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.
The Path from Artist to Theorist and Back
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 years of allotment gardens in Poland. Food & Foodways, 12(4), 247–276. https://doi.org/10.1080/07409710490893793 Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511812507 Bourdieu, P. (1980). Le mort saisit le vif. Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, 32–33, 3–14. https://doi.org/10.3406/arss.1980.2077 Bourdieu, P. (1986). The Forms of Capital. In J. Richardson (ed.), Handbook for the Sociology of Education (pp. 241–258). New York: Greenwood Press. Brenner, N., Peck, J., and Theodore, N. (2010). After neoliberalization?, Globalizations, 7(3), 327–345. Bundzhulov, A. (2003). Kakvo vaznikva na myastoto na? Izkustveni stavi i mrezhi pri sotsializma. Sotsiologicheski problemi, 1–2, 87–105. Daněk, P., Jehlička, P., and Smith, J. (2022). Urban gardening as multifunctional practice: Food, leisure and care. Geoforum, 128, 1–10. Deyanov, D. (2003). Obshtestvoto na mrezhite i sotsioanaliza na dara (Pierre Bourdieu i Ivo Možný). Sotsiologicheski problemi, 1–2, 72–86. Ditchev, I. (2003). Usyadaneto na nomadskiya komunizam. Sotsialisticheskata urbanizatsiya i formite na grazhdanstvo. Sotsiologicheski problemi, 3–4, 33–63. Ditchev, I. (2005). Prostranstva na zhelanieto, zhelanie za prostranstvo. Sofia: LIK. Djokić, V., et al. (2018). Everyday practices in socialist housing estates: Informality and appropriation of space. Cities, 74, 20–28. Foucault, M. (1986). Of Other Spaces (trans. Jay Miskowiec). Diacritics, 16(1), 22–27. https://doi.org/10.2307/464648 Foucault, M. (1998). Nadzor i nakazanie. Razhdaneto na zatvora. Sofia: Universitetsko izdatelstvo “Sv. Kliment Ohridski”. Galoș, D., and S. Medeșan. (2022). From Temporary Spatial Practices to Permanent Architectural Forms.The Case of “La Terenuri” from Mănăștur Neighborhood, Cluj-Napoca. Studies in History and Theory of Architecture, 10, 169–178. https://doi.org/10.54508/sITA.10.13. Gill, S. E., Handley, J. F., Ennos, A. R., and Pauleit, S. (2007). Adapting cities for climate change: The role of green infrastructure. Built Environment, 33(1), 115–133. Lefebvre, H. (2000). La production de l’espace. Paris: Anthropos. Mauss, M. (2001). Darat. Forma i osnovanie za obmena v arhaichnite obshtestva. Sofia: Kritika i humanizam. McClintock, N. (2014). Radical, reformist, and garden-variety neoliberal: Coming to terms with urban agriculture’s contradictions. Local Environment, 19(2), 147–171. Nikolova, N., and Georgieva, M. (2003). Vaplatenata istoriya na nastoyashteto: transformatsiya na mrezhovite kapitali. Sotsiologicheski problemi, 1–2, 217–234. Parusheva, D., Marcheva, I., and Zlatkova, M. (2010). Tinkering in Daily Life: People, State and Social(ist) Housing in Bulgaria. Études balkaniques, 3, 69–91. Petrov, P., and Ganeva-Raycheva, V. (eds.). (2021). Rasteniya i hora: Priblizheniya kam biokulturnite vrazki. Sofia: Institut za etnologiya i folkloristika s Etnografski muzey – BAN. Pickard, D. (2020). Naglasi na mestnata vlast i grazhdanskite aktori za razvitieto na Sofia kato zelen grad chrez gradsko zemedelie. Sotsiologicheski problemi, 52(2), 575–595. Pickard, D., Koleva, G., Draganova, M., Chengelova, E., Nakova, A., Stoyanova, Z., Tsvetkov, P., and Toleva-Nowak, N. (Eds.). (2022). Urban agriculture for improving the quality of life: Examples from Bulgaria. Springer Nature Switzerland AG. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94742-2 Raychev, A. (2003). Genezis, mutatsiya i degeneratsiya na vtorite mrezhi. Sotsiologicheski problemi, 1–2, 5–13. Sovová, L., and Krylová, R. (2019). The Countryside in the City? Rural-Urban Dynamics in Allotment Gardens in Brno, Czech Republic. Moravian Geographical Reports 27(2): 108–121. https://doi.org/10.2478/mgr-2019-0009. Sukarev, V. (2023). Plovdivskata obshtina i izgrazhdaneto na gradskata i turisticheskata infrastruktura, 1944–1990 g. Prouchvane varhu institutsionalnata, stopanskata i vseкидневnata istoriya na Plovdiv. Plovdiv: Akademichno izdatelstvo na AU – Plovdiv. Țânțaș, M. D. (2012). Grădinar de București. Grădinile urbane din cartierul Pajura – studiu de caz. Master diss., Bucharest: Școala Națională de Studii Politice și Administrative, Facultatea de Ştiinte Politice. Zlatkova, M. (2012). Etnosotsiologiya na grada. Po primera na grad Plovdiv. Plovdiv: Universitetsko izdatelstvo “Paisii Hilendarski”. Zlatkova, M. (2015). Gardening the City: Neighbourliness and appropriation of the common spaces in Bulgaria. Colloquia Humanistica, 57, 41–60. https://doi.org/10.11649/ch.2015.012 Zrnić, V. (2018). City-making through urban gardening: public space and civic engagement in Zagreb (with T. Rubić), Narodna umjetnost, 55(1), 159-179.
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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 gradina v Burgas mezhdu brand na grada i konstrukt na lokalna identichnost: Gradskata priroda kato ideologiya, myasto, pamet. Seminar_BG, 30, 30–61. Gandy, M. (2022). Natura urbana: Ecological constellations in urban space. Cambridge: MIT Press. Georgiev, K. (2025). Ekopateki v syankata na kombinata: traektorii na prirodata v postindustrialen Iztochen Sibir. Seminar_BG, 30, 135–162. Haase, D., Dushkova, D., Haase, A., & Kronenberg, J. (2017). Green infrastructure in post-socialist cities: Evidence and experience from Eastern Germany, Poland and Russia. In T. Tuvikene, W. Sgibnev, & C. Neugebauer (eds.), Post-socialist urban infrastructures. Abingdon: Routledge. Hunold, C. (2017). Why not the city? Urban hawk watching and the end of nature. Nature and Culture, 12(2), 115–136. https://doi.org/10.3167/nc.2017.120202 Ingold, T. (2000). The perception of the environment: Essays on livelihood, dwelling and skill. (2002 ed.). Taylor & Francis e-Library. Kaneva, R. (2024). Zelenoto nasledstvo na balgarskite gradove. In I. Kabakov (ed.), Kulturnata pamet na grada (pp. 120–147). Universitetsko izdatelstvo “Sv. Kliment Ohridski”. Karadzhov, V. (2025). Gradski ekopark „Badelema“ – badeshte (ne)vazmozhno. Seminar_BG, 30, 62–104. Kartsellin, V. (2025). Gradskite ugari: teritorii na vaobrazhenieto i zabravata. Seminar_BG, 30, 13–29. Mabey, R. (1973). The unofficial countryside. London: Collins. Smith, N. (2006). Foreword. In N. Heynen, M. Kaika, & E. Swyngedouw (eds.), In the nature of cities: Urban political ecology and the politics of urban metabolism. Taylor & Francis e-Library. Steel, W., & Maller, C. (2019). More-than-human cities: Where the wild things are. Geoforum, 106, 411–415. Wang, J. (2024). Reimagining the more-than-human city: Stories from Singapore. Cambridge: MIT Press.
