Madina Pashtova | Erciyes University (original) (raw)
Papers by Madina Pashtova
Voprosy onomastiki, 2024
The article explores Adyghe (Circassian) landscape terminology and folklore toponymy, areas that ... more The article explores Adyghe (Circassian) landscape terminology and folklore toponymy, areas that have received limited attention in onomastics. It presents a pioneering analysis within Adyghe linguistics and folklore research, examining the peculiarities of geographical terms and toponyms in stereotypical oral texts, including traditional folklore and everyday speech practices. The study is based on data from the folklore subcorpus of the Adyghe linguistic corpus, compiled in 2022 by Adyghe State University researchers, comprising published materials and field data collected from Adyghe (Circassian) communities in the Republic of Adygea, Krasnodar Region, and the Circassian diaspora in Turkey. Additionally, materials from folklore and ethnographic archives of the Republic of Adygea, along with information extracted from personal archives and field records, are analysed. Based on this data, the authors identify fundamental models governing the formation and usage of terms and toponyms, both within the context of folklore landscape studies and in relation to real geographical features and cultural settings. The focus is primarily on lexemes commonly encountered in historical Circassia, such as ps(y) ‘water, river,’ xy ‘sea, gully,’ ko/kue ‘ravine, river,’ bgy ‘hill, mountain, peak, ridge, steep, cliff,’ kushxe/kushhx`e` ‘mountain,’ txy` ‘elevation, ridge, crest of the mountain,’ Iuashxe/Iuashhxe ‘mound, hill,’ and xe`ku ‘region, homeland, fatherland, edge, country, state’. Through corpus research and discourse analysis methods, the study examines the representation of both real and mythical landscape objects in epic texts and speech practices. The productivity of toponyms’ usage and their semantics are established by comparing data from early lexicographic sources with new archival and field materials. The article also illustrates how, in new linguistic contexts, such as the Circassian diaspora in Central Anatolia, the unofficial local map coexists with the administrative Turkish-language map, showcasing differences in landscape terminology frequency based on the presence or absence of specific geographical features.
Tradicionnaâ kulʹtura, Mar 25, 2020
Аннотация. Один из крупных очагов черкесской (адыгской) культуры в Турции-анклав Узун-Яйла-находи... more Аннотация. Один из крупных очагов черкесской (адыгской) культуры в Турции-анклав Узун-Яйла-находится в Центральной Анатолии, близ г. Кайсери. Его население составляют в основном представители аристократических этнических групп: кабардинцы, хатукайцы, а также абазины, идентифицирующие себя как адыгэ (черкесы) и исторически относящиеся к числу сообществ с развитой социально-классовой структурой. Стереотипные устные тексты, структурирующие социально-классовую идентичность, имеют широкий жанровый спектр: от «классического» фольклора до «разовых» высказываний. Их социально-прагматическая функция претерпела трансформации, продиктованные кризисом внутренних социальных связей, разрушением традиционной сельской общины, урбанизационными процессами. В настоящее время сословная идентичность узун-яйлинцев структурируется неявными формами презентации. При этом мы можем наблюдать два параллельных топика этого дискурса: а) потомственная аристократия vs парвеню; б) благородство по крови vs «новое благородство». Цель нашего исследования-обратить внимание на фольклорно-языковой аспект функционирования дискурса о благородстве, выявить социально-прагматические функции исследуемых текстов.
Известия СОИГСИ, 2020
The Circassian (Adyg) diaspora of Turkey, dispersed in all regions of the country, originated due... more The Circassian (Adyg) diaspora of Turkey, dispersed in all regions of the country, originated due to the famous historical events of the mid-XIXth century – the end of the Caucasian War and the deportation of the main part of the indigenous population of the North-West Caucasus to the territory of the Ottoman Empire. During the half-year period of existence, pulled away from the historical territory, several large centers of Circassian culture were formed here. One of them, the Uzunyayla enclave, is located in Central Anatolia, near Kayseri. This study is based on the material collected by the author in this and other areas of Turkey during folklore-ethnographic expeditions (2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2018) during in-depth interviews, audio and video recording and making notes in the field diary, as well as by the method of included observation (2018-2019). These are oral stories about outstanding people (memorates, anecdotes, parables), which are one of the most productive folklore-genre creative forms in the local repertoire of Uzun-Yayla. The subject of the study is the nature of existence and pragmatics of narrative texts about well-known personalities in the context of the local tradition. The possibility and necessity of studying stereotypical oral stories begotten around the names of famous personalities as a source of cultural knowledge are of particular relevance in the light of the problems of such areas of scientific thought as localistics and regional studies. In the proposed aspect, the folklore of the Circassian diaspora is considered for the first time.
The purpose of the study is to reveal through the material of the selected texts how the images of heroes of the historical past, and recent outstanding people are folklorized, as well as to identify the main thematic groups of the oral texts under study, their pragmatic and communicative functions.
It is concluded that in the absence of writing in the native language and official means of internal communication, cycles of stories about well-known personalities act in the space of the enclave under study as tools of social regulation and structuring of local knowledge, one of the markers of social group identity of the diaspora Circassians.
«Это был (не)правильный обычай»: ритуал поднятия левой руки в танатологическом дискурсе черкесов диаспоры, 2022
The custom of raising the left hand has been preserved until recently in the thanatological prac... more The custom of raising the left hand has been preserved until
recently in the thanatological practices of one of the Circassian diaspora
communities in Turkey (Uzunyayla – Kayseri). According to the
stereotypical narrative descriptions of the ritual, one of the groups
arriving at the funeral slowly steps forward, taking three steps from the
left foot, and slowly raises the left wrist to the level of the chin, temple,
or crown. By raising his hand, the condolent publicly expresses the
recognition of the social status of the deceased. According to informants,
in the late 1980s, the custom was eradicated under the pressure from the
Islamic clergy. Those who opposed its cessation understood this custom
as a sacred one ‘brought from the ancestral homeland’ and bequeathed
by Zhabagi Kazanoko (the folkloric and historical hero, philosopher,
humanist and reformer of the 18th century).
The idea of “reviving” the ritual was initiated during the pandemic,
when mass gatherings and physical contacts (handshakes and embraces,
which are common in ordinary funeral practices) were prohibited. In
particular, in relation to the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the
Caucasian War (celebrated by the Circassian community annually on
May 21), it was proposed to hold an online campaign for posting photos
with a raised left hand.
The explicit and hidden strategies of actualizing the ritual of raising
the left hand as “our own”, “the primordial” and ‘undeservedly forgotten
one’ are analyzed in this work on the material of the texts of classical
folklore (heroic legends) and memoranda recorded by the author during
fieldwork, as well as posts on the social media. The main aim of the
research is to show how the bearers of the tradition reproduce (verbally
and visually) the stable and changeable structures of a narrative / a ritual
under the influence of certain ideological dominants.
Folklore of the Circassian diaspora: localization of tradition, functionality of texts, 2021
The author of the research examines the range of problems associated with the functioning of fol... more The author of the research examines the range of problems
associated with the functioning of folklore texts in the context of
the diaspora tradition by appealing to the field materials collected
in one of the Circassian enclaves of Central Anatolia (Uzunyayla –
Kayseri) between 2009-2019. The research report is intended for
specialists in the field of folklore and ethnology.
Bulletin of the Kalmyk Institute for Humanities of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2016
The article examines the conditions of mutual infl uence of a fi xed text and a folklore fi eld, ... more The article examines the conditions of mutual infl uence of a fi xed text and a folklore fi eld, i. e. secondary factors which are signifi cant during the recording of a text and its 'return' to the informant in the form of media and printed materials. The methods applied are as follows: audio and video recordings and journaling; comparative-typological, structural-functional, and statistical analyses. The Circassian diaspora of Anatolia is a unique folklore fi eld. So far the researchers of the traditional culture of the Circassian diaspora have paid no attention to the factors of the 'reverse' infl uence of the scientifi c discourse and the fi xed text which, thus, happened to be in the fi eld of the tradition. The article aims to identify the factors of such mutual infl uence of texts of a separate cultural enclave and its informants in conditions of a gradual development of the Cyrillic alphabet and the appearance of publications of oral texts in the form of printed and media products. Observations outlined in the article are based on the author's collecting and editional experiences accumulated during the in-depth study of Uzun-Yaila (Kayseri Vilayet, Turkey) folklore fi eld during the 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2015 expeditions and the preparation of fi eld records of local folklore for subsequent publications. The paper reveals the principles of working on a text important for the diaspora fi eld. In particular, taking into account the 'horizontal' communication intensity in the fi eld under study, it is necessary to pay attention to the questions formulating strategy, including those set by folklorists in the media space (social networks), when composing the conceptual and terminological apparatus of the editions of local traditions-to give priority to popular defi nitions, to adhere to graphic symbols and principles which make the written text as close as possible to the local dialect without complicating the interpretation (i. e. to reserve more accurate transcriptions for special language editions). In general, the interaction of a folklore publishing scientist and representatives of the tradition under study should consciously adhere to the principle of the minimal 'invasion' into the vernacular practices.
![Research paper thumbnail of К специфике традиционной внутриобщинной коммуникации: черкесы Турции [On Characteristics of Traditional Intra-Communal Communication: Circassians of Turkey]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/88418988/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Journal of Caucasian Studies, 2019
устной «классике» и меморатам, «объясняющие» исторические причины формирования исследуемых поведе... more устной «классике» и меморатам, «объясняющие» исторические причины формирования исследуемых поведенческих моделей, интерпретирующие феодально-аристократическое говорение / молчание с точки зрения традиционного морально-этического кодекса Адыгэ хабзэ, утверждающие их гуманистическую ценность и прогнозирующие их актуальность или, наоборот, рассматривающие их как анахронизм.
Вестник Северо-Восточного федерального университета имени М. К. Аммосова: Серия Эпосоведение, 2019
The study examines chapshch – the Circassian (Adyghe) healing game, the archaic rite entertaining... more The study examines chapshch – the Circassian (Adyghe) healing game, the archaic rite entertaining night gatherings arranged at the bedside of a sick or wounded person, including timed games, songs, dances, and poetic lists. The purpose of the article is to identify the local terminological versions of the chapsh mythological ritual complex, its connection with the mytho-epic tradition, the pragmatic and semiotic features of the rite, to draw attention to the existence of the narrative reflective judgments regarding the text (the verbal or action one) of the now-defunct rite. The relevance of the study is due to the demand for the new developments in the field of localistics and regional studies. The article contains the field materials of the author including the ones on the folk terminological lexicon, first introduced into the scientific circulation. This determines the relevance of the study. The author considers a number of symbolic elements of the chapsh including subject symbols (a rod in the
hands of the ritual master, skins of the sacrificial animals, the ritual food). It is noted that verbal-action texts (the
spell – “blowing and whispering”, the apotropic actions, the chapsh games, etc.) must be considered in connection
with the communicative context. The terminological variants of the chapsh rite vocabulary fixed in the different
local traditions of the Circassians are compared.
The research methods: comparative, pragmatic, semiotic, functional approach. The stated observations are
based on the author’s field materials collected both in the historical homeland of the Circassians (the republics of
the North Caucasus) and in the diaspora (Turkey).
It is concluded that the destruction of the communicative context of the rite entails a certain “misunderstanding”,
a denial associated with the transformation of the ethical ideas, in some cases – silence, and sometimes the refusal
of informants to spread on the theme of the chapsh plays. In comparison, for example, with epic texts that
informants refer to prestigious genres, chapsh folklore is pushed to the periphery of the collective memory.
A return to the study of the rite with the use of the new field and research methods is a promising task
for studying the semiotics of folklore culture, the history of the poetic language of the verbal genres, and the
identification of the local versions of ritual and the mythical epic texts
Abstract: The focus for the study is oral speech texts, actualizing the local identity of residen... more Abstract: The focus for the study is oral speech texts, actualizing the local identity of residents of one of the Circassian major enclaves — Uzun-Yayla (Turkey, Central Anatolia, Kayseri province), who we consider to be bearers of the local subvariant of ethnic (folk) culture. At present, they live not only in the enclave itself, but also in other regions and large cities of Turkey. The study researches a broad genre range of the texts — from “classic” folklore to oral dialogues, functioning in modern social-cultural environment of the Circassian diaspora. Along with the verbal (verbal-folkloric) aspect of the research, we focus on a number of sociological nuances, inherent in the chosen as the research subject explication forms of the local identity. It is for the first time that the problem of local-group self-identification of the Circassians (Adyghs) of a separate enclave has been researched in the stated aspects and as whole. The purpose of the article is to attract attention to important structural elements of the local identity, what we have tried to do based on field materials collected in Uzun-Yayla enclave during the 2009-2015 cruises.
Keywords: Circassians, diaspora, Anatolia, Uzun-Yayla, local identity, Placelore, folklore reflectivity, memory of place, sense of place.
The article is dedicated to the history of one of the most popular with the young Circassian dias... more The article is dedicated to the history of one of the most popular with the young Circassian diaspora dancing genres — the shcheshchen. The author of the article tries to study the ways of correlation between the local exhibitions of the dancing genre and its trivial terms, local folk tunes, social taboos and the precepts of a defi nite diaspora society using the shcheshchen as an example. The purpose of the study is the synchronous description of the genre features of the endemically formed choreographic phenomenon called " adyghe shcheshchen " (the Circassian shcheshchen), tracking of the universal analogues (the terminological, musical, choreographic ones), detection of its social and semantic functions in the defi nite local culture. The subject of the study is the discursive practices about public merrymaking traditions, and also the context relations between the archival explorative texts and the historical sources which give the narrative description of the choreographic phenomena of the " metropolis " — the Caucasus — analogous with the shcheshchen. The object of the study is a verbal (oral) and non-verbal text (collected in the folklore fi eld of Turkey and in the Internet) which actualize the information about the dance called shcheshchen. The fi eld methods: the participant observation and informal conversation, the method of memory boosting established by the author of the article, the online poll. The methods of analytical processing of the materials: structural/functional, pragmatic analyses, discourse analyses. The shcheshchen acts as a cultural complex which equalizes people according to the rules of a public merrymaking and maintains the civilizational identity of Anatolia Circassians at the same time. The author of the article explains the reasons of some inconsistency of the deliberations about the 'little prestige " of the shcheshchen and its popularity simultaneously. These conclusions would be useful for theoretical researches of the history of folklore genres, the culture of Circassian diaspora, and also for applied purposes: the ethnographical information collected by the author of the article and the complex theoretical observations data about the forms of the folk dances included in the article are published for the fi rst time and would be interesting for specialists engaged in searching of the traditional ethno-choreographical styles and stage performances.
The high safety of oral stories about outstanding public fi gure of Kabarda XVIII c., wise man an... more The high safety of oral stories about outstanding public fi gure of Kabarda XVIII c., wise man and philosopher Zhabagi Kazanoko in collective memory of Circassian diaspora is explained by a number of their social and pragmatic functions. They are moral, ethic, socioregulative, cognitive, identifi cation and recreative. The communicative space of Circassians in Turkey, functioning in the native language, keeps an idea of distinctive features of «Kazanoko’s style of communication», such as indirectness, allegory and metalogicality. Kazanoko’s image underwent greater folklorization in diaspora. A number of ritual, mythological and etiquette remotivations are related to his name.
Space coordinates and status of modern adyigha folklore mediasphere identified for the first time... more Space coordinates and status of modern adyigha folklore mediasphere identified for the first time in the article. Basic types of videofixation of folklore differentiate both professional (cinema, tv and science expeditionary materials) and amateure. Basic frames of the texts marked out by the criteria of folkloric mediaproduction.
Çerkes diasporasının �o��n o�arak �a�adı�ı ����e�er ���rki�e� �r�ado�� ��� �o��n o�arak �a�adı�ı ... more Çerkes diasporasının �o��n o�arak �a�adı�ı ����e�er ���rki�e� �r�ado�� ��� �o��n o�arak �a�adı�ı ����e�er ���rki�e� �r�ado�� ��� ke�eri) kendi ko����arı içinde emsa�siz �ir fo�k�or zen�in�i�i s�nmak�adır. B� a�a� nın mekân�zaman sınır�arını� ni�e�ikse� �ze��ik�erini� diasporanın içinde �a�adı�ı çevre��e kar�ı�ık�ı i�i�ki�erini ince�emek� �er�e��ik�eri ��ke�erde �a�a�an Çerkeslerle �i��i a�ı�veri�ine �irerek �ir�ik�e hareke� e�me�i �erek�irir. B� a�nı zamanda� çe�i��i �i�imse� fo�k�orik ��n�em�erin �ir arada k���anı�dı�ı �ir �ak�a�ımı da �erek�irir. B� ��n�em�erden �iri e�zaman�ı ana�izdir ve ��rese� fo�k�orik �e�enek�erin ifade edi�� me �içim�erinin� mi�o�ojik���rense� �apı�arın semi�o�ojik ince�enmesinde� huarıbze �хъуэрыбзэ) �arzı �a��amsa� �iirse� �ezah�r�erin ana�izinde k���anı�ır. Bir di�eri� fo�k�orik me�in�erin pra�ma�ik �ze��ik�erinin ve i�kse� �ezah�r�eri i�e ��n�m�zdeki form�arının ince�enmesinde k���anı�an işlevsel analiz ��n�emidir. Üç�nc�s� ise� fo�k�or ve di�in ��������� nok�ada� �e�ir�i s�z�� an�a�ım �apı�arının ara��ırı�masın� da k���anı�an karşılaştırmalı tarih ana�izidir.
Çerkes nüfusunun % 90’ını oluşturan ve dünyanın 50’den fazla ülkesine dağılmış diasporası, Rus-Ka... more Çerkes nüfusunun % 90’ını oluşturan ve dünyanın 50’den fazla ülkesine dağılmış diasporası, Rus-Kafkas Savaşı’na (19. Yüzyıl) ve iki dünya savaşına bağlı olarak oluştu. Makale yazarının gözlemleri Türkiye’nin yerel Çerkes kültürel adacıklarından biri olan Uzunyayla’da 2009, 2011, 2014 ve 2015 yıllarında gerçekleştirilen alan araştırmaları sırasında yapıldı. Alan çalışmasında kişiler arası ve gruplar arası iletişimin etnik özellikleri incelendi. Bu makalede Çerkes diasporasında otantik folklorun (dilin ve geleneksel kültürün) taşıyıcılarının azalması, derlemecinin ve kaynak kişilerin sosyal (toplumsal davranış, etik, toplumsal cinsiyet) iletişimi gibi halkbiliminin ve antropolojinin sorunları ele alınıyor.
