Greek Ethnography

Το άρθρο αυτό αποτελεί κριτική παρουσίαση της ακαδημαϊκής υπόστασης της κοινωνικής ανθρωπολογίας στην Ελλάδα. Μετά από μια σύντομη επισκόπηση της ελληνικής εθνογραφίας και των σταδίων της ακαδημαϊκής «αποκατάστασης» της κοινωνικής ανθρωπολογίας στο ελληνικό πανεπιστήμιο, παρουσιάζονται αναλυτικά τα διάφορα πανεπιστημιακά τμήματα στα οποία διδάσκεται η κοινωνική ανθρωπολογία και επιχειρείται μια πρώτη αξιολόγηση και σύγκριση μεταξύ τους. Τέλος, η ελληνική εθνογραφία και οι σπουδές κοινωνικής ανθρωπολογίας στην Ελλάδα τοποθετούνται σε ευρύτερα πλαίσια και επιχειρούνται ορισμένες επισημάνσεις για τις προοπτικές τους.

Ta en oiko mi en dimo is a popular Greek proverb meaning that whatever happens at household [ oikos] should not be exposed into public [ dimos]. In the Greek cultural context sexuality, reproduction, family relations belong to the realm of private domesticity. In this paper we trace the way women and men in Greece resituate themselves towards their reproductive desires and decisions, towards medicalized reproduction and towards each other, when in the context of involuntary childlessness, infertility and ART use, reproduction moves outside the body and the private sphere of the household and becomes part of the public sphere exemplified in state laws, doctor's decisions, hospital laboratories, IVF forums. Drawing from the research project (In)FERCIT and based on 130 semi-structured interviews of both women and men the paper explores the shifts related to parenting, the imagining and making of a family, the couple, in the context of neoliberal reproductive potentialities. Which relationships and practices change through the ongoing challenges of infertility and the experience of ART? What is kept within the couple and what is shared with others (family members, friends, strangers, experts)? What is the significance of reproductive socialities in managing the demands of infertility within an ever-increasing intensification of parenthood? How does this challenging context reinforces or weakens the couple's relationship, their reproductive agency and desire? Finally we explore how proper parenthood but also proper partnerhood are constructed in Greece following local demands regarding family making and localized medicalization of reproduction. Research Themes and Methodology In the introductory chapter of his book The Reinvention of Primitive Society Transformations of a Myth, an anthropological study of kinship, Adam Kuper (2005) argues that specific ideas and topics in anthropology have the tendency to reappear through the years disguised in different theories and maintains that transformations allow the same topics to circulate. Research on parenthood and especially motherhood, a resilient topic of interest for the first and second generation of Greek ethnographers, re-emerged at the beginning of the 21 century. Both are reexamined beyond the 'domestic model of gender' and in a broad used as central concepts for the investigation of topics such as ethnicity, the state, the law, demography, medical practices and new reproduction technologies. The paper follows this body of work in Greece as well as anthropological literature on reproduction, parenthood and family drawing from the research project

Το ζήτημα της αλλοτρίωσης έχει συνδεθεί κυρίως με τη μοντέρνα ζωή και τη μεγάλη πόλη. Ωστόσο, η θεωρία του Jacques Lacan μας δίνει τη δυνατότητα της ανίχνευσης της αλλοτρίωσης και μέσα σε διαφορετικού είδους πολιτισμικά πλαίσια. Προς αυτή την κατεύθυνση η λογοτεχνική αφήγηση του Δημήτρη Χατζή, και συγκεκριμένα η συλλογή διηγημάτων του με τον τίτλο Το Τέλος της μικρής μας Πόλης, μπορεί να αναγνωστεί ως μία αποτύπωση των μορφών, τις οποίες είναι δυνατόν να προσλάβει η αλλοτρίωση μέσα στο πλαίσιο της μικρής πόλης. Ωστόσο, η Μικρή Πόλη του Χατζή δεν είναι απλώς η μικρή πόλη της ελληνικής κοινωνας, αλλά η ελληνική κοινωνία ως μικρή πόλη σ' ένα παρελθόν που δεν λέει να περάσει.

