Russian Opera as Cultural Text (The Golden Cockerel by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov)

This project entailed a detailed study and analysis of the literary and musical text of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Golden Cockerel, involving source study, philological and musical-historical analysis, etc. Goryachikh studied the process of the creation of the opera, paying particular attention to its genre, that of a character fable, which was innovative for its time. He considered both the opera's folklore sources and the influences of the 'conditional theatre' aesthetics of the early 20th century. This culture-based approach made it possible to trace the numerous sources of the plot and its literary and musical text back to professional and folk cultures of Russia and other countries. A comparative study of the vocabulary, style and poetics of the libretto and the poetic system of Pushkin's Tale of the Golden Cockerel revealed much in common between the two. Goryachikh concluded that The Golden Cockerel was intended to be a specific form of 'dialogue' between the author, the preceding cultural tradition, and that of the time when the opera was written. He proposed a new definition of The Golden Cockerel as an 'inversed opera' and studied its structure and essence, its beginnings in the 'laughing culture' and the deflection of its forms and composition in a cultural language. He identified the constructive technique of Rimsky-Korsakov's writing at each level of musical unity and noted its influence on Stravinsky and Prokoviev, also finding anticipations of musical phenomena of the 20th century. He concluded by formulating a research model of Russian classical opera as cultural text and suggested further uses for it in musicology.

The Monumental Barrows of the Period 700-1100 AD at the Russian North-West

Nicholas Petrov. The Monumental Barrows of the Period 700-11 AD in the Russian North-West The research deals with the monumental barrows erected in the Russian north-west in the period of 700-1100 AD, which Russian archaeological literature has traditionally named sopka-barrows. These sopka-barrows were analysed as original sacral and funeral structures and considered in the context of cultural processes under way in that region at the time. The position occupied by the sopka-barrows in the culture of the people who erected them was reconstructed on the basis of a synthesis of various kinds of sources - archaeological, written, folklore. The high barrows are not in fact a determining type of the sites of the so-called "culture of the sopka-barrows" in modern literature, which focuses rather on settlements near to which sopka-barrows are absent. Recent excavations have revealed the presence of "surface" burial places (cremation located on the top of the barrow repeatedly rather than only once) in the majority of the sopka-barrows. The materials only provide evidence about the sacrificial nature of the graves in the "body" of the sopka-barrows. They thus offer an embodiment of one element of the widespread views about the dead man's path to the world of the dead (mountain) which is traced in folklore texts. Special attention was paid to the question of the disappearance of the tradition of erecting sopka-barrows and to the nature of their role in the culture of the region during the period 1000-1200 AD. The functioning of the sopka-barrows as funeral monuments in the second millennium AD is also traced on the inlet inhumatios found in them.

Third party assessments in trust problems with conflict of interest: An experiment on the effects of promisesm

Is it possible to elicit reliable assessment from an assessor having a conflict of interest (e.g. a professor that writes a recommendation letter for a formal PhD student)? We propose an experimental test and show that compared to a not-incentivized assessment, a promise to give a truthful assessment reduces misreporting to the same extent as an incentivized assessment (i.e. when the assessor gains higher payoff if the assessment is correct).

„Offene Grenzen“ oder „freiwillige Ghetttoisierung“? Aktuelle Kontroversen um die Sicherung der Kontinuität des Judentums

