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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- The elements of social conflicts in the perspective of contemporary migration movements
- The main goal of this paper is to interpret the connection between social conflicts and the contemporary migrant crisis in Europe, through the analysis of social conflicts. Hypothesis is that tension and conflict manifestations, which are expressed as interethnic and interreligious, have their latent basis in political and social or class discourse. In other words, conflicts which are often recognized as ethnic, cultural or religious, can be based in social and economic inequalities, social anomie, political propaganda. We will be looking for the explanation of this type of conflicts through the theoretical analyses of scientific sources, public policies and data on ongoing migration crisis on local level.
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- The environs of Belgrade
- The Belgrade vicinity is becoming more and more distinguishable as a separate regional unit - in the administrative, ethnic, economic and cultural terms. It is an extremely important area for ethnological and anthropological research bearing in mind the origin, way of life, material and spiritual heritage of the inhabitants. However, the surroundings of Belgrade have not yet been comprehensively explored. Past, relatively modest research, have shown that it is justified to focus the attention to the knowledge of traditional and modern habits of the inhabitants of the villages around Belgrade. This paper will present the results of the research of rural life in the surroundings of Belgrade, the connection of the city with the rural environment, and the changes caused by the influence of urban culture on the rural population. For that purpose, the results of previous researches of associates of the Institute of Ethnography SASA will be used. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 47016: Interdisciplinarno istraživanje kulturnog i jezičkog nasleđa Srbije. Izrada multimedijalnog internet portala: „Pojmovnik srpske kulture“, Potprojekat 2. Etnološko i antropološko tumačenje tradicije]
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- The erased in Slovenia
- The term 'Erased' refers to a part of the population in the Republic of Slovenia that has been erased in 1992 from the official population registry. A critical analysis of the given discourse confirms that the erased were not removed from the registry due to their immanent characteristics or behaviors (background, ethnic or regional, social status, being late for filing claims to obtain the citizenship in Slovenia) but due to the existence of the discourse about Slovenians which has brought about a creation and interpretation of laws, and thus allowed the removal/erasing of the particular group in question as well as other subsequent connotation regarding the term 'the erased'.
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- The ethnography of virtual reality
- This paper discusses possible application of ethnographic research in the realm of virtual reality, especially in the relationship between cultures in virtual communities. This represents an entirely new area of ethnographic research and therefore many adjustments in the research design are needed for example, a development of a specific method of data gathering and tools for their verification. A virtual, cyber space is a version of social space more or less synchronous with it, but without the, "real", that is, physical presence of the people who create it. This virtual reality, defined and bounded by virtual space, is in fact real - and though we are not able to observe real, physical parameters of its existence, we can perceive its consequences. In sum, an innovative ethnographic research method is fully applicable for exploring the realm of virtual reality; in order to do so we need to expand, in addition to the new research design and methods, the field of science itself.
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- The ethnological/anthropological production in the period transition in Serbia
- The ethnological/anthropological production in the period 2002 - 2008, is the reflection of the complex social, economic, political and bureaucratic situations and strategies. To establish a clear picture of ethnological/anthropological production, our analyses are concentrated on the distinguished fields, themes, those who realize them, particularly in the publishing work. At the same time, we confront science and society to point out to an interconnection of proximity and distance. Ethnological networks are continuously taking place in the scope of research programs, education programs, museum programs, research programs and scientific presentation and communication programs. These programs are part of institutional and team strategies, but they are primarily instigated by individual initiatives. The principal mainstays and coordinators of research programs are the Ethnographic Institute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (EI SANU) in the scope of which important and diverse projects are being realized for the last 60 years; the Ethnology and Anthropology Department of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade (OEA FF), which is, in addition to pedagogic activities, also implementing scientific projects. The Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade (EM) and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) Balkanology Institute, as well as regional museums and cultural institutions are also implementing research projects. Most research program focus on the dynamics of contemporary societal and cultural processes, but also on the continuity and transformation of traditional elements. In this document we will focus more on the scientific and research results through the publishing activity of ethnological/anthropological institutions, based on which one may observe the overall ethnological/anthropological activities in the last eight years.
