Seminar_BG
type: channel
description: Seminar_BG is a peer-reviewed online journal for cultural studies, situated at the borderlines of disciplines such as cultural anthropology, aesthetics, sociology, and media analysis. Its ambition is to open up to new practices, cultures and methods, to make visible the invisible, to understand before judging.
publisher: Foundation Media Democracy
language: en
publication name: Seminar_BG
issn: 1313-9932
items: The Path from Artist to Theorist and Back
items: Objects and Traces – Aspects of Reality
items: The Objective Comfort
items: Planting (in) the City
items: Introduction
items: Hiking Trails in the Factory's Shadow
items: Nature's Role in the Experience of Digital Nomads
items: Urban Ecopark “Badelema” – Future (Im)Possible
items: Urban Fallows
items: The Sea Garden in Burgas between a City Brand and a Construct of Local Identity
items: Red Songs, Blue Patches, Bright Presence on a Grey Background
items: The Relationship between Music and Politics on the Macedonian Cultural Scene in the Last Decade
items: Inventing Entertainment
items: Hip-hop Crossroads of the Popular, Political and Funny in Media Music from Bulgaria
items: Beyond Populism
items: Politics at the Concert
items: If I Can't Dance at the Revolution
items: Life with Musical Accompaniment
items: On a Bike in the City
items: The The Roma Perspective and the Roma Question in the Media Mirror
items: Internet Memetics as a Code of Communication
items: Virtual (Self-)Exoticisation of Eastern European Identity
items: The City Lights and Christmas Spirit
items: The Digital Infrastructure of Intimacy
items: New Year's Programs of National Televisions in Bulgaria in the Period 2000-2024
items: Old Bulgarian Art - What Is It?
items: The Contours of the Post-public Sphere
items: Clouds on the Horizon

The Path from Artist to Theorist and Back
type: item
subject: Interview
  topic: section
creator: Lyuben Malchev
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Seminar_BG
date: 2025-12-31
publication date: 2025-12-31
starting page: 195
ending page: 204
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.30.195-204

Objects and Traces – Aspects of Reality
type: item
subject: Scientific events
  topic: section
creator: Milena Georgieva
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Seminar_BG
date: 2025-12-31
publication date: 2025-12-31
starting page: 192
ending page: 194
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.30.192-194

The Objective Comfort
type: item
subject: Scientific events
  topic: section
creator: Georgi Lozanov
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Seminar_BG
date: 2025-12-31
publication date: 2025-12-31
starting page: 186
ending page: 191
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.30.186-191

Planting (in) the City
type: item
description: Thе article examines urban gardening as a practice of dwelling in the postsocialist Bulgarian city. Drawing on long-term anthropological fieldwork conducted in the Trakia housing district in Plovdiv, the study explores how inter-block gardens and peripheral “rancho” plots are maintained, transformed, and transmitted over time under shifting regimes of urban governance, property, and regulation. Urban gardens are approached as heterotopic and heterochronic spaces in which different practices of care, appropriation, and civic engagement overlap. The analysis demonstrates how repeated practices of planting, maintenance, and protection enable residents to transform abstract public space into lived place. From this perspective, urban gardening is understood as a durable mechanism of urban rootedness and as an analytical lens for understanding postsocialist modes of dwelling and the negotiation of public space. Argüelles, L., Anguelovski, I., & Dinnie, E. (2017). Power and privilege in alternative civic practices: Examining imaginaries of change and embedded rationalities in community economies. Geoforum, 86, 30–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.08.013 Axinte, A., Rafanell, C., and Iancu, B. (2025). Commoning the gardens by the Bloc. Informal gardening practices in the collective housing districts of a post-socialist city. Environmental Sociology, 11(4), 426–437. https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2025.2500727. Balázs, B. (2018). Community-building through food self-provisioning in Central and Eastern Europe: An analysis through the food commons framework. In J. L. Vivero-Pol et al. (eds.), Routledge handbook of food as a commons (pp. 480–493). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315161495 Baudry, S. (2010). Cultiver son jardin, s'inscrire dans la ville : Approche anthropologique des community gardens de New York City. Paris: Université Paris-Diderot – Paris VII. https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00962486 [20.12.2025]. Bellows, A. (2004). One hundred…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: urban gardening
  topic: keywords
subject: dwelling
  topic: keywords
subject: public space
  topic: keywords
subject: postsocialist city
  topic: keywords
subject: inter-block spaces
  topic: keywords
subject: heterotopia
  topic: keywords
creator: Meglena Zlatkova
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Seminar_BG https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2025-12-31
publication date: 2025-12-31
starting page: 105
ending page: 134
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.30.105-134

Introduction
type: item
description: This issue of Seminar_BG is dedicated to urban nature – or rather, to nature in and around cities, the environment in which we live. Urban nature is a misleading term, as it can be understood as the essence of the urban, the natural state, or the inherent characteristics of urbanization. This issue distances itself from the naturalization of the historical progress of settlements. It also departs from the search for inherent urban characteristics and the presentation of a set of features as “natural”. Following the ideas of Descola and Ingold, the theme of this issue would more properly be termed the urban environment rather than urban nature, since the concept of nature can only be used by a being that succumbs to the illusion that it does not belong to it. Cities are among those spaces in which the ontology of naturalism is most visible and most difficult to overcome. Where should we begin in order to see buildings, roads, neighborhoods, and infrastructure as the environment of our own and other species? The crack in the pavement where a plant has taken root, the old lamp in which a tit has built its nest – these are the spaces and events in the urban environment where other forms of life actively define and reformulate the environment. The urban nature sought in the pages of this issue is the ecological dynamics of the city, expressed not only in what lies beyond the social, but as a dynamic between physical and social environments, human and non-human inhabitants. The authors examine this dynamic through specific cases – urban gardens in public spaces, the creation or loss of green areas, and the cultivation of endemic species. References Descola, P. (2013). Beyond nature and culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Ditchev, I. (2005). Prostranstva na zhelanieto, zhelaniya za prostranstvo. Sofia: Iztok-Zapad. Dimitrova, P. (2025). Digitalno nomadstvo i vrazka s prirodata: primeri ot grad Bansko. Seminar_BG, 30, 163–185. Draganova, I. (2025). Morskata gradi…
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
creator: Radoslava Kuneva
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Seminar_BG https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2025-12-31
publication date: 2025-12-31
starting page: 3
ending page: 12
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.30.3-12