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. 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Durham: Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822371786. Gandy, M. (2006). Urban Nature and the Ecological Imaginary. In N. Heynen, M. Kaika, & E. Swyngedouw (еds.), In the Nature of Cities: Urban Political Ecology and the Politics of Urban Metabolism (pp. 62–72). London and New York: Routledge. Gandy, M. (2014). The Fabric of Space: Water, Modernity, and the Urban Imagination. Boston: The MIT Press. Garnizov, V. (2008) Ot ekologichen determinizam kam novi ekologii [From ecological determinism to new ecologies]. In: V. Garnizov and Ts. Lazova (eds) Lovtsi na umove. Lektsii po antropologiya, v. 3. (pp. 11-45). Sofia: New Bulgarian University. Georgiev, K. Forthcoming. Garazhniki: Gleaning, Trading, and Improvising in a Postindustrial Monotown. Graeber, D. (2001). Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value: The False Coin of Our Own Dreams. New York: Palgrave. Guentcheva, R. (2015). Napravi si sam muzei na sotsializma [DIY Museum of Socialism]. 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Nature's Role in the Experience of Digital Nomads
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 registriranite po postoyanen i po nastoyasht adres litsa v oblast BLAGOEVGRAD obshtina BANSKO. https://www.grao.bg/tna/isnt41nm-15-09-2023-2.txt [15.12.2025]. Kastels, M. (2006). Informatsionnata epoha: ikonomika, obshtestvo i kultura, t. II, Silata na identichnostta. Sofia: LIK. Kozinets, R. (2015). Netnography: Redefined. London: Sage. doi.org/10.1002/9781118767771.wbiedcs067 Kyurkchiev, S. (2019). Psihologicheski ekspertizi i grizhata za sebe si. Sofia: Iztok-Zapad. Makimoto, T., & Manners, D. (1997). Digital nomad. Chichester: Wiley. Miller, D. (2023). The Good Enough Life. Cambridge: Polity Press. Modi, Priyanka. 2023. Bansko Families Foster Outdoor Learning: Creating Classrooms in the Forest. Educationnext. https://educationnext.in/posts/bansko-families-foster-outdoor-learning-creating-classrooms-in-the-forest [22.12.2025] Molz, J. (2021). The World Is Our Classroom: Extreme Parenting and the Rise of Worldschooling. New York: New York University Press. doi:10.18574/nyu/9781479891689.001.0001 Obshtina Bansko. (2023). Naredba za spetsifichni iziskvaniya kam oblika na gradskite prostranstva, sgradite i arhitekturnite ansambli na teritoriyata na grad Bansko. Orel, M. (2019). Coworking environments and digital nomadism: balancing work and leisure whilst on the move. World Leisure Journal, 61(3), 215–227. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16078055.2019.1639275 Orel, M. (2023). Wanderlust workforce: a journey into understanding digital nomadism. World Leisure Journal, 65(2), 143–149. Pacheco, C., & Azevedo, A. (2022). Mapping the journey of the CoLiving experience of digital nomads, using verbal and visual narratives. World Leisure Journal, 65(2), 192–217. doi:10.1080/16078055.2022.2156593 Radonova, M. (2018). V podnozhieto na Perun. Sofia: Zahariy Stoyanov. Šímová, T. (2023). A research framework for digital nomadism: a bibliometric study. World Leisure Journal, 65(2), 175–191. doi.org/10.1080/16078055.2023.2210017 Soper, K. (2020). The Post-Growth Living. London: Verso. Toivanen, M. (2025). The Freedom Paradox: Meanings and Configurations of Digital Nomadic Work. International Migration Review, 60(1), 22-45. doi:10.1177/01979183251314848 Vogl, T., & Micek, G. (2023). Work-leisure concepts and tourism: Studying the relationship between hybrid coworking spaces and the accommodation industry in peripheral areas of Germany. World Leisure Journal, 65(2), 276–298. doi.org/10.1080/16078055.2023.2208081 Voll, K., Gauger, F., & Pfnür, A. (2022). Work from anywhere: Traditional workation, coworkation and workation retreats: A conceptual review. World Leisure Journal, 65(2), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/16078055.2022.2134199 Woldoff, R. A., & Litchfield, R. C. (2021). Digital nomads: in search of freedom, community, and meaningful work in the new economy. New York: Oxford University Press. Zumbusch, J., & Lalicic, L. (2020). The role of co-living spaces in digital nomads’ well-being. Information Technology & Tourism, 22, 439–453. doi:10.1007/s40558-020-00182-2
Urban Ecopark “Badelema” – Future (Im)Possible
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 (kulturni politiki i praktiki). Byuletin „Nasledstvo BG“ – Nauchni izvestiya, 1, 57–63. Hirt, S. (2013). Whatever Happened to the (Post)socialist City?. Cities 32(1), S29-S38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2013.04.010. Ignatov, V. (2013). Ot Stanimaka do Shtatite. Prezhivelitsi. Plovdiv: Fast print book. Kalinkov, K. (2010). Funktsionalniya podhod v ustroystvoto i razvitieto na gradovete. Nauka i ikonomika, 82, 7–64. Kaneva, R. (2024). Zelenoto nasledstvo na balgarskite gradove. In I. Kabakov (ed.), Kulturnata pamet na grada (pp. 120–147). Sofia: Universitetsko izdatelstvo „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“. Krastev, A. (2004). Obshtinskite saveti i kmetove na Asenovgrad. Asenovgrad: Ekobelan. Lefebre, H. (1996). Writings on Cities. Oxford: Blackwell. Markov, K. (2013). 130 godini Lovno-ribarsko druzhestvo „Sokol“ – Asenovgrad. Asenovgrad: Ekobelan. Naskova, P., & Georgieva, P. (2025). Savremenni predizvikatelstva pred ozelenyavaneto v gradska sreda. E-Journal VFU, 23: 1–12. Petrov, P. (2019). Rekonstruktsiya i obnovyavane na sgradi i gradski prostranstva [avtoreferat na disertatsionen trud, Nov balgarski universitet]. https://eprints.nbu.bg/id/eprint/4139/1/арх.%20Петър%20Петров%20-%20Avtoreferat.pdf. [20.12.2025]. Petrov, Ts., & Petrova, E. (1984). Uchebna ekologichna baza. Obshtinski naroden savet – Asenovgrad, Okrazhna stantsiya na mladite agrobiolozi – Plovdiv, OU „Hr. Botev“ – Asenovgrad. Shishkova, D. (2020). Struktura na konflikta v sluchaya Bedechka. Fizicheski i kognitivni izmereniya na sotsialnata mrezha. Sotsiologicheski problemi, 52(2), 624–647. Slaev, A., & Hirt., S. (2022). Planning, Pluralism, Markets: Experiences from Post-Socialist Varna, Planning Theory & Practice, 23(3), 461-475, https://doi.org/10.1080/14649357.2022.2061774. Stanchev, H. (2003). Ah, tezi asenovgradchani. Asenovgrad: Ekobelan. Steward, J. (1955). Theory of Culture Change: The Methodology of Multilinear Evolution. Champaign: University of Illinois Press. Tsenkova, S. (2006). Beyond transitions: Understanding urban change in post-socialist cities. In S. Tsenkova & Z. Nedović-Budić (eds.), The Urban Mosaic of Post-Socialist Europe. Contributions to Economics. Physica-Verlag HD. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-7908-1727-9_2. Vasileva, A., & Kaleva, E. (2013). Balgarskiyat postsotsialisticheski grad: transformatsiya na publichnoto prostranstvo, globalizatsiya i identichnost. Kritika i humanizam, 42(1-2), 95–109. Venkov, N. (2012). Grazhdanskoto obshtestvo i Zhenskiya pazar. Sofia: Izsledovatelski tsentar za sotsialni nauki.
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 (Miskowiec, J. Trans.). Diacritics, 16(1), 22-27. https://doi.org/10.2307/464648. Gandy, M. (2002). Concrete and Clay Reworking Nature in New York City. Cambridge: MIT Press. Gandy, M. (2022). Natura Urbana: Ecological Constellations in Urban Space. Cambridge: MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/10658.001.0001. Haraway, D. (2016). Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Durham: Duke University Press. Jencks, C. (1993). Heteropolis. Los Angeles: The Riots and the Strange Beauty of Hetero-Architecture. London: Academy Editions. Kowarik, I. (1992). Das Besondere der städtischen Flora und Vegetation. Schriftenreihe des Deutschen Rates für Landespflege 61, „Natur in der Stadt – ein Beitrag der Landespflege zur Stadtentwicklung“, 33–47. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ingo-Kowarik/publication/259364097_Das_Besondere_der_stadtischen_Vegetation/links/0deec52b347dc630c6000000/Das-Besondere-der-staedtischen-Vegetation.pdf [15.12.2025] Kozak, W. (2024). How to Uncover and Nurture Potential Hidden in Empty Spaces? Multiplying Perspectives through the Construction of a Counter-Archive 2024. [Master’s thesis] https://www.politesi.polimi.it/handle/10589/217557 [15.12.2025] Lefebvre, H. (1974). The Production of Space. Oxford: Blackwell. Lefebvre, H. (2004). Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life. London: Continuum. Locke, J. (1690). An Essay concerning Human Understanding. London: Dent. Mariani, M., & Barron, P. (еds.). (2014). Terrain Vague: Interstices at the Edge of the Pale. London: Routledge. Soja, E. W. (1989). Postmodern Geographies: The Reassertion of Space in Critical Social Theory. London: Verso. Solà-Morales, Ig. (1995). Terrain Vague. In C. Davidson (ed.). Anyplace. Cambridge: MIT Press, 118–123. Stanilov, K. (2007). The Post-Socialist City: Urban Form and Space Transformations in Central and Eastern Europe after Socialism. Dordrecht: Springer Verlag. Till, J. (2009). Architecture Depends. Cambridge: MIT Press. Tsing, A. (2015). The Mushroom at the End Of The World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Schnier, D., Ziehl, M., Osswald, S. & Hasemann, O. (еds.). (2012). Second Hand Spaces: Recycling Sites Undergoing Urban Transformation. Über das Recyceln von Orten im städtischen Wandel. Berlin: Jovis Verlag.