2007.06 - Κανελλάτου, Παρασκευή Γ. - Το Μοιρολόι στις Νεοελληνικές Τελετουργίες του Θανάτου, Επισκόπηση Μελετών από το 19ο Aιώνα έως σήμερα
[επιβλέπουσα: Δρ. Ασπασία Θεοδοσίου]

Περίληψη:
Πτυχιακή εργασία για το Ελληνικό Μοιρολόι υπό την επίβλεψη της Dr. Ασπασίας Θεοδοσίου. Η μελέτη είναι βιβλιογραφική επισκόπηση των ερευνητικών μελετών για το Μοιρολόι στις Νεοελληνικές Τελετουργίες του Θανάτου από τα μέσα του 19ου έως και τα τέλη του 20ου αιώνα. Το «Μοιρολόι» μελετάται τόσο στην κειμενική του μορφή, είτε ως ποιητικό, είτε ως μουσικό κείμενο, όσο και στη μορφή του ως δρώμενο. Στην εργασία παρουσιάζονται και αναλύονται συλλογές και μελέτες μοιρολογιών από Ευρωπαίους Φιλέλληνες, Έλληνες Λόγιους των Παροικιών, Εθνολόγους, Λαογράφους-Φιλολόγους και Εθνομουσικολόγους, καθώς επίσης και ερευνητικές μελέτες Ψυχολόγων και εθνογραφίες Ανθρωπολόγων σχετικά με το ελληνικό μοιρολόι και τις εκφάνσεις του. Σε παράρτημα της εργασίας παραθέτονται φωτογραφίες από διάφορες φάσεις των τελετουργιών του θανάτου στη νεότερη Ελλάδα.

2007.06 - Kanellatou,  Paraskevi G. - Lamentation in Modern Greek Death Rituals, Review of the Research from the 19th Century till today
[tutor: Dr. Aspasia Theodosiou]

Abstract
This is a degree thesis under the guidance of Dr. Aspasia Theodosiou. The study is a bibliographical review of the research papers on Funeral Singing in Modern Greek Death Rituals from the middle of the 19th to the end of the 20th century. “Funeral songs” are studied both as text, either musical or poetic, and in its form as a happening. In the paper, collections and studies are presented which were done by European philhellenes, Greek intellectuals living abroad, Ethnologists, Folklore and Literary experts and Ethnomusicologists. There are also research studies by psychologists and anthropologists’ ethnographies related to the Greek funeral songs and their form. In the appendix to the thesis, there are photographs of several phases of death rituals n Greece.

The fragment attributed to Hecateus plays an important role for the reconstruction of popular traditions about Moses at the end of the Persian period. This paper offers a new French translation of the text and a commentary, which ar¬gues that Hecateus’ ideas on Moses and the Jews are largely de¬pendent on the standards of Hellenistic ethnography.

Beginning in the Hellenistic period, the Greek world saw the production of many pseudepigraphic texts that purported to represent the wisdom of various eastern peoples, especially Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Persians.  Among the more obscure are stories or writings described as “Phrygian,” known only from a handful of brief references in widely scattered authors.  In this paper I briefly set out the evidence and assess what we may reasonably deduce from it.  I argue that the term “Phrygian tale” was typically applied to two particular types of text, those that presented euhemerizing or allegorical interpretations of divine myth, and that the reason for their being described as “Phrygian” was connected with popular belief in the antiquity of the Phrygians and their language.

Abstract This paper is a field study, examining outdoor objects in situ. It aims, specifically, to promote a better understanding of the outdoor shrines referred to as 'proskynitaria', which are commonly encountered in Greece. These obscure objects have not only an artistic and religious significance, but reflect human ideas and memories which may have been lost in time but which are closely connected to a site. A recording system has been developed, in order to gather information with regard to the geographic, artistic and scientific characteristics of these unique objects. A case study was used in order to test the efficacy of the system. The data gathered on the physical condition of the 'proskynitaria' was evaluated in order to determine the causes of deterioration and any current or future risks assessed. Recommendations for preventive conservation were guided by traditional approaches to construction within the region.

“Collection of Barbarian Customs (Nomima Barbarika) (P. Lond. Lit. 112) (1454)”, in: Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker Part IV, General Editor: Stefan Schorn (Leuven) (2011 onwards), Guido Schepens (Leuven) (1998-2010). Consulted online on 13 December 2017 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1873-5363_jciv_a1454>

Abstract: Guliaria II.  Searching the Vestiges of a Forbidden Dionysian Ritual

This paper addresses the custom of Guliaria, a celebratory observance, rooted in antiquity according to the oral tradition, which was performed annually during the Monday of Lent at Palaiochori Village of Pangaion Mountain at the prefecture of Kavala in Greece. Its ceremonial practice, preserved almost nowadays, endured in its diachronic tenor the pillory of cultural oppression persisting through the severity of sovereign domination by occupying conquerors.
While the cultural memory of the Palaiochorians ensured the elemental transference of the unwritten Guliarian tradition into their collective intellectual repertoire, which binding norms of the custom’s rubrics, beliefs, and ritualistic symbolisms could be reflected in order to allow with relative clarity evaluations between competing explanatory hypotheses ostensibly claiming a component or the holistic source of origin of the custom, as for example the Saturnalia (Kronia), Lupercalia (Lycaea), or Dionysia?
Preamble historical archive and ethnographic searches for identifying possible revivals of relevant cultural events in Greece accentuated the uniqueness of the custom in the Palaiochorian cultural heritage milieu. This was offering interesting challenges through interdisciplinary approaches of  retrospective archaeo-anthropological research in putting forward an exposition of reasoning for  deriving recommendations to explicate the custom, which overcame the complexity of diachronic parameters for the sake of the binding tradition and collective intergenerational behavior of the Palaiochorians, but also for investigating to the greatest extent possible the social aetiologies, correlations, and compensatory benefits of the custom that have put up resistance and strength of stamina, sustainably defiant to vexations and strains over the centuries.

