National Essence Research Articles

Vahit Lütfi Salcı’s Studies on Alawi Music as an Example of Anthropological Orthogenesis

AbstractVahit Lutfi Salci’s studies on polyphonic Alawi music are among the most interesting examples ofthe Early Republican Turkish elite’s seeking a pure national essence harmonious with Western music.According to Salci, Turkish folk music is divided into two main branches: Manifest and secret. Secretfolk music represented by Alawi tribes organized as closed circles is the authentic expression of pureTurkish culture, since it has been isolated from the cosmopolite Ottoman culture and the urban musicwhich was stigmatized as Oriental music. At the same time, this secret folk music is the pride of theTurkish nation against the civilized Western world since it involves polyphonic elements denotingharmony and counterpoint. The aim of this study is to scrutinize this formulation developed by Salci about secret Alawi music as an example of anthropological orthogenesis and discuss its relationwith the official music policy. Anthropological orthogenesis is a concept developed by the authorof this article, inspired by both Grunebaum’s distinction between orthogenetic and heterogeneticcultural change and Neuman’s adaptation of this concept to Cevdet Pasha’s ideas. In this article,orthogenesis is defined as the interpretation of heterogenetic cultural changes, which are basedon foreign models, as orthogenetic changes, descending from native sources and is divided asarchaeological and anthropological orthogenesis. Archaeological orthogenesis refers to the discoursethat seeks the source of cultural change in the remote past of the nation as in the Turkish HistoryThesis. On the other hand, anthropological orthogenesis refers to the discourse that seeks a nationalessence harmonious with Western culture in closed communities of the villages and attempts to builda narrative of historical continuity as Salci did. Keywords: Alawi Music, Sociology of Music, Cultural Influence, Turkish Music, Vahit Lutfi Salci,Orthogenesis

State and national culture in P.B. Struve’s writings (on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth)

The author analyzes the views of the famous philosopher, sociologist and politician Petr Struve, whose ideas have enduring relevance in view of the problems of maintaining state unity and developing both culture and national identity. The main object of this research is Struve’s views on the essence of the state and national culture and on their role in the life of Russia. It is indicated that the position of the thinker presupposed a certain historiosophy – an interpretation of history as a process of development of spiritual culture. The features of Peter Struve’s liberal-conservatism and his understanding of the state as a “collective personality”, possessing a “superintelligent” nature are considered. The philosopher’s approach, which aimed at analyzing the seamless connection between state, culture and nationality is analyzed. The author considers how the thinker interpreted the essence of nationality and nationalism, as well as criticized the radical intelligentsia’s “official nationalism” and “absence of a feeling of national belonging”. She examines the philosopher’s views on the outstanding role of the state in Russian history and his understanding of such “fatal” reasons of its destruction as the insufficient involvement of the cultivated elements of the nobility in the ruling of the state as well as the belated abolition of serfdom law. The author also explains Struve’s views on the slogan of class struggle as decisively contributing to the cultural decomposition of the nation and to undermining the unity of the state. She also addresses the views of P.B. Struve, G.P. Fedotov and S.L. Frank concerning the reasons why the sense of national identity was weak in Russia. She concludes that, according to Struve, one of the reasons for the revolutionary radical upheavals in the country was the fact that the radical intelligentsia sowed in the broad masses of the people the ideological poison of “anti-state rebellion” and the “spirit of Bolshevism”. This contributed to a weak demand for national-state ideals and liberal-conservative ideas.

National Customs and Traditions in the Educational Process for Primary School Students

The main direction of the educational process is to develop the education system in accordance with the strategic directions of social and economic development of the republic, integrating it into the world educational space, preserving its national essence through the use of national customs and traditions, as well as cultural values, creating conditions for the formation of a personality in the national spirit, development of a high level of outlook and creative potential of the personality, cognitive competences. The implementation of these tasks requires a review of the content of the educational process in the country's schools from a new methodological standpoint, based on the use of elements of national customs and traditions. Such a new methodological system shows the need for radical changes in the traditional educational process, the development of a creative approach to teaching, and the updating of the content of education on a national basis.In the modern period of the development of society in the educational process of educational institutions the principle of education is implemented, taking into account the comprehensive development of students, such a system of education and upbringing provides an opportunity for the formation of cultural and ethnic identity, it is aimed at an in-depth study of the spiritual culture of the people and the ability to connect it with modern values. This system of education and training is based on the link between national customs and traditions (customs and traditions related to children's upbringing, household customs and traditions, social customs and traditions) and the educational process.

