropology has not developed any special theory to deal with the causes of traumatic experiences in cultures and societies, this study uses the conceptions of closely related cultural sociology, formulated in Jeffrey Alexander's works. According to Alexander cultural trauma occurs when members of a collectivity feel they have been subjected to a horrendous event that leaves indelible marks upon their group consciousness, marking their memories forever and changing their future identity in fundamental and irrevocable ways. Insofar as they identify the cause of trauma, and thereby assume such moral responsibility, members of collectivities define their solidary relationships in ways that allow them to share the sufferings of others. In thinking that the suffering of others might also be our own societies expand the circle of the we. According to the same theory, when social groups refuse to recognize the existence of others' trauma and suffering, they not only diffuse their own responsibility for the suffering but often project the responsibility for their own suffering on these others. It is necessary then, for any process of reconciliation to be successful, that groups recognize suffering of others and their own responsibility. From the fact that social groups might refuse to participate in the process of trauma creation, it is obvious that trauma does not exist naturally, but that trauma is a social construction, a socially mediated attribution. This paper and research are also designed as an anthropological comparison with a huge sociological research of religiosity in Croatia done in 2000, partly also focused on the topic of reconciliation. Anthropological research of young believers for this paper was conducted in 2014 and 2015 in Croatia, with interview used as the main research method. The main results show that: there still exists an important difference between proclaimed and practical believers; both Catholic Church in Croatia and Serbian Orthodox Church are expected to work on forgiveness and reconciliation; ecumenism is highly valued; readiness for taking part in common Catholic-Orthodox meetings and services is ubiquitous; and that the readiness to forgive and conciliate is real and substantial. The research confirmed the vision of youth believers as a group that is especially ready to conciliate and actively work on the processes of reconciliation and forgiveness, and that there is a solid basis for the success of these processes in contemporary Croatian society.
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- Religious and civic education
- This paper attempts to re-interpret an element of the educational reform carried out since the end of 2000 by the Serbian Government and its Ministry of Education and Sports, namely, the introduction of two new subjects: Religious Education and Civic Education, to primary and secondary schools curricula. Based on similar analyses in educational and political anthropology, this element is viewed as a strategy of political legitimating of the regime that came to power in Serbia after Slobodan Milošević. In this context, the introduction of Religious Education appears as, on the one hand, an act of symbolical gratitude to the Serbian Orthodox Church for the support it has provided in the second half of the 1990s for then-oppositional parties that came to power in Serbia in 2000; while on the other, it appears as a strategy of justifying political decisions by appeal to the set of "traditional" values embodied in religion and the Church. Likewise, the introduction of Civic Education as a "structural opposite" to Religious Education can be viewed as an attempt to balance between the traditional, nationalist and modern, pro-European sentiments, but in a way that perpetuates the artificial dichotomy between these two types of political orientation. Finally, I discuss some implications of the above analysis for the question of possibility of introduction of ethnology and anthropology to schools. In this context, I claim that the perpetuation of the "traditional/modern" dichotomy in political rhetoric and the educational reform, provides a chance for ethnology and anthropology to find its place in Serbian school curricula through simultaneously relying on the past, acknowledging the present, and planning the future of the discipline.
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- Religious and secular models of power achieved through funeral ritual
- This paper researches why and in which way Athenian polis, and since Byzantine era also the Church, made efforts to take over the control over funeral rite. How, why and under which circumstances pagan ritual moved from private to public sphere? How were the roles in the ritual distributed? In which way the elements of pagan rite were integrated in Christian funeral and what was the power-game between Pagans and Christians? Which social potential made funeral so important that the state and the Church were fighting for gaining power over it? [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 17026: Kulturno nasleđe i identitet]
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- Religious configuration of the “other” in the contemporary Balkan societies (cultural mechanisms and perspectives)
- The paper argues that the Balkans are not a single-type cultural- political and conflictogenic space where religions are the basic factor, but a heterogeneous zone made up of specific states, in each of which religion or religions have a specific positive cultural status and/or conflict potential (persistently or in certain period). The qualitative changes that have taken place in Christianity as a faith and an institution, both in the West and East (including the Balkans) during the second half of the 20th century have shown that Christianity has become more dependent on and responsive to the fundamental cultural specificity of each particular society in which it exists. The thesis is emphasized that in the conflictual configuration of “Other” in the Balkans (of ethnic, nationalist, cultural type) religion is not a pro-active factor but functions in interacting with a number of other factors (the Weberian idea of religious “strands”), coming to the fore in certain situations.