2016 "Crafting the volunteer: Voluntary associations and the reformation of sociality". Journal of Modern Greek Studies 34(1): 78-101

Narratives of volunteerism and civil society that emerged in Greece in the beginning of the twenty-first century echoed the modernization and Europeanization visions of Greek society that were proliferating in that era. Public discourses as well as state and EU policies endorsed a model of sociality that included volunteerism and was associated with the production of the new European and Greek citizen. Forms of public sociality, such as voluntary associations, thus constituted laboratories that produced subjects. The reformation of sociality and the invention of volunteerism were embedded in various civilizing projects. At the same time, a certain “lack of volunteerism” was broadly attributed to a general understanding of Greek particularity. This article proposes an alternate perspective that considers new and older forms of public sociality in relation to their cultural formation, where the flourishing of solidarity initiatives in contemporary crisis-ridden Greece is not considered a paradox, but rather the expression of the reconfiguration of the social and its potent political content.

abstract In the wake of Billig's thesis on banal nationalism, numerous social psychology studies have been produced documenting on the explicit manifestation or implicit indexicalisation of variants of national identity within text and talk. Within this strand of work, some attention has been paid to ways in which the banal manifestation of national referents may be further interrogated from a critical perspective focusing on Occidentalism. Drawing on this emerging line of research, an analysis is presented here of a travelogue on 'the Greek crisis', published in a globally circulating magazine (Vanity Fair). Using tools and concepts from the discursive turn in social psychology, the analysis highlights ways in which Occidentalist assumptions claim rhetorical and ideological legitimacy within a text that advances a 'culturalist' explanation of the financial crisis in which Greece has been entangled since 2009. The analysis focuses on ways in which the authorial voice others Greece culturally, while at the same time, manages its own accountability and (reaffirms ms its Occidental credentials.

En la presente comunicación se propone una interpretación de los ritos que según Estrabón celebraban los indígenas en el Promontorio Sacro relacionados con la discusión sobre la puesta del sol en Occidente en ese mismo autor y con las razones que, según Floro, hicieron que D. Junio Bruto dejase de avanzar por el interior de Galicia en el año 137 a. de C. Para tratar la cuestión en primer lugar se demostrará, mediante la crítica interna de los textos mencionados, que, efectivamente pueden y deben leerse conjuntamente como testimonio de un rito con su correspondiente mito etiológico que se conocía entre los célticos peninsulares al menos en dos puntos del territorio que ocupaban. Seguidamente se propondrá una hipótesis explicativa de los resultados del análisis anterior. Para ello se recurrirá al método comparativo y, más en concreto, a los análisis de Dumézil sobre los mitos y ritos indoeuropeos sobre el fuego que nace del agua. Sin embargo, los paralelos señalados son menos evidentes de lo que sería deseable por lo que se debe insistir en el carácter hipotético de esta segunda parte. Pasemos, pues, a examinar los textos aludidos mostrando las razones internas que llevan a considerarlos de carácter mítico para, seguidamente, establecer las comparaciones oportunas

This paper is a field study, examining outdoor objects in situ. It aims, specifically, to promote a better understanding of the outdoor shrines referred to as 'proskynitaria', which are commonly encountered in Greece. These obscure objects have not only an artistic and religious significance, but reflect human ideas and memories which may have been lost in time but which are closely connected to a site. A recording system has been developed, in order to gather information with regard to the geographic, artistic and scientific characteristics of these unique objects. A case study was used in order to test the efficacy of the system. The data gathered on the physical condition of the 'proskynitaria' was evaluated in order to determine the causes of deterioration and any current or future risks assessed. Recommendations for preventive conservation were guided by traditional approaches to construction within the region. ÖZET Bu çalışma bir saha araştırmasıdır, açık alanda duran objeleri yerinde incelemektedir. Belirgin hedefi, Yunanistan'da pek çok yerde görülen ve proskynitaria denen açık alan tapınaklarının daha iyi anlaşılmasıdır. Pek tanınmayan bu objeler sanatsal ve dini önemlerinin dışında, zamanla yitip giden ama sit alanıyla yakından bağlantılı olan insani düşünce ve anıları yansıtmaktadır. Bu eşsiz objelerin coğrafi, sanatsal ve bilimsel özel-likleri hakkında bilgi toplama amacıyla bir kayıt sistemi geliştirilmiştir. Sistemin verimliliğini sınamak için de bir alan araştırması kullanılmıştır. Proskynitaria'nın fiziki durumu hakkında toplanan veriler bozulma nedenlerini belirlemek ve güncel ya da gelecekteki riskleri tahmin etmek için değerlendirilmiştir. Koruyucu konservasyon tavsiyeleri, bölgedeki geleneksel inşaat teknikleri göz önüne alınarak verilmektedir.

