Kultura
Primary tabs
The Kultura Journal is an international scientific journal for the theory and sociology of culture and cultural policy, which follows culture in the widest sense of the word where science, education and all human activities are taken as its integral part.
It was started in 1968 courtesy to the efforts of Stevan Majstorović, founder of the Centre for Studies in Cultural Development, with the objective to encourage integrative, analytical and critical interpretations of the modern cultural phenomena.
At the time of its establishment, the Kultura Journal was unique in the domain of intellectual thought both in terms of its concept and its design. Since the first issue, i.e. over the fifty years of its existence, Kultura has been and has remained open to creative ideas from the country and the world, as seen from the texts of important foreign authors and contributions from professionals coming from the cultural centres of former Yugoslavia, as well as domestic authors who offered new ideas and approaches to culture. The recognizable design solution of the logo of the journal and its cover page were created by the artist and calligraphist Božidar Bole Miloradović, for the very first number.
As of 1971, the issues were edited thematically, which has been dominant practice to this date, with the aim of enriching certain thematic fields in our cultural and scientific community.
The first Editorial Board of the Kultura Journal consisted of eleven members, led by the Editor-in Chief Stevan Majstorović and Trivo Inđić, as conceptual instigators of the journal which heralded a new orientation in the intellectual field. Members of the Editorial Board were: Slobodan Canić, Dragutin Gostuški, Vujadin Jokić, Danica Mojsin, Mirjana Nikolić, Nebojša Popov, Bogdan Tirnanić, Milan Vojnović and Tihomir Vučković. Over the five decades of the Kultura Journal, editorial boards changed several times.
Kultura is issued every three months (four times a year) and its printing has been financed by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia since 2001. With support of the competent ministry, all numbers of this journal, from the first to the last issue, were digitalized in 2009. As a result, a DVD containing digital form of the journal, was available with the issue No. 129, titled "Electronic libraries". A few years later, in 2013, Kultura switched to the Cyrillic script, with an important note that it still published in Latin script those authors from the region who originally use Latin script(Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia). With the issue No. 140, on the occasion of marking the 45th anniversary of the Kultura Journal, a special USB was made available, with all the texts from the numbers 1-137. The web page of the Centre for Studies in Cultural Development contains all the texts ever published in any issue of the Kultura Journal over half a century of its existence.
The Department for Registration of Journals of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, the Kultura Journal was registered in 2005 (when categorisation of scientific journals started) marked as category P53. In 2010,it was registered as category M52 in the group of journals for history, art,history, ethnology and archaeology. At the beginning of July 2012, the journal advanced to the category of national interest, by Decision of the Ministry of education, science and technological development of the Republic of Serbia (M51).
Kultura is regularly deposited with the Repository of the National Library of Serbia, and since 2010, it has been included in the Serbian Quotation Index, where the texts published in Kultura can be found in full digital form. As of 2011, the texts i.e. scientific articles, apart from the regular UDK (universal decimal classification) also carry specific DOI (Digital Object Identifier) codes, that allow for their greater visibility and international indexing under international standards. In the meantime,electronic version of the journal was started i.e. the first steps were made towards electronic edition by CEON (Service for monitoring, measuring and valorisation of scientific journals) through Aseestant electronic editing programme. This has contributed to the quality of published articles, as the editorial board now have at their disposal adequate programmes for text checking in terms of correct citation sand listings of references as well as prevention of plagiarism.
Kultura is regularly delivered to the National Library of Serbia in Belgrade, Belgrade City Library,University Library "Svetozar Marković" in Belgrade, Library of Matica Srpska in Novi Sad, Library of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Belgrade, Library of the Rectorate of the University of Arts in Belgrade, University Library in Niš and University Library in Kragujevac. The Kultura Journalis regularly received by numerous interested institutions of culture (libraries, theatres, museums, culture centres) as well as individuals. The Journal nurtures professional exchanges with many similar institutions and magazines in the country, region and in Europe (Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia,Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany, Switzerland and other countries).
In addition to respecting scientific rules and standards for publishing scientific papers, Kultura has not lost the curiosity or the freshness of an avant-garde magazine dealing with both eternal and very actual topics.