Hiking Trails in the Factory's Shadow
type: item
description: This text examines the transformations of the conceptual border between an East Siberian post-industrial city and its surrounding nature through the lens of retired scientists and their work on various grant-funded projects aimed at protecting rare species and developing ecotourist infrastructure. By tracing the ways in which the scientists engage with the nature around their city, I show the change in value regimes, attitudes towards the environment, and the ways in which my interlocutors are trying to secure a niche in the green future of the city, which local and federal authorities have promised and committed to in a number of documents, and which local residents consider inevitable. References Abalakov, A. D., & Pankeyeva, N. S. (2010). Osobye ekonomisheskie zony turstko-rekreatsionnogo tipa Rossii: Sovremennyi etap razvitiia. Izvestiia Irkutskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta, 3(2), 3–18. Ballestero, A. (2019). A Future History of Water. Durham: Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478004516. Bokova, I. (2003). Chovekat, prirodata, muzeya [Human, nature, museum]. In: M. Elchinova and O. Todorov (eds.) Lovtsi na umove. Lektsii po antropologiya, v. 2. (pp. 18-24). Sofia: New Bulgarian University. Breyfogle, N. B. (2015). At the Watershed: 1958 and the Beginnings of Lake Baikal Environmentalism. The Slavonic and East European Review, 93(1), 147–180. https://doi.org/10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.93.1.0147. Castoriadis, C. (1987). The Imaginary Institution of Society. Boston: MIT Press. Creed, G. W. (1998). Domesticating Revolution: From Socialist Reform to Ambivalent Transition in a Bulgarian Village. Pittsburgh: Pennsylvania State University Press.. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation № 1398-р/29.08.2014. (2014). Descola, P. (2014). Beyond Nature and Culture. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Ellison, S. H. (2018). Domesticating Democracy: The Politics of Conflict Resolution in Bolivia. Durham: Duke University Press. https://doi.or…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: post-industrial
  topic: keywords
subject: periurban nature
  topic: keywords
subject: value
  topic: keywords
subject: Siberia
  topic: keywords
creator: Konstantin Georgiev
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Seminar_BG https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2025-12-31
publication date: 2025-12-31
starting page: 135
ending page: 162
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.30.135-162

Nature's Role in the Experience of Digital Nomads
type: item
description: This article presents the results of a series of field studies on digital nomadism in Bansko—a resort town that has been an established meeting point for digital nomads from all over the world for a decade. This form of mobile lifestyle is characterized by the frequent and repeated crossing of national borders by mobile individuals (digital nomads), who stay for varying lengths of time in different countries and do not return permanently to their home country According to them, Bansko is unique because it offers natural resources, infrastructure that enables remote work, and a community of like-minded people. What prompts these individuals to settle for extended periods in a small town like Bansko, and why is it crucial for them to be close to nature (to create and work undisturbed, away from the overstimulation typical of big cities; to raise their children in a peaceful environment, etc.)? What are the dimensions of nature within the urban environment (playing in yards and mountain streams flowing along the streets; organizing community-building outdoor events; incorporating natural materials into the interior and exterior of spaces inhabited by digital nomads, etc.)? References Bell, D. (2006). Variations on the Rural Idyll. In P. Cloke, T. Marsden, & P. Mooney (eds.), Handbook of Rural Studies (pp. 149–160). London: Sage. doi.org/10.4135/9781848608016.n10 Bunce, M. (2003). Reproducing Rural Idylls. In P. Cloke (ed.), Country Visions. Harlow: Pearson. Cook, D. (2023). What is a digital nomad? Definition and taxonomy in the era of mainstream remote work. World Leisure Journal, 65(2), 256–275. doi.org/10.1080/16078055.2023.2190608 Dimitrova, P. (2025). Digitalno nomadstvo: kulturni transformatsii, sotsialni dinamiki i predizvikatelstva v Bansko. Sofia: IEFEM – BAN [forthcoming]. Dimitrova, P. (2025). New age kultura i layfstayl migratsiya ot grad kam selo: primeri ot vseкидnevieto na edna obshtnost. Balgarska etnologiya, 1, 86–102. GRAO. (2023). Tablitsa na adresno…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: digital nomadism
  topic: keywords
subject: nature
  topic: keywords
subject: Bansko
  topic: keywords
subject: worldschooling
  topic: keywords
creator: Petya Dimitrova
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Seminar_BG https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2025-12-31
publication date: 2025-12-31
starting page: 163
ending page: 185
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.30.163-185

Urban Ecopark “Badelema” – Future (Im)Possible
type: item
description: Park Badelema in the town of Asenovgrad is another Bulgarian case in which economic, political and public interests collide over development pressures and efforts to preserve urban green space. The local ecological resources, conservation practices, and educational initiatives at the urban park, town, and municipality levels, created and developed in the past, are the foundation of Asenovgrad's contemporary biocultural heritage. In the current situation, the conflict was created after a decision by the Municipal Council to build on a part of the park, which caused public reactions and at least the temporary suspension of these plans. In the absence of political will, the future of the Badelema Ecopark, for the creation of which all the ecological preconditions are in place, will depend largely on whether civic mobilization remains a declining defensive response or develops into sustained support for expert planning and implementation. In addition to presenting the case, this text seeks to contribute to a broader public and political debate on the future of Badelema Ecopark by engaging expert capacity and encouraging informed civic participation. References Cranz, G., & Michael, B. (2004). Defining the Sustainable Park: A Fifth Model for Urban Parks. Landscape Journal, 23(2), 102-120. https://doi.org/10.3368/lj.23.2.102. Daskalov, H. (1978). Moyat zhivot takav, kakavto go vidyah. Rodopi, 6. Dzhambov, A., Stoyanova, V., & Dimitrova, D. (2017). Gradsko ozelenyavane i obshtestveno zdrave – savremenni nauchni postizheniya. Sotsialna meditsina, 1, 13–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.14748/sm.v0i1.4080 Fioretti, C., Pertoldi, M., Busti, M. & Van Heerden, S. (eds). (2020). Handbook of Sustainable Urban Development Strategies. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://territorial.ec.europa.eu/sustainable-development/strategies/handbook-sud/ [19.12.2025] Ganeva-Raycheva, V. (2021). Biokulturno nasledstvo – da svarzhem biologichnoto i kulturnoto raznoobrazie (kult…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: urban biocultural heritage
  topic: keywords
subject: urban ecopark
  topic: keywords
subject: Asenovgrad
  topic: keywords
subject: Badelema
  topic: keywords
creator: Vasil Karadzhov
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Seminar_BG https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2025-12-31
publication date: 2025-12-31
starting page: 62
ending page: 104
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.30.62-104

Urban Fallows
type: item
description: The article introduces the concept of urban fallows as specific intermediate territories within contemporary city, which combine cultural, social, and ecological density, despite their apparent abandonment. The term fallows is derived as a metaphor borrowed from agriculture, which acquires a new meaning in an urban context: a temporary retreat from capital-centric productivity, which makes possible the emergence of alternative social and ecological processes. The text analyzes fallow lands as territories of imagination, oblivion, examining how memory and potential, nature and culture, as well as civic participation and institutional inaction, intertwine in them. The analysis combines a theoretical discussion of contemporary urban, cultural, and philosophical perspectives with empirical observations and field-based research. A central case study focuses on the area surrounding Stochna Gara in Sofia, examined through the research and practice of the multidisciplinary collective GRADOSCOPE, of which the author is a member. Situated within broader European tendencies toward temporary use and cultural reactivation of disused sites, the case serves as a basis for critically reflecting on the possibilities and limitations of integrating urban fallows into long-term, resilient urban strategies. References Amin, A. & Thrift, N. J. (2002). Cities: Reimagining the Urban. Cambridge: Polity. ‌Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The Location of Culture. London: Routledge. Clément, G. (2010). Manifest der dritten Landschaft. Berlin: Merve Verlag. Corboz, A. (1983). The Land as Palimpsest. Diogenes, 31(121), 12–34. Dolezal, S. (2015). Recycling Space. Reframing Urban Derelict Sites and Properties. Exploring Space Theories from Henri Lefebvre to Urban Catalyst [Master’s thesis]. https://www.academia.edu/16561066/Recycling_Space_Reframing_Urban_Derelict_Sites_and_Properties_Exploring_Space_Theories_from_Henri_Lefebvre_to_Urban_Catalyst [15.12.2025] Foucault, J. M. (1986). Of Other Spaces (Miskowie…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: fallow
  topic: keywords
subject: imagination
  topic: keywords
subject: oblivion
  topic: keywords
subject: Freight station
  topic: keywords
subject: transdisciplinary
  topic: keywords
subject: urbanism
  topic: keywords
subject: GRADOSCOPE
  topic: keywords
creator: Ventsislav Kartselin
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Seminar_BG https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2025-12-31
publication date: 2025-12-31
starting page: 13
ending page: 29
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.30.13-29