Il contributo verte sulla discussione degli unici due frammenti a contenuto paradossografico di ambientazione libica ascrivibili all'ampia produzione di carattere etnografico di Ellanico di Lesbo, tràditi rispettivamente da Ateneo (FGrHist 4 F 67) e in un passo, ignoto a Jacoby, di uno scritto teologico in lingua siriaca opera di Gregorios Aboū’l Faradj, noto come Bar-‘Ebrāyā/Bar Hebraeus (cf. PO XXIV/3, p. 407), ampiamente tributario della trattatistica aristotelica e della correlata letteratura esegetica: a quest'ultima deve ricondursi la citazione siriaca di Ellanico, punto di contatto con uno dei canali tradizionali (Nicolao di Damasco) dell'altra "citazione libica" del Lesbio riportata da Ateneo. L’analisi puntuale condotta sulla complessa e stratificata tradizione di entrambi i frammenti, di contenuto differente e reciprocamente indipendenti, permette di individuare in questi eccezionali “frammenti libici” di Ellanico i testimonia di un certo filone della letteratura etnografica, avente per referente ultimo (pur nel diramarsi delle tradizioni) quel genere specifico di letteratura sui nomima barbarika inaugurata proprio dal Lesbio e precisamente incentrata sugli ethe paradossali delle popolazioni barbare, ma di cui si deve riconoscere nell’ Erodoto autore dei Libykoi logoi l’archegeta, nonché l’auctoritas indiscussa. La questione richiama anche la problematica della cronologia reciproca fra i due storici e dei termini di dipendenza nella trattazione di argomenti analoghi, che viene approfondita in questo studio in relazione alle tematiche testimoniate nei "frammenti libici" ellanicei.

Зайковская Т.В. 1993: Момоэры – новогодние ряженые у греков Аджарии // Полевые исследования. Новая серия. – Том I. – Выпуск 1. – Москва: Институт этнологии и антропологии им. Н.Н. Миклухо-Маклая РАН, 1993. – С. 94-105.

На основе полевых записей, сделанных в селениях греков-понтийцев Аджарии дается описания новогоднего обряда ряженья, момоэры (μωμόγεροι), основніе персонажи, приводятся образцы записей.

ABSTRACT
Stretching from the Indus River to the Aegean Sea and Egypt, the Achaemenid Persian Empire is a multi-ethnic empire which, far from assimilating its subjects, exhibits their ethnic and cultural diversity. Official inscriptions and iconography often emphasize the number of its peoples, as well as their variety in terms of name, language, physical appearance, clothes, and means. In doing so, they glorify the king's power, his direct link to each of the subject peoples and his ability to gather them harmoniously into his empire. Far from being reduced to an ideological façade, the attention to ethnic diversity finds a practical expression in the absence of any cultural imperialism. The Persian Empire clearly differs from the Assyrian Empire by basing its strength on that of the ethnic identities within it. For its part, Greek literature is influenced by the conflicting relations between many cities and the empire, and by a culture which, unlike the Persian one, is shared by many political units. Athenian public speeches consequently use the multiplicity of peoples of the empire to celebrate the strength of the Greeks, victors of the Greco-Persian wars, while Herodotus's account captures the diversity of those peoples. Like the Persians, Herorodtus sees this diversity as a manifestation of the king's power, but a king who is subsequently shown as defeated by the Greeks. However, he gives this diversity a central place, and fully develops a pioneering ethnographic discourse. It is likely that the Persian Empire contributed to raising the awareness of differences between peoples, as well as to shaping the ethnic identity of many of them.