Objetivos transnacionales: El cine español del nuevo milenio

Although transnationality as a phenomenon is as old as film, the contemporary reflection on this topic and the plurality of approaches that converge on it have opened new lines of analysis to evaluate the impact that this reality exerts on the film industry. My intention in this study is to propose a typology that reflects the impact of transnationality in the specific case of Spanish film to explore the dynamics that control our cinematic production in the third millennium. I propose six segments to structure my approach to the Spanish film industry: 1. Production modes; 2. Transnational subjects; 3. Aesthetic registers; 4. Themes; 5. Ethics and ideology; 6. Critical and moviegoer reception. Within this framework, I will explore the dialectics between the national essence of Spanish film and its transnationality, the impact of different financial models, the multidirectional movements of our actors and directors, esthetic influences, the ethics of the industry and the response of critics and viewers to a film industry that swings between preserving and erasing its identity markers.

The Guitar’s Apostle: Imaginaries and Narratives Surrounding Andrés Segovia’s Religious Redemption of the Classical Guitar

ABSTRACT Media and scholarly publications often depict Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia as an apostle who redeemed the classical guitar from its relegation to the periphery of art music. Such ideas should be challenge by arguing that Segovia put a myth into circulation that has significantly distorted dominant historiographies of the guitar until today. Discussions about the roots and essence of the Spanish nation, the emergence of sound-reproduction technologies, and Segovia’s mediation helped to help establish a narrative that, through a religious rhetoric, positioned his artistic debut as a breaking point in the history of the classical guitar.

South Pacific Brownface: Racial Imposture, Global Markets, and National Theatre in Tapu (1903)

New Zealand critics and audiences in 1903 hailed Tapu (by Alfred Hill and Arthur Adams) as the harbinger of a new ‘national drama’. They thought that the comic opera captured the national essence and would broadcast the nation's advantages to a global audience. Yet the production never made it beyond Sydney, and has since disappeared from the historical record. My analysis of the script and critical reception shows that Tapu faltered in its confused adoption of a wide array of techniques of racial mimicry (borrowed from metropolitan theatres) to represent indigenous Māori and white visitors, but not the native-born settler population. The story of Tapu's failure, I argue, reveals something about the transnational conditions for the constitution of a national public sphere, and the indispensability of race as a supplement to that nation. It attunes us to the force of performance genre and repertoire as vehicles of racial information and affect, pointing to the ways in which conformity, rather than invention, was the ticket to success in the emergent global culture industries. If popular performance, and specifically racial mimicry, operated as a public experiment with the racial properties of citizenship – as a generation of scholarship on race and performance has argued – to what extent was that experiment controlled by the conventions of the global commodity market? This essay reaches insights that will be of interest to scholars of (trans)national performance history, settler whiteness and global indigeneity, and is germane to disciplinary debates on minstrelsy, ethnological show business, and cultural appropriation.

From the Ottoman Empire to pre-Islamic Central Asia: Theatre as an Ideological Tool

Abstract After Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the new Turkish Republic in 1923, the country went through a swift and radical transformation. The ruling elite made use of all possible tools to impose the ideals of the new Republic. Their main objective was to break the bonds with the Islamic Ottoman past to establish a new secular national identity. The essence of the new Turkish nation was found in pre-Islamic Central Asia. This view was supported with the help of the Turkish History Thesis, which asserted that the Turks are a supreme race, and their origins are from Central Asia. The state tried to propagate this thesis by various means. The most effective tool that could reach the illiterate people during that period was the theatre. Accordingly, the aim of this article is to explore how the state disseminated the Turkish History Thesis and the values of the new Republic through theatre. The emergence of this new narrative coincided with the tenth anniversary of the Turkish Republic. The plays, written in 1933, especially for this occasion, will be analyzed to determine how they support the Turkish History Thesis and the values of the new nation. Two plays, Akın (The Raid) and its sequel Özyurt (Homeland), will be explored in detail to give an elaborate account of the ideology behind such plays written during that period.