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- The first issue of the journal for ethnological and anthropological research - Anthropology
- Сажетак Први број часописа Центра за етнолошка и антрополошка истраживања – АНТРОПОЛОГIЈА Центар за етнолошка и антрополошка истраживања Филозофског факултета у Београду издао је 2006. године први број свог часописа, под називомАнтропологија. Иако сасвим нова, ова публикација се, према речима др Бојана Жикића, главног и одговорног уредника, надовезује на традицију етнолошких и антрополошких истраживања у нашој земљи и уједно представља одговор на актуелно стање и потребе наше науке. Са амбицијомунапређивања комуникације унутар академске заједнице и ове средине, али и ван њих, Антропологија представља резултате савремених антрополошких истраживачких, аналитичких и интерпретативних радова. Главне рубрике овог часописа чине Чланци и студије, Хроника, те Прикази и критике, у оквиру којих се објављују оригинални научни радови, монографске студије, хронике дисциплинарно релевантних дешавања, научне критике и дискусије, као и прикази научних и стручних монографија и зборника радова.
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- The folk tradition and its transformation in the context of social influences and contributions by individuals
- 2005 saw the approval of the Czech Republic’s nomination of the Slovácko ‘Verbuňk’ dance for inclusion in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It may be characterised as an improvisational male dance, improvised individually, which contains jumping figures. It may be interpreted by a large number of dancers simultaneously, but may also be a solo dance. Geographically, it comes from the Slovácko ethnographic region in south-eastern Moravia. In the second half of the 20th century, it was known particularly among folklore ensembles and at natural events, and its performance was significantly tied to the folk revival movement. Although the name of the dance-the Verbuňk-suggests a relationship with forced army recruitment in the 18th century (verbování comes from the German term for recruitment: Werbung), the significant period for the development of the dance extends even further back. The dance strongly reflected intellectual interests in folk culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the folk revival movement that was based upon it. Key figures in both amateur and professional dancing had a major influence on the dance’s development. (It started as a male dance characterized by rhythmical movement of the legs, the so-called cifrování or ‘decoration’ of the dance, developing into a strong individual dance with a vocal prelude, dance figures and accelerating tempo.)
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- The function of the 'concrete God'
- I am inspired by many reasons to make a somewhat different contribution to marking the anniversary of the passing of Dusan Bandic. Although today, Dusan Bandic is primarily considered as the leader in the research of so-called popular religion or even in narrower terms - Serbian Orthodox Christianity for me his work has a more far reaching and less localized dimension. It is dominated by the concept of functionality, and of the value of research, of 'everything in existence'. He was an interpreter in the true sense of the word, a translator between 'two languages', worlds or, if you will 'empires', which he considered equal in terms of curiosity, attention and analytical doubt he applied when examining the academic, as well as the popular discourse. We could say that he was also, in addition to all other things he is recognized for, a master of (re)naming, discoursive legitimation and 'branding' of the traditional significatory content, starting from his main preoccupation and a true emblem of his overall work - taboos….
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- The gender in Bulgarian proverbs
- We have chosen the paremiology as the object of this article because it is the area where phraseology and folklore are closely related. This fact makes the study of proverbs significant from the lingua-cultural point of view. The subject of the Bulgarian proverbs is an important source of interpretation because most proverbs are "prescriptions-stereotypes of folk self-consciousness" (Telija). We can see proverbs as cultural stereotypes reflected in common language. The analysis of different proverbs (more then 5000) makes it possible to draw valid conclusions about the dominating tendencies and assessments. We concentrated on proverbs connected with the gender issues. They reflect the social aspects of relationships between a man and a woman. The analysis was seriously hampered by the natural semantic richness of proverbs. Our article focuses on the inner form of proverbs. Our first obvious conclusion will be as follows: the gender factor does not play the leading role in the majority of the Bulgarian proverbs. We can see in some proverbs the reflection of the masculine mentality and the power of man, which in itself is not the dominant factor. The negative female stereotype exists alongside the male one. At the same time the female character does not always have negative connotations. Very often the feminine beauty, mind, positive housewife image and patience are in focus. In addition, the indisputable fact of the presence of the „female“ voice, in which sorrow and suffering dominate, and the female consciousness becomes apparent in the understanding of the world created by Bulgarian proverbs. They characterize her emotional side and decisiveness, as well as her expression of resistance. The above in-depth analysis allows us to make the conclusion about certain independence of women even in those past times which are reflected in the proverbs. Confirmation of our main conclusion can be found in some historical facts such as: a married woman had the right to manage her inherited property on her own.