S’étendant de l’Indus à la mer Égée et à l’Égypte, l’empire perse achéménide est un empire multiethnique qui, loin d’être assimilateur, affiche la diversité ethnique et culturelle de ses sujets. Ses inscriptions et son iconographie officielles soulignent abondamment le nombre de ses peuples, leur variété onomastique, linguistique, physique, vestimentaire, économique. Elles magnifient ainsi la puissance du Roi, son lien direct avec chacun des peuples qui lui sont soumis et sa capacité à les réunir harmonieusement dans son empire. Loin de se réduire à une façade idéologique, l’attention aux différences ethniques se traduit dans la pratique par l’absence d’impérialisme culturel. L’empire perse se distingue ainsi nettement de l’empire assyrien en faisant reposer sa force sur celle des identités ethniques en son sein. De son côté, la littérature grecque est influencée par les rapports conflictuels entre l’empire et nombre de cités et par une culture qui, à l’inverse de celle des Perses, est commune à des unités politiques multiples. Ainsi, les discours publics athéniens tirent argument des nombreux peuples de l’empire pour exalter la force des Grecs vainqueurs des guerres médiques. Le récit d’Hérodote reflète, quant à lui, la diversité de ces peuples. L’historien y voit, comme les Perses, une manifestation de la puissance du Roi, mais d’un Roi dont il montre ensuite la défaite face aux Grecs. Il lui donne néanmoins une place centrale, au point de développer amplement tout un discours ethnographique pionnier. Il est probable que l’empire perse a contribué à la prise de conscience des différences entre les peuples, comme à la formation de l’identité ethnique de nombre d’entre eux.

"Oggetto di questo studio sono le lingue naturali e il linguaggio nella concezione erodotea, e la terminologia metalinguistica adoperata da Erodoto. Gli interessi erodotei in questo campo si inseriscono in una duplice cornice, quella dell'etnografia di matrice ionica e quella degli studi sul linguaggio e sulle forme di comunicazione sviluppatisi in ambito sofistico. All'interno di questo contesto, lo sguardo erodoteo mostra una propria specificità, riassumibile in una breve considerazione: l'indagine dei fenomeni di comunicazione linguistica è condotta da Erodoto attraverso strumenti metodologici e parametri che hanno molto in comune con la coeva riflessione sul linguaggio, e tuttavia ciò avviene a partire dall'osservazione della pluralità dei linguaggi compresi nell'ecumene e non a partire da un'analisi interna al lessico e alle strutture della lingua greca. L'autore del volume, Lorenzo Miletti, sceglie di porre al centro del suo lavoro la considerevole quantità di osservazioni esplicite, contenute in Erodoto, sui problemi di natura linguistica, siano questi rappresentati dal significato di termini stranieri, dall'evoluzione dell'alfabeto in rapporto al mutare della lingua, dalle caratteristiche linguistiche di popoli del passato e del presente, dalle citazioni di oracoli e profezie che necessitano di un'analisi semantica verbatim etc. L'insieme di queste osservazioni è reso ancora più interessante dalla presenza di una terminologia metalinguistica piuttosto sviluppata, che costituisce un campo d'indagine decisamente poco esplorato del testo erodoteo. Nell'affrontare la rappresentazione erodotea del linguaggio, e la relativa terminologia metalinguistica, l'autore ha cercato inoltre di limitare l'impiego di categorie moderne: lo stesso concetto di linguaggio è moderno, e si stenterebbe a trovare, in greco o in latino, un equivalente lessicale e concettuale adeguato. Si è così preferito circoscrivere l'indagine ai passi in cui vengono affrontati temi relativi ad una serie di concetti formalizzati nell'uso di un vocabolario metalinguistico coerente e ricorrente, rappresentato da lessemi quali [glôsse], [fonè], [épos], [lógos], [rêma] etc., perché è utile soffermarsi non solo su cosa Erodoto dice a proposito delle parole straniere o della lingua parlata da un determinato popolo, ma anche e soprattutto su come lo dice e attraverso quale terminologia. Questo approccio ha consentito di mettere in rapporto questioni che sono state in genere affrontate raramente, e comunque separatamente le une dalle altre, quali appunto la trattazione erodotea delle lingue straniere e il suo uso dei termini metalinguistici o, se si preferisce, delle parole che indicano le parole.

Sommario: Sezione prima. Le lingue come oggetto della [istoríe] erodotea. Capitolo primo. Lingue e popolazioni. Il [charactèr] di una lingua: 1. Parentele linguistiche e parentele etniche; 2.I Pelasgi; 3. Gli Ioni; 4. Il [charactèr] di una lingua. Capitolo secondo. La lingua e la scrittura. Capitolo terzo. La lingua come scambio e comunicazione: i parlanti e il contatto linguistico: 1. Gli interpreti; 2. Dodona. La nascita di un mito dal contatto linguistico; 3. Imparare una lingua: le Amazzoni; 4. Esprimersi in lingua straniera: Batto e Mys. Capitolo quarto. Gli usi erodotei di [fonè] e [glôsse]. Sezione seconda. Parole straniere e parole greche. Le corrispondenze linguistiche e le lingue a confronto. Capitolo primo. Coreferenzialità: 1. Luoghi, popoli, persone; 2. Gli dei. Capitolo secondo. Interpretationes: 1. Nomi privi di un corrispondente ellenico; 2. Traduzioni ad verbum; 3. Parafrasi sinonimiche. Capitolo terzo. L'analisi terminologica erodotea: 1. Nomi parlanti; 2. Etimologie alloglotte; 3. L' [orthótes onomáton] applicata a termini alloglotti. Capitolo quarto. L'uso metalinguistico di [dúnamai]. Sezione terza. Il lessico del metalinguaggio erodoteo. Capitolo primo. Fonemi e norme linguistiche. Capitolo secondo. Nomi. Capitolo terzo. [Épos], [lógos], [rêma]: 1. Il rapporto [épos – lógos]; 2. Il termine [épos] nelle osservazioni erodotee sulla lingua; 3. Gli usi di [rêma]. Conclusioni: 1. Quale linguaggio nelle Storie?; 2. Psammetico riconsiderato (II 2-3). Appendice I. Gli studi moderni sul linguaggio in Erodoto. Appendice II. Passi erodotei notevoli. Bibliografia. Indice dei passi citati."

Татьяна Зайковская, Роль колючих и жгучих растений в духовной культуре юго-восточной Сербии на балкано-славянском фоне // Етно-културолошки зборник за проучавање културе источне Србије и суседних области / Главни и одговорни уредник Сретен Петровић. Уредник Недељко Богдановић. – Књига III. – Сврљиг: Етно-културолошка Радионица, 1997. – С- 53-58.
Анализируются погранично-переходные функции колючих и жгучих растений в обрядности и фольклоре юго-восточной Сербии с некоторыми паралеллями из других культур (восточно- славянских и греческой), способствующими уяснению сущности указанных функций. Колючие и жгучие растения, обозначая границы миров и, таким образом, выступая апотропеем, в то же время служат средством перехода, передачи через «границу», как в одном, так и в другом направлении. Нахождение на границе миров тесно связано с демонизмом колючих растений.
Татјана Зајковскаја, Улога бодљикавих и жарећих биљака у духовној култури југоисточне Србије на балкано-словенском фону
Једна од основних функција бодљикавих и жарећих биљака у духовној култури словенских народа је апотропејска, тј. функција заштите од демона и нечисте силе уопште. Али сагласно словенским веровагьима, ове биљке се јављају и као место боравка демона и тесно су везане с нечистом силом. То изазива одређене тешкоће у објашњавању апотропејске функције ових биљака. Изгледа да ове биљке служе као заштита од нечисте силе зато што су оне место іьеног боравка. Веза с ’’туђим светом” одразила се и у њиховим називима. Низ назива типа дед, чертополох и други подаци народне културе Словена сведоче да се саме биљке опажају као демони, што је и разумљиво, јер је погранична зона, зона демона. Користећи се неким магијским поступцима, ови биљни демони су могли бити натерани да испуне неке жеље човека. С друге стране, саме бодљикаве биљке појављују се као ефективно средство за хватаїье нечисте силе, постају клопка за гьу. Ове биљке везују, привлаче себи представнике оног или граничної света и, делајући по принципу громобрана, одводе их у онај свет, коме они и припадају. Ове могућности привлачења демонског објашњавају начине лсчеіьа помоћу бодљикавих биљака. Бодљикаве и жареће биљке саме по себи могле су служити као средство прелаза у други свет. У извесном стелену и сам додир с њима (њиховим плодовима, гранама, лишћу) функционално је једнако пролазу кроз расцепљено дрво, провлачењу испод шегових жила, прескакагьу преко гьега. Бодљикаве и жареће биљке коришћене су и за превођење недоношчића преко границе светова.
Граничност бодљикавих и жарећих биљака испољава се у случајевима промене времена, тј. уласка у квалитативно друго време и простор. Ове биљке маркирају границу светова - сакралног времена и момента прелаза у друго време и стагье. Граница светова испољава се као неки простор између света живих људи и оног света. У тој зони бораве ’’нечисти” покојници, којима после смрти из различитих разлога није пошло за руком да пређу ту зону која дели живе од мртвих. Зато се поменуте биљке користе у профилактичке сврхе у погребним обредима да би гараптовале одлазак покојника на онај свет: једино тако он he бити у могућиости да добије статус претка. Погранична зона јесте место боравка моћних и често према људима непријатељски расположених демонских бића, духова природе, болести итд. (уп. етимологију речи ђаво). Демонизам (српско сеновитосш) бодљикавих и жарећих биљака, гьихова веза с демонима границе условљено је налажењем ових биљака на граници светова. Биљка-демон, слично бићу с границе Баба-Јаги, може бити и лоша и добра - све зависи од тога како се према њој односе, у чијем поседу се она у датой моменту налази (слично чаробном штапићу, прстену итд.), с којим циљем је користе. Функционална семантика бодљикавих биљака често се преплиће с изофукнионалним предметима у датой контексту, који међусобно појачавају деловаље један на други.

Tatiana Zaikovskaya, The role of thorny and stinging plants in the folk culture of south-eastern Serbia in the Balkan-Slav context.
The paper examines the borderline and transitional functions of thorns and stinging plants in the rituals and folklore of south-eastern Serbia, as well as some parallels from other cultures (Slav cultures and the Greek culture), which help to explain the essence of the mentioned functions: the iso-functional nature of thorns, stinging and other plants with a bitter scent or taste and certain objects: the stake, the needle, the knife, the sickle, the scythe. Thorns designate the borderline of worlds and, thus, become apotropaic, while at the same time serving as a means of transition, of passing through the "border", in both directions. The position on the borderline of worlds is closely linked with the demonism of thorny plants.

"Κείμενα: Έφη Αβδελά, Ράνια Αστρινάκη, Ρίκη Βαν Μπούσχοτεν, Πολυμέρης Βόγλης,Thomas W. Gallant, Γιάννης Γιαννιτσιώτης, Ελένη Γκαρά, Roger Just, Εύα Καλπουρτζή, Χρήστος Λυριντζής, Αλεξάνδρα Μπακαλάκη, Πηνελόπη Παπαηλία, Ευθύμιος Παπαταξιάρχης, Κατερίνα Ροζάκου, Δημήτριος Α. Σταματόπουλος, Δημήτρης Α. Σωτηρόπουλος, Άρης Τσαντηρόπουλος, Φωτεινή Τσιμπιρίδου.


Η περιγραφή της ελληνικής κοινωνίας και του ελληνικού κράτους με όρους «ελλειμματικότητας» και «παθογένειας» αποτελεί πάγιο χαρακτηριστικό του κυρίαρχου δημόσιου λόγου για την Ελλάδα. Ο κοινός αυτός τόπος συγκροτείται γύρω από τη μονόπλευρη σημασιοδότηση ορισμένων κεντρικών εννοιών όπως η πατρωνία, η κοινωνία πολιτών και η βία. Η κοινωνία πολιτών έχει εξιδανικευθεί σε πρότυπο πολιτικής συμμετοχής και αντίδοτο στην πελατειακή συγκρότηση του ελληνικού κράτους. Η βία έχει εξίσου μονοσήμαντα δαιμονοποιηθεί ως αταβιστική, προπολιτική και ένδειξη καθυστέρησης. Ως μετωνυμίες του καλού και του κακού, κοινωνία πολιτών και βία έχουν πλήρως διαχωριστεί και αντιμετωπίζονται ως ασύμβατες. Παράλληλα, η πατρωνία γίνεται αντιληπτή ως σταθερά του πολιτικού συστήματος και κεντρικό αίτιο των ελληνικών δεινών.

Ο παρών συλλογικός τόμος, πρώτος στη σειρά «Αναθεωρήσεις του πολιτικού» των εκδόσεων Αλεξάνδρεια κινείται ενάντια στο ρεύμα και προσεγγίζει αυτά τα φαινόμενα ως αντικείμενα ανάλυσης και όχι ως αξιακά ζητούμενα. Μέσα από κριτικές επισκοπήσεις του επιστημονικού διαλόγου και της έρευνας, καθώς και μελέτες περιπτώσεων, οι συγγραφείς (κοινωνικοί ανθρωπολόγοι, ιστορικοί και πολιτικοί επιστήμονες) αναδεικνύουν τόσο τις σύνθετες –και συχνά αθέατες– διαστάσεις της σχέσης πολίτη και κράτους όσο και τις πολιτισμικές, κοινωνικές και πολιτικές όψεις της βίας. Τα κείμενα του τόμου πραγματεύονται μια ευρεία γκάμα θεμάτων: από τη γραφειοκρατικοποίηση των πελατειακών σχέσεων και τις πολλαπλές όψεις της «κοινωνίας πολιτών» μέχρι τη διαπραγμάτευση της σχέσης πολίτη-κράτους στη Θράκη∙ και από την βεντέτα στην Κρήτη και τη βία του πολέμου στην Ελλάδα της Κατοχής και του Εμφυλίου μέχρι πρόσφατες περιπτώσεις οπτικοποιημένης βίας.

Φέρνοντας στο προσκήνιο τα ιστορικά και πολιτισμικά συμφραζόμενα των σύγχρονων πολιτικών σχέσεων, της δημόσιας κοινωνικότητας και της βίας, ο τόμος προτείνει εναλλακτικά «κλειδιά» για να προσεγγίσουμε ακραία φαινόμενα της εποχής μας ενώ αναδεικνύει οπτικές που υπερβαίνουν τις κυρίαρχες, ιδεολογικά φορτισμένες, μονοσήμαντες ερμηνείες.