Theorizing the Security Utility and Essence of Religion and Nationalism

Do modern states and societies still need religion and nationalism? In this paper, I look for answers to why and how these two enduring phenomena continue to matter amidst all the criticisms and continued efforts to keep them out of public intellectual spheres and policymaking tables. To do this, I am theorizing about the tripartite relationship of security, religion, and nationalism. Specifically, I propose a three-pronged thesis that underscores the security utility and essence of religion and nationalism. The accompanying framework I develop in support of my thesis is composed of three key components: cultivating ethnoreligious nationalism, securitizing the ‘threat’ of other ethnoreligious groups, and sacralizing indivisible ethnoreligious identities and homelands. As I argue and demonstrate throughout this paper, religion and nationalism continue to matter precisely because they are essentially, and have always been, matters of security and survival for states and societies. Given the multiple causes of material and nonmaterial layers of ‘realities’ that constitute contemporary states and societies, as well as the complex ways in which these layers interact, the presumption that these units are unitary, rational actors is flawed and constraining. Hence, in this paper, I emphasize the importance of recognizing religion and nationalism as legitimate constituents and instruments of realpolitik.

Being a nation through the crown. Banal monarchism and nation-building in Spain, 1833–68

ABSTRACT Studies on nationalism have rarely given importance to the role played by the monarchy. In the Spanish case, studies have principally underlined its negative impact at the beginning of the twentieth century. This article aims to approach the origins of this political and cultural junction between the crown and the phenomenon of nationalism in Spain. A process that took place during the reign of Queen Isabel II (1833–68) and that followed very similar times and formulas to its neighbouring countries. It is first discuss the challenge that the monarchy faced in resignifying and relocating itself politically and symbolically in the nineteenth century. On this path, the crown found in the nation a perfect partner. However, liberalism also used the historical legitimacy of the monarchy to construct a nationalist discourse where monarchical identity was a structuring and undeniable piece of the national essence. Then, the author studies two typologies of strategies undertaken by them to convey their idea of nation, to mobilize people and to engender national loyalty: royal travel and images of the monarchy – both literal and figurative – used by the state. A comparative perspective with different European cases is always follow, particularly with Queen Victoria.

MICROPROPAGATION OF RHYNCHOSTYLIS GIGANTEA ORCHID BY SOMATIC EMBRYOGENIC CULTURES

Rhynchostylis gigantea is a wild orchid species commonly grown. Flowering at the traditional Tet holiday, the flower season always blooms in December of the lunar calendar. The flower has a faint aroma, so it is called Nghinh spring and is a kind of orchid with a national soul and national essence. Rhynchostylis gigantea is found in many areas in Vietnam as it is distributed in the South Central Highlands, especially the areas bordering Laos and Cambodia at low altitudes <600m. Rhynchostylis gigantea is a type of heat-resistant orchid, with suitable temperatures for orchid being from 26-30oC. Rhynchostylis gigantea species have many different colors such as red, white, shrimp brick color, blue and pink. The single-member tree does not assume pseudobulbs, grows vertically, has many pneumatophores and grows straight from the stem. Rhynchostylis gigantea grows slowly and regenerates with seeds. Due to high genetic diversity, it is difficult to maintain the parent’s characteristics. Applying techniques of somatic embryo culture in conservation and development of the Rhynchostylis gigantea tree to meet the increasing demand for seedlings is urgent.

تجليات الموروث في ديوان ( نصوص شرقية ) لعبد الوهاب البياتي

Heritage reflects peoples' memory and essence of nations. Thus, this divan was really the material and tool for writers in general and poets in specific both in their artificial innovations . Accordingly, modern writers have endeavored to bring heritage back in all its details and occurrences. Abdullwahab Al-Bayati's experience had reflected his innovative and strong link with the humanitarian heritage, in that heritage in view of Al-Bayati means both the humanitarian expertise and gains that are able to extend from past to future passing through the present.From this, the poet had not disconnected his strong link with the Arab poetic heritage .Thus, the poet had utilized the Arab poetic heritage in expressing on the Arab contrary reality especially in his last poetic divan ( Poetic Texts ) which included poetic texts expressed his dialogues with the heritage symbols and characters ,one of them is Abualallaa Al-Maa'arri , Hafidh Sherazzi , Abu Tammam , Ibn Arabi , and others , as well as mythical symbols, particularly Aisha ( Forouzendah ) in that this universal symbol had dominated Al-Bayati in most collections of poems .This symbol , Aisha ( Forouzendah ) , denotes renewed love or a unified universal power , or as Al-Bayati states about this character as the subjective and collective symbol of love that is unified in one unified soul of existence . In addition, his last poetic divan had linked with many spatial spaces such as Makkah, Damascus , Baghdad , Hawran , Tadmmur , and Bukharah .