The Sea Garden in Burgas between a City Brand and a Construct of Local Identity
type: item
description: The image of the central city park is associated with positive connotations – a “meeting” of nature and culture in the city, a symbol of modernity and prosperity. Its presence and maintenance are considered a sign of high city culture, but looking beneath this surface, we discover a distinctly dual, contradictory essence: in spatial terms, the park is a component of the urban environment, which, artificially constructed according to pre-planned boundaries, is “provided” to local residents as a free, physical, “natural” space for various activities. In its socio-cultural aspect, the park is embodying a specific ideology; an independent topographical center, loaded with multi-layered symbolic messages and imposing its own rules and uses. Referring to Lefebvre’s theory on the production of space, the article analyzes the Sea Garden in the city of Burgas in the following contexts: as a physical (material), imagined (mental) and social (experienced) space and the way in which they interact through the “local government - citizens” relationship. It addresses how the city government balances the sought-after city brand and the cultural meanings constructed by Burgas residents of local identity and memory. References Apostolov, Ap. (2008). Zelenata sistema na Burgas. Burgas: Libra Skorp. Azuma, A. M., Gotlieb, R. B., Vallianatos, M., Gudmundson, J. K., Shafer, A. L., and Dreier, P. (2006). Connecting the Parks to the Community and the Community to the Parks. A Report to California State Parks and the California Coastal Conservancy. Los Angeles: Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College. Basso, K. H. (1996). Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Ditchev, I. (2005). Prostranstva na zhelanieto, zhelania za prostranstvo. Sofia: Iztok-Zapad. Halbwachs, M. (1996). Kolektivnata pamet. Sofia: Kritika i humanizam. Lefebvre, H. (1991 [1974]). The production of space. Oxford: Basil Blackw…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: nature
  topic: keywords
subject: culture
  topic: keywords
subject: city park
  topic: keywords
subject: Sea garden
  topic: keywords
subject: Burgas
  topic: keywords
subject: memory
  topic: keywords
subject: place
  topic: keywords
subject: brand
  topic: keywords
creator: Iliyana Draganova
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Seminar_BG https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2025-12-31
publication date: 2025-12-31
starting page: 30
ending page: 61
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.30.30-61

Red Songs, Blue Patches, Bright Presence on a Grey Background
type: item
subject: Interview
  topic: section
creator: Ventsislav Dimov
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2023-04-06
publication date: 2023-04-06
starting page: 135
ending page: 157
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2023.26.135-157

The Relationship between Music and Politics on the Macedonian Cultural Scene in the Last Decade
type: item
description: This study presents an interdisciplinary analysis of the local Macedonian music scene in the last decade by analyzing musical projects inspired by the political actions of the largest and ruling parties VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM. The research is based on an analysis of music albums or songs from the field of contemporary and indie music, realized in the last ten years and directly inspired by specific political events. The results of the study shaped several levels of action from musicians with the purpose to express their critical opinion on political events through the relationship of music with politics, memory, gender, and culture. References Atali, Žak. 2007. Buka. Beograd: Biblioteka XX vek. Boym, Svetlana. 2001.The Future of Nostalgia. New York: Basic Books. Deleuze, Gilles. 2004. Difference and Repetition. London, New York: Continuum. Dimkov, Toni. 2016. „Bernaјs propaganda: Politika e za apsolutnoto mnozinstvo vo ovaa zemјa so grubi pluskavtsi i tsrno pod noktite“. MKD (last seen 7.01.2023.). Dimov, Ventsislav. 2019. Muzikata za naroda na mediynia front (Mekata vlast na narodnata i populyarna muzika v Sotsialisticheska Bulgaria). Sofia: UI „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“. Dimov, Ventsislav. 2020. „Etnopop muzika i vlast na Balkantite (kak edna hibridna muzika stava meka sila v kulturnite voyni: mediyno-antropologicheski prochiti)“. In: Peycheva, Lozanka (sast. i red.) Mekata vlast na populyarnata muzika v mediite (po primeri ot Bulgaria i Balkanite). Sofia: UI „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“, 12–63. Grigorov, Grigor. 2017. „Gradat kato tekst: semantika na simvolichnite prostranstva, oformeni chrez izgradenite po proekt „Skopie 2014“ pametnitsi“. In: Peycheva, Lozanka, Grigor Grigorov (sast.) Proektsii na kulturnite traditsii: Bulgaria-Makedonia. Sofia: Izdatelstvo na BAN „Prof. Marin Drinov“, 27–74. Grossberg, Lawrence. 2010. Cultural Studies in the Future Tense. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Grossberg, Lawrence.1983. „The Politics of Youth Culture: Some Observations o…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: music
  topic: keywords
subject: politics
  topic: keywords
subject: culture
  topic: keywords
subject: memory
  topic: keywords
subject: Skopie 2014
  topic: keywords
creator: Julijana Papazova
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2023-04-06
publication date: 2023-04-06
starting page: 119
ending page: 134
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2023.26.119-134