Σειρά: "Αναθεωρήσεις του πολιτικού"

In this article I consider accounts of historical and recently collected Greek dreams, all of which occurred in moments of anxiety caused either by the dreamer's own illness or by the serious illness of a close relative. The imageof a field or pedhiadha (green meadow, pastureland) recurs in these dreams. These fields can be interpreted as simultaneously personal and collective symbols (Obeyesekere 1981), and I contend that this ambiguity reflects the synthetic, irreducible quality of dream experiences, and no doubt other emotional experiences as well. There has been a temptation within anthropology to treat emotions and feelings as cognitions, thereby reducing them to culture (Leavitt 1996:522; Reddy 1997:329). The limitations of such a view, which cleaves the mind from the body and culture from nature, have become increasingly apparent (Lyon 1995:259; Scheper-Hughes and Lock 1987). Underlying this split is another divide that must be repaired—namely, the insistence on the strict separation of the individual from the collective (Kleinman and Kleinman 1996:189). The image of the field that I explore here reveals the continuities between the personal and the social, the emotional and the cognitive, and thus offers an example of how these putative dichotomies merge in human experience. The challenge is to develop a sufficiently broad analytical framework to cope with the complexity of experience. In examining experience people's accounts are generally our primary means of access. Dreams present an extreme instance of this situation because no observer can directly share in another person's dream visions and sensations. The dreamer's retrospective narrative, based on the memory of what happened during sleep, represents the only evidence for the dream. This situation has led philosophers such as Malcolm (1959:122) and Dennett (1977:249) to doubt that dreams are really experiences at all. Even psychologists who study dreams in sleep In this study of Greek dreams at moments of illness and anxiety I explore the relationship between individual experience and cultural representation. Ethno-graphic data and textual sources show that the image of fields recurs in dreams, thus throwing into question the uniqueness of personal experience as well as the concept of "experience" as something separate from cultural narratives. Yet these same images might also be independently generated "from below" by the emotional , physical experience of distress and illness. This case points to the convergence of cultural and personal symbols and to their fusion in the moment of experience. Approaches from psychoanalysis, cognitive psychology, anthropology , and folklore studies all provide possible theorizations. None of these options excludes the others. The image of the field in dreams is overdetermined precisely because the historicocultural, the cognitive, the psychobiological, and the social all simultaneously figure in human experience,

In my paper I will offer a series of case studies from four separate chronological and cultural contexts – ranging from the Hellenistic era to the Early Middle Ages – which taken together demonstrate some of the widely divergent ways in which the Greco-Roman processes of knowledge ordering dealt with ethnonyms as parts of the received and evolving literary tradition. On the one hand, ethnonyms can be interpreted as readily recognizable markers for cultural contacts and the transmission of ethnographical information, but on the other hand they also played a longstanding role in learned writing, the antiquarian register, and rhetoric.

This article discusses the ancient Greek self-definition in relation to other ethnic groups. In early Archaic times this definition presented a clear dichotomy between Hellenes and Barbarians, probably primarily on linguistic grounds because of the incomprehensible speech of foreigners. But the perception of Barbarians as both strangers and strange enfolded also other components related to their habits and appearance.  In the Hellenistic period there seems to be a gradual change within this concept into a more refined definition, which allowed for some gradation in the amount of “Barbarism” so to speak. This virtual hierarchy was set both diachronically i.e. by comparing early “Barbaric” periods with later, more civilized ones, and synchronically i.e. by comparing certain “Barbaric” groups with other, more civilized ones. What is most intriguing is the use of comparative and superlative forms to show that one may be more or less Barbaric, a fact which offers a picture completely different than the exclusive and deterministic Archaic definition.

Современное диалектологическое исследование предполагает не просто описание тех или иных особенностей диалекта и определение новых или уточнение старых изоглосс, а представляет собой, в первую очередь, комплексное историко-филологическое исследование. Греческий институт Филологического факультета СПбГУ совместно с ИЛИ РАН, начиная с 2008 года, проводит экспедиции на Пелопоннес (Греция) в места распространения цаконского диалекта. В ходе экспедиций удалось собрать не только уникальный языковой материал, но и интереснейшие сведения по истории региона, которые в комбинации с лингвистическим анализом диалектных данных позволили предложить новую этимологию этнонима ‘цаконец’, представленную в настоящей статье.

Modern dialect studies cannot content just with the description of the dialect itself or with reevaluation of known isoglosses and introduction of the new ones. A wider historical and philological context should be taken into account, because it is the only way to get relevant material and properly to interpret this material. Hellenic Institute of St. Petersburg State University together with the Institute for Linguistic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences organized multiple expeditions to the Tsakonian speaking area of Peloponnese. The collected material includes very interesting information on the history of the region along with unique linguistic data. If the description of most peculiar dialect features has been already published elsewhere, this article introduces non-linguistic data, i. e. the history of the Tsakonians from the 10th century AD till nowadays. The complex analysis of both linguistic and non-linguistic data made it possible to propose a new etymology of the term ‘Tsakonians’ and to demonstrate that it has nothing to do with the national identity.