Heritage in Abdul Wahab Al-Bayati's Divan Collection of Poems: Oriental Texts

Heritage reflects peoples' memory and essence of nations. Thus, this divan was really the material and tool for writers in general and poets in specific both in their artificial innovations . Accordingly, modern writers have endeavored to bring heritage back in all its details and occurrences. Abdullwahab Al-Bayati's experience had reflected his innovative and strong link with the humanitarian heritage, in that heritage in view of Al-Bayati means both the humanitarian expertise and gains that are able to extend from past to future passing through the present.From this, the poet had not disconnected his strong link with the Arab poetic heritage .Thus, the poet had utilized the Arab poetic heritage in expressing on the Arab contrary reality especially in his last poetic divan ( Poetic Texts ) which included poetic texts expressed his dialogues with the heritage symbols and characters ,one of them is Abualallaa Al-Maa'arri , Hafidh Sherazzi , Abu Tammam , Ibn Arabi , and others , as well as mythical symbols, particularly Aisha ( Forouzendah ) in that this universal symbol had dominated Al-Bayati in most collections of poems .This symbol , Aisha ( Forouzendah ) , denotes renewed love or a unified universal power , or as Al-Bayati states about this character as the subjective and collective symbol of love that is unified in one unified soul of existence . In addition, his last poetic divan had linked with many spatial spaces such as Makkah, Damascus , Baghdad , Hawran , Tadmmur , and Bukharah .

Blackism and Pan-Africanism in Post-Colonial African Literature: A Reading of Femi Osofisan’s Plays

This article is a thematic study of Femi Osofisan’s plays that explicitly capture the essence of blackism, nationalism and pan-Africanism as a depiction of the playwright’s ideology and his total commitment to the evolution of a new social order for black people. The article critically discusses the concepts of blackism and pan-Africanism as impelling revolutionary tools that seek to re-establish and reaffirm the primacy, identity, and personality of black people in Africa and in the diaspora. It also discusses blackism as an African renaissance ideology that campaigns for the total emancipation of black people and a convulsive rejection of all forms of colonialism, neo-colonialism, Eurocentrism, nepotism and ethnic chauvinism, while advocating an acceptance of Afrocentrism, unity and oneness of blacks as indispensable tools needed for the dethronement of all forms of racism, discrimination, oppression and dehumanisation of black people. The article hinges the underdevelopment of the black continent on the deliberate attempt of the imperialists and their black cronies who rule with iron hands to keep blacks in perpetual slavery. It countenances Femi Osofisan’s call for unity and solidarity among all blacks as central to the upliftment of Africans. The article recognises Femi Osofisan as a strong, committed and formidable African playwright who utilises theatre as a veritable and radical platform to fight and advocate for the liberation of black people by arousing their revolutionary consciousness and by calling on them to hold their destinies in their hands if they are to be emancipated from the shackles of oppression.

Defending the Egyptian nation: national unity and Muslim attitudes toward the Coptic minority

This article discusses the Muslim discourse concerning the Coptic Christian minority since the 2000s in Egypt. Emphasizing the effects of the January 2011 uprising, the paper analyzes the role of nationalism and the national unity discourse in suppressing the debate regarding discrimination against the Copts. Despite the fissures that were created in the discourse, which rejects any reference to discrimination against the Copts, the Coptic issue remains trapped among the contested interpretations of national unity. All narratives of national unity and Egyptian essence, whether the official one pursued by the regime or the one promoted by pro-democracy activists, require the Copts to suppress their demand for rights for the sake of national unity. Adherence to the national unity discourse by all forces precludes the possibility of developing a form of nationalism or a national culture which embodies pluralism of identities and cultures and reinforces the role of nationalism as a tool for stifling pluralism and democracy for all Egyptians, whether Muslim majority or minorities.

The Study of Sinology Education in Higher Vocational Colleges from the Perspective of Ideological and Political Education

Sinology is the cultural essence of the Chinese nation, which contains many excellent ideological essence and many educational resources. Sinology education has great inspiration for the ideological education of vocational college students. It can not only improve their humanistic quality and ideology, but also promote their patriotism spirit. This paper actