1,721,155 research outputs found
Imagining the past, creating identity: The case of the Bayash
Full text linkBased on fieldwork conducted among several Bayash communities in the Balkans, the author examines the way in which the interlocutors assume an identity and try to construct a past for their people, using etiological legends about the origin of their community which combine heterogeneous historical and geographical knowledge. The author shows that imagining their past is as problematic for the Bayash as it is for any other Roma or non-Roma group; the author argues that the eclectic nature of this process is heralded by the fact that it is a regular stage in the development of the historical thinking of each nation
“What language do we speak?” The Bayash in the Balkans and mother tongue education
No full textThe author surveys the various Bayash communities in Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia and elsewhere, discussing how the initiatives to introduce their mother tongue in the educational system are preceded by a process of ideological clarification. The author examines language ideology in its specific correlation with language management and language standardization
practices, shows how the Bayash communities view themselves culturally and historically and whether there is an opportunity for education in their native language in each community
The mining mythology of the Bufans in North-Eastern Serbia
Full text linkThis study is based on the field researches the author conducted among the specific group of Bufans, Romanian miners who have settled mainly in the town of Majdanpek, starting from the
middle of the 19th century on. After sketching the history of their colonization, the author tries to review the beliefs in the spirits of the mine, both in Romanian and in Serbian mythology. On the basis of a few mythological legends recorded during her researches, dealing with the spirit of the mine – vâlva, the author maps the diffusion of such beliefs in the researched area, their pattern, and also sketches possible directions of future research
The Vlachs of North-Eastern Serbia: Fieldwork and Field methods today
Full text linkThe paper deals with the field methodology used by the author during her field research in the Vlach community of Eastern Serbia
The Lăzărița at the Karavlachs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Avatars of a Ritual
Full text linkIn this essay, the author tries to shed light on the role of the Karavlachs in transmitting the spring ritual called lăzăriţa and on the transformations it has gone through during this process. It is argued
that the ritual has been taken over by the Karavlachs from the surrounding populations out of economic reasons, but also because of their wish to identify with the majority. The author stresses their important role in preserving, transmitting and “giving back” the rituals to the majority populations (in our case, to the Serbs in BiH), also discussing the process of folklorization some rituals must undergo nowadays in order to survive
The Romanians from the Serbian Banat - Identity and Memory
Full text linkThe paper is based on the field research the author carried in 2004 and 2005 in several Romanian villages in Vojvodina, and focuses on the way in which the interlocutors shape their identity discourse
For a Corpus of Vlach Romanian Charms. Current Situation and Perspectives
Full text linkStarting from the role Sanda Golopenția played in establishing a digitized corpus of Romanian charms and in the advancement of scholarship on charms and charming, the author considers possible solutions for creating a corpus of Vlach Romanian charms. After an overview of Golopenția’s activity, the author introduces the Vlach Romanian community of Eastern Serbia, focusing on their specific traditional culture, which has developed, in the last two centuries, at the intersection of two cultures, Romanian and Serbian. In the light of the fact that ‘Vlach magic’ is today a real cultural brand of the community, the paper further details on the charm collecting activity taking place in the region in the last hundred years. The recorded texts form a rather heterogeneous collection, transcribed using different orthographies and even alphabets, by Serbian or Romanian researchers. In spite of the relatively large number of existing texts, a corpus of Vlach Romanian charms is still to be compiled. The author stresses that this task could be fulfilled following Golopenția’s ideas and principles, which, even if more than three decades old, prove extremely useful even today
Istraživanje sociolingvističkog pejzaža ladino jezika u savremenoj Srbiji