Inventing Entertainment
type: item
description: The social transformations stirred by the processes of socialist industrialization and modernization made it possible for new mass interest in the consumption of material and cultural commodities to occur in the second half of the 1950s. In this situation, the political authorities require the loyal cultural elite to create and launch modern popular forms of cultural production, which must distract the public from their obvious interest in the patterns of Western popular culture. In the sphere of music, a new attractive enough for the wide public concept should be born – a synthesis of politically justified aesthetic specifications and national representativeness. By the late 1960s, the music intelligentsia in close collaboration with the bureaucracy has managed to create a system of administration of the whole process of education, production, performance, and spread of popular music. In this new status quo, the music academia has the privilege to provide and control the criteria in music production, but at the same time, it is dependent on the perceptive abilities and tastes of the mass public. References [Unknown author]. 1959. SSSR, Konkurs za nay-dobra masova i estradna pesen. Muzika, №3, 59. [No title] 1966 Katalog na gramofonnite plochi, izdadeni ot „Balkanton“ (1958–1966 g.). 1966. Sofia: Balkanton. Brunbauer, Ulf. 2011. Sotsialisticheskiyat nachin na zhivot. Ideologia, obshtestvo, semeystvo i politika v Bulgaria (1944–1989). Ruse: MD Elias Kaneti. Cherni, P. 1959. „Iz statiyata „Tantsovata muzika – ogledalo na vremeto““. Muzika, 7: 60. Chetrikov, Svetoslav. 1959. „Deset godini muzikalni izdania“. Muzika, 7: 51. Elenkov, Ivan. 2008. Kulturniyat front. Balgarskata kultura prez epohata na komunizma – politichesko upravlenie, ideologicheski osnovania, institutsionalni rezhimi. Sofia: IIBM, Siela. Gramshi, Antonio. 1976. Za kulturata, literaturata i izkustvoto. Sofia: Nauka i izkustvo. Griynbarg, Klement. 2003. „Avangard i kich“. Leteratura, 23: 70–79. Hofman, A…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: popular music
  topic: keywords
subject: institutions
  topic: keywords
subject: aesthetic control
  topic: keywords
subject: practice
  topic: keywords
creator: Anton Angelov
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2023-04-06
publication date: 2023-04-06
starting page: 97
ending page: 118
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2023.26.97-118

Hip-hop Crossroads of the Popular, Political and Funny in Media Music from Bulgaria
type: item
description: The study offers observations on some trajectories of the funny in Bulgarian hip-hop situated at the crossroads of popular culture and popular politics. The subject of the analysis is hip-hop videos of artists (“Upsurt”, Itzo Hazarta, Jluch) that have huge popularity on the web due to the political messages in their songs to a large extent. Through analytical readings of lyrics, performance, visual narratives in the videos, and media narratives of the artists and tracks, the study shows how in the free internet environment these hip-hop performative messages exist as the protester’s choices, alternative journalism, weapons on the communication front to vilify the adversary, subversive resources through the comic and parody. References Avramov, Asen. 2021. „Dumi v deystvie (Opit za vgrazhdane na balgarskata rap muzika v savremennata balgarska literatura – tekstove, artisti, poslania)“. Literaturata, God. XV, 26. Literaturnata istoria dnes. Chast vtora: 343–362. Bergson, Anri. 1996. Smehat. Ese otnosno znachenieto na komichnoto. Sofia: Sonm. Chang, Jeff. 2005. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. New York: St. Martin's Press. Čolović, Ivan. 2008. Balkan – Terror Culture. Beograd: Biblioteka XX vek. Dichev, Ivaylo. 2019. Kulturni stseni na politicheskoto. Sofia: Prosveta. Dimov, Ventsislav. 2012. „„Power to the people” (kam paradoksite na otnosheniyata mediyna muzika – vlast)“. In: Neykova, Maria (sast., red.). Medii, vlast, pari – ima li myasto za kachestvena zhurnalistika. Sbornik „Zhurnalisti po teoria, zhurnalisti na praktika”, Sofia: SU „Sv. Kliment Ohridski”, FZhMK, 77–90. Dimov, Ventsislav. 2013. „Vagner, Volen, Shisharkata, Shamara i ... (Varhu zvukovite obrazi na protesta i tehnite mediyni reprezentatsii)”. In: Angelova, Vyara (sast.) Grazhdani i medii. Sbornik s dokladi ot nauchnata konferentsia „Grazhdani i medii”, 16–17 may 2013 g. Sofia: UI „Sv. Kliment Ohridski”, 307–323. Dimov, Ventsislav. 2014. “Bulgarian Hip-hop Music as a Pheno…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: hip-hop culture
  topic: keywords
subject: alternative media
  topic: keywords
subject: comic
  topic: keywords
subject: parody
  topic: keywords
subject: Jluch
  topic: keywords
subject: Upsurt
  topic: keywords
subject: Itzo Hazarta
  topic: keywords
creator: Ventsislav Dimov
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2023-04-06
publication date: 2023-04-06
starting page: 75
ending page: 96
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2023.26.75-96

Beyond Populism
type: item
description: The aim of this paper is to use the widely discussed “Song for Lena” as a case-study to explore the complex relationship between politics and (pop) culture. Insofar as these relationships often give rise to populist discourses, our main research task is to understand whether and how “Song for Lena” fits into the populist discourse of the political party ”There is Such a People” and its leader Slavi Trifonov. To this end, we take a multidisciplinary approach, using methods and concepts from the fields of cultural studies and political science, alongside research in music, literature, and communications. On the basis of several levels of analysis, we conclude that “Song for Lena” holds a lot of potential for constructing a populist discourse, which, however, remains untapped as it fails to construct an “elite” and “a people” in an antagonistic relationship. References Becker, Amy. 2020. “Applying Mass Communication Frameworks to Study Humor’s Impact: Advancing the Study of Political Satire”. Annals of the International Communication Association, 44 (3): 273–288. Caiani, Manuela and Padoan, Enrico. 2023. Populism and (Pop) Music. London: Palgrave Macmillan. De Cleen, Benjamin and Carpentier, Nico. 2010. “Contesting the Populist Claim on “The People” through Popular Culture: The 0110 Concerts versus the Vlaams Belang”. Social Semiotics, 20 (2): 175–196. de la Torre, Carlos (ed.). 2019. Routledge Handbook of Global Populism. New York: Routledge. Dichev, Ivaylo. 2019. Kulturni stseni na politicheskoto. Sofia: Prosveta. Dimov, Ventsislav. 2001. Etnopopbumat. Sofia: Balgarsko muzikoznanie. Dimov, Ventsislav. 2020. „Etnopop muzika i vlast na Balkanite (kak edna hibridna muzika stava meka sila v kulturnite voyni: mediyno-antropologicheski prochiti)“ In: Peycheva, Lozanka (sast.) Mekata vlast na populyarnata muzika v mediite (po primeri ot Bulgaria i Balkanite). Sofia: Universitetsko izdatelstvo „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“, 12–63. Higgie, Rebeca. 2017. “Under the Guise of Humour an…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: politics
  topic: keywords
subject: popular music
  topic: keywords
subject: ethnopop
  topic: keywords
subject: populism
  topic: keywords
subject: Slavi Trifonov
  topic: keywords
creator: Vladislav Petkov
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2023-04-06
publication date: 2023-04-06
starting page: 51
ending page: 74
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2023.26.51-74