It is known that mythological narratives concern to the texts connected with the inner ethnocultu... more It is known that mythological narratives concern to the texts connected with the inner ethnocultural memory. At the same time the archaic, pre-Christian, pre-Islamic ideas are gradually displaced into the passive memory under the influence of the major world religions. The epic mythological texts - cosmogonic, ethnogenic ones - are represented in the folklore of the Circassian Diaspora with rather small group of oral texts. It can be explained by the general extinction of Nart Epic tradition itself, diminution of the number of professional narrators, including the ethnic territory - the Caucasus. Oral texts of actual mythology - stories of mythological creatures (demons, ghosts), ritual-mythological instructions and taboos take much more considerable place in the folk territory of different local traditions of Circassian diaspore. The author considers the problems of safety, the form of existing, meta-language peculiarities of mythological narratives in the folklore of the Circassian Diaspora in Turkey on her own expeditionary materials. The texts existing in local cultural tradition of Uzunyayla, a plateau with a relatively high number of Circassian villages between the provinces of Kayseri, Sivas and Maraş, are analyzed in correlation with the "common Circassian" tradition, the invariant scheme of which is described by the Caucasian researchers. In this article the author pays attention on methodological principles of description and cartography of characters of actual mythology, gives the analysis of symbolic and social-pragmatic functions of oral mythological stories.
This work represents the exploring of the connection between the stereotyped narrative and poetic... more This work represents the exploring of the connection between the stereotyped narrative and poetical texts about the Caucasian War in the field of the Circassian Diaspora folklore and the contemporaneous social, cultural and political discourses.
Books by Madina Pashtova
Материалы I Международной научно-практической конференции памяти М.И. Мижаева "Проблемы сохранения черкесского фольклора, культуры и языка", 2015
Издание посвящено актуальным проблемам адыговедения.
Вестник науки АРИГИ Т.М. Керашева. Специальный выпуск, 2017
Основная проблематика представленных в настоящем номере публикаций отражает весь спектр научных п... more Основная проблематика представленных в настоящем номере публикаций отражает весь спектр научных представлений о локальной идентичности в ее черкесском (адыгском) преломлении. Черкесский мир, традиционно отличавшийся значительной пестротой и неоднородностью внутренней структуры, за последние полтора столетия приобрел еще большую мозаичность. В настоящий момент мы видим легко различимое своеобразие в культуре и стиле мышления адыгов, ныне разделенных государственными границами и административными барьерами. Необходимость изучения регионально-локальных экспликаций народной культуры была обозначена уже на Первых чтениях памяти М.И. Мижаева (Архыз, 2014 г.), где работала специальная секция, посвященная этой проблематике. Статьи, предлагаемые читателю в настоящем выпуске, отличаются широким географическим охватом не только самого предмета исследования — различных этногрупп черкесов Кавказа и диаспоры, но и самих авторов этих работ. Проблема черкесской идентичности оказалась удивительно близка исследователям Москвы и Петербурга, Стамбула, Краснодара и Ростова, Адыгеи, Кабардино-Балкарии и КарачаевоЧеркесии. Используя разные методологические подходы и описывая разные сюжеты, они, каждый по-своему, демонстрируют нам настоятельную необходимость объединения усилий для дальнейшего изучения феноменов регионально-локальных традиций и форм идентичности.
Издание представляет собой сборник тезисов докладов II Международной научной конференции памяти М... more Издание представляет собой сборник тезисов докладов II Международной научной конференции памяти М.И. Мижаева, посвященной изучению различных аспектов феномена идентичности в его региональных и локальных проявлениях. В основе представленных на конференции докладов лежат исследования, проведенные главным образом на материале устных и письменных источников, отражающих состояние и соотношение форм идентичности черкесов (адыгов) Кавказа и диаспоры.
Для специалистов в области общей и черкесской этнологии и фольклористики.
The Encyclopedia collects all the available knowledge about the traditional ideology of the Circa... more The Encyclopedia collects all the available knowledge about the traditional ideology of the Circassians (Adyghes): mythological divinities, heroes (the Narts), religious cults, characters of the lower mythology for the first time. The elements of the traditional ethno worldview can be reconstructed on the basis of the published, archival expedition field materials, the historical transformations of the main characters and beliefs (including the ones transformed under the influence of the World religions) can be deduced the same way. The publication is intended for researchers and all the people interested in the traditional culture.
Each article of the Encyclopedia is accompanied by a brief summary in English, Russian and Turkish.
Энциклопедием щызэхуэхьэсащ пасэрей адыгэ дуней еплъыкIэм – тхьэхэм, нартхэм, дауэдапщэхэм, фIэщхъуныгъэхэм – теухуа щIэныгъэр. Тхылъу къыдэкIа, архивхэм хэлъ, IуэрыIуатэ этнографие щIэнзекIуэхэм щаугъуеижа материалхэм япкъ иткIэ лъэпкъым и дуней гурыIуэкIэ хабзэхэр энциклопедием зэфIегъэувэж, адыгэр зэрыта динхэм елъытауэ персонаж, мотив, мифологемэ нэхъыщхьэхэм зэрызаужьа, зэрызахъуэжа щIыкIэм гу лъыуегъатэ. Тхылъыр мифологием, IуэрыIуатэм, этнологием, тхыдэм яужь ит щIэныгъэрылажьэхэм, аспирантхэм, студентхэм, пасэрей лъэпкъ культурэр зыфIэгъэщIэгъуэн псоми яхуэгъэзащ.
Ansiklopedide Çerkeslerin (Adığelerin) geleneksel dünya görüşü (mitolojik tanrılar, kahramanlar (Nartlar), dinsel kültler, "alt" mitoloji imgeleri) hakkında mevcut bilgiler ilk kez bir araya getirilmiştir. Yayınlanmış kaynaklar, arşiv belgeleri, araştırma gezilerinin materyalleri geleneksel etnik dünyanın resmini yeniden oluşturmaktadır. Başlıca kişilerin ve dünya dinlerinin etkisi altında meydana gelenler de dahil, inançların tarihsel dönüşümü izlenmektedir. Yayın hem araştırmacılar hem de geleneksel kültürle ilgilenen herkes için yararlı olacaktır.
