Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics

@article{JEF, author = {Alina Oprelianska}, title = { The Sealed Grave and Burial Rituals in the Context of Revenants in Ukrainian Belief}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {15}, number = {1}, year = {2021}, keywords = {}, abstract = {The article sets the goal of describing the Ukrainian ritual of the sealed grave and its relation to revenants, or the unquiet dead, based both on the author’s fieldwork and ethnographic collections of the turn of the 20th century. The meaning of the ritual and its variants are delineated through folk beliefs and institutionalised Orthodoxy and are defined as one of the main reasons for becoming revenants. Depending on a proper or failed funeral, the dead have different possibilities and time boundaries to visit the living. Together with biological reasons, the ritual of sealing a grave allows a seven-year period of return prior to the grave being finally sealed. }, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {27–49}, url = {https://jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/405} }

@article{JEF, author = {Kikee Bhutia}, title = { Death by Poisoning: Cautionary Narratives and Inter-Ethnic Accusations in Contemporary Sikkim}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {15}, number = {1}, year = {2021}, keywords = {}, abstract = {The Sikkimese are a multi-ethnic community in a Himalayan sub-region in India. Even though the majority of the population is Hindu and Nepalese, the minority Buddhist and Bhutia/Lepcha communities are very strong. Death by poisoning is a common occurrence among the Sikkimese, and it is often ambiguous and subject to suspicion. Narrated initially as traditional cautionary tales, these belief narratives have been used against the multi-ethnic communities that reside in Sikkim, leading to real-world accusations. The article explores how belief in, and narratives related to, poison, poisoning, poison keepers and the poison deity are used to justify the demonisation and othering of a community.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {65–84}, url = {https://jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/406} }

@article{JEF, author = {Kirsti Jamieson and Marta Discepoli and Ella Leith}, title = { The Deaf Heritage Collective: Collaboration with Critical Intent}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {15}, number = {1}, year = {2021}, keywords = {}, abstract = {The paper reflects upon the Deaf Heritage Collective, a collaborative project led by Edinburgh Napier University’s Design for Heritage team and Heriot Watt’s Centre for Translation And Interpreting Studies. The project aimed to advance discussion around the British Sign Language Act (Scottish Government 2015) and bring into being a network of Deaf communities and cultural heritage organisations committed to promoting BSL in public life. The aim of this paper is to contextualise the project and its creative approach within the distinctly Scottish context, and the ideals of critical heritage, critical design and the museum activist movement. This paper presents the context and creative processes by which we engaged participants in debate and the struggles we encountered. We describe these processes and the primacy of collaborative making as a mode of inquiry. We argue that by curating a workshop space where different types of knowledge were valorised and where participants were encouraged to “think with” materials (Rockwell and Mactavish 2004) we were able to challenge the balance of power between heritage professionals and members of the Deaf community. By harnessing the explanatory power of collaborative making we debated the assemblages of epistemic inequality, and the imagined futures of Deaf heritage in Scotland.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {1–26}, url = {https://jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/364} }

Preface by the guest editor of the special issue.

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Authors retain the following rights:

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@article{JEF, author = {Anete Karlsone}, title = { Ethnographic Research in Soviet Latvia – The Source of a Stronger National Identity}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {13}, number = {2}, year = {2019}, keywords = {ethnography, Soviet Latvia, Mirdza Slava, Aina Alsupe, folk costume, textile history}, abstract = {This article provides an insight into ethnographic research during the Soviet occupation of Latvia, viewed in the context of national self-consciousness. Ethnographic research in Soviet Latvia was conducted by the ethnographic sector at the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (LSSR). By successfully using phrases appropriate to the political situation as well as the right quotations from Soviet ideological works, it was possible to maintain ideas and attitudes developed in interwar independent Latvia, for example, regarding Latvian national costume – in the works of Mirdza Slava. In turn, Aina Alsupe managed to carry out substantial new studies of the history and development of weaving in Latvia, and collect materials on the development of applied art in Soviet Latvia. The studies conducted by both Alsupe and Slava allowed researchers to keep applied folk arts and the folk costume topical, and in doing so to help maintain Latvian cultural identity.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {48–70}, url = {https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/314} }

@article{JEF, author = {Aimar Ventsel}, title = { When Sacred Sites Become Symbols of Nationhood}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {13}, number = {2}, year = {2019}, keywords = {}, abstract = {}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {134–136}, url = {https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/343} }

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Review of the publications Taking Sides: Ethics, Politics and Fieldwork in Anthropology. Edited by Heidi Armbruster and Anna Lærke. New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books 2008, 258 pages; and Samuel Gerald Collins, All Tomorrow’s Cultures: Anthropological Engagements with the Future. New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books 2008, 140 pages.