Politics at the Concert
type: item
description: This article aims to explain the mass support of citizens for the newly emerged political party “There is Such a People”, whose chairman is the famous Bulgarian public singer, TV host, showman and producer Slavi Trifonov. “There is Such а People” managed to win the Bulgarian parliamentary elections in 2021, replacing the leading long-ruling party GERB. The analysis focuses on the discourses structuring the dramaturgy of the concerts of Slavi Trifonov’s band – the Ku-Ku Band, used in his election campaign but also performed outside Bulgaria to the emigrated Bulgarians whose vote was decisive for his victory in the parliamentary elections. These discourses contain political messages, shaped as a cultural musical product and, respectively, referred to a certain way of making sense of the audience that became voters. They also set the structure of Slavi Trifonov’s autobiographical books, the analysis of which complements the interpretation of the Ku-Ku Band’s concerts in the text. The main thesis is that we cannot understand the phenomenon of Slavi Trifonov and the Ku-Ku Band if we do not place them in a post-socialist context where socialist cultural policies still resonate, but where the market of culture and the boundary between high and popular culture have yet to emerge. References Bourdieu, Pierre. 1984. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. Cambridge, Massachusetss: Harvard University Press. Dichev, Ivaylo. 2016. Kulturata kato distantsia. Edinadeset eseta po kulturna antropologia. Sofia: Universitetsko izdatelstvo „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“. Dimov, Ventsislav. 2001. Etnopopbumat. Sofia: Balgarsko muzikoznanie. Dimov, Ventsislav. 2019. Muzikata za naroda na mediynia front (Mekata vlast na narodnata i populyarnata muzika v sotsialisticheska Bulgaria). Sofia: Universitetsko izdatelstvo „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“. Dobrev, Petar. 2015. „Chalgata e pederastki moment v zhivota na selyandura“. V: Genova, Neda, Dinev, Ivaylo, Dobrev, Petar, Dodov, Stanislav, S…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: concert
  topic: keywords
subject: music
  topic: keywords
subject: popular music
  topic: keywords
subject: chalga
  topic: keywords
subject: postsocialism
  topic: keywords
subject: socialism
  topic: keywords
creator: Lea Vajsova
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2023-04-06
publication date: 2023-04-06
starting page: 36
ending page: 50
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2023.26.36-50

If I Can't Dance at the Revolution
type: item
description: The text addresses the more general question of the incorporation of cultural products in social movements by focusing on the various musical forms that support protest mobilizations. Combining the so-called “framing perspective” in social movement studies with a consideration of “music as function” included in the cultural circuit (rather than “music as text”), the article identifies three variants: “the music of anger”, “music for the electorate” and “the music that keep us going”. The proposed classification is based on examples from the last twenty years in Bulgaria and does not claim to be exhaustive. References Benford, Robert & Snow, David. 2000. “Framing Processes and Social Movements: An Overview and Assessment.” Annual Review of Sociology, 26: 611–639. Corte, Ugo and Edwards, Bob. 2008. “White Power Music and the Mobilization of Racist Social Movements”. Music and Arts in Action, 1/1: 4–20 (last seen 30.01.2023.). Danaher, William. 2010. “Music and Social Movements”, Sociology Compass, 4/9, 811–823, DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2010.00310.x. Dimov, Ventsislav. 2022. „‘Voyna i mir‘ 2.0: Otvad shuma na pesennite frontove“. V: Kovacheva, Ralitsa, Popova, Zhana, Angelova, Vyara, Popova, Snezhana. Zhurnalistika, tsennosti, svyat. Yubileen sbornik v chest na prof. d-r Maria Neykova. Sofia, UI „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“, 197–213. Doleac, Benjamin. 2013. “Strictly Second Line: Funk, Jazz, and the New Orleans Beat”, Ethnomusicology Review, 18, (last seen 11.02.2023.). Eyerman, Ron and Jamison, Andrew. 1998. Music and Social Movements. Cambridge (UK) : Cambridge University Press. Georgieva, Valentina. 2017. Mnozhestva na nesaglasnite. Antropologia na protestnite dvizhenia v Bulgaria (2009–2013). Sofia: UI „Sv. Kl. Ohridski“. Goldman, Emma. 2009 [1931]. Living my Life, The Anarchist Library, https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/emma-goldman-living-my-life (last seen 11.02.2023.). Gromis, Ashley and Roy, William. 2013. “Music and Social Movements”. In: Snow, David, della P…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: protests
  topic: keywords
subject: chanting
  topic: keywords
subject: political music
  topic: keywords
subject: music for the movement
  topic: keywords
creator: Valentina Gueorguieva
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2023-04-06
publication date: 2023-04-06
starting page: 11
ending page: 35
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2023.26.11-35

Life with Musical Accompaniment
type: item
description: Human groups are modeled much deeper by the non-rational effect of emotions. Philosophizing on the role and responsibility of music has been based on this assumption. In the past listening to music was limited to festivals and rituals, whereas today it accompanies a major part of our lives. Political battles are battles of styles and emotions, as well (some Bulgarian examples are given). But the citizens are not passive targets in this process: they constantly choose their identity and political positioning through musical emotions. References Dobrev, Petar. 2016. „Chalgata e pederastki moment v zhivota na selyandura“. dVersia, https://dversia.net/726/chalgata-e-pederastki-moment/ (last seen 1.04.2023.) Gerth, H. H. and Mills, C. Wrigth (eds.). 1946. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Hellier-Tinoco, Ruth. 2015. “Power Needs Names: Hegemony, Folklorization, and the Viejitos Dance of Michoacán, Mexico”. In: Randall, Annie Janeiro (ed.) Music, Power, and Politics. London: Routledge. Hochschild, Arlie Russell. 2012. The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. Berkeley: University of California Press. Jaggar, Alison M. 1989. “Love And Knowledge: Emotion In Feminist Epistemology”. Inquiry, 32: 2, 151–176. Juslin, Patrik N. 2019. Musical Emotions Explained: Unlocking the Secrets of Musical Affect. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara and Bruner, Edward M. 1992. “Tourism”. In: Bauman, Richard (ed.) Folklore, Cultural Performances, and Popular Entertainments. A Communications-Centered Handbook. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. Platon. 1981. „Obrazovanieto na strazhite“. V: Darzhavata. Sofia: Nauka i izkustvo. Schopenhauer, Arthur. 1969. The World as Will and Representation, Vol. 1, New York: Dover publications. van Goethem, Annelies and Sloboda, John. 2011. “The Function of Music for Affect Regulation”. Musicae Scientiae, 15(2): 208–228. Williams, Raymond. 2015. “Structures of Fee…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Music
  topic: keywords
subject: emotions
  topic: keywords
subject: political propaganda
  topic: keywords
subject: communities
  topic: keywords
creator: Ivaylo Ditchev
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Seminar_BG
date: 2023-04-06
publication date: 2023-04-06
starting page: 3
ending page: 10
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2023.26.3-10