"Ansiklopedi"de her makale için İngilizce, Türkçe ve Rusça özetler yer almaktadır.
Voprosy onomastiki, 2024
The article explores Adyghe (Circassian) landscape terminology and folklore toponymy, areas that ... more The article explores Adyghe (Circassian) landscape terminology and folklore toponymy, areas that have received limited attention in onomastics. It presents a pioneering analysis within Adyghe linguistics and folklore research, examining the peculiarities of geographical terms and toponyms in stereotypical oral texts, including traditional folklore and everyday speech practices. The study is based on data from the folklore subcorpus of the Adyghe linguistic corpus, compiled in 2022 by Adyghe State University researchers, comprising published materials and field data collected from Adyghe (Circassian) communities in the Republic of Adygea, Krasnodar Region, and the Circassian diaspora in Turkey. Additionally, materials from folklore and ethnographic archives of the Republic of Adygea, along with information extracted from personal archives and field records, are analysed. Based on this data, the authors identify fundamental models governing the formation and usage of terms and toponyms, both within the context of folklore landscape studies and in relation to real geographical features and cultural settings. The focus is primarily on lexemes commonly encountered in historical Circassia, such as ps(y) ‘water, river,’ xy ‘sea, gully,’ ko/kue ‘ravine, river,’ bgy ‘hill, mountain, peak, ridge, steep, cliff,’ kushxe/kushhx`e` ‘mountain,’ txy` ‘elevation, ridge, crest of the mountain,’ Iuashxe/Iuashhxe ‘mound, hill,’ and xe`ku ‘region, homeland, fatherland, edge, country, state’. Through corpus research and discourse analysis methods, the study examines the representation of both real and mythical landscape objects in epic texts and speech practices. The productivity of toponyms’ usage and their semantics are established by comparing data from early lexicographic sources with new archival and field materials. The article also illustrates how, in new linguistic contexts, such as the Circassian diaspora in Central Anatolia, the unofficial local map coexists with the administrative Turkish-language map, showcasing differences in landscape terminology frequency based on the presence or absence of specific geographical features.
Tradicionnaâ kulʹtura, Mar 25, 2020
Аннотация. Один из крупных очагов черкесской (адыгской) культуры в Турции-анклав Узун-Яйла-находи... more Аннотация. Один из крупных очагов черкесской (адыгской) культуры в Турции-анклав Узун-Яйла-находится в Центральной Анатолии, близ г. Кайсери. Его население составляют в основном представители аристократических этнических групп: кабардинцы, хатукайцы, а также абазины, идентифицирующие себя как адыгэ (черкесы) и исторически относящиеся к числу сообществ с развитой социально-классовой структурой. Стереотипные устные тексты, структурирующие социально-классовую идентичность, имеют широкий жанровый спектр: от «классического» фольклора до «разовых» высказываний. Их социально-прагматическая функция претерпела трансформации, продиктованные кризисом внутренних социальных связей, разрушением традиционной сельской общины, урбанизационными процессами. В настоящее время сословная идентичность узун-яйлинцев структурируется неявными формами презентации. При этом мы можем наблюдать два параллельных топика этого дискурса: а) потомственная аристократия vs парвеню; б) благородство по крови vs «новое благородство». Цель нашего исследования-обратить внимание на фольклорно-языковой аспект функционирования дискурса о благородстве, выявить социально-прагматические функции исследуемых текстов.
Известия СОИГСИ, 2020
The Circassian (Adyg) diaspora of Turkey, dispersed in all regions of the country, originated due... more The Circassian (Adyg) diaspora of Turkey, dispersed in all regions of the country, originated due to the famous historical events of the mid-XIXth century – the end of the Caucasian War and the deportation of the main part of the indigenous population of the North-West Caucasus to the territory of the Ottoman Empire. During the half-year period of existence, pulled away from the historical territory, several large centers of Circassian culture were formed here. One of them, the Uzunyayla enclave, is located in Central Anatolia, near Kayseri. This study is based on the material collected by the author in this and other areas of Turkey during folklore-ethnographic expeditions (2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2018) during in-depth interviews, audio and video recording and making notes in the field diary, as well as by the method of included observation (2018-2019). These are oral stories about outstanding people (memorates, anecdotes, parables), which are one of the most productive folklore-genre creative forms in the local repertoire of Uzun-Yayla. The subject of the study is the nature of existence and pragmatics of narrative texts about well-known personalities in the context of the local tradition. The possibility and necessity of studying stereotypical oral stories begotten around the names of famous personalities as a source of cultural knowledge are of particular relevance in the light of the problems of such areas of scientific thought as localistics and regional studies. In the proposed aspect, the folklore of the Circassian diaspora is considered for the first time.
The purpose of the study is to reveal through the material of the selected texts how the images of heroes of the historical past, and recent outstanding people are folklorized, as well as to identify the main thematic groups of the oral texts under study, their pragmatic and communicative functions.
It is concluded that in the absence of writing in the native language and official means of internal communication, cycles of stories about well-known personalities act in the space of the enclave under study as tools of social regulation and structuring of local knowledge, one of the markers of social group identity of the diaspora Circassians.
«Это был (не)правильный обычай»: ритуал поднятия левой руки в танатологическом дискурсе черкесов диаспоры, 2022
The custom of raising the left hand has been preserved until recently in the thanatological prac... more The custom of raising the left hand has been preserved until
recently in the thanatological practices of one of the Circassian diaspora
communities in Turkey (Uzunyayla – Kayseri). According to the
stereotypical narrative descriptions of the ritual, one of the groups
arriving at the funeral slowly steps forward, taking three steps from the
left foot, and slowly raises the left wrist to the level of the chin, temple,
or crown. By raising his hand, the condolent publicly expresses the
recognition of the social status of the deceased. According to informants,
in the late 1980s, the custom was eradicated under the pressure from the
Islamic clergy. Those who opposed its cessation understood this custom
as a sacred one ‘brought from the ancestral homeland’ and bequeathed
by Zhabagi Kazanoko (the folkloric and historical hero, philosopher,
humanist and reformer of the 18th century).
The idea of “reviving” the ritual was initiated during the pandemic,
when mass gatherings and physical contacts (handshakes and embraces,
which are common in ordinary funeral practices) were prohibited. In
particular, in relation to the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the
Caucasian War (celebrated by the Circassian community annually on
May 21), it was proposed to hold an online campaign for posting photos
with a raised left hand.
The explicit and hidden strategies of actualizing the ritual of raising
the left hand as “our own”, “the primordial” and ‘undeservedly forgotten
one’ are analyzed in this work on the material of the texts of classical
folklore (heroic legends) and memoranda recorded by the author during
fieldwork, as well as posts on the social media. The main aim of the
research is to show how the bearers of the tradition reproduce (verbally
and visually) the stable and changeable structures of a narrative / a ritual
under the influence of certain ideological dominants.
Folklore of the Circassian diaspora: localization of tradition, functionality of texts, 2021
The author of the research examines the range of problems associated with the functioning of fol... more The author of the research examines the range of problems
associated with the functioning of folklore texts in the context of
the diaspora tradition by appealing to the field materials collected
in one of the Circassian enclaves of Central Anatolia (Uzunyayla –
Kayseri) between 2009-2019. The research report is intended for
specialists in the field of folklore and ethnology.
Bulletin of the Kalmyk Institute for Humanities of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2016
The article examines the conditions of mutual infl uence of a fi xed text and a folklore fi eld, ... more The article examines the conditions of mutual infl uence of a fi xed text and a folklore fi eld, i. e. secondary factors which are signifi cant during the recording of a text and its 'return' to the informant in the form of media and printed materials. The methods applied are as follows: audio and video recordings and journaling; comparative-typological, structural-functional, and statistical analyses. The Circassian diaspora of Anatolia is a unique folklore fi eld. So far the researchers of the traditional culture of the Circassian diaspora have paid no attention to the factors of the 'reverse' infl uence of the scientifi c discourse and the fi xed text which, thus, happened to be in the fi eld of the tradition. The article aims to identify the factors of such mutual infl uence of texts of a separate cultural enclave and its informants in conditions of a gradual development of the Cyrillic alphabet and the appearance of publications of oral texts in the form of printed and media products. Observations outlined in the article are based on the author's collecting and editional experiences accumulated during the in-depth study of Uzun-Yaila (Kayseri Vilayet, Turkey) folklore fi eld during the 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2015 expeditions and the preparation of fi eld records of local folklore for subsequent publications. The paper reveals the principles of working on a text important for the diaspora fi eld. In particular, taking into account the 'horizontal' communication intensity in the fi eld under study, it is necessary to pay attention to the questions formulating strategy, including those set by folklorists in the media space (social networks), when composing the conceptual and terminological apparatus of the editions of local traditions-to give priority to popular defi nitions, to adhere to graphic symbols and principles which make the written text as close as possible to the local dialect without complicating the interpretation (i. e. to reserve more accurate transcriptions for special language editions). In general, the interaction of a folklore publishing scientist and representatives of the tradition under study should consciously adhere to the principle of the minimal 'invasion' into the vernacular practices.
Journal of Caucasian Studies, 2019
устной «классике» и меморатам, «объясняющие» исторические причины формирования исследуемых поведе... more устной «классике» и меморатам, «объясняющие» исторические причины формирования исследуемых поведенческих моделей, интерпретирующие феодально-аристократическое говорение / молчание с точки зрения традиционного морально-этического кодекса Адыгэ хабзэ, утверждающие их гуманистическую ценность и прогнозирующие их актуальность или, наоборот, рассматривающие их как анахронизм.
Вестник Северо-Восточного федерального университета имени М. К. Аммосова: Серия Эпосоведение, 2019
The study examines chapshch – the Circassian (Adyghe) healing game, the archaic rite entertaining... more The study examines chapshch – the Circassian (Adyghe) healing game, the archaic rite entertaining night gatherings arranged at the bedside of a sick or wounded person, including timed games, songs, dances, and poetic lists. The purpose of the article is to identify the local terminological versions of the chapsh mythological ritual complex, its connection with the mytho-epic tradition, the pragmatic and semiotic features of the rite, to draw attention to the existence of the narrative reflective judgments regarding the text (the verbal or action one) of the now-defunct rite. The relevance of the study is due to the demand for the new developments in the field of localistics and regional studies. The article contains the field materials of the author including the ones on the folk terminological lexicon, first introduced into the scientific circulation. This determines the relevance of the study. The author considers a number of symbolic elements of the chapsh including subject symbols (a rod in the
hands of the ritual master, skins of the sacrificial animals, the ritual food). It is noted that verbal-action texts (the
spell – “blowing and whispering”, the apotropic actions, the chapsh games, etc.) must be considered in connection
with the communicative context. The terminological variants of the chapsh rite vocabulary fixed in the different
local traditions of the Circassians are compared.
The research methods: comparative, pragmatic, semiotic, functional approach. The stated observations are
based on the author’s field materials collected both in the historical homeland of the Circassians (the republics of
the North Caucasus) and in the diaspora (Turkey).
It is concluded that the destruction of the communicative context of the rite entails a certain “misunderstanding”,
a denial associated with the transformation of the ethical ideas, in some cases – silence, and sometimes the refusal
of informants to spread on the theme of the chapsh plays. In comparison, for example, with epic texts that
informants refer to prestigious genres, chapsh folklore is pushed to the periphery of the collective memory.
A return to the study of the rite with the use of the new field and research methods is a promising task
for studying the semiotics of folklore culture, the history of the poetic language of the verbal genres, and the
identification of the local versions of ritual and the mythical epic texts
Abstract: The focus for the study is oral speech texts, actualizing the local identity of residen... more Abstract: The focus for the study is oral speech texts, actualizing the local identity of residents of one of the Circassian major enclaves — Uzun-Yayla (Turkey, Central Anatolia, Kayseri province), who we consider to be bearers of the local subvariant of ethnic (folk) culture. At present, they live not only in the enclave itself, but also in other regions and large cities of Turkey. The study researches a broad genre range of the texts — from “classic” folklore to oral dialogues, functioning in modern social-cultural environment of the Circassian diaspora. Along with the verbal (verbal-folkloric) aspect of the research, we focus on a number of sociological nuances, inherent in the chosen as the research subject explication forms of the local identity. It is for the first time that the problem of local-group self-identification of the Circassians (Adyghs) of a separate enclave has been researched in the stated aspects and as whole. The purpose of the article is to attract attention to important structural elements of the local identity, what we have tried to do based on field materials collected in Uzun-Yayla enclave during the 2009-2015 cruises.