The Sea Garden in Burgas between a City Brand and a Construct of Local Identity
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 Blackwell. Massey, D. (1995). Places and their pasts. History Workshop Journal, 39: 182-192. Nikolov, St. (2008). Otnovo moyat malak svyat – Burgas. Burgas: Bozhich. Raev, G. (1991). „Bulevardat“. Chernomorski far, 5 (88), 30.05.1991. Raychevski, St. (2011). Stariyat Burgas. Sofia: Zahariy Stoyanov. Simeonov, D. (2008). Burgas – pogled otvatre. Burgas: Znatsi. Wiedmann, F., and Salama, A. M. (2012). The role of architecture in producing urban qualities for sustainability: Implications for the future of architectural education. In The Proceedings of The Malaysia Architectural Education Conference (pp. 20-26). Serdang: Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Red Songs, Blue Patches, Bright Presence on a Grey Background
Copyright (c) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.bg
The Relationship between Music and Politics on the Macedonian Cultural Scene in the Last Decade
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 on Rock and Roll in American Culture“. Social Text, 2: 104–126. Јordanovska, Meri. 2015. „Skopјe 2014 dostigna nad 600 milioni evra“. Prizma : internet stranitsa, za promotsiјa i јakneњe na istrazhuvachkoto novinarstvo. (last seen 7.01.2023.). Kundera, Milan. 1990. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. New York: Penguin. Levi, Kler. 2012. Muzikalnata parodia v kraya na 20 i nachaloto na 21 vek. Sofia: Institut za izsledvane na izkustvata–BAN. Middleton, Richard. 2013. Voicing the Popular: On the Subjects of Popular Music. London, New York: Rutledge. Mišina, Dalibor. 2013. Shake, Rattle and Roll: Yugoslav Rock Music and the Poetics of Social Critique. Ashgate. Papazova, Julijana. 2017. Alternative Rock in Yugoslavia 1980-1991. Berlin: LAP. Papazova, Julijana. 2018. „Poglednaženskost v ustvarjalnostiskladareljic v Republiki Makedoniji“. In: Stefanija, Leon, Bogunović Hočevar, Katarina (eds.). Ženskost v glasbiskladateljic po 1918 Pogledinekaterihmanjšihglasbenih kultur Evrope. Femininity in the female music since 1918 Views of some smaller musical cultures in Europe. Ljubljana: University, Faculty of Philosophy, 39–54. Papazova, Јuliјana. 2016. „Meѓu muzikata i memoriјata: dozhivuvaњe na proektot „Skopјe 2014“. In: Todorchevska, Jelitsa i Opetcheska-Tatarchevska Ivona (ured.) Zbornik na Strushka muzichka esen – 40 godini „Strushka muzichka esen“, Memoriјa i perspektivi. Skopјe: SOKOM, 155–165. Peycheva, Lozanka (sast. i red.) 2020. Mekata vlast na populyarnata muzika v mediite (po primeri ot Bulgaria i Balkanite). Sofia: UI „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“. Rosić, Branko. 2015. „Mustra za revoluciju, SrđaPopović“. Nedeljnik, 193: 55. Schiffer, Sheldon. 2010. „The Cover Song as Historiography, Marker of Ideological Transformation“. In: Plasketes George (ed.) Play it Again: Cover Songs in Popular Music. Ashgate, 77–98. Street, John. 2001. „Rock, Pop and Politics“. In: Frith, Simon, Straw, Will, Street, John (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 243–255.
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, Ana. 2010. “Kafana Singers: Popular Music, Gender and Subjectivity In The Cultural Space Of Socialist Yugoslavia”. Narodna umjetnost, 47/1: 141–161. Horkhaymer, Maks i Teodor Adorno. 1999. „Kulturnata industria. Prosveshtenieto kato masova izmama“. V: Dialektika na Prosveshtenieto. Sofia: Gal-Iko, 151–207. Krastev, Veselin. 1959. „Balgarskata muzika ot 20-te godini do 9 septemvri 1944 g.“. Muzika, 5– 6: 10–13. MacDonald, Dwight. 1957 (1976*). „A Theory of Mass Culture“. Mass Culture, Giencoe, 59 Parov, F. „Estraden kontsert na ansambala na MVR“. Muzika, 3: 49. Pipkov, Lyubomir. 1952. „Doklad za sastoyanieto na nashata muzika ot 9-ti septemvri 1944 g. do dnes“. Muzika, 1: 11. Todorov, Veselin. 2007. Rock ‘n’ Roll ot tamnata strana na zemyata. Sofia: Siela. Vuchkov, Yuliyan. 1963. „Psihologia na magnetofonnata mladezh“. Plamak, 1: 144–152. Znepolski, Ivaylo. 2008. Balgarskiyat komunizam. Sotsiokulturni cherti i vlastova traektoria. Sofia: IIBM, Otvoreno obshtestvo, Siela.
Hip-hop Crossroads of the Popular, Political and Funny in Media Music from Bulgaria
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 Phenomenon of Alternative Journalism / Болгарская „хип-хоп” музыка как феномен альтернативной журналистики”. В: Сергеева, Т. С. (ред.). Медиаобразы в современном информационном пространстве. Казань: Казанский федеральный университет, 25–52. Dimov, Ventsislav. 2014. „Treska v delnichna vecher (Za mediynata sila na pesenta v edin ne samo akustichen svyat)“. In: Angelova, Vyara, Neykova, Maria, Popova, Zhana (sast., red.) Radio, razkaz, rech. Yubileen sbornik v chest na prof. dsn Snezhana Popova. Sofia: UI „Sv. Kliment Ohridski”, 35–47. Du Gay, Paul, Hall, Stuart; Janes, Linda, Koed Madsen, Anders, Mackay, Hugh and Negus, Keith. 2013. Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman. London: SAGE. Fiske, John. 1995. „Popular Culture“. In: Lentrichia, Frank, McLaughlin, Thomas (eds.) Critical Terms for Literary Study. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 321–335. Frith, Simon. 1983. Sound Effects: Youth, Leisure and the Politics of Rock ’n’ Roll. London: Constable. Groys, Boris. 2014. Kommunisticheskiy postskriptum. Moskva: Ad Marginem Press Guins, Raiford, Cruz, Omayra Zaragoza (eds.) 2005. Popular Culture. A Reader. London: SAGE Publications. Hall, Stuart. 2005. „Notes on Deconstructing The Popular“. In: Guins, Raiford, Cruz, Omayra Zaragoza (eds.) Popular Culture. London: Sage, 64–71. Laclau, Ernesto. 2005. On Populist Reason. London: Verso. Middleton, Richard. 1990. Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. Mitchell, Tony (ed.). 2001. Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press. Negus, Keith. 1999. Music Genres and Corporate Cultures. London and New York: Routledge. Pasi, Isak. 2001. Smeshnoto. Sofia: IK Trud. Petkov, Vladislav. 2023. „Otvad populizma: kazusat „Pesen za Lena““. Seminar_BG, 26. Peycheva, Lozanka. 2019. „Narodniyat duh“ v avtorskite pesni ot Bulgaria. Sofia: UI „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“. Rayzhekova, Gergana. 2019. Nevidimiyat rok. Alternativnata rok stsena v Bulgaria. Sofia: Intervyu pres. Rikyor, Pol. 1994. Zhivata metafora. Sofia: LIK. Shuker, Roy. 2001. Understanding Popular Music. London and New York: Routledge. Shuker, Roy. 2005. Popular Music. The Key Concepts. London and New York: Routledge. Spasov, Orlin. 2011. „Mediite i politikata: zalezat na chetvartata vlast?“ V: Lozanov, Georgi, Spasov, Orlin (sast.) Mediite i politikata. Sofia: Fondatsia „Mediyna demokratsia“, 221–240. Tagg, Philip.1982. „Analysing Popular Music“. Popular Music, 2: 37–67. Vaysova, Lea. 2023. „Politiki na kontserta: ili kak politicheska partia „Ima takav narod“ specheli sartsata na glasopodavatelite?“. Seminar_BG, 26. Vernallis, Carol. 2013. Unruly Media: YouTube, Music Video, and the New Digital Cinema. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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 and Critique: The Political Co-Option of Popular Contemporary Satire”. In: Davis, Milner J. (ed.) Satire and Politics. London: Palgrave Studies in Comedy, 73-102. Kuipers, Giselinde. 2015. “Satire and Dignity”. In: Drees, Marijke and de Leeuw, Sonja (ed.) The Power of Satire. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 19–32. Laclau, Ernesto and Mouffe, Chantal. 1985. Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. New York and London: Verso. Laclau, Ernesto. 2005. “Populism: What’s in a Name?”. In: Panizza, Francisco (ed.) Populism and the Mirror of Democracy. New York and London: Verso, 32–50. Machin, Tim. 2010. Analysing Popular Music. Image, Sound, Text. London: SAGE Publications. Moffitt, Benjamin. 