On a Bike in the City
type: item
description: The article examines urban cycling not only as a means of transportation, but also as an embodied experience that unfolds in the communication between the cyclist as a body, the bicycle as a device, and the urban infrastructure as a place and landscape. Using an autoethnographic approach, the article analyzes three group cycling events in Sofia, Cagliari, and Vienna to reveal the diverse social, cultural, and aesthetic dimensions of cycling. The study begins with a review of the academic literature on cycling and its significance in the context of sustainable urban development. The methodology and scope of the field study are then presented. The main analysis includes three cases: the “Sofia green tour,” a tourist cycling tour in Sofia viewed from the perspective of a tour guide; the “Critical Mass” protest march in Cagliari as a form of civic activism; and the “Spiral bike” bicycle concert with electronic music in Vienna as an example of creative use of urban space. In conclusion, the article synthesizes the main conclusions and offers guidelines for improving urban cycling infrastructure, addressing both local authorities and active cyclists. References Chang, Heewon. 2008. “Chapter 3: Autoethography”. in: Autoethography as method. Walnut Creek: CA: Left coast press, 43-57. De Certeau, Michel. 1984. The practice of everyday life. London: University of California press. Dichev, Ivaylo. 2019. Kulturni stseni na politicheskoto. Sofia: „Prosveta-Sofia“ AD. Dichev, Ivaylo. 2017. „Zashto v Sofia ne e hubavo“, DW Obshtestvo, 11.10.2017, https://www.dw.com/bg/%D0%B7%D0%B0%D1%89%D0%BE-%D0%B2-%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%84%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%BD%D0%B5-%D0%B5-%D1%85%D1%83%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BE/a-40902347 [last seen 28.06.2025] Dunlap, Rudy, Rose, Jeff, Standridge, Sarah H., Pruitt, Courney L. 2020. “Experiences of urban cycling: emotional geographies of people and place”. Leisure Studies, DOI: 10.1080/02614367.2020.1720787 Fincham, Ben. 2007. “Bicycle messengers: image, identity and commu…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: urban cycling
  topic: keywords
subject: autoethnography
  topic: keywords
subject: experiencing the city
  topic: keywords
creator: Radoslava Kuneva
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2025-08-01
publication date: 2025-08-01
starting page: 297
ending page: 315
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.29.297-315

The The Roma Perspective and the Roma Question in the Media Mirror
type: item
description: The representation of the Roma point of view and the Roma issue in the Bulgarian digital, media, public, cultural and political space is a topic that remains in the shadows even in the most recent history of Bulgaria. This publication will examine how the Roma point of view on the Roma issue falls into the relevant information spaces and whether the Roma point of view is taken into account in other socially significant topics that directly and indirectly affect the Roma as citizens of the country. I will also try to define the terms "Roma perspective" and "Roma issue". In parallel, I will try to examine to what extent the respective "Roma perspectives" on "Roma" and "non-Roma" topics influence the shaping of the narrative of the "Roma issue" and the "Roma perspective". The publication will try to examine how positive or negative stereotypes and expectations about these phenomena are built – both among the larger society and among the Roma community itself as internalized norms and practices. There will also be a specific focus on how Roma opinion leaders and authorities on Roma and non-Roma issues are formed and recognized. Whether popularity in specific digital dimensions or knowledge and experience on a specific topic prevails, whether proximity to the community or distance from it plays a role. A parallel will also be drawn how methods for the representation of the Roma point of view and the Roma issue are multiplied in a populist way on other topics and are applied to the whole society to shape attitudes for action or inaction. References Adichie, C. N. 2009. The Danger of a Single Story. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story. Angelova, R., Dimitrova, M., Yordanova, G., Pamporov, A., i dr. 2020. Obrazovatelni postizhenia na romskite obshtnosti v Bulgaria. Trast za sotsialna alternativa i Global Metrics. Ltd. https://socialachievement.org/web/files/richeditor/dokumenti/Education%20and%20Employment%20survey%20re…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Roma
  topic: keywords
subject: narratives
  topic: keywords
subject: representation
  topic: keywords
subject: stereotypes
  topic: keywords
subject: attitudes
  topic: keywords
subject: perspectives
  topic: keywords
creator: Ognyan Isaev
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2025-08-01
publication date: 2025-08-01
starting page: 245
ending page: 296
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.29.245-296

Internet Memetics as a Code of Communication
type: item
description: The context in which internet memes develop, the development of web 2.0 and the ambitions for web 3.0 are inextricably linked to active participation and interactivity. Anyone with access to a computer and the internet can access free scientific articles, images, music, videos, etc. and create their own (audio)visual creations. The text examines the influence of internet memes on communication and language. The research questions are how communication (on – in the digital space and off-line – live) and linguistics have changed as a result of the influence of internet memes? Can we talk about an (internet) memetic language and what are the differences between memetic language and traditional language rules? How can memetic language systems be translated using concepts from linguistics? What are the results of the influence of internet memes on communication and language? An attempt will be made to answer these questions by examining examples of the influence of internet memes on various areas: 1. Literacy in digital communication. 2. Visual images in the fields of art, graphic and web design, and audio-visual works. 3. Human behavior. References Álvarez, David. 2024. Nostalgia Isn't What it Used to Be: On Vaporwave's Glitched, Aspirational Aesthetics. Iluminace. 36. 107-126. 10.58193/ilu.1788. Baudrillard, J. 1988. Selected Writings, ed. Mark Poster. Stanford, Calif: Stanford Univ. Press Davison, Patrick. 2012. The Language of Internet Memes. 10.18574/nyu/9780814763025.003.0013. Decheva, T. 2025. "Glich-art i fotografskiyat obraz. Deformatsii i schupvane na tsifrovite obrazi". Spisanie Kino. <a href="https://spisaniekino.com/%D0%B3%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%87-%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82-%D0%B8-%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%84%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%8F%D1%82-%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B7-%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8-%D0%B8-%D1%81%D1%87%D1%83%D0%BF%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B5-%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%84%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5-%D…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: digital memetics
  topic: keywords
subject: internet meme
  topic: keywords
subject: online communication
  topic: keywords
subject: memetic language
  topic: keywords
subject: vaporwave
  topic: keywords
creator: Мария Иванова
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2025-08-01
publication date: 2025-08-01
starting page: 214
ending page: 244
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.29.214-244

Virtual (Self-)Exoticisation of Eastern European Identity
type: item
description: This study situates itself within the field of meme culture studies, offering a critical examination of Slavic representations as depicted in the social media channels of the digital brand “Squatting Slavs in Tracksuits”. The analysis focuses on several interrelated aspects: the processes of metaphorization and exoticization of Slavic identity, its association with (post)socialist Eastern European space, and its implicit regional peripheralization. The study is unfolded on three levels: tracing the cultural and historical foundations that have shaped the perception of the Slavic world, reconstructing its contemporary landscape based on the narratives and imagery mobilized in memes, and attempting to contextualize the observed trends within broader frameworks of social and political critique. References Aleksieva, Anna. 2013. „Distsiplinata „slavistika“ – utopii i marginalizatsii“. In: Gazetić, Edisa and Kos, Dženan (eds.) Zbornik radova. Prva međunarodna znanstvena konferencija u oblasti kniževnosti i jezika. Travnik: Univerzitet Edukaciјski fakultet, 295-318. Bergson, Henri. 1996. Smehat (Ese otnosno znachenieto na komichnoto) [Le Rire : essai sur la signification du comique, (Bulgarian translation)] , prev. T. Mineva. Sofia: Izdatelstvo „Sonm“. Bourdieu, Pierre. 1998. La domination masculine. Paris: Seuil. Buchowski, Michal. 2006. “The Specter of Orientalism in Europe: From Exotic Other to Stigmatized Brother”. Anthropological Quarterly, 79 (3), 463-482. Daniel, Ondřej. 2019. “Hardbass: Intersectionality, Music, Social Media and the Far-Right on the European Periphery”. In: Appen, Ralf von and Dunkel, Mario (eds.) (Dis-)Orienting Sounds: Machtkritische Perspektiven auf populäre Musik. Bielefeld: Transcript-Verlag, 153-166. Daniel, Ondřej. 2021. “Vodka, Beer, Papirosy”. Eastern European Working‐class Cultures Mimicry in Contemporary Hardbass”. In: Kölbl, Marko and Trümpi, Fritz (eds.) Music and Democracy: Participatory Approaches, Wien: mdwPress. Dichev, Ivaylo. 20…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: memes
  topic: keywords
subject: slavs
  topic: keywords
subject: exoticisation
  topic: keywords
subject: peripheralization
  topic: keywords
subject: Eastern Europe
  topic: keywords
creator: Zornitsa Petrova Petrova
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2025-08-01
publication date: 2025-08-01
starting page: 193
ending page: 213
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.29.193-213