Keywords: Circassians, diaspora, Anatolia, Uzun-Yayla, local identity, Placelore, folklore reflectivity, memory of place, sense of place.
The article is dedicated to the history of one of the most popular with the young Circassian dias... more The article is dedicated to the history of one of the most popular with the young Circassian diaspora dancing genres — the shcheshchen. The author of the article tries to study the ways of correlation between the local exhibitions of the dancing genre and its trivial terms, local folk tunes, social taboos and the precepts of a defi nite diaspora society using the shcheshchen as an example. The purpose of the study is the synchronous description of the genre features of the endemically formed choreographic phenomenon called " adyghe shcheshchen " (the Circassian shcheshchen), tracking of the universal analogues (the terminological, musical, choreographic ones), detection of its social and semantic functions in the defi nite local culture. The subject of the study is the discursive practices about public merrymaking traditions, and also the context relations between the archival explorative texts and the historical sources which give the narrative description of the choreographic phenomena of the " metropolis " — the Caucasus — analogous with the shcheshchen. The object of the study is a verbal (oral) and non-verbal text (collected in the folklore fi eld of Turkey and in the Internet) which actualize the information about the dance called shcheshchen. The fi eld methods: the participant observation and informal conversation, the method of memory boosting established by the author of the article, the online poll. The methods of analytical processing of the materials: structural/functional, pragmatic analyses, discourse analyses. The shcheshchen acts as a cultural complex which equalizes people according to the rules of a public merrymaking and maintains the civilizational identity of Anatolia Circassians at the same time. The author of the article explains the reasons of some inconsistency of the deliberations about the 'little prestige " of the shcheshchen and its popularity simultaneously. These conclusions would be useful for theoretical researches of the history of folklore genres, the culture of Circassian diaspora, and also for applied purposes: the ethnographical information collected by the author of the article and the complex theoretical observations data about the forms of the folk dances included in the article are published for the fi rst time and would be interesting for specialists engaged in searching of the traditional ethno-choreographical styles and stage performances.
The high safety of oral stories about outstanding public fi gure of Kabarda XVIII c., wise man an... more The high safety of oral stories about outstanding public fi gure of Kabarda XVIII c., wise man and philosopher Zhabagi Kazanoko in collective memory of Circassian diaspora is explained by a number of their social and pragmatic functions. They are moral, ethic, socioregulative, cognitive, identifi cation and recreative. The communicative space of Circassians in Turkey, functioning in the native language, keeps an idea of distinctive features of «Kazanoko’s style of communication», such as indirectness, allegory and metalogicality. Kazanoko’s image underwent greater folklorization in diaspora. A number of ritual, mythological and etiquette remotivations are related to his name.
Space coordinates and status of modern adyigha folklore mediasphere identified for the first time... more Space coordinates and status of modern adyigha folklore mediasphere identified for the first time in the article. Basic types of videofixation of folklore differentiate both professional (cinema, tv and science expeditionary materials) and amateure. Basic frames of the texts marked out by the criteria of folkloric mediaproduction.
Çerkes diasporasının �o��n o�arak �a�adı�ı ����e�er ���rki�e� �r�ado�� ��� �o��n o�arak �a�adı�ı ... more Çerkes diasporasının �o��n o�arak �a�adı�ı ����e�er ���rki�e� �r�ado�� ��� �o��n o�arak �a�adı�ı ����e�er ���rki�e� �r�ado�� ��� ke�eri) kendi ko����arı içinde emsa�siz �ir fo�k�or zen�in�i�i s�nmak�adır. B� a�a� nın mekân�zaman sınır�arını� ni�e�ikse� �ze��ik�erini� diasporanın içinde �a�adı�ı çevre��e kar�ı�ık�ı i�i�ki�erini ince�emek� �er�e��ik�eri ��ke�erde �a�a�an Çerkeslerle �i��i a�ı�veri�ine �irerek �ir�ik�e hareke� e�me�i �erek�irir. B� a�nı zamanda� çe�i��i �i�imse� fo�k�orik ��n�em�erin �ir arada k���anı�dı�ı �ir �ak�a�ımı da �erek�irir. B� ��n�em�erden �iri e�zaman�ı ana�izdir ve ��rese� fo�k�orik �e�enek�erin ifade edi�� me �içim�erinin� mi�o�ojik���rense� �apı�arın semi�o�ojik ince�enmesinde� huarıbze �хъуэрыбзэ) �arzı �a��amsa� �iirse� �ezah�r�erin ana�izinde k���anı�ır. Bir di�eri� fo�k�orik me�in�erin pra�ma�ik �ze��ik�erinin ve i�kse� �ezah�r�eri i�e ��n�m�zdeki form�arının ince�enmesinde k���anı�an işlevsel analiz ��n�emidir. Üç�nc�s� ise� fo�k�or ve di�in ��������� nok�ada� �e�ir�i s�z�� an�a�ım �apı�arının ara��ırı�masın� da k���anı�an karşılaştırmalı tarih ana�izidir.
Çerkes nüfusunun % 90’ını oluşturan ve dünyanın 50’den fazla ülkesine dağılmış diasporası, Rus-Ka... more Çerkes nüfusunun % 90’ını oluşturan ve dünyanın 50’den fazla ülkesine dağılmış diasporası, Rus-Kafkas Savaşı’na (19. Yüzyıl) ve iki dünya savaşına bağlı olarak oluştu. Makale yazarının gözlemleri Türkiye’nin yerel Çerkes kültürel adacıklarından biri olan Uzunyayla’da 2009, 2011, 2014 ve 2015 yıllarında gerçekleştirilen alan araştırmaları sırasında yapıldı. Alan çalışmasında kişiler arası ve gruplar arası iletişimin etnik özellikleri incelendi. Bu makalede Çerkes diasporasında otantik folklorun (dilin ve geleneksel kültürün) taşıyıcılarının azalması, derlemecinin ve kaynak kişilerin sosyal (toplumsal davranış, etik, toplumsal cinsiyet) iletişimi gibi halkbiliminin ve antropolojinin sorunları ele alınıyor.