2016. The Global Rise of Populism: Performance, Political Style, and Representation. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Ostiguy, Pierre. 2017. “Populism: A Socio-Cultural Approach”. In: Kaltwasser, Cristóbal, Taggart, Paul A., Espejo, Paulina O., Ostiguy, Pierre (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Populism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 104–133 . Oswell, David. 2006. Culture and Society. An Introduction to Cultural Studies. London: SAGE Publications. Petkov, Vladislav. 2017. „BeGevizia: izbori i referendum kato muzikalna klasatsia“. Seminar_BG, 14. Petkov, Vladislav. 2022. “Dzhipka TV: kulturni izmerenia na zhivite vklyuchvania na Boyko Borisov vav Feysbuk”. Seminar_BG, 21. Rolfe, Mark. 2017. “The Populist Elements of Australian Political Satire and the Debt to the Americans and the Augustans”. In: Davis, Milner J. (ed.) Satire and Politics. London: Palgrave Studies in Comedy, 37-72.Simpson, Paul. 2003. On the Discourse of Satire. Towards a Stylistic Model of Satirical Humour. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing. Statelova, Rozmari. 2003. Sedemte gryaha na chalgata. Kam antropologia na etnopop muzikata. Sofia: Prosveta. Way, Lyndon and Mckerrell, Simon. 2017. “Understanding Music as Multimodal Discourse”. In: Way, Lyndon and Mckerrell, Simon (ed.) Music as Multimodal Discourse. Semiotics, Power and Protest. London and New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. Way, Lyndon. 2016. “Protest Music, Populism, Politics and Authenticity. The Limits and Potential of Popular Music’s Articulation of Subversive Politics”. Journal of Language and Politics, 15 (4): 422–445. Wodak, Ruth. 2015. The Politics of Fear: What Right-Wing Populist Discourses Mean. London: SAGE Publications.
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, Samokovska, Irina, Tsvetkov, Chavdar (eds.) Diversia: V opit za po-dobar proval. Sofia: Roprint. Elenkov, Ivan. 2008. Kulturniyat front. Balgarskata kultura prez epohata na komunizma – politichesko upravlenie, ideologicheski osnovania, institutsionalni rezhimi. Sofia: Ciela. Elenkov, Ivan. 2013. Trud, radost, otdih i kultura. Vavedenie v istoriyata na ideologicheskoto modelirane na vsekidnevieto prez epohata na komunizma. Sofia: Tsentar za akademichni izsledvania, Riva. Hristov, Todor. 2013. Svoboda i suverennost v Aprilskoto vastanie. Sofia: FHSI/ Iztok–Zapad. Kabakchieva, Petya. 2016. Komunisticheski modernosti. Balgarskiyat komunizam. Sofia: Universitetsko izdatelstvo „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“. Laclau, Ernesto. 2005. On Populist Reason. London, New York: Verso. Laclau, Ernesto; Mouffe, Chantal. 2001. Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. London, New York: Verso. Mineva, Mila. 2016. Vizualnoto konstruirane na sotsialisticheskoto potreblenie. (unpublished doctoral dissertation). Ragaru, Nadezh. 2010. Prepletenite vremena na nastoyashteto. Bulgaria 20 godini sled 89-ta. Sofia: Kritika i humanizam. Statelova, Rosmary. 2005. The Seven Sins of Chalga. Sofia: Prosveta. Trifonov, Slavi, Dilov-sin, Lyuben. 2002. Slavi Trifonov za starchaneto. Negovite zhivot, istorii, pouchenia, teorii i natyakvania, zapisani ot Lyuben Dilov-sin. Sofia: Ciela. Trifonov, Slavi, Siromahov, Ivo. 2015. Slavi Trifonov za men e chest. Otkroveniyata na Slavi Trifonov, zapisani ot Ivo Siromaho. Sofia: Ciela.
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 Porta, Donatella, Klandermans, Bert, and McAdam, Doug (eds.) The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and political Movements. (Malden: Blackwell Publishing ltd. Hristov, Todor. 2007. Legitimiraneto na darzhavnata vlast i selskite buntove ot 1900 g. Fondatsia „Izvor“. Kolarova, Rumyana. 2021. „Fenomenat parlamentarni izbori 2021 g.“. Politicheski izsledvania, 1–2: 28–57. Petkov, Vladislav. 2017. „BeGeVizia: Izbori i referendum kato muzikalna klasatsia“. Seminar_BG, 14. Ragaru, Nadezh. 2010. „Sabitieto ‚1989‘ prez prizmata na protestite ot 1997: dalgoto sboguvane s komunizma“. In: Prepletenite vremena na nastoyashteto: Bulgaria 20 godini sled 89-ta. Sofia: Kritika i humanizam, 37– 84. Rosenthal, Rob and Flacks, Richard. 2016. Playing for Change. Music and Musicians in the Service of Social Movements. London and New York: Routledge. Salerno, Daniele and van de Warenburg, Marit. 2023. “’Bella Ciao’: A Portable Monument for Transnational Activism”. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 26 (2): 164–181, DOI: 10.1177/13678779221145374, (last seen 5.02.2023.). Snow, David, Fliegenthart, Rens, Ketelaars, Pauline. 2019. “The Framing Perspective on Social Movements: Its Conceptual Roots and Architecture”. In: Snow, David, Soule, Sarah, Anne, Kriesi, Hanspeter and McCammon, Holly J. (eds.) The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Social Movements. (2nd ed.) Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 392–410. Spasov, Orlin. 2019. „Vazbudeni chitateli: poeziyata kato sredstvo za komentar v onlayn forumite“. Medialog, 6: 8–29. Staggenborg, Suzanne, Eder, Donna and Sudderth, Lori. 1993. “Women’s Culture and Social Change: Evidence from the National Women’s Music Festival”. Berkeley Journal of Sociology, 38: 31–56; (last seen 30.01.2023.) Van Dyke, Nella and Taylor, Verta. 2019. “The Cultural Outcomes of Social Movements”. In Snow, David, Soule, Sarah Anne, Kriesi, Hanspeter and McCammon, Holly J. (eds.) The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Social Movements. (2nd ed.) Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 482–498.
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 Feeling”. In: Sharma, Devika and Tygstrup, Frederik (eds.) Structures of Feeling. Affectivity and the Study of Culture. Berlin, Munich, Boston: De Gruyter, 20–28.
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 community”. In: Horton, Dave, Rosen, Paul and Cox, Peter (eds.) Cycling and Society. Cornwall: Ashgate, 179-198. Green, Judith, Steinbach Rebecca and Datta, Jessica. 2012. “The Travelling Citizen: Emergent Discourses of Moral Mobility in a Study of Cycling in London”. Sociology, 2012 46: 272-289, DOI: 10.1177/0038038511419193. Hajimichael, Mike. 2016. "Politseyskata aktsia sreshtu „Okupiray“ v Kipar: avtoetnografia varhu „Za 1 gram“". Balgarska etnologia, 1: 71-83. Horton, Dave, Rosen, Paul and Cox, Peter (eds.). 2007. Cycling and Society. Cornwall: Ashgate. Jones, Phil. 2005. “Performing the city: a body and a bicycle take on Birmingham, UK”. SOCIAL AND CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY 6;4, 2005: 813-830. Lorimer, Hayden. 2011. “Walking: New Forms and Spaces for Studies of Pedestrianism”. In: Cresswell, Tim and Merriman, Peter (eds.) Geographies of Mobilities: practices, spaces, subjects. UK: Ashgate, 19-34. Rana, Pranaya. 2018. Walking In The City Self And Spatiality In Copenhagen And Kathmandu, MA, https://www.4cities.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/RANA_Master-Thesis.pdf [last seen 20.01.2025]. Simpson, Clare. 2005. “Capitalising on curiosity: Woman’s professional cycle racing in the late-nineteenth century”. In: Horton, Dave, Rosen, Paul and Cox, Peter (eds.) Cycling and Society. Cornwall: Ashgate, 47-66. Sofia Green tour, 2025, https://sofiagreentour.com/ , [last seen 20.01.2025] RAD Performance, 2025, https://radperformance.at/en/home-en/ , [last seen 20.01.2025] Spinney, Justin. 2007. “Cycling in the city: non-place and the sensory construction of meaning in a mobile practice”. In: Horton, Dave, Rosen, Paul and Cox, Peter (eds.) Cycling and Society. Cornwall: Ashgate, 25-46. Strathern, Marilyn. 1987. “The limits of autoethography”. In: Jackson, Anthony (ed.) Anthropology at home. New York: Tavistock, 16-37. Wall, Sarah. 2008. “Easier Said than Done: Writing an Autoethnography”. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 2008, 7(1): 38-53.