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- The grey zone of law and practice
- This paper analyzed how institution of child benefit might be perceived as an indicator of different social, political, economic and more broad changes not only on individual but also on general level. In that regard we traced transformations of institution of child benefit during socialism and post socialism, compared how people perceived it and what kind of relations towards property it caused. These two time frames are not taken randomly. On the contrary, they represent two different systems as well as values. While socialist system introduced welfare state, where individual security was transmitted to collective level, in post socialism individual uncertainty has become dominant feature due to the rapid disintegration of the institutions of social state. In two different settings, Vranje and its nearby villages and in Gaj village, we analyzed how child benefit shaped property relations, how persons perceived security and uncertainty, and how they coped with uncertainty during these two periods. Interestingly, in socialism people who moved from village to city and who were using child benefit were not usually claimed right to parent's land and were excluded from inheritance. On the other hand - apart from the fact that in post socialism property represents one of the main preconditions for exclusion from any social help and child benefit as well - people who live in village apply different coping strategies in order to secretly keep property and at the same time to claim child benefit even though they are not eligible candidates. We analyzed different examples of these coping strategies and argue that they represent, in fact, dynamic and creative answer to “routinized state of crises” where economic and political security and stability are missing at a state level. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 46017: Interdisciplinarno istraživanje kulturnog i jezičkog nasleđa Srbije. Izrada multimedijalnog internet portala „Pojmovnik srpske kulture“ i br. 177026: Kulturno nasleđe i identitet]
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- The health of migrants passing through Serbia
- With the gaining influence of securitarian discourses, migrants in Serbia are increasingly presented as a threat to the health of the general population. The media and local authorities often present them as carriers of contagious diseases and use their poor health condition as a justification for repressive measures against them. But are the public concern and (an almost exclusive) focus on the ways the health of migrants influences public health really appropriate? Have migrants been a threat to the health of the general population? In this article, I present some observations from seven months of participant observation I conducted in Serbia as a Persian and French translator during medical consultations for migrants (both in a center for asylum seekers and in the setting of the medical humanitarian organization providing primary healthcare to illegalized migrants). The attention to ethnographic data reveals that migrants have not been the carriers of diseases “from far away”, which would endanger the population, but that rather their health problems stem from the risk environment and conditions of structural violence they find themselves in.
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- The historical and social foundations of the first Drežnica gathering
- The paper deals with the first Drežnica gathering held on November 17th 2012 at KPD "Jedinstvo-Egyseg" facilities in Bajmok, Bačka. The gathering was held on the 67th anniversary of the settling of the people from Drežnica and other places in Gorski kotar in Bajmok. The day of all Drežnica people migrations was celebrated on this occasion too, starting from the moment when the Serbian population began to inhabit the Ogulin-Gomir region and the Drežnica area in 1600 and later. The gathering has the elements of national, regional, and cultural identity. It also indicates the belonging to the Serbian people and Orthodox faith, the life on the borders of Gorski kotar and Lika, and the songs and dances from these parts. All the above mentioned elements of the gathering are more or less visible indicators of identity. In contrast to this, there are some elements of identity which cannot be seen at the gathering, but which are present in the participants’ consciousness. It is actually a regional identity, that is, the attitudes of the Drežnica people concerning the regional belonging of the Drežnica parts. According to some opinions, the Drežnica area is historically, geographically, culturally and administratively tied to Gorski kotar. They are the people of Drežnica and Gora and their number is quite significant. According to others, whose number is much smaller, Drežnica is a special and self-sufficient area which exists independently of other areas. They are the people of Drežnica. The third group, the younger generations in Bajmok, claims that Drežnica belongs to Lika. They think of themselves as the people of Drežnica and Lika. They seem to be a majority. By all odds, this opinion came as a consequence of the generation gap between the older and the younger generations, parents and children, as well as the migrations with which many cultural roots were pulled out. It also came as a consequence of the influences made by the native inhabitants, the Bunjevci, Croats, and Hungarians, on the newly settled Serbian population, who probably just returned the information received from the colonists about their ancestry to them. So, the basic question for further wider researches on this issue, to which a special attention should be paid, is what makes the people of Drežnica identify themselves with Lika. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177028]