Freedom, Hope, and Uncertainty in a Bulgarian Longue durée Perspective

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

The pursuit of freedom, well-being and prosperity reveals itself in various social manifestations within the historical context of Bulgaria, as viewed from the long-term perspective (longue durée) of the past 150 years. This panel presents the results of archival, ethnographic and art/cultural studies of four cases: Bulgarian emigration to the USA at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century, motivated to face the uncertainty of an unknown distant country by the desire for freedom and hope for a better life; Bulgarian soldiers who, in the situation of extreme uncertainty for their lives, created vital artwork in the trenches of the First World War; the clash of hope, freedom and uncertainty as an existential experience of Bulgarians after the end of communism, in the conditions of the new post-socialist economic and social order; and the interpretation of these themes in Bulgarian drama at the beginning of the new millennium.

Sub Unit

• Anthropology, Cultural Studies

Chair

• Dilyana P. Ivanova Zieske, The Field Museum

Papers

• (Self-)Identity among Early Migrants from Bulgarian Lands to the United States - William F Zieske, Zieske Law and Fine Arts Legal

• The Exhibition 'Tales from the Trenches': Bulgarian Model - Desislava Tiholova, Rousse Regional Museum of History (Bulgaria)

• Freedom versus Uncertainty after the Fall of Communism in Bulgaria: Approaching the Anthropology of Uncertainty - Ana Luleva, Inst of Ethnology & Folklore Studies BAS (Bulgaria)

Discussant

• Irina Gigova, College of Charleston