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The The Roma Perspective and the Roma Question in the Media Mirror
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. 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The Theory of Communicative Action, Volume 1: Reason and the Rationalization of Society. Translated by Thomas McCarthy. Boston: Beacon Press. Habermas, J. 1990. Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action. Translated by Christian Lenhardt and Shierry Weber Nicholsen. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Habermas, J. 1996. Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy, trans. William Rehg. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Hardiman, R. 1982. White identity development: A process oriented model for describing the racial consciousness of White Americans (Doctoral dissertation). Dissertation Abstracts International, 43, 104A. (University Microfilms No. 82–10330). Hartley, J. 1982. Understanding News. London, New York: Routledge. Hristova, S. 2007. „Obrazat na romite v elektronnite predavania za romite“, In: Integratsia na romite v balgarskoto obshtestvo. Institut po sotsiologia pri BAN. Dostapen ot https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306031001_Obrazt_na_romite_v_elektronnite_predavania_za_romite#fullTextFileContent.‌ (last seen 11.07.2025) [in Bulgarian] Indzhov, I. 2015. „Obrazat na romite v balgarskia pechat“. Newmedia21.Eu. https://www.newmedia21.eu/izsledvaniq/obrazat-na-romite-v-balgarskiya-pechat-2012/. [in Bulgarian] Indzhov, I. 2023. LGBTI - novata mediyna mishena vmesto romite? Obrazat na maltsinstvenite i uyazvimite grupi v balgarskite medii. (izsledovatelski doklad) Organizatsia „Drom“, https://www.bghelsinki.org/web/files/reports/173/files/2023-indjov--the-image-of-minority-groups-in-the-media.pdf [in Bulgarian] Isaev, O. 2013. “Opitat na promenenite”. Neshto razlichno za razlichnite. https://ognyanisaev.blogspot.com/2013/07/blog-post_23.html. [in Bulgarian] Isaev, O. 2022. Zhurnalistika (g)ol inkluziv: slovesni uydurmi bez savest za troyka predizborni kebapcheta v plik. Marginalia. https://www.marginalia.bg/zhurnalistika-g-ol-inkluziv-slovesni-ujdurmi-bez-savest-za-trojka-predizborni-kebapcheta-v-plik/ [in Bulgarian] Isaev, O. 2023. Rodi me, mamo s kasmet, pa me hvarli na MON. Marginalia. https://www.marginalia.bg/rodi-me-mamo-s-kasmet-pa-me-hvarli-na-mon/ [in Bulgarian] Johnson, L. B. 1965. "Commencement Address at Howard University: to Fulfill These Rights". Тhe American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/commencement-address-howard-university-fulfill-these-rights. Katz, E., and Paul L. 2006. Personal Influence : The Part Played by People in the Flow of Mass Communication. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. Klub „Obektiv“. 2013. Vsichko e ezik. Politicheskoto i mediynoto heytarstvo sashto. Balgarski helzinkski komitet. https://www.bghelsinki.org/bg/publication/vsichko-e-ezik-politicheskoto-i-medijnoto-hejtrstvo-ssho. [in Bulgarian] Koen, E. 2016. "Deyan Kolev: Romskata integratsia shte tragne, ako privlechem mnozinstvoto na svoya strana". Marginalia. https://www.marginalia.bg/deyan-kolev-romskata-integratsiya-shte-tragne-ako-privlechem-mnozinstvoto-na-svoya-strana-2/. [in Bulgarian] Kolev, G. 2010. Balgarskata komunisticheska partia i tsiganite prez perioda 1944–1989 g. Tsentar za publichni politiki. Sofia. [in Bulgarian] Lipsitz, G. 1998. The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: How White People Profit from Identity Politics. New York: Temple University Press. ‌Marinov, P. 2024. Protivodeystvie na radikalizatsiyata i terorizma v Republika Bulgaria. (Avtoreferat na disertatsia za prisazhdane na ONS „Doktor“ ot Voenna akademia “Georgi Stoykov Rakovski.”) https://rndc.bg/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/auto_pmarinov.pdf. (last seen 11.07.2025) [in Bulgarian] Merton, Robert K. 1948. “The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy”. Antioch Review. Metodieva, Yu. 2017. Lilia Makaveeva: Romite ne tryabva da badat pasivni potrebiteli na darzhavni uslugi. Marginalia. https://www.marginalia.bg/liliya-makaveeva-imame-nuzhda-ot-prozrachnost/. [in Bulgarian] Morgenroth, T., Ryan, M. K., & Peters, K. 2015. The Motivational Theory of Role Modeling: How Role Models Influence Role Aspirants’ Goals. Review of General Psychology, 19(4), 465-483. https://doi.org/10.1037/gpr0000059 Nye, Joseph S. 2004. „Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics.“ Foreign Affairs. https://doi.org/10.2307/20033985. Pamporov, A. 2009. Sotsialni distantsii i etnicheski stereotipi za maltsinstvata v Bulgaria. Sofia: Institut Otvoreno obshtestvo. https://osis.bg/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/OSI_Publication_Roma_3.pdf [in Bulgarian] Pashov, M. 2022. Istoria na tsiganite v Bulgaria i v Evropa. Roma. Paradigma. https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/files/278196264/Shakir_Pashov_e_book.pdf [in Bulgarian] Popov, Yu. 2011. „Tsiganite sa badeshteto na Bulgaria“. Dnevnik.bg. https://www.dnevnik.bg/analizi/2011/10/04/1168598_ciganite_sa_budeshteto_na_bulgariia/. [in Bulgarian] Popova, A. 2021. „Romite ne sledva da rabotyat samo po romskite vaprosi“. Bloomberg TV Bulgaria. https://www.bloombergtv.bg/a/16-biznes-start/95659-v-integratsiyata-na-romite-nyama-neuspeshni-politiki-a-neosashtestveni-takiva. [in Bulgarian] Portal Kultura. 2015. “Zashto tezi batkovtsi vikat sreshtu nas?”. Portal za kultura, izkustvo i obshtestvo. https://kultura.bg/web/%D0%B7%D0%B0%D1%89%D0%BE-%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%B7%D0%B8-%D0%B1%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%86%D0%B8-%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%82-%D1%81%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%89%D1%83-%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81/. [in Bulgarian] Schneider, E. and Otterbein, H. 2024. "Kamala Harris Is Making One Big Strategic Break from Hillary Clinton". Politico. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/19/kamala-harris-gender-2024-election-00174530 Silverman, C. 2007. "Bulgarian Wedding Music between Folk and Chalg: Politics, Markets and Current Directions". Muzikologija. https://doi.org/10.2298/muz0707069s. Spasov, O. 2016. Ezikat na omrazata v Bulgaria. Ezikat na omraza v Bulgaria: riskovi zoni, uyazvimi obekti. Fondatsia „Tsentar za modernizirane na politiki” i Fondatsia „Mediyna demokratsia”. [in Bulgarian] Sue, W., Sue, D., Neville, H., and Smith, L. 2022. Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice. 9th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The IHRA. 2020. Working Definitions & Charters. What Is Antigypsyism/Anti-Roma Discrimination?. IHRA. https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antigypsyism-anti-roma-discrimination. ‌ Tomova, I. 2015. Obrazat na romite v shest elektronni medii. Asotsiatsia Integro. https://integrobg.org/files/Report_hate_speech.pdf (last seen 11.07.2025.) [in Bulgarian] Tomova, I. i dr. 2011. Romite v periodichnia pechat. Asotsiatsia Integro. [in Bulgarian] Van Dijk, T. A. 2000. „New (s) Racism: a Discourse Analytical Approach.