It is known that mythological narratives concern to the texts connected with the inner ethnocultu... more It is known that mythological narratives concern to the texts connected with the inner ethnocultural memory. At the same time the archaic, pre-Christian, pre-Islamic ideas are gradually displaced into the passive memory under the influence of the major world religions. The epic mythological texts - cosmogonic, ethnogenic ones - are represented in the folklore of the Circassian Diaspora with rather small group of oral texts. It can be explained by the general extinction of Nart Epic tradition itself, diminution of the number of professional narrators, including the ethnic territory - the Caucasus. Oral texts of actual mythology - stories of mythological creatures (demons, ghosts), ritual-mythological instructions and taboos take much more considerable place in the folk territory of different local traditions of Circassian diaspore. The author considers the problems of safety, the form of existing, meta-language peculiarities of mythological narratives in the folklore of the Circassian Diaspora in Turkey on her own expeditionary materials. The texts existing in local cultural tradition of Uzunyayla, a plateau with a relatively high number of Circassian villages between the provinces of Kayseri, Sivas and Maraş, are analyzed in correlation with the "common Circassian" tradition, the invariant scheme of which is described by the Caucasian researchers. In this article the author pays attention on methodological principles of description and cartography of characters of actual mythology, gives the analysis of symbolic and social-pragmatic functions of oral mythological stories.
This work represents the exploring of the connection between the stereotyped narrative and poetic... more This work represents the exploring of the connection between the stereotyped narrative and poetical texts about the Caucasian War in the field of the Circassian Diaspora folklore and the contemporaneous social, cultural and political discourses.
Материалы I Международной научно-практической конференции памяти М.И. Мижаева "Проблемы сохранения черкесского фольклора, культуры и языка", 2015
Издание посвящено актуальным проблемам адыговедения.
Вестник науки АРИГИ Т.М. Керашева. Специальный выпуск, 2017
Основная проблематика представленных в настоящем номере публикаций отражает весь спектр научных п... more Основная проблематика представленных в настоящем номере публикаций отражает весь спектр научных представлений о локальной идентичности в ее черкесском (адыгском) преломлении. Черкесский мир, традиционно отличавшийся значительной пестротой и неоднородностью внутренней структуры, за последние полтора столетия приобрел еще большую мозаичность. В настоящий момент мы видим легко различимое своеобразие в культуре и стиле мышления адыгов, ныне разделенных государственными границами и административными барьерами. Необходимость изучения регионально-локальных экспликаций народной культуры была обозначена уже на Первых чтениях памяти М.И. Мижаева (Архыз, 2014 г.), где работала специальная секция, посвященная этой проблематике. Статьи, предлагаемые читателю в настоящем выпуске, отличаются широким географическим охватом не только самого предмета исследования — различных этногрупп черкесов Кавказа и диаспоры, но и самих авторов этих работ. Проблема черкесской идентичности оказалась удивительно близка исследователям Москвы и Петербурга, Стамбула, Краснодара и Ростова, Адыгеи, Кабардино-Балкарии и КарачаевоЧеркесии. Используя разные методологические подходы и описывая разные сюжеты, они, каждый по-своему, демонстрируют нам настоятельную необходимость объединения усилий для дальнейшего изучения феноменов регионально-локальных традиций и форм идентичности.
Издание представляет собой сборник тезисов докладов II Международной научной конференции памяти М... more Издание представляет собой сборник тезисов докладов II Международной научной конференции памяти М.И. Мижаева, посвященной изучению различных аспектов феномена идентичности в его региональных и локальных проявлениях. В основе представленных на конференции докладов лежат исследования, проведенные главным образом на материале устных и письменных источников, отражающих состояние и соотношение форм идентичности черкесов (адыгов) Кавказа и диаспоры.
Для специалистов в области общей и черкесской этнологии и фольклористики.
The Encyclopedia collects all the available knowledge about the traditional ideology of the Circa... more The Encyclopedia collects all the available knowledge about the traditional ideology of the Circassians (Adyghes): mythological divinities, heroes (the Narts), religious cults, characters of the lower mythology for the first time. The elements of the traditional ethno worldview can be reconstructed on the basis of the published, archival expedition field materials, the historical transformations of the main characters and beliefs (including the ones transformed under the influence of the World religions) can be deduced the same way. The publication is intended for researchers and all the people interested in the traditional culture.
Each article of the Encyclopedia is accompanied by a brief summary in English, Russian and Turkish.
Энциклопедием щызэхуэхьэсащ пасэрей адыгэ дуней еплъыкIэм – тхьэхэм, нартхэм, дауэдапщэхэм, фIэщхъуныгъэхэм – теухуа щIэныгъэр. Тхылъу къыдэкIа, архивхэм хэлъ, IуэрыIуатэ этнографие щIэнзекIуэхэм щаугъуеижа материалхэм япкъ иткIэ лъэпкъым и дуней гурыIуэкIэ хабзэхэр энциклопедием зэфIегъэувэж, адыгэр зэрыта динхэм елъытауэ персонаж, мотив, мифологемэ нэхъыщхьэхэм зэрызаужьа, зэрызахъуэжа щIыкIэм гу лъыуегъатэ. Тхылъыр мифологием, IуэрыIуатэм, этнологием, тхыдэм яужь ит щIэныгъэрылажьэхэм, аспирантхэм, студентхэм, пасэрей лъэпкъ культурэр зыфIэгъэщIэгъуэн псоми яхуэгъэзащ.
Ansiklopedide Çerkeslerin (Adığelerin) geleneksel dünya görüşü (mitolojik tanrılar, kahramanlar (Nartlar), dinsel kültler, "alt" mitoloji imgeleri) hakkında mevcut bilgiler ilk kez bir araya getirilmiştir. Yayınlanmış kaynaklar, arşiv belgeleri, araştırma gezilerinin materyalleri geleneksel etnik dünyanın resmini yeniden oluşturmaktadır. Başlıca kişilerin ve dünya dinlerinin etkisi altında meydana gelenler de dahil, inançların tarihsel dönüşümü izlenmektedir. Yayın hem araştırmacılar hem de geleneksel kültürle ilgilenen herkes için yararlı olacaktır.
"Ansiklopedi"de her makale için İngilizce, Türkçe ve Rusça özetler yer almaktadır.