Pages
-
- Becoming-ground of a figure
- This study is about understanding of the Deleuze's concept of becoming in the context of figure-ground relations, through Peter Eisenman's architectural project 'The Galician City of Culture' built in Santiago de Compostela (Spain). Locating the study within the frames of ontology and phenomenology of space, theory of text and cultural analysis, the main hypothesis of this paper is that Eisenman's project 'The Galician City of Culture' performs transgression of the language of modernist architecture, blurring the boundaries between figure and ground. In other words, Eisenman's figurative form of 'The Galician City of Culture' is caught up in the act of becoming-ground (of a tectonic expression, but also of a broader social and cultural context). Developing this hypothesis through historical, comparative, theoretical and analytical method, the main aim of this study is understanding the architectural practice not as a mere art object, situation or an event, but as a work that is formed in the dense network of surrounding texts of society, landscape and culture, which is not exempted from these networks but occurring in the midst of them, determined by them and also determinative for them. In what way does Eisenman's architecture perform the transgression of the language of modernist architecture? How can that, which is an architectural form, at the same time be understood as transgression and vice versa, how can that, which is deviation, derogation, unfolding, at the same time be the form? How can we understand the concept of a figure becoming-ground in the context of the Eisenman's concrete example of architecture? These are the key questions of this study. In theoretical context, the study is based on the investigations of Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, Colin Rowe, Le Corbusier, Jean Lyotard, Rosalind Krauss, Georges Bataille and Homi Bhabha.
-
- Behind the mask
- The paper aims to highlight the importance of play and performance for development and learning at all ages, both in early childhood and in adulthood. The mask and playing with the mask in this context appear as some of the possible tools and means for facilitation of play within the educational process. Performing with masks not only supports learning and development, but represents development in a nutshell: wearing a mask we are at the same time who we are and who we pretend to be. In this way, the mask can be an educational tool that can be used in all phases of the educational process, be part of the process or serve to present it. A mask can be given in advance or made while the process is going on, be one of the activities or serve to summarize the activities, and its use depends on the sensibility of the adult education practitioner.
-
- Being a LGBTTIQ
- This paper analyses certain aspects of everyday life of the LGBT population in Serbia, starting with Gerc's understanding of culture. Aspects that shape the 'identity' of a non-heterosexual person in a predominantly heteronormative and heterosexual environment are a stigma, internalized homophobia, and various strategies of 'passing' and connecting with the 'gay' community. These elements are an integral part of the lives of LGBT people and based on them we can talk about certain meanings that are common to LGBT population. The first part deals with concepts such as identity, internalized stigma/ homophobia, while the second part deals with several case studies of non-heterosexual persons. The experiences such as sexual orientation different from heterosexual and gender identities that are not binary make it possible to speak in Gerc's sense of a certain 'culture' that is familiar to LGBT minority, which is largely not shared by heterosexual women and men in the same society. That culture of the LGBTTIQ population forms part of a hidden and an invisible culture - being in opposition to the heteronormative concepts means exposure to discrimination and violence, which brings a lot of misunderstandings but also means resistance - a certain challenge to the society that is standardized by heterosexual rules and binary gender regimes. The LGBTTIQ 'culture' has the power to deconstruct oppositions such as heterosexual/homosexual, men/women, etc.
-
- Bequest in the Serbian museum practice
- This paper deals with the status of bequest in the Serbian museums practice. The first part covers understanding of the concept of bequest by several authors, as well as legal interpretation and valid legislation related to bequests. Special attention is drawn to the lack of a definitive legal procedure which would regulate what museums should do with such bequests. The second part of the paper covers the treatment and position of bequests at the Belgrade City Museum a museum institution which manages twenty eight bequests. All the bequests currently managed by the Museum are listed and detailed analyses of several bequests are given as examples of good and poor practice. In the end, an interpretation of different treatments of such museum collections after WW2 are reviewed from the angle of historic legal regulations and practical approaches.
-
- Bequest of Stevan Kragujević at the Museum of Yugoslavia
- The subject of this paper is presentation of the photographic bequests of Stevan Kragujević at the Museum of Yugoslavia and its cultural, historical, social and artistic significance. It also covers processing and digitalisation of the material, with presentations and communication potential. Establishment of the Bequest of Stevan Kragujević in 2014 was of importance to the development of the funds of the Museum of Yugoslavia, whose photographic material grew in scope and importance. With its spatial limits for safeguarding of cultural assets and thanks to improvements brought by digitalisation, effective communication with the public was enabled. A specific model of cooperation was established with Tanja Kragujević, as a valuable example of joint efforts on primary protection of funds of great historic value and work on their wider accessibility and valorisation.
-
- Bequests with a special review of The Heritage House-Belgrade
- Taking care of a country's cultural legacy is the priority of each nation's cultural policy. The most important is its protection, since lost legacy cannot be compensated. However, research is also very important as is its presentation to the public. On the one hand, it is not surprising that allocations for culture in a poor country are minimized. On the other hand, there are many unsolved problems that do not depend on finances, like legal regulations in this domain. In this research we are going to pay special attention to the bequests of The Heritage House-Belgrade, whose founder is the City of Belgrade, since it is a unique state institution whose main activity is related to heritage and legacy.