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- Remembering holidays in Serbia, from the mid-20th century until today
- Holiday memories maintain the continuity of a society with the past and help keep the past alive in the memory of the community. The holiday calendar of the Yugoslav and Serbian state in the second half of the 20th century changed with every regime change, which meant that the contents of holiday memories changed along. The culture of memory in Serbia during socialism served the purpose of “socializing” the society, but also imprinting the achievements of the people’s liberation war into the consciousness of the people. In the holiday culture of memory in Serbia after 2000 political holidays are intertwined as symbols with the newly established tradition of remembering events from the first half of the 19th century, as well as religious holidays with roots in the mythical past. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177028: Strategije identiteta - savremena kultura i religioznost]
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- Reproductive behavior, ethnicity and socio-economic status a comparison of two Serbian Gypsy groups
- Based on original fieldwork in Serbia, this paper elucidates and contrasts the reproductive behavior of typically poor Gypsies with a group of much wealthier Gypsies living in a Serbian village. This paper will test two hypotheses: 1) Gypsy reproductive behavior is a result of their ethnic traditional strategy, and/or 2) Gypsy reproduction is a result of low status and being poor. This paper explores the relationship between socioeconomic status, reproductive behavior and ethnicity.
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- Research of migrations in Central and Southeast Europe
- This issue consists of eleven papers dedicated to migrations of individuals and/or communities in Southeast and Central Europe. The concept of its topic is interdisciplinary - it is comprised of papers which examine the migration phenomenon, combining research methods of ethnology and social anthropology, sociology, history and political science. Despite the immense diversity of migration types researched, a significant number of them is, in their different ways, directly or indirectly, connected to the war (the first six papers). Economic reasons are also at the core of many migrations, and can be, but not necessarily so, connected to the war and the crisis common in post-war regions. In addition, personal reasons represent a possible motive for initiating migration, as shown in several papers. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177027: Multietnicitet, multikulturalnost, migracije - savremeni procesi]
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- Results of contemporary research of Serbian folk religion
- Serbian folk religion represents a complex phenomenon, which can be defined and perceived at many different ways. The done research and published studies justify the right to provide a brief synthesis of dynamic processes typical for Serbian folk religion in the contemporary context. The general tendencies and processes, in the contemporary context, and seen as a part of a unique dynamic system, reveal ways or transfer, creation and changes in the traditional heritage. At the basic level, these processes are characterized by a mutual dependency, that is, they are present in binary complementary-opposite code, that is, they are twofold directed (both affirmatively and negatively; towards reduction but also towards complexity of the contents etc), forming together a model for changes. In terms of the contemporary dynamic pattern, which forms the context of folk beliefs and practice of Orthodoxy- the general tendency (in relation with the relationship of 'folk' and 'church' model) is an approach of folk images towards the official, church teachings, hence, we could expect additional alterations of folk Orthodoxy in this direction.
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- Retorical figures in advertising language
- Promotional activities are very often based on advertising and diverse types of public relations. In order to attract consumers' attention and achieve communication goals set by the corporate strategy, advertisers frequently use rhetorical elements in advertising discourse. The advertisers try to convey a desired message and to communicate with the recipient of the message by using various rhetorical figures. It is argued that understanding the structure and function of rhetorical figures in advertising requires a "text- and reader-aware approach". The use of rhetorical figures in advertising has been overlooked in consumer research. This paper shows that the use of rhetorical elements in the advertising discourse is very frequent, but at the same time it is questioned if the function of the rhetorical figures is just a communication with the target market (which is a base of communication models) and if the consequences of linguistic influences are much more serious. The complex nature of advertising language with various rhetorical figures (thropes and schemes) do not just stimulate recipients to demonstrate a desirable behavior, but indirectly it constructs a concept of desirable lifestyle and it induces them to identify themselves with the explained model. Moreover, the analyzed corpus included advertising slogans of social responsible companies as well as advertising campaigns with elements of diverse ideologies. In the time of digitization and a rapid information flow, consumer's attention is less dedicated to the advertising messages. Therefore, it should be expected that in the future advertisers will have to adjust linguistic, audio and visual techniques to the unfocused message recipients.
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- Retrospective and reinterpretation. Ethnographic photographs from the turn of the 19th and 20th century
- The text deals with ethnographic photographs from Moravia and Slovakia, from 1880 and later, and is based on the photographs´ collection of the Ethnographic Institute of Moravian Museum, Brno (Czech Republic). This rich database contents visual documentation of many aspects of material and spiritual folk life. Through icons of ethnographic photographs, the paper tries: to unite at first sight fragmented effort of photographers, to find paths to synthesis, and to show possibilities and potential of these images for present and future ethnologic studies.
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- Retrospektive srpske etnologije
- Pavlović, Mirjana - Retrospektive srpske etnologije - Glasnik Etnografskog instituta SANU