“ In : Cottle, S. Ethnic Minorities and the Media. Buckingham, Philadelphia: Open University Press. Vasilev, B. 2016. „Romite – medien obraz i publichni poslania“. Newmedia21.eu. https://www.newmedia21.eu/analizi/romite-medien-obraz-i-publichni-poslaniya/ [in Bulgarian] Vasileva, S. 2004. „Romskata tematika v balgarskoto mediyno prostranstvo -“za” i “protiv” romite, ot i za romite“, v: Bakalova, M. Rolyata na romskite elektronnite medii za integratsiyata na romite. Sofia, , Institut „Otvoreno obshtestvo”. [in Bulgarian] Yordanov, I. 2008. „ Mediyniyat izbor na romite“, V: Romite v Bulgaria–informatsionen spravochnik. Institut „Otvoreno obshtestvo“ – Sofia, 51-53. [in Bulgarian] Zahariev, B. 2024. Rech, sadarzhashta obidi, predrazsadatsi i omraza spryamo romite v sotsialnata media Feysbuk (powerpoint prezentatsia). https://amalipe.bg/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Presentation.pdf (last seen 11.07.2025.) Fondatsia "Institut Otvoreno obshtestvo - Sofia". [in Bulgarian]
Internet Memetics as a Code of Communication
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-%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B8.html">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-%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B8.html (last seen 27. 02. 2025) Douglas, Nick. (2014). "It's Supposed to Look Like Shit: The Internet Ugly Aesthetic". Journal of Visual Culture. 13. 314-339. 10.1177/1470412914544516. Dovydaitis, Gytis. 2021. "Celebration of the Hyperreal Nostalgia: Categorization and Analysis of Visual Vaporwave Artefacts". Art History & Criticism. 17. 113-134. 10.2478/mik-2021-0010. gamedev, 2022. What is the difference between a bug and a glitch? Is it just the same thing or is there a difference?, Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/qe4eqi/what_is_the_difference_between_a_bug_and_a_glitch/ (last seen 25. 02. 2025) Genova, D. 2020. "Internet memeta i komunikatsia onlayn". Balgarski folklor, 3/2020. Glitsos, Laura. 2018. "Vaporwave, or music optimised for abandoned malls". Popular Music. 37. 100-118. 10.1017/S0261143017000599. Grundlingh, Lezandra. 2017. "Memes as speech acts". Social Semiotics. 28. 10.1080/10350330.2017.1303020. Ivanova, Maria. 2022. "Memetata v novinite i memetata kato novini". Medialog, 11/2022, 153-184. Jenkins, H., et al. 2006. Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. An Occasional Paper on Digital Media and Learning. Kostadinovska-Stojchevska, Bisera & Shalevska, Elena. 2018. "INTERNET MEMES AND THEIR SOCIO LINGUISTIC FEATURES". English Language and Linguistics. 2. 10.5281/zenodo.1460989. Krustovski, J. 2023. What Is Plunderphonics. https://microgenremusic.com/category/genres/plunderphonics/ (last seen 27.02.2025 г.) Kuipers, G. 2002. "Media culture and internet disaster jokes: Bin Laden and the attacks on the World Trade Center". European Journal of Cultural Studies, 5(4). doi: 10.1177/1364942002005004296 Krustovski, J. 2023. What Is Plunderphonics. https://microgenremusic.com/category/genres/plunderphonics/ (last seen 27.02.2025 г.) Lessig, Lawrence. 2008. Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in a Hybrid Economy. 10.5040/9781849662505. Loignon, Guillaume & Messier, Philippe. 2020. Vaporwave pedagogy: Multimodal learning with an internet music microgenre. 16. McLeod, Ken. 2018. "Vaporwave: Politics, Protest, and Identity". Journal of Popular Music Studies. 30. 123 142. 10.1525/jpms.2018.300409. Mick-Evans, K. 2019. One Does Not Simply Preserve Internet Memes: Preserving Internet Memes Via Participatory Community -Based Approaches. 10.13140/RG.2.2.18093.54240. Milner, R., 2016. The world made meme: Discourse and identity in participatory media. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS. Retrieved from academia.edu Milner, R. M. 2012. “The World Made Meme: Discourse and Identity in Participatory Media.” PhD diss., University of Kansas. Accessed March 13 2015. https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/ 1808/10256/Milner_ku_0099D_12255_DATA_1.pdf?sequence=1. Miltner, K. M. 2014. “'There’s no place for lulz on LOLCats': The role of genre, gender, and group identity in the interpretation and enjoyment of an Internet meme". First Monday, 19(8). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v19i8.5391 Miltner, K.M. and Highfield, T. 2017. "'Never Gonna GIF You Up': Analyzing the Cultural Significance of the Animated GIF". Social Media and Society. Mineva, Mila. 2022. "'Da ne izliza' ili populyarnata kultura kato pole za eksperimentalni praktiki", Seminar_BG, 21. https://www.seminar-bg.eu/spisanie-seminar-bg/broy21/798-da-ne-izliza.html Orlovas, Vygintas. 2019. “The Influence of Internet Culture on the Shifts in Aesthetics. A Practice-Based Approach to Vaporwave.” Sovijus 7, no. 1 (2019): 129–137. Perov, T. 2023. "Edno neobiknoveno zhivotno: Kotarakat Rumen ima 60 hil. posledovateli vav Facebook". BulgariaOnAir. https://www.bgonair.bg/a/36-sutreshen-blok/302044-edno-neobiknoveno-zhivotno-kotarakat-rumen-ima-60-hil-posledovateli-vav-facebook (last seen 13. 02. 2025 g.) Pinto, J. 2017. Cultural Ideas Essay. Vaporwave & Postmodernism: An Analytical Interpretation of Blank Banshee. SAE Institute London. Semotiuk, O., & Shevchenko, V. 2023. "Making fun of power: political cartoons and memes about President Zelensky. Quantitative and qualitative analysis". The European Journal of Humour Research, 10(4), 82–98. https://doi.org/10.7592/EJHR.2022.10.4.703 Shifman, L. 2014. “The Cultural Logic of Photo-Based Meme Genres.” Journal of Visual Culture 13 (3): 340–358. doi:10.1177/1470412914546577. Soriano, Ezequiel. 2022."Internet vernacular creativity. Vaporwave, counterculture and copyright". ISEA2022 Proceedings: 556-561 Tay, G. J. S. 2014. "Binders full of LOLitics: Political humour, inter net memes, and play in the 2012 US Presidential Election (and beyond)". European Journal of Humour Research 2(4): 46– 73 Terziev, K. 2012. Rekompozitsia- avtor, media i proizvedenie v epohata na digitalnoto proizvodstvo. Sofia: Iztok-zapad. [in Bulgarian] Vadde, Aarthi. 2017. "Amateur Creativity: Contemporary Literature and the Digital Publishing Scene". New Literary History. 48. 27-51. 10.1353/nlh.2017.0001. Wiggins, B. 2019. The Discursive Power of Memes in Digital Culture. Routlege Studies in New Media and Cyberculture. 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Zavala Barreda, Karla. 2018. Dystopian Shopping Malls: Vaporwave and The Ghosts of The Future. Paper presented at Cool Retro Camp Trash, Aesthetic Concepts in Popular Culture, Freiburg, Freiburg University.