-
- Beth Kevaroth
- The Jewish Diaspora has begun back in the classical era with the conquests of the Roman Empire, and has never finished. Since this period, Jews have been populating the Balkan countries. In Serbia, this is particularly characteristic of a later period - the Middle Ages and the New Age, when Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews began to inhabit Serbian cities and towns. Jews were a peaceful urban population, skilled tradesmen and craftsmen, educated people with relatively developed business relationships overseas. Although they have lived for centuries in a different environment, Jews preserved their specific ethnic and religious identity. The Jewish religion is Judaism, and their unconditional respect for the Torah and the Talmud has resulted in preserving essential foundations of the whole system of Jewish customs, rules and regulations, which defined their life in the broadest sense. Therefore Jewish religious and traditional beliefs are universal for all Jews, wherever they live. In Serbia, as in all other countries, Jews have fitted into the environment and shared the fate of their neighbors, but in cultural, religious and traditional terms, they have been a world in itself. The Jewish mourning rites represent a very complex ritual system with a special place in human minds. The 'Beth Kevaroth - House of The Dead' is an article about Jewish customs regarding death and burial, based on which one can look at a specific, essentially different culture than the culture of Serbs and other Christian communities, despite some similarities in procedures and even some ideas.
-
- Between fiction and reality
- This article analyses a mismatch between student reality and fictive depictions of student life, in a classic work of Norwegian literature - Bondestudentar (1883) by Arne Garborg. The novel is translated into English as The Making of Daniel Braut. Addressing the dichotomy between (false) ideals and (true) reality, which is in the center of Garborg's novel, the article explores Garborg's critique of the idealist myths about academic life. Romantic representations of the student were, at the time when Garborg was writing his novel, still very much alive in the Norwegian literature and thought. His book seeks to unravel the falseness of these idyllic images, by presenting a 'realistic' image of the poor, famished, morally collapsed student. While the first part of the article explores the method by which the story unravels the fictitiousness of the ideas of an 'ideal student life', the second part analyses the readers' reactions to Garborg's representations of academic life. Majority of Garborg's contemporary readers did not acknowledge the fictitiousness of his realistic interpretations, finding them to be true depictions of students in the Norway's capital, and treating the protagonist of the novel as their contemporary.
-
- Between fiction and testimony
- The article deals with literary treatment of historical documents on mass extermination of Jews in the Second World War. It focuses on texts by Danilo Kiš, David Albahari and Daša Drndić. The idea of 'post-Yugoslav literary field' provides the context for interpretation, and different narrative strategies of implementation of historical documents in the works of fiction are connected with the theoretical question of authorship, posed by Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben. The concept of the author as an instance that completes other peoples' testimonies is transposed to the level of the literary character, in order to give an answer to the fundamental question of Giorgio Agamben: What does it mean to be the subject of desubjectivation, and how can a subject give an account on their own desintegration?.
-
- Between inner and outer worlds
- The Japanese Noh theatre is the most widely known type of mask theatre in the world today. Although the usage of masks in Japan dates back to prehistoric times, very little can be said undoubtedly about these practices. The ancestors of the traditional Noh mask are of a much later date as they trace back to the 7th century when the mask arrived from China. At that time, China had already developed more profane varieties of the sacral exorcist rituals, which included a great variety of popular topics in addition to the sacral ones. Once in Japan, the mask came into usage first at the Imperial Court, being part of the costume in the performance arts of Chinese origins such as gigaku and later sangaku. The founder of Noh theatre is considered to be Zeami Motokiyo (1363-1443) who adapted these and other extant arts so they can better suit the aesthetic needs of the newly emerged class of samurai lords. Today the Noh drama is wellknown for its close ties with Buddhism and Shintoism, being at the same time deeply rooted in the Japanese literary tradition.
-
- Between self-evidence and argumentation
- When I called Zoran Kinđić's views self-evidently anti-Semitic, Kinđić argued that this was not self-evident to him nor to a number of unnamed people whose opinions he had sought. He asked me to offer an argument in order to support my claim. In this paper I am presenting the argument.
-
- Biblical foundations of Saint Sava's mission
- The greatest Serbian enlightener and missionary, who had laid solid foundations of Christian faith in Serbia, was Saint Sava. He devoted his whole life to ensure that the Serbs truly embraced pure Christian faith. Immediately after returning to Serbia, in 1208, he procured books and wrote typikons and the Nomocanon to enlighten the Serbs. However, in order for his missionary work to be successful, he also invested great efforts in providing autocephaly for the Serbian Orthodox Church. In his sermons, Saint Sava often preached his missionary ideas. What we perceive, however, is that the Serbs tend to emphasize that they cherish the tradition and the spirit of Saint Sava, but that, at the same time, they disregard his true Christian inspirations. Thus, this paper intends to lay emphasis on the Biblical motifs which encouraged Saint Sava to pursue missionary work. The current shepherds of the Church should be advised to do the same.