Kultura
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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
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- Web 2.0, social media and the new paradigm of information media
- Through an analysis of relevant literature, this paper examines important aspects of the new paradigm of information media, originating from the changes of social communication in general, prompted by information communication revolution. The Web 2.0 environment, with social media at its front, brought forth a higher level of interactivity in the information exchange - information media i.e. journalistic reporting. This interactivity facilitates thorough changes which must be taken into account so as to enable production and distribution of optimal media content. The paper discusses in detail the Web 2.0 environment and its specific features, against the more traditional media environment. The paper further reports on important observations pertaining to social media and their social and communicational specificities, as well as the means by which their interactive nature influences exchange of information. The new role of public in media communication is also discussed in detail, as well as the rise of citizen journalism as a consequence of previously mentioned interactivity of the digital environment. Hereafter follows a discussion on the new habits in the media consumption, with an emphasis on incidental consumption as a product of the social media culture. Finally, the paper examines the biggest ethical issues of the modern information media in the Web 2.0 conditions. Namely, it discusses information segregation (echo chambers) and fake news, and what media organizations and social media platforms can do to contain this, socially unfavorable, behavior and minimize, if not completely eliminate, their detrimental influence.
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- What appears s not what is
- It would be no mistake to state that among the commonest routes contemporary literature in English takes is one of asserting history s and reality's fictionality and dissolving the boundary between real and imaginary. The route is certainly common enough in the work of the controversial British author Jeanette Winterson, whose prose is a never-ending interplay between fact and fiction, reality and fantasy. Winterson's critically neglected Art & Lies (1995) epitomises the disintegration of clear cut lines between (auto)biography, history and fiction through a set of binaries like art/life, art/lie, or fact/fiction, transforming our ideas of truth and lie. Similar concerns inform The Passion (1987), which is more universally praised. The parallels between the two works suggest a continuum in Winterson's literary explorations of the nature of truth and reality, the status of fiction and historical record, and the usefulness of binaries and labels. This paper aims at exploring how these polyphonic prose pieces rebel against single points of view, redefine the notions of history as fact and storytelling as fabrication, and exhibit a preference for the truth of the imagination and unofficial perspectives.
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- What is the point of philosophy / if it isn't philosophy / of the media
- The title of the paper suggests several dimensions of questioning the meaning of the philosophy of media. The first level includes the text which questions the reasons for the existence of philosophy itself (Adorno, Habermas, Heidegger ...). The second level initiates the question: What is the point of philosophy if it isn't philosophy, is the level of questioning philosophy in relation to dimensions outside of the realm of philosophy that have influenced it throughout history. The third level examines the importance and necessity of precisely those methods and approaches developed by the great achievements of thinkers, who we consider (some more, some less) essential to the philosophy of media.
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- Where a reality show begins
- Today, one can speak more about how reality shows are made and how they are maintained, about their chameleon perspective and their own view inwards and outwards. And it is only there that an answer to the question of where reality TV begins and where it can end can be sought. Reality TV involves a special creative uncertainty and a certain moral decay. Reality shows also involve a matter of choice: who will participate, how will they react, who will watch and evaluate the reality of the reality show and the conditions that have led to it? In reality programmes, things are always viewed from the reduced and stripped point of view of the organizer. Have fun and make money. If the rhetorical points of view that affect different perspectives of reality shows are properly considered, the effect is, in the end, always in the political field.
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- Who are the environmental activists and leaders of the environmental movement in Serbia
- The paper analyzes the prevalence and socio-demographic characteristics of environmental activism in Serbia. Analysis of the data collected in three research projects (survey conducted on a representative sample for Serbia (N = 1952) and two environmentally vulnerable communities (Pancevo (N = 450) and Bor (N = 350)) and semi-structured interviews with 44 leaders of environmental non-governmental organizations from Serbia) is focused on answering three questions: 1. What is the extent to which environmental activism is developed in Serbia, in general, and environmentally vulnerable communities, in particular? 2. What are the main socio-demographic characteristics of environmentally active individuals in Serbia?; 3. What are the main socio-demographic differences between environmental activists in the environmentally affected communities and those who are active in the other areas? The research results show that environmental activism is relatively underdeveloped in Serbia in general, as well as in the directly affected communities. A typical environmental activist is a young man or woman, city dweller, member of the middle class and a highly educated person who is in a relatively secure financial position. When it comes to Pancevo, the data show that socio-economic variables (financial and class status) do not have a statistically significant effect. This could be attributed to the 'democratising' effect of environmental risks. On the other hand, the case of Bor is rather atypical since none of sociodemographic variables shows statistical significance, which can be explained with almost total economic dependence of the operations of RTB Bor (which is also the largest polluter).
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- Who is the homeless
- This paper offers analysis of the stories told by beneficiaries of the Shelter for Adults and the Elderly in Belgrade, about themselves and others. The goal was to recognize and describe identity hooks for self-presentation. In order to understand our respondents' narratives, it was necessary to respect the milieu in which the narration took place. This specific context - the institution for care of persons in social need i.e. a shelter for the homeless - is influencing not only the ways of encountering others, but also the version of the truth about oneself. The conceptual framework of the study was found in social constructionism, and the starting assumption is that the process of identity work is interactive in its nature. In other words, we create self-identity negotiating with others and with ourselves. Searching for personal identity points, deep interviews were conducted with five residents of the shelter. In their narratives, important identity hooks are recognized: personal traits, values and significant others, in relation to which they build/defend their identities.
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- Why did you lie to me
- The paper focuses on the concept of lies and lying as an auto therapeutic act, as represented in Kristian Novak's novel Črna mati zemla. Novak illustrates the complexity of the philosophical and literary concept of truth (and lie) by means of a heterogeneous narrative structure. The novel consist of five non chronologically arranged chapters which deal with different versions of truth, or rather, which point to the fact that the truth about the protagonist's life changes depending on who perceives and interprets it, and when. The elaborate relationship between the truth and lie is additionally complicated by the author's play with different genres or forms of narrative, which includes the representation of scientific research, fictional representation of the protagonist's adult life and an autobiographical story of the protagonist's childhood. Lying is simultaneously represented as a creative and a destructive act because inventing stories is the very basis of literary creativity (both Novak and his literary protagonist are writers, which establishes a metatextual relationship between the novel as a fictional creation and the reality) and it helps the protagonist cope with the trauma of his father's death. However, at the same time, lying and believing in imaginary people and situations serve to psychologically destabilize the protagonist, both as a boy and as an adult.
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- Why festival museum attendance cannot predict regular museum attendance
- This study addresses the fact that during the one night festival 'Museum Night', tens of thousands of visitors find themselves in museums, which stands in sharp contrast to the lack of museum visitors during the rest of the year. Taking into account conceptual differences between festivals and regular museum programs, we examined the obstacles that prevent festival visitors from become regular museum visitors. Using the two stage stratified sample (N=1480) of visitors of the 'Museum Night' in Serbia 2012, we identified 39% of those who have never visited a museum during previous twelve months. This allowed for comparison between this group of visitors and the regular museum visitors based on their socio-demographic characteristics and their cultural habits. In addition, we assessed their attitudes towards museums, subjective norms about visiting museums, and perceived barriers for more frequent visits (perceived controlability). The choice of constructs was guided by Ajzen and Fishbein's Theory of planned behavior (1985; 2011). We analyzed if they could predict (a) intentions to visit museums in the future and (b) visits to the museums in the previous year. The attitude towards museums was proven to be a good predictor of both intentions and past behavior, whilst subjective norms and perceived control were better indicators of past behavior. Results demonstrated that museums were perceived as predominantly educational institutions, with their main image-related drawbacks being lack of dynamics and excitement. In spite of that fact, a significant number of festival visitors did express their intentions to visit museums more often in the future. We discussed how these intentions could be addressed in public communication in order to translate them into behavior. We also suggested how both descriptive and prescriptive norms could be employed to widen potential museum audience and which strategies could improve the image of museums as more proactive and appealing.
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- Why will a kafe never become a cafè
- This paper is an attempt to answer the questions to what extent, how and under which conditions it is possible to compare one specific urban phenomenon such as a café in different environments. The basis for such a comparison can be found in historical and cultural context, first of all, but also in a number of features that stem from lifestyle and everyday urban life. Empirical insights into social reality and elements for comparison were observed within a minuscule form of everyday urban life in Rome, the homeland of contemporary European cafés.
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- Winckelmann on observation of art works
- The idea of art as communication was sporadically present among Serbian artists, critics and art historians, but was rationally developed in the Serbian science on art in the second half of the 20th century. Three major procedures are distinguishable in the context. The critic procedure (Trifunović in art history), where the artist's work is interpreted, evaluated in the context of art, while the discussion with the artist serves more as a role model, example and encouragement for a number of similar but not identical procedures. The theoretical procedure (Ognjenović in psychology) introduces valuable observations about artistic creation to generalizations and statistically validated models, which may serve to a number of researchers in the same, scientifically demonstrable way. The scientific procedure in the narrow sense (Petrović in sociology and culturology) starts from the validated model and in the 'laboratory' conditions (using tests on artists) scientifically confirms the model, as well as some of the critical points of view. What all three procedures share is to find role models, bases, or at least encouragement in a number of researchers of information, communication, semiotics and others who interpret the artistic process using the model: inspiration-artist-work of art-viewer-interpretation. Though the elements of this way of thinking exist in the Serbian art criticism and theory as common place since the early 20th century, they are not studied or used; the idea of art as communication is taken from the current theoretical conceptions of the science in the world. However, if one looks in historiography for some earlier examples, or sources of the idea of art as communication, one could trace a communication 'model' back to the time of Winckelmann, and his article On the observations of works of art (1759). He pointed to the artist's creation, to the content of work of art and to the procedure of the observer in the evaluation and understanding of the work of art. It is interesting that the text was presented in the Serbian culture in a 1848 shortened and adapted translation used merely for entertainment of the public. One could conclude that in the period of century and a half (between the time of the naive translation to the time of introduction of communication theory) the Serbian culture relatively successfully mastered the process of receiving ideas from developed cultural or scientific centers (translation of sources, publishing, scientific interpretation, application, the training of specialists, popularization), but still does not succeed in keeping the continuity of those ideas, as it exists in the centers of their origin.
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- Women's literary experiment of Body Kintsugi by Senka Marić
- Kintsugi is an ancient Japanese art form of "golden repairing" of broken ceramic pottery by using beautiful seams of gold or platinum. The essence of kintsugi is to visibly incorporate the damage into the aesthetic of the restored art piece instead of disguising it, so as to recognize the history of the object. The process usually results in a masterpiece more beautiful than the original. Senka Marić, a contemporary Bosnian and Herzegovinian poetess and writer, has used the art of kintsugi in a women's literary experiment to create her 2018 novel Body Kintsugi, based on her own breast cancer experience. Accordingly, this paper analyses the poetic art of precious scars in Senka Marić's novel Body Kintsugi.