Virtual (Self-)Exoticisation of Eastern European Identity
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. 2002. Ot prinadlezhnost kam identichnost. Politiki na obraza. Sofia: Lik. Đorđević, Vladimir, Suslov, Mikhail, Čejka, Marek, Mocek, Ondřej and Hrabálek, Martin. 2023. “Revisiting Pan-Slavism in the Contemporary Perspective”. Nationalities Papers, 51(1), 3-13. Götz, Еlias and Staun, Jørgen. 2022. “Why Russia attacked Ukraine: Strategic culture and radicalized narratives”. Contemporary Security Policy, 43(3), 482-497 (last seen 8.02.2024 г.). Hegel, Georg F.V. 1995. Filosofia na istoriyata. Tom II: Duhat na Evropa [Philosohpy of history, vol. II (Bulgarian translation)]. Sofia: Evrazia. Huntington, Samuel P. 1993. “The Clash of Civilizations?”. Foreign Affairs, 72(3), 22-49. Kalmar, Ivan. 2022. White But Not Quite. Central Europe’s Illiberal Revolt. Bristol: Bristol University Press. Kalmar, Ivan. 2023. “Race, Racialisation, and the East of the European Union: an Introduction”. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 49(6), 1465-1480. Kyosev, Aleksandar. 2008. „Mikrometodologia: otnoshenieto „tsentar-periferia“ kato metodologicheski problem na slavistichnata komparativistika“. V: Indigoto na Gyote. Sofia: Figura, 244-260. Lewicki, Aleksanda. 2023. “East–West Inequalities and the Ambiguous Racialisation of ‘Eastern Europeans”. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 49(6), 1481-1499. Loeb, Eli. 2020. Gopniki: Peripheral Masculinity in Post-Soviet Russia [Pomona Senior Theses. 238] (last seen 26.10.2024 г.). Mälksoo, Maria. 2010. The Politics of Becoming European. A Study of Polish and Baltic Post-Cold War Security Imaginaries. London: Routledge. Mühle, Eduard. 2018. “Inventing Slavic Unity or the Political Use of a Romantic Concept. The Case of Mikhail P. Pogodin and Joachim Lelewel”. Historia Slavorum Occidentis, 4(19), 94-118. Petrungaro, Stefano. 2023. “Pan-Slavism, its interpretative ambiguities and conflicting practices”. In: Hemstad, Ruth & Stadius, Peter (eds.) Nordic Experiences in Pan-Nationalisms. A Reappraisal and Comparison, 1840–1940. London & New York: Routledge, 260-276. Safuta, Anna. 2018. “Fifty Shades of White: Eastern Europeans’ ‘Peripheral Whiteness’ in the Context of Domestic Services Provided by Migrant Women”. Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies, 21(3), 217-231. Sojka, Aleksanda. 2020. “Liminal Europeanness: Whiteness, East-West Mobilities, and European Citizenship”. In: Kulawik, Teresa and Kravchenko, Zhanna (eds.) Borderlands in European Gender Studies Beyond the East–West Frontier. New York: Routledge, 191-210. Suslov, Mikhail. 2012. “Geographical Metanarratives in Russia and the European East: Contemporary Pan-Slavism”. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 53(5), 575-595. Ţichindeleanu, Ovidiu. 2010. “Where Are We, When We Think in Eastern Europe?”. In: Ćurlin, Ivet, Dević, Ana, Ilić, Nataša, Sabolović, Sabina, Hegyi, Dóra, László, Zsuzsa, Ziółkowska, Magdalena and Słoboda, Katarzyna (eds.) Art Always Has Its Consequences, Zagreb: WHW, 86-91. Todorova, Maria. 2009. Imagining the Balkans (Updated Edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wolff, Larry. 2004. Izobretyavaneto na Iztochna Evropa. Kartata na tsivilizatsiyata v saznanieto na Prosveshtenieto [Inventing Eastern Europe. The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment (Bulgarian translation)], prev. R. Panayotova. Sofia: Izdatelstvo „Kralitsa Mab“. Veczán, Zoltan. 2023. “Depiction of the Balkans on Internet Memes from 9GAG”. KOME: An International Journal of Pure Communication Inquiry, 11(1), 61-94.
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 Media Technologies, 4, 53–70. DOI: 10.30935/ojcmt/5704. Larsen, Timothy (ed.). 2020. The Oxford Handbook of Christmas. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lefebvre, Henri. 1968. Le Droit à la ville. Paris: Éditions Anthropos. Miller, Daniel (ed.). 1993. Unwrapping Christmas. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Miller, Daniel. 2017. “Christmas: An anthropological lens”. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 7(3), 409–442. Nissenbaum, Stephen. 1997. The Battle for Christmas: A Cultural History of America’s Most Cherished Holiday. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. van Bavel, Jay, Claire Robertson, Kareena del Rosario, Jesper Rasmussen and Steve Rathje. 2024. “Social media and morality”. Annual Review of Psychology, 75, 311–340. Waits, William. 1993. The Modern Christmas in America: A Cultural History of Gift Giving. New York and London: New York University Press. Whiteley, Sheila (ed.). 2008. Christmas, Ideology and Popular Culture. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Yanchev, Pavel. 2014. „Epizodi na urbanistichen aktivizam v Sofia – gradskite publichni prostranstva mezhdu institutsii i grazhdani“. Seminar_BG, 10B (https://www.seminar-bg.eu/spisanie-seminar-bg/broy10b/607-epizodi-na-urbanistichenaktivizam-v-sofia.html, last seen 12.12.2024 г.).
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, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16–1, 3-7. Georgiev, E., Kanchev, P., Haydinyak, M., Apostolov, G. 2016. Roditelska podkrepa za razvitie na digitalnite umenia na detsata. Natsionalno predstavitelno izsledvane „Detsata na Bulgaria onlayn“. https://www.safenet.bg/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/parental-support-bg4.pdf. (last seen 27.06.2025) Goffman, E. 2000 [1956]. Predstavyaneto na Az-a vav vsekidnevieto [The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (Bulgarian translation)]. Sofia: Izdatelska kashta „Petar Beron“. Jansson, A. 2013. "Mediatization and Social Space: Reconstructing Mediatization for the Transmedia Age". Communication Theory, 23, 279-296. Katz, J. E., Aakhus, M. (Eds.). 2002. Perpetual Contact: Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Knobloch, L. K., Donovan-Kicken, E. 2006. "Perceived Involvement of Network Members in Courtships: A Test of the Relational Turbulence Model". Personal Relationships, 13 –3, 281-302. LeFebvre, L. E. 2017. "Phantom Lovers. Ghosting as a Relationship Dissolution Strategy in the Technological Age". In: Punyanunt-Carter, N. M., Wrench, J. S. (Eds.). The Impact of Social Media in Modern Romantic Relationships. London: Lexington Books, 219-235. Lejealle, Catherine. 2014. "On publie moins sur Facebook quand on est amoureux : les 3 phases du célibat à 'en couple'”. Leplus.nouvelobs.com. 17.02.2014, (Last seen 06.12.2024). Licoppe, Ch. 2012. "Understanding mediated appearances and their proliferation: The case of the phone rings and the 'crisis of the summons". New Media & Society, 14 –7, 1073-1091. Marwick, A. E., Boyd, D. 2014. “'It’s just drama': Teen perspectives on conflict and aggression in a networked era". Journal of Youth Studies, 17, 1187–1204. Neykova, N. 2015. Mobilni fantasmagorii. Telefonno vaobrazhaemo i mladezhki telekulturi. Sofia: Fondatsia Mediyna demokratsia. Neuburger, R. 2000. Les territoires de l'intime. L'individu, le couple, la famille. Paris: Odile Jacob. Paasonen, S. 2017. "Infrastructures of intimacy". In: Andreassen, R., Petersen, M. N., Harrison, K., Raun, T. (Eds.). Mediated Intimacies: Connectivities, Relationalities and Proximities. London: Routledge, 103-116. Petrova, S. 2018. "Strategii za spravyane s 'izlishnite' obrazi: Snapchat". Piron, 15. Poltash, N. 2013. "Snapchat and Sexting: A Snapshot of Baring Your Bare Essentials". Law School Journals. JOLT, 19-4. Ragouet, P. 2000. "Notoriété professionnelle et organisation scientifique". Cahiers internationaux de sociologie, 109, 317-341. Ruppel, E. K. 2015. "The Affordance Utilization Model: Communication Technology Use as Relationships Develop". Marriage and Family Review, 51, 669-686. Yang, Ch.-Ch., Brown, B. B., Braun, M. 2014. "From Facebook to cell calls: Layers of electronic intimacy in college students’ interpersonal relationships". New Media & Society, 16 –1, 5-23.