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Under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license, the author(s) and users are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit the contribution) under the following conditions: 1. they must attribute the contribution in the manner specified by the author or licensor, 2. they may not use this contribution for commercial purposes, 3. they may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

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This paper explores the material culture of ‘karakat’ (Russian karakatitsa) hybrid vehicles in the town of Kallaste, east Estonia. It focuses on the social factors that allow karakat culture to change. The region of study was part of the Soviet Union so the phenomenon of self-assembled vehicles implies socialist and communist considerations. Local people are still surrounded by the material legacy of that time. Technological assemblages from the past therefore continue to live in the present. It was popular in the USSR to maintain off-road vehicles, which were put together with the owner’s own hands. Such a bricolage technique has been preserved since the middle of the 20th century and is something that is used as a marker of local identity. The distribution of spare parts was problematic in former Soviet times and this has influenced the way men now make karakats. Current owners spend a lot of time servicing their vehicles. The issue of masculinity is highly relevant here because dealing with technology is seen as a masculine activity. Moreover, because it is increasingly open to tourists, karakat culture is becoming a tradable commodity.

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Under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license, the author(s) and users are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit the contribution) under the following conditions: 1. they must attribute the contribution in the manner specified by the author or licensor, 2. they may not use this contribution for commercial purposes, 3. they may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

Authors retain the following rights:

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The object of this paper is to examine the contemporary wedding meal in Latvia, focusing on one particular social group of well situated young couples who choose fine dining restaurants or rented venues for their wedding celebrations because they considered restaurant weddings more elaborate and modern. The desire to embrace a modern lifestyle is the way in which to obtain a new identity in a rapidly changing post-socialist world.The aim of present research is to reveal how different traditions intertwine in the wedding meal – new or borrowed, with ancient and national or Soviet traditions. While followers of a modern lifestyle are emphasising a challenge to traditions, it is nevertheless the wedding meal and symbolic practices connected with it that indicates a more or less intentional respect for tradition.I argue that the wedding ceremony reveals the shift from rites of passage to social distinction. This argument is developed by analysing how social and family relationships, value systems and the ethos as a whole have changed recently in Latvia. The use of the symbolic capacity of wedding food, denoting fertility and prosperity, provides the stability of the structure of the wedding feast, which also affects the structure of the marriage ceremony as a whole. 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license, the author(s) and users are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit the contribution) under the following conditions: 1. they must attribute the contribution in the manner specified by the author or licensor, 2. they may not use this contribution for commercial purposes, 3. they may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

Authors retain the following rights:

– copyright, and other proprietary rights relating to the article, such as patent rights,

– the right to use the substance of the article in future own works, including lectures and books,

– the right to reproduce the article for own purposes, provided the copies are not offered for sale,

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@article{JEF, author = {Jeana Jorgensen}, title = { Dancing the Numinous: Sacred and Spiritual Techniques of Contemporary American Belly Dancers}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {6}, number = {2}, year = {2013}, keywords = {dance; belly dance; spirituality; sacred dance; feminism}, abstract = {In this paper, I explore how contemporary American practitioners of belly dance (as Middle Eastern dance and its many varieties are often called in the English-speaking world) conceptualize not only the spiritual dimensions of their dance, but also how the very notion of performance affects sacred and spiritual dance practices. Drawing on interviews with this community, I describe the techniques of sacred and spiritual belly dancers, how these dancers theorize performance, and how the conflicts inherent to patriarchal mind-body dualism are resolved in these practices. My purpose here is twofold: to document an emergent dance tradition and to analyze its meanings in the relevant social context.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {3–28}, url = {http://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/96} }