The City Lights and Christmas Spirit
type: item
description: The polemics surrounding the outdoor Christmas decoration of Sofia at the end of last year placed in the focus of public attention the role of urban design, urban decoration in particular, not only for the shaping of the city’s visual environment but also for the production of festive space. Inspired by Ivaylo Ditchev’s reflections on the city as a stage and the holiday as a media, this case study examines the tensions and conflicts emerging in the process of social production of festive space, brought about by a variety of factors and considerations – aesthetical, political, financial, environmental, commercial, and others – and seeks the projections of these conflicts in the virtual space of the social media, as that is where they have received the widest publicity. The analysis calls into question the initial research hypothesis that the city’s outdoor Christmas decoration is implicated in the political battles for urban space as public space, in other words – for the “right to the city”. References: Dehaene, Michiel and Lieven De Cauter. 2008. “Heterotopia in a postcivil society”. In: Dehaene, Michiel and Lieven De Cauter (eds.). Heterotopia and the City. Public Space in a Postcivil Society. London and New York: Routledge, 3–9. Dichev, Ivaylo. 2005. Prostranstva na zhelanieto, zhelania za prostranstvo. Etyudi po gradska antropologia. Sofia: „Iztok – Zapad“. Dichev, Ivaylo. 2014. „Gradat kato protestna media“. Seminar_BG, 10B (https://www.seminar-bg.eu/spisanie-seminar-bg/broy10b/601-gradat-kato-protestna-media.html, last seen 12.12.2024 г.). Dichev, Ivaylo. 2018. „Praznikat kato media“. Balgarska etnologia/Bulgarian Ethnology/Ethnologia Bulgarica, 2, 167–177. Harvey, David. 2008. “The right to the city”. New Left Review, 53, 23–40. Harvey, David. 2012. Rebel Cities. From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution. London and New York: Verso. Jalonen, Harri. 2014. “Social media – an arena for venting negative emotions”. Online Journal of Communication and Medi…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: outdoor Christmas decoration
  topic: keywords
subject: urban design
  topic: keywords
subject: festive space
  topic: keywords
subject: public space
  topic: keywords
subject: right to the city
  topic: keywords
creator: Svetla Kazalarska
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2025-08-01
publication date: 2025-08-01
starting page: 173
ending page: 192
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.29.173-192

The Digital Infrastructure of Intimacy
type: item
description: The paper presents findings from an empirical study of the ways in which young people appropriate digital space for the purposes of their intimate experiences. The theme of intimate relationships is traced from two perspectives: through the places where they occur (a kind of topography of digital space for everyday use is made, and different territories are conceptualized as arenas of intimacy) and through the specific rituals of intimacy, which respondents conceive through symbolic forms of recognition (e.g. public digital disclosure of the fact of commitment) or symbolic forms of violence (e.g. digital humiliation as a result of jealousy or relationship termination). I define digital arenas and on-stage intimacy as a type of public intimacy specific to the digital space, where the private is made public to specific audiences in order to better understand and appreciate the self and the self in relationship, incorporating the reactions (imagined or real) of others to achieve a richer and more intense sense of intimacy. References Alberoni, F. 1981. Le choc amoureux. Paris: Ramsay. Bevan, J. L. 2013. The Communication of Jealousy. New York: Peter Lang. Boyd, D. 2014. It’s Complicated. New Haven and London : Yale Yniversity Press. Brody, N., LeFebvre, L. E, Blackburn, K. G. 2017. "Post-Dissolution. Surveillance on Social Networking Sites", In: Punyanunt-Carter, N. M., Wrench, J. S. (Eds.). The Impact of Social Media in Modern Romantic Relationships. London: Lexington Books, 237-257. Casilli, A. 2010. Les liaisons numériques. Vers une nouvelle sociabilité?. Paris: Seuil. Fox, J., Warber, K. M., Makstaller, D. C. 2013. "The Role of Facebook in Romantic Relationship Development: An Exploration of Knapp’s Relational Stage Model". Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 30, 771-794. Fox, J., Warber, K. M. 2013. "Romantic Relationship Development in the Age of Facebook: An Exploratory Study of Emerging Adults’ Perceptions, Motives and Behaviors". Cyberpsychology, Beh…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: digital love and intimacy
  topic: keywords
subject: social networks
  topic: keywords
subject: intimacy on stage
  topic: keywords
subject: arenas of intimacy
  topic: keywords
subject: digital ritualization of intimate relationship
  topic: keywords
creator: Niya Neykova
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2025-08-01
publication date: 2025-08-01
starting page: 147
ending page: 172
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.29.147-172

New Year's Programs of National Televisions in Bulgaria in the Period 2000-2024
type: item
description: The study is an opportunity to answer the question, what is changing in the ways of celebration shown on television in the New Year's Eve program after 2000 until 2024, when directors, producers, writers, actors and television owners have no prescriptions on what ideological tasks to perform and have the freedom to create how to celebrate the New Year in the new program? The text presents the results of the research on the choice of the creators of the New Year's Eve program in the television “canon” of the Bulgarian National Television and the two private national TV channels - bTV and Nova TV in the period 2000-2024. The paper shows the mechanism of how the four main elements of the New Year's Eve celebration are established from the square to the television: the speech of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, the anthem, the Danube Horo and Mnogaya Leta. The study shows that with the elements of the old ideological system before 1990, TV stations built a new commercial product such as the New Year's Eve TV program, and from the TV sketches with political satire after 2000 some future politicians were born. References Angelova, Vyara. 2018. "Forming the 'Socialist nation' through television (1960-1980) in Bulgaria. TV programs for children". Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, 34. ISSN (online):1314-4464. https://rhetoric.bg/contributors-3 Dimov, Ventsislav. 2019а. Muzikata za Naroda na mediiniya front (Mekata vlast na narodnata i populyarna muzika v sotscialisticheska Bulgaria. Sofia. UI “Sv.Kl.Ohridski”. Dimov, Ventsislav. 2019b. “Za nykoi mediini metamorphozi (kak “chalgari” stavat “lideri na grazhdanski kauzi”)” Medialog, 5, 8-31. Ditchev, Ivailo. 2019. Kulturni sceni na politicheskoto. Sofia: Prosveta Doncheva, Kristina. 2018. “Christmas and New Year between the Private and the Public”, Balgarska etnologia/ Bulgarian Ethnology, 3, 309-325 Georgieva, Valentina. 2017. "Bolnitca za ljubov", Seminar_BG, 17. https://seminar-bg.eu/spisanie-seminar-bg/broy17…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: political satire
  topic: keywords
subject: entertainment
  topic: keywords
subject: democracy
  topic: keywords
subject: media
  topic: keywords
creator: Zhana Popova
rights: Copyright (c) 2025
date: 2025-08-01
publication date: 2025-08-01
starting page: 117
ending page: 146
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.29.117-146