digital ritualization of intimate relationship
New Year's Programs of National Televisions in Bulgaria in the Period 2000-2024
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/broy17/745-bolnitsa-za-lyubov.html Ibrosheva, Elza, Maria Stover. 2017. "East Meets West: The Cultural History of Television in Bulgaria." VIEW, 6/ 11, 6-21. DOI: 10.18146/2213-0969.2017.jethc119 Imre, Aniko. 2016. TV Socialism. Duke University Press. doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11vc8qz Koleva, Daniela. 2021. "Praznitsite pri sotsializma i tehnite upotrebi", Seminar_BG, 20. https://seminar-bg.eu/spisanie-seminar-bg/broy20/789-praznitsite-pri-sotsializma-i-tehnite-upotrebi.html Luleva, Ana. 2020. "Traditcija i traditsionalizatcija. Kaloferskoto mazhko horo", Etnologija v promenjastija se svjat… Sofia: Izdatelstvo na BAS. Marinos, Martin. 2021. "Roma, Race and Socially Engaged Television on the Fringes of Europe". VIEW Journal of European Television History and Culture 10 (20). https://viewjournal.eu/articles/10.18146/view.272/. Marinos, Martin. 2023. Free to Hate: How Media Liberalization Enabled Right-Wing Populism in Post-1989 Bulgaria (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press). Marinos, Martin and Spassov, Orlin. 2023. "The Media in Southeastern Europe – Socialism, Transition, Capitalism. An Introduction". Southeastern Europe, 47, 1–26. Mihelj, Sabina. 2012" Television Entertainment in Socialist Eastern Europe. Between Cold War Politics and Global Developments". In: Popular Television in Eastern Europe During and Since Socialism. Routledge. eBook ISBN9780203110201 Mihelj, Sabina. 2017. "Memory, Post-socialism and the Media: Nostalgia and Beyond". European Journal of Cultural Studies 20, 3, 1–16. Mustata, Dana. 2012. “'The Revolution Has Been Televised … '. Television as Historical Agent in the Romanian Revolution". Journal of Modern European History / Zeitschrift Für Moderne Europäische Geschichte / Revue d’histoire Européenne Contemporaine, 10(1), 76–97. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26265960 Neykova, Nia. 2008. "Mladezhkite mikrokulturi – mesta za sreshta v gradskoto prostranstvo". In: Novite mladi i novite medii. Sofia, 78-86. Neykova, Nia. 2017. "Vizualizatsia na sapruzi. Machmeykingat i tehnikite na ekspertnata sadbovnost". Seminar_BG, 17. https://seminar-bg.eu/spisanie-seminar-bg/broy17/741-vizualizatsiya-na-sapruzi.html Pehe, Veronika. 2020. Velvet Retro. Postsocialist Nostalgia and the Politics of Heroism in Chech Popular Culture. Berghan. https://doi.org/10.3167/9781789206289 Peycheva, Lozanka. 2008. Mezhdu Seloto i Vselenata: starata folklorna muzika ot Bulgaria v novite vremena. Sofia: AI “Prof. Marin Drinov”. Peycheva, Lozanka. 2019. „Narodniyat duh“ v avtorskite pesni v Bulgaria. Sofia: UI „Sv. Kl.Ohridski“. Peycheva, Lozanka i Ventsislav Dimov. 2005. Muzika, romi, medii. Sofia: Zvezdan. Petkov, Vladislav. 2017. "BeGevizia: izbori i referendum kato muzikalna klasatsia". Seminar_BG, 14. https://seminar-bg.eu/spisanie-seminar-bg/broy-14/658-bgviziya.html Petrova, Silvia. 2023. "Postistina i layfstayl: mediyni obrazi na voynata". Sotsiologicheski problemi, 55/1, 188 - 210. Popova, Snezhana. 2001. Sotsialno vreme i medien razkaz. Sofia: LIK. Popova, Snezhana. 2019. "Otvad kolektivnite vaobrazhaemi: razkazi bez razkazvachi". Medialog, 6, 151-161. Popova, Zhana. 2015. Zhanrove i formi na zabavlenieto v televiziyata. Sofia: Poligrafyug. Popova, Zhana. 2020. "Stories about socialist culture as told ‘estrada musicians’ in Bulgaria: two perspectives on the past from 1990-1992 and 2010-2018". FACTA UNIVERSITATIS Series: Philosophy, Sociology, Psychology and History, 19/ 2, 141 - 152 https://doi.org/10.22190/FUPSPH2002141P Popova, Zhana. 2022. Mediynite biografii na estradnite muzikanti v perioda 1989-2020. UI „Sv. Kl. Ohridski“. Popova, Zhana. 2024. "Invisible professional TV watchers under surveillance". Filosofiya – Philosophy, 33/ 3s, 124-133. Spasov, Orlin. 2017. „Trudnata evropeizatsia: balgarskite medii v konteksta na ES,“ Sotsiologicheski problemi, 49/1–2, 165–185. Statelova, Rozmari. 2019. Estrada i sotsializam: Problyasatsi ot Rozmari Statelova. Sofia: Riva. Tarkoleva, Lora. 2023. "Po digitalnite sledi na (ne)opredelimoto smeshno v efir: stranniyat sluchay na Bozhan Petrov". Medialog, 14, 66-90. Vachkov, Lachezar. 2022. "Matematika na nostalgiyata". In: Zhurnalistika, tsennosti, svyat. Sofia: UI „Sv. Kl. Ohridski“, 217-227.
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. Transnational Discourses and National Frameworks. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 287–304. Bakalova, Elka. 2017. “Studies in Byzantine and Medieval Bulgarian Art: A Historiographical Survey”. In: Bakalova, Elka et al. (eds.) Medieval Bulgarian Art and Letters in a Byzantine Context. Sofia: American Research Center, 3–25. Bálint, Csanád. 2010. Der Schatz von Nagyszentmiklós. Archäologische Studien. Budapest: Balassi. Balș, Gheorghe. 1911. Une visite à quelques églises de Serbie. Bucharest: Charles Göbl. Baric, Daniel. 2017. « De la tranchée où l’on fouille à celle où l’on se bat ». Français et Autrichiens sur le front de la science entre Balkans et Dardanelles ». Bulletin de l’Institut Pierre Renouvin, 2 (46): 61–76. Bazaytova, Ralitsa. b.d. „Ohrid i negovite hramove“. Pravoslavie, https://www.pravoslavieto.com/poklonnichestvo/starite_bg_stolici/Ohrid/hramove.htm (posledno poseten na 11.10.2024 g.) [in Bulgarian] Born, Robert und Störtkuhl, Beate (Hg.). 2017. Apologeten der Vernichtung oder »Kunstschützer«? Kunsthistoriker der Mittelmächte im Ersten Weltkrieg. Köln: Böhlau. Boshkoviћ, Ђurђe. 1933. „N. Mavrodinov: Ednokorabnata i krastovidnata tsarkva po balgarskite zemi do kraya na XIV v.“. Prilozi za kњizhevnost, јezik, istoriјu i folklor, 13 (1–2): 216–228. [in Bulgarian] Bozhkov, Atanas. 1984. Balgarskata ikona. Sofia: Balgarski hudozhnik. [in Bulgarian] Bozhkov, Atanas. 1985. Tarnovska srednovekovna hudozhestvena shkola. Sofia: Nauka i izkustvo. [in Bulgarian] Bozhkov, Atanas. 1989. Izobrazheniyata na Kiril i Metodiy prez vekovete. Sofia: Nauka i izkustvo. [in Bulgarian] Chamardjieff, Janaki. 1904. L’architecture en Bulgarie. Sofia. Chatzhanastasíoy, Tásos. 2016. Antártes kai Kapetánii. H Ethnikí Antístash katá ths boylgarikís katochís ths Anatolikís Makedonías kai ths Thrákhs 1942–1944. Thessaloníkh: Aví Kyriakídh. [in Greek] Chilingirov, Asen. 2013. Ohridskata „Sv. 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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 publichnostta i deliberativnata politka. Sofia: Kritika i humanizam. Marres, Noortje. 2018. “Why We Can’t Have Our Facts Back”. Engaging Science Technology and Society, 4: 423–443. doi: 10.17351/ests2018.188 Melley, Timothy. 2024. Conspiracy, Theory, and the “Post-Truth” Public Sphere”. In: Masco, Joseph and Wedeen, Lisa (Eds). Conspiracy Theory. Durham: Duke University Press). Reed, Laura and Boyd, Danah. 2016. Who Controls the Public Sphere in an Era of Algorithms? Questions and Assumptions. https://datasociety.net/wpcontent/uploads/2016/05/QuestionsAssumptions_background-primer_2016.pdf Schlesinger, Philip. 2020. “After the Post-Public Sphere”. Media, Culture & Society, 42(7-8): 1545–1563. Terranova, Tizania. 2004. Network Culture: Politics for the Information Age. London, Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press. Zeeuw, Daniel De. 2024. “Post-Truth Conspiracism and the Pseudo-Public Sphere”. Media Governance and the Public Sphere, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2024.1384363
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. 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Migrating the state into corporate clouds. Information, Communication & Society, 27(14), 2566–2586. Lehdonvirta V. 2022. Cloud Empires: How Digital Platforms Are Overtaking the State and How We Can Regain Control. Cambridge, MA: MIT University Press. Libertson, F., Velkova, J., & Palm, J. 2021. Data-center infrastructure and energy gentrification: perspectives from Sweden. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 17(1), 152–161. Lyons, J. 2024. US government excoriates Microsoft for 'avoidable errors' but keeps paying for its products. The Register. https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/microsoft_government_contracts/. Mineva. M. 2022. Kak se globalizira moralnata panika? Seminar_BG, 22. https://www.seminar-bg.eu/spisanie-seminar-bg/broy22/806-kak-se-globalizira-moralnata-panika.html. Morozov, E. 2022. Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason. New Left Review, 133-134. Nachtwey, O., & Seidl, T. 2023. The Solutionist Ethic and the Spirit of Digital Capitalism. 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