No full textLadino, or Judeo-Spanish, the historical language of Sephardic Jews, faces severe endangerment globally and in Serbia, where intergenerational transmission has largely ceased. This chapter examines Ladino’s sociolinguistic status in Serbia through data collected via the “Vulnerable Languages and Linguistic Varieties in Serbia” (VLingS) project. The project aimed to assess the vulnerability of several minority languages in the Serbian context and included interviews with 14 Sephardic descendants. Findings reveal a generational decline in Ladino proficiency, with Serbian emerging as the dominant language. Nevertheless, Ladino holds symbolic and cultural importance as a marker of Sephardic heritage and identity. Respondents expressed positive attitudes toward the language, associating it with cultural memory and emotional connection, despite its active use being limited to specific domains such as music, ceremonial events, and familial expressions. The study emphasises that Ladino’s future lies in its postvernacular role, where it functions as a symbolic and cultural asset rather than a vernacular for daily communication. This transition should be facilitated by digital platforms, cultural revitalisation efforts, and educational initiatives that engage younger generations and foster global connections among dispersed Sephardic communities. Ladino’s status in Serbia underscores the evolving relationship between language and identity within multilingual, diasporic communities. Its preservation requires innovative approaches involving community members, cultural organisations, linguists, policymakers, and educators. These efforts should adapt to contemporary sociolinguistic realities while honouring Ladino’s historical and cultural significance.Ladino, ili judeo-španski, istorijski jezik sefardskih Jevreja, suočava se sa ozbiljnom ugroženošću širom sveta i u Srbiji, gde je međugeneracijsko prenošenje uglavnom prestalo. Ovo poglavlje ispituje sociolingvistički status ladina u Srbiji kroz podatke prikupljene putem projekta „Ranjivi jezici i jezičke varijetete u Srbiji“ (VLingS). Cilj projekta je bio da proceni ranjivost nekoliko manjinskih jezika u srpskom kontekstu i obuhvatio je intervjue sa 14 sefardskih potomaka. Rezultati otkrivaju generacijsko nazadovanje u poznavanju ladina, pri čemu se srpski pojavljuje kao dominantan jezik. Ipak, ladino ima simbolički i kulturni značaj kao obeležje sefardskog nasleđa i identiteta. Ispitanici su izrazili pozitivne stavove prema jeziku, povezujući ga sa kulturnim pamćenjem i emocionalnom vezom, uprkos tome što je njegova aktivna upotreba ograničena na određene oblasti kao što su muzika, ceremonijalni događaji i porodični izrazi. Studija naglašava da budućnost ladina leži u njegovoj postvernakularnoj ulozi, gde funkcioniše kao simboličko i kulturno dobro, a ne kao narodni jezik za svakodnevnu komunikaciju. Ovu tranziciju treba da olakšaju digitalne platforme, napori za kulturnu revitalizaciju i obrazovne inicijative koje angažuju mlađe generacije i podstiču globalne veze među raspršenim sefardskim zajednicama. Status ladina u Srbiji naglašava evoluirajući odnos između jezika i identiteta unutar višejezičnih, dijasporskih zajednica. Njegovo očuvanje zahteva inovativne pristupe koji uključuju članove zajednice, kulturne organizacije, lingviste, kreatore politike i edukatore. Ovi napori treba da se prilagode savremenim sociolingvističkim realnostima, uz poštovanje istorijskog i kulturnog značaja ladina
Between history and memory: the Bayash in Europe
Full text linkOn the basis of fieldwork recordings made in several Bayash communities from Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria, the author explores the way in which the interlocutors assume an identity and try to construct a past for their people, using etiological legends about the origin of their community which combine old and new historical information
The Popular Culture of the Romanians of Timok Valley – Attempt of Periodization of the Ethnologic Researches
Full text linkThis paper consists of two parts. In the first one, the author presents a short history of the Romanian community living in eastern Serbia and western Bulgaria, along the border with Romania, on both sides of the river Timok, known under the generic name of Vlachs. She writes
about the intensely debated origin of this community, about its dimension and spoken vernaculars (different dialects of the Romanian language). In the second part, the author tries to sketch a synchronic and diachronic periodization of the researches regarding the Vlach popular culture. Thus, she follows three synchronic lines – the researches conducted in Romania, in Serbia and those of the international scientific community, and identifies a few diachronic stages: 1) a pioneer’s period, sporadically in the 19th and more emphasized in the beginning of the 20th century; 2) the concretization of the “Vlach theme” in Romania; 3) the period until the Second
World War in Romania; 4) the period after the Second World War in Serbia; and 5) the last period, after the Romanian revolution of 1989 and recently in Serbia. The conclusion is that, even if this region has been visited by many researchers in the last two centuries, it is still waiting to be fully discovered
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