Die jüdische Gemeinschaft gilt generell als Musterbeispiel einer gut integrierten, religiösen Minderheit. Tatsächlich jedoch bewirken gerade die jüngsten gesellschaftlichen Entwicklungen − verstärkte Säkularisierung und Individualisierung verbunden mit steigenden Mischehenraten und einer Neudefinitionder Geschlechterrollen − eine Infragestellung der Kontinuität europäisch-jüdischer Existenz.Seit den 70iger Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts bewegt sich die Mischehenrate fast überall in der Diaspora bei über 50%. Da die Weitergabe des Judentums religionsgesetzlich nur über die Mutter erfolgt,stellt der Umgang mit nichtjüdischen Familienmitgliedern einen hochsensiblen Bereich für die Gemeinschaft dar. Die soziale und religiöse Integration von nichtjüdischen Ehefrauen und vaterjüdischenKindern ist auf Grund einer nicht selten willkürlich erscheinenden Aufnahmepraxis ein häufig tabuisierter Aspekt des Gemeindelebens, der zu permanenten Spannungen führt. Konflikte bezüglich der Zugehörigkeitskriterien aber auch der religiösen Rolle der Frau führen zu Polarisierungs- und Pluralisierungstendenzen. Im Rahmen eines Projektes des NFP 58 wurden aktuelle innerjüdische Grenzziehungsdebatten im Kontext des Schweizer Judentums auch mit Methoden der Oral History festgehalten und analysiert. Die Auseinandersetzungen innerhalb der schweizerisch-jüdischen Gemeinschaft wurden zudem mit Entwicklungen in anderen Ländern der Diaspora und in Israel verglichen. Es ergab sich das Bild einer dynamischen und zugleich jedoch tief gespaltenen Religionsgemeinschaft, innerhalb der sich die verschiedenen Richtungen („liberal“ bis „ultra-orthodox“) die Verantwortung für eine zunehmende Schwächung und Spaltung des jüdischen Volkes zuweisen. Bibliographie Benbassa, Esther u. Jean-Christophe Attias. 2001. Les Juifs ont-t-ils un avenir? Paris. Lattés. Gerson, Daniel.2012. Ausbreitung und Bedeutung des Judentums in der Schweiz.in : Religionen in der Schweiz. Bulletin Schweizerische Akademie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften, Nr 2.Bern. Gerson, Daniel.2011. Partizipation ohne Konversion? Grenzziehungsdebatten in neuen jüdischen Gemeinschaften der Schweiz,in: Chilufim. Zeitschrift für Jüdische Kulturgeschichte, Nr.11.Wien. Phoibos. Gerson, Daniel.2010. Gemeinschaftsbildung und «demokratischer» Antisemitismus: Das Entstehen eines Schweizer Judentums im Spannungsverhältnis von Akkulturation, Einwanderung und Ausgrenzung, in: Wyrwa, Ulrich (Hrsg.): Einspruch und Abwehr. Die Reaktion des europäischen Judentums und die Entstehung des Antisemitismus in Europa. Frankfurt am Main. Campus. Lambert, Nick.2008. Jews and Europe in the Twenty-First Century. London. Vallentine Mitchell. Picard, Jacques.2007. Judentum in der Schweiz: zwischen religiöser, kultureller und politischer Identität,in: Baumann, Martin u. Jörg Stolz (Hrsg.); Eine Schweiz - viele Religionen. Bielefeld. transcript. Wasserstein, Bernard.1996. Vanishing Diaspora. The Jews in Europa since 1945. New York.Harvard University Press.

Inzest - das Drama in der Familie (Interview von Nathalie Bursac´ und Ruth Brüderlin)

Der Bundesrat will das Inzestverbot aufheben. Das sorgt für Kontroversen. Der Berner Ethnologe Heinzpeter Znoj erklärt, warum Blutschande überall auf der Welt ein Tabu ist – und weshalb das auch gut so ist.

Architectural Developments in Sungai Tenang, 1902-2013

This paper treats the architectural developments in Sungai Tenang since the occupation by the Netherland's Indies in 1902 until the present. During this time great changes have occurred, among them the virtual disappearance of the traditional houses with carved planks. At the same time, much of the architectural developments can be described as the evolution of a still basically Austronesian house structure. Both these changes and the continuities merit close scrutiny, since they together reflect the persistence of the house as a powerful symbolic form that is capable of expressing changing social structures and cultural values. Up to the present, architecture in Sungai Tenang, in spite of its often modern outward appearance, is still by and large vernacular in the sense that its constructive means, its symbolic forms and its uses are firmly rooted in local traditions.

The strength of badenya ties: siblings and social security in old age – the case of urban Burkina Faso

In urban Burkina Faso, siblings play a decisive role in local social security. Badenya, the unity of children of the same mother, compensates in particular for the economic failure of an eldest son no longer in a position to fulfill his familial duties. Although the institution of badenya is strengthened as it increasingly comes into play to help a family avoid social marginalization, it is also overburdened, which makes its future uncertain. This article enhances the anthropological understanding of kinship by focusing on sibling relationships. Findings are based on interviews conducted between 2007 and 2010 with two generations in households in Bobo-Dioulasso and on participant-observation over the course of more than a dozen research stays since 1989.

Entre rêves de grandeur et pragmatisme : les jeunes en milieu urbain au Burkina Faso

En dépit de sa croissance économique, le Burkina Faso reste l’un des pays les plus pauvres du monde. Dans les villes, entre 20 et 30% des moins de 30 ans sont sans travail véritablement rémunéré. Beaucoup d’entre eux vivent en situation de contrat entre les générations à l’envers, logés et nourris par leurs parents. Ce climat de précarité constante et d’incertitude quotidienne conduit à des formes spécifiques de fantaisies et d’actions. Les entretiens avec de jeunes hommes et femmes de Bobo-Dioulasso que nous avons menés à plusieurs reprises sur trois ans (étude longitudinale) mettent en lumière les conditions qui facilitent l’action en situation d’incertitude quotidienne.