scholarly journals Lviv musical impressions on the pages of A. Bennett’s diary

2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (59) ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
Irina Drach
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Iron Curtain ◽  
Soviet System ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
The West ◽  
Protective Function ◽  
The Past ◽  
Literary Journal ◽  
Average Reader ◽  
Real Places

Background. Objectives and methodology of the research. The article contains a commentary to the separate pages of A. Bennett’s diaries, in which the impressions of the famous English writer, playwright, actor and journalist from visiting the cities of Moscow, Orel and Lviv were recorded in May 1988. This trip took place at the invitation of the Writers’ Union of the USSR. As part of the British delegation, A. Bennett carried out a mission of “cultural diplomacy”, whose goal was to open the “Iron Curtain” between the West and the countries of Eastern Europe. The program of the visit of the foreign delegation is analyzed, in particular, visits to opera performances (at the Bolshoi Theater – “Werther” by J. Massenet, at the Lviv Opera and Ballet Theater – «The Ukrainian Cossack beyond the Danube» by S. Gulak-Artemovsky). The purpose of this article is to introduce into the scientific circulation the evidence that allows illuminating the events of the recent past through the prism of the perception of their immediate participants. Another task of this article is to determine the pragmatics of “hospitality” and its operatic component in the conditions of the Soviet system on a concrete example. In addition, the article establishes, with the help of diary notes, the specifics of the guests’ reaction to the realities of Ukrainian life during the “Perestroika” period and to the fact that opera represents power, which is essential for cultural diplomacy. The research is based on diary prose, which was originally prepared for publication in a literary journal. This determined the appropriate mode of expression and set the choice of illuminated objects. The descriptive-evaluative narrative appeals to real places and persons. So, the author tries to achieve the effect of documentary. At the same time, there is a noticeable tendency to create a slightly entertaining text that should interest the average reader and meet his expectations. Research results. This material made it possible to supplement with interesting facts the practice of cultural diplomacy that was established in the USSR, which was covered by the Western researchers, for example F. Barghoorn (1960), P. Hollander (1981), M. David-Fox (2011). In addition, the analysis of this evidence made it possible to introduce into scientific use not only the events, but also the attitude of foreign guests towards them. This is important for historiography and reconstruction of the recent past. The events, mentioned in the text of the evidence, acquire an outside view. The words of the “outsider” become comparative frame through which it is possible to comprehend what happened, freely from the obsessive rhetoric of the perestroika time. According to Bennett, in 1988 the protective function of the totalitarian system came into conflict with the new trend of the time. The imprint of stagnation and decline, even decomposition, but not the sense of purpose and optimism, which P. Hollander described as the “stigma of these countries”, also affected the “window” of Soviet reality, where obvious cracks of loud selfdisclosures appeared. The mandatory program of the visit included meeting with colleagues. With the help of diary, the specific reaction of the guests is set to the fact why an opera self-representation was so important for the «Soviet side». The pages of Bennett’s diaries showed attention to everyday details. The writer was able to create not an image of faceless mass, but the vivid portraits of his contemporaries and capture his experience of meeting a different reality. Conclusions. A. Bennett – a man and a writer – recreated his short stay in Lviv, capturing the theatrical nature of the life-giving performance that unfolded here in the tense collisions between official rhetoric and living reality. The opera itself was of little interest to A. Bennett, but he was well aware of the exceptional importance attached by the organizers of the trip to the fact of visiting the opera house. As an “object of showing” to foreigners, the opera served, first of all, as a proof of the “culture” of the country, a proof that the cultural heritage of the past is better preserved here. At the same time, in the system of “cultural diplomacy” the opera topos functioned as an aesthetic representation of power, the “higher truth” about it. Opera representation existed as a self-sufficient complete phenomenon, which testified to the presence of higher meanings in the real world.

scholarly journals Conversations about Home, Community and Identity

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theano Moussouri ◽  
Eleni Vomvyla
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Public History ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
The West ◽  
Black British ◽  
The Past ◽  
Museum Exhibitions

Despite an increased interest in how societies produce, present and interpret the past, empirical studies of how people make sense of and use the past in their everyday life are less common in public history. This paper explores how people use material culture to make sense of their recent past by (re)constructing personal, family and community histories both in museum exhibitions and through everyday engagements at home. We use two case studies: The West Indian Front Room – Memories and Impressions of Black British Homes exhibition at the Geffrye Museum, London, and the homes of six families of Albanian heritage in Athens, Greece. In both cases, objects play a key role in mediating and reflecting identity and meaning-making.

