Myths of the other in the Balkans / (eds) by Fotini Tsibiridou & Nikitas Palantzas (original) (raw)
Related papers
Evolution and competition of the myths of origin: Bulgarian and Balkan aspects
National mythology is relatively late, dynamic and not so homogenic structure. Ethno-genesis and myths of origin, being essential part it, are nether the first to emerge, nor the only one. Furthermore, as a rule, there are often several variations of the narration about the origin of a nation that are evolving and compete for dominant position. I will try to avoid the polemics and to reach the problem of that evolution and competition, bearing in mind the Bulgarian case and analyzing it in Balkan context. I will also try to present some of the factors that determine the plurality of national mythology. The myths of origin that are actual today are primarily (but not only) national that means – they are connected with nationalism and nation-state. The notion of 'Europe' and 'European' in relation of a unit of one specific civilization, are rather new – they emerged somewhere in the late 18 th and even early 19 th century in Western Europe and were imposed not so rapidly while the eastern border was drown in 19 th century and is still disputable in one way or another.1 Earlier uses of this term that were circulating after the late 10 th and early 11 th century had not precisely the same meaning. When ancient Helens used the word Europe, they were designating Asia Minor, at least in some periods. Forging the mythology of nationalism is not one-time act. It is embodiment of a collective identity that uses the rich armory of nation-state (and irredentist movements) and one could expect to be fully uniformed. This is not the case and the reasons are multiple. First. Members of a national community are also bearers of other identities (
Mythistory and Narratives of the Nation in the Balkans Editor: Tatjana Aleksić Date Of Publication: Apr 2007 Isbn13: 9781847181510 Isbn: 1-84718-151-1 The idea of this collection is to bring to the forefront various ways in which the literary poetics of Balkan nations interrelates with their national poetics, and present recent and innovative explorations of literature and film which actively engage with national poetics, a kind of mythopoiesis of the modern Balkans. In proposing an approach to the national question that lies distinctly in the liminal space best designated as mythistory, the collection brings together two dominant approaches to national discourse. The first tends to interpret the nation as a myth, an artificial creation, an invention, even a “dream.” The other is a mapping of the nation that considers its historically progressive role. It is their multifaceted dynamics that brings to the foreground a unique national mythopoetics. Mythistory is explored through its multifold engagement with the text: as a major element in the universal nationalist discourse, as a narrative strategy extensively utilized in Balkan literary and film narratives, and as a particular technique in approaching the text. Through the insights gained from literary and critical theory, historical analysis, and cultural anthropology, this collection seeks to reveal the application of mythistorical discourse upon narratives responding to nation-forming historical events. The texts in this collection articulate very distinct agendas of gender, identity, culture, philosophy, and aesthetics, all interwoven with national problematic, but steer away from the definition by which mythistory is relegated to the transparently propagandist. ----- Also see David Norris' review here: http://www.worldcat.org/title/tatjana-aleksic-ed-mythistory-and-narratives-of-the-nation-in-the-balkans/oclc/280812266&referer=brief\_results
Fear and Desire: Foreign women in Bulgarian National Mythology, 2013
The paper deals with some peculiar cases in Bulgarian literature from 19 th century, where foreign women (mostly Greek and Jewish, later Turkish) were an important element of the plot. The attitude towards them was ambivalent: generally they were presented as attractive but malicious figures bringing bad fortune to their husbands and to Bulgaria. Some comparisons between representations of foreign men (mostly Greek and Muslim, later Russian) and women (both of them enemies) and between foreign and ''own'' women in national mythology are offered, leading to some clarifying of the notion of national mythology.
This paper draws on a diverse set of data in an attempt to elucidate why the rampant sexualization of the “national body” in the Balkans, and contemporary Serbia in particular, goes hand in hand with conceptualization of tolerance towards LGBT visibility as an imported “European” brand of identity management which clashes with the desire to preserve strongly-held local beliefs about the “national self” (and, sure enough, about the sexuality of the “national body”). The focus is on discourses that seek to align ethnicity, religion, and heterosexuality against homosexuality and LGBT visibility, perceived as a major threat to the nation. Keywords: Masculinity, (homo)sexuality, heteronormativity, Pride Parade, LGBT visibility, Balkans, Serbia
Cosmogonies and Mythopoesis in the Balkans and Beyond
Slavia Meridionalis, 2014
Compared and contrasted in this article are three different types of accounts dealing with the cosmogonic and eschatological themes employed in Slavonic and Balkan oral tradition, para-Biblical literature and modern poetry. The focus of analysis is the cluster of motifs attested in the creation narrative of the apocryphal Legend of the Sea of Tiberias. Two versions are examined: the South-Slavonic one discovered in 1845 by V. Grigorovich in the Monastery of Slepche, and the 18th century Russian account from MS № 21.11.3 (fols. 3a–5b) from the Archaeographic Department of the Library of the Academy of Sciences [Библиотека Академии наук, Рукописный отдел] in St. Petersburg, composed most probably by an Old Believer; this manuscript is published here for the first time. Folklore counterparts of the apocryphal Legend of the Sea of Tiberias are treated, with special emphasis on the oral narratives from the Bulgarian Diaspora in Bessarabia (God and the Devil Create the World Amicably but then Fall Out). Finally, a poem of the 20th century Bulgarian intellectual Pencho Slaveykov [Пенчо Славейков] from his anthology “On the Island of the Blessed” is discussed; the poem, entitled How God willed the Earth to come to be and what did Satanail do after that? was designated by Slaveykov himself as “a legend of the Bogomils”, and blended within his lyrics are dualistic themes and motifs attested in vernacular Christianity, with the hallmark of Haeresis Bulgarica.
Balcanica - Annual of the Institute for Balkan Studies , 2012
Review of the 18th Biennial Conference on Balkan and South Slavic Linguistics, Literature, and Folklore (University of Washington Seattle, WA, 29–31. March 2012)