Old Bulgarian Art - What Is It?
type: item
description: The study is dedicated to nationalist disputes in the field of art history. It traces the historical formation of the concept of “Old Bulgarian art” against the background of Balkan polemics regarding the medieval cultural heritage of the geographical region of Macedonia. The ways in which political causes have shaped basic theses and arguments in Bulgarian and, more generally, in Balkan art history ar critically analyzed. The study also reveals the direct participation of Bulgarian and Balkan art historians and archaeologists in state policies, especially during wartime periods, when scientific expertise was mobilized to justify military occupations and to substantiate territorial claims. References Adashinskaya, Anna. 2022. “Renaissances in Byzantium and Byzantium in the Renaissance. The International Development of Ideas and Terminology in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Europe”. In: Kallestrup, Shona et al. (eds.) Periodization in the Art Historiographies of Central and Eastern Europe. New York, London: Routledge, 31–47. Aleksandrov, Lyubomir. 1948. „Prichini za upadaka na gr. Melnik“. Geografski pregled, 4–5: 43–46. [in Bulgarian] Angelov, Svetozar. 2018. „Prof. Ivan Duychev i misiyata mu v Kostur prez 1941 g.“. V: Universitetski chetenia po arhivistika, VI. Sofia: David, 109–126. [in Bulgarian] Antonova, Klemena. 2012. „Stenopisite ot Boyanskata tsarkva v balgarskata nauchna literatura (Oshte edin pogled varhu problema za Renesansa)“. Hristiyanstvo i kultura, 8 (75): 43–58. [in Bulgarian] Azmanov, Dimitar. 1995. Moyata epoha 1878–1919. Sofia: Sv. Georgi Pobedonosets. [in Bulgarian] Bakalova, Elka. 2007. „Srabskite ucheni za monumentalnata tsarkovna zhivopis ot XV vek v Bulgaria“. Zbornik radova Vizantoloshkog instituta, XLIV: 493–518. [in Bulgarian] Bakalova, Elka. 2012. “Art History in Bulgaria: Institutional Frameworks, Research Directions and Individual Scholars”. In: Rampley, Matthew et al. (eds.) Art History and Visual Studies in Europe. Tran…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: art history
  topic: keywords
subject: old Bulgarian art
  topic: keywords
subject: medieval heritage
  topic: keywords
subject: wars
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subject: Macedonia
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creator: Tchavdar Marinov
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2025-08-01
publication date: 2025-08-01
starting page: 3
ending page: 86
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.29.3-86

The Contours of the Post-public Sphere
type: item
description: The text focuses on discussions about the crisis of the public sphere in the context of the transition from traditional to new media. It traces some key theses related to the deformations of publicity and the new mechanisms of forming audiences and public opinion. It examines the possibility of conceptualizing a new, post-public sphere, which is a negation of Habermas's idea of publicity, but at the same time functions as a tool for understanding and analyzing the communicative situation in the post-truth era. References: Beckman, Frida. 2022. The Paranoid Chronotope: Power, Truth, Identity. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. Benhabib, Seyla. 1997. “The Embattled Public Sphere: Hannah Arendt, Juergen Habermas and beyond”. Theoria, 44: 1–24. doi: 10.3167/th.1997.449002 Bennett, Lance and Pfetsch, Barbara. 2018. Rethinking Political Communication in a Time of Disrupted Public Spheres. Journal of Communication, 68 (2): 243–253. Blumler, Jay. 2018. “The Crisis of Public Communication 1995-2017”. Javnost – The Public, 25(1–2): 83–92. Castells, Manuel. 2009. Communication Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Cohen, Julie. 2019. Between Truth and Power: The Legal Constructions of Informational Capitalism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Cosentino, Gabriele. 2020. Social Media and the Post-truth World Order: The Global Dynamics of Disinformation. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave MacMillan. Crouch, Colin. 2004. Post-Democracy. Cambridge: Polity Press. Crouch, Colin. 2019. “Post-Democracy and Populism”. The Political Quarterly. 90(1): 124–137. Davies, William. 2021. “Anti-Equivalence: Pragmatics of Post-Liberal Dispute”. European Journal of Social Theory, 24 (1): 44–64. doi: 10.1177/1368431020945841 Dean, Jodi. 2003. “Why the Net is Not a Public Sphere”. Constellations, 10: 95–112. doi: 10.1111/1467-8675.00315 Habermas, Yurgen. 1995. Strukturni izmenenia na publichnostta. Sofia: UI „Sv. Kl. Ohridski. Habermas, Yurgen, 2023. Edno novo strukturno izmenenie na…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: public sphere
  topic: keywords
subject: new media
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subject: social networks
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subject: post truth
  topic: keywords
creator: Silvia Petrova
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2025-08-01
publication date: 2025-08-01
starting page: 104
ending page: 116
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.29.104-116

Clouds on the Horizon
type: item
description: In recent years, more and more authors have analyzed the role of digital media in politics by resorting to comparisons with feudalism. These authors come from different national contexts and from different disciplines such as anthropology, economics, political science, etc. This article attempts to initially systematize these comparisons with the feudal era by outlining two main approaches. The first approach introduces the concept of “platform feudalism” to describe the power relations between digital platforms (for communication or commerce) and their users. The second approach speaks of “technofeudalism” to describe the power relations between corporations, their users and the state. The first approach examines in depth the historical rise of new digital platforms, as well as the practices of their users and their consequences for the public sphere. The second approach examines the transition from platform power to infrastructure dominance of some platforms (AWS, Google and Microsoft) and follows the first chronologically because it analyzes precisely the more recent focus of these companies on the cloud as a service and as a key prerequisite for training Artificial Intelligence. After outlining these two fields of analysis, the article comments on how states respond to the power claims of technoplatforms in an attempt to protect (with greater or lesser success) their digital sovereignty. Attempts to find alternative solutions by states, however, are also not without problems, because the role of democratic participation in them is so far minimal. Thus, the digital transformations of our time and the new race to build a digital infrastructure on a global scale hang like a cloud over democracy. References: Baur, A. 2023. European Dreams of the Cloud: Imagining Innovation and Political Control. Geopolitics, 29(3), 796–820. Biesecker, M., Mednick, S., and Burke, G. 2025. As Israel uses US-made AI models in war, concerns arise about tech’s role in who lives and who d…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: platform feudalism
  topic: keywords
subject: technofeudalism
  topic: keywords
subject: cloud
  topic: keywords
subject: digital sovereignty
  topic: keywords
creator: Julia Rone
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Seminar_BG https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
date: 2025-08-01
publication date: 2025-08-01
starting page: 87
ending page: 103
doi: 10.60054/SBG.2025.29.87-103