Stalinist Westernizer? Aleksandr Arosev's Literary and Political Depictions of Europe

Slavic Review ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 733-759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael David-Fox
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Popular Front ◽  
Soviet System ◽  
The West ◽  
Soviet Ideology ◽  
Literary Output

This article examines variegated depictions of Europe and the west produced in the 1920s and 1930s by Aleksandr Iakovlevich Arosev, an Old Bolshevik cultural official, writer, and diplomat. Arosev traveled and worked in many parts of Europe in the prewar emigration, in the 1920s and early 1930s as Soviet ambassador to Prague and other European capitals, and during the years of the Popular Front as head of the All-Union Society for Cultural Ties Abroad (VOKS). The discussion refracts a much asked question—what new sources say about attitudes toward the Soviet system—through a new prism, depictions of the outside world. Although Arosev's personal diary and unpublished reports on cultural diplomacy with European fellow-travelers suggest an often startling degree of admiration and affinity for the west, higher levels of hostility are expressed in his literary output, mass-produced pamphlets, and especially his letters to Iosif Stalin. Interpreting these disjunctures, David-Fox argues that Arosev took advantage of tensions within Soviet ideology to craft depictions of Europe for different audiences. Until his execution in 1938, it was not impossible for Arosev to be both a Stalinist and a westernizer, but the combination was perilous, painful, and difficult to sustain.

scholarly journals Emphasized, Unspoken, Justified: The “Generational Effect“ in the Soviet Memory of Grandparents, Parents, and Grandchildren

Politologija ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 8-37
Author(s):  
Liucija Vervečkienė
Keyword(s):  
Life Stories ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Soviet System ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Theoretical Assumption ◽  
The Past ◽  
Organized Resistance ◽  
Interpretative Framework ◽  
Soviet Experience ◽  
The Way

In order to understand why the Soviet past is remembered differently, 25 narratives of nine Lithuanian families (parents, grandparents, and grandchildren) were analyzed. The applied theoretical assumption about the “generational effect” on memory: an “interpretative framework” gained during adolescence or early adulthood has an impact on the way we think about the past. In order to trace generational “interpretative frameworks” and indicate memory generations (that do not per se represent cohorts), the study was inductively focused on how the relation to the Soviet past is constructed. The narration of life stories and re-narration of grandparents’ life stories (for those with no or very limited Soviet experience) enable us to methodologically approach the “generational effect” in different Soviet narratives. A participation in family conversations about the recent past and the subsequent interpretative analysis demonstrate three key motives – emphasis, silencing, and justification – that are used by different generations in terms with the Soviet past. Preliminary four memory generations are indicated based on the way grandparents, parents, and grandchildren construct their relation to such aspects as participation in ideological organizations, “illegal practices,” personal or organized resistance, transformations after the Restoration of Independence in 1990, and a higher status in the hierarchy of the Soviet system.

scholarly journals Delivering psychiatric services in primary care: is this the right way to go for Ukraine?

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Martsenkovsky ◽  
Volodymyr Martyniuk ◽  
Dennis Ougrin
Keyword(s):  
Health System ◽  
National Health System ◽  
Soviet System ◽  
Value For Money ◽  
The West ◽  
State Budget ◽  
Independent State ◽  
The Past ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
The Right

Ukraine is a newly independent state with a population of about 48 million. It inherited its national health system from the USSR. The Soviet system was conceived as part of a massively expensive socialist planning economy that was generally delivering poor value for money. Some aspects of the Soviet health system were, however, undoubtedly sound and certain public health measures were superior to those in the West. For example, infant mortality, despite possible underreporting, was probably lower in the USSR than in many Western countries (Anderson & Silver, 1986). The health system became increasingly corrupt and inefficient during the final years of the USSR's existence. Since independence, the health system has not been a state priority and has been chronically under-funded. In the past few years of rapid economic development in Ukraine, the share of the state budget allocated to the health system has remained static, leaving Ukraine in a disadvantaged state compared with other European countries (United Nations, 2007).

Духовное влияние советского строя на иерархов и духовенство в 1960-е—1980-е годы (SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE OF THE SOVIET SYSTEM ON HIERARCHS AND CLERGY IN THE 1960-s – 1980-s)

2020 ◽  
pp. 3-18
Author(s):  
Олег Викторович (Oleg V.) Кириченко (Kirichenko)
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Study ◽  
Natural Phenomenon ◽  
Soviet System ◽  
The West ◽  
The Church

Статья посвящена малоизученному явлению – церковному инакомыслию, которое было порождено влиянием «советской духовности» не только на общество, но и на Церковь. Автор ставит проблему инакомыслия и диссидентства как явлений, выросших в недрах высшей советской номенклатуры и потом уже распространившихся на низшие слои, затронувшие и церковную среду. Апелляция к Западу, как к третейскому судье, была закономерным явлением советской действительности, что требует научной проработки и объяснения. The article is devoted to a little-studied phenomenon – church dissent, which was generated by the influence of "Soviet spirituality" not only on society, but also on the Church. The author poses the problem of dissent and dissidentism as phenomena that grew up in the the higher Soviet nomenclature and then spread to the lower layers, affecting the church environment. An appeal to the West as an arbitrator was a natural phenomenon of Soviet reality, which requires scientific study and explanation.

Managing rivers for conservation and ecotourism in the Kruger National Park

1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 227-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. J. Venter ◽  
A. R. Deacon
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Good Condition ◽  
Kruger National Park ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
The West ◽  
The Past ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Flow Through ◽  
Three Rivers

Six major rivers flow through the Kruger National Park (KNP). All these rivers originate outside and to the west of the KNP and are highly utilized. They are crucially important for the conservation of the unique natural environments of the KNP. The human population growth in the Lowveld during the past two decades brought with it the rapid expansion of irrigation farming, exotic afforestation and land grazed by domestic stock, as well as the establishment of large towns, mines, dams and industries. Along with these developments came overgrazing, erosion, over-utilization and pollution of rivers, as well as clearing of indigenous forests from large areas outside the borders of the KNP. Over-utilization of the rivers which ultimately flow through the KNP poses one of the most serious challenges to the KNP's management. This paper gives the background to the development in the catchments and highlights the problems which these have caused for the KNP. Management actions which have been taken as well as their results are discussed and solutions to certain problems proposed. Three rivers, namely the Letaba, Olifants and Sabie are respectively described as examples of an over-utilized river, a polluted river and a river which is still in a fairly good condition.

The New Islamic State

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farhad Khosrokhavar
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Imagined Community ◽  
The West ◽  
Patriarchal Family ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation

The creation of the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (ISIS) changed the nature of jihadism worldwide. For a few years (2014–2017) it exemplified the destructive capacity of jihadism and created a new utopia aimed at restoring the past greatness and glory of the former caliphate. It also attracted tens of thousands of young wannabe combatants of faith (mujahids, those who make jihad) toward Syria and Iraq from more than 100 countries. Its utopia was dual: not only re-creating the caliphate that would spread Islam all over the world but also creating a cohesive, imagined community (the neo-umma) that would restore patriarchal family and put an end to the crisis of modern society through an inflexible interpretation of shari‘a (Islamic laws and commandments). To achieve these goals, ISIS diversified its approach. It focused, in the West, on the rancor of the Muslim migrants’ sons and daughters, on exoticism, and on an imaginary dream world and, in the Middle East, on tribes and the Sunni/Shi‘a divide, particularly in the Iraqi and Syrian societies.

Anti-Catholicism in Germany, Britain, and the United States: A Review and Critique of Recent Scholarship

2001 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjule Anne Drury
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Religious Culture ◽  
The West ◽  
The Past ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Irish Question ◽  
Political Economic

The past two decades have seen an efflorescence of works exploring cultural anti-Catholicism in a variety of national contexts. But so far, historians have engaged in little comparative analysis. This article is a first step, examining recent historical literature on modern British and American anti-Catholicism, in order to trace the similarities and distinctiveness of the turn-of-the-century German case. Historians are most likely to be acquainted with American nativism, the German Kulturkampf, continental anticlericalism, and the problems of Catholic Emancipation and the Irish Question in Britain. Many of the themes and functions of anti-Catholic discourse in the West transcended national and temporal boundaries. In each case, the conceptualization of a Catholic ‘other’ is a testament to the tenacity of confessionalism in an age formerly characterized as one of inexorable secularization. Contemporary observers often agreed that religious culture—like history, race, ethnicity, geography, and local custom—played a role in the self-evident distinctiveness of peoples and nations, in their political forms, economic performance, and intellectual and artistic contributions. We will see how confessionalism remained a lens through which intellectuals and ordinary citizens, whether attached or estranged from religious commitments, viewed political, economic, and cultural change.

The Problem of Energy

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 3-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Urry
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Social Thought ◽  
Human Intervention ◽  
The West ◽  
The Past ◽  
And Control ◽  
Global Growth

Energy forms and their extensive scale are remarkably significant for the ways that societies are organized. This article shows the importance of how societies are ‘energized’ and especially the global growth of ‘fossil fuel societies’. Much social thought remains oblivious to the energy revolution realized over the past two to three centuries which set the ‘West’ onto a distinct trajectory. Energy is troubling for social thought because different energy systems with their ‘lock-ins’ are not subject to simple human intervention and control. Analyses are provided here of different fossil fuel societies, of coal and oil, with the latter enabling the liquid, mobilized 20th century. Consideration is paid to the possibilities of reducing fossil fuel dependence but it is shown how unlikely such a ‘powering down’ will be. The author demonstrates how energy is a massive problem for social theory and for 21st-century societies. Developing post-carbon theory and especially practice is far away but is especially urgent.

Remains of a Picnic: Post-Transition Hungary and Its Austro-Hungarian Past

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 255-291
Author(s):  
Márton Dornbach
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
East Germany ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Iron Curtain ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
The Past

It is difficult to imagine how collective memory might function without the watershed dates that structure our stories about the past. Almost by definition, however, such familiar milestones fail to capture the complex dynamics of the transition from one era to the next. A case in point is the dismantling of the Iron Curtain. As the anniversary commemorations of 2009 showed, this development came to be epitomized by the tearing down of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989. One does not need to doubt the importance of this event to see that its sheer symbolic weight tends to obscure the intricacies of the Eastern European transition process. More often than not, accounts that foreground this turning point marginalize some sixty million Hungarians, Poles, Czechs, and Slovaks who embarked on the transition process well ahead of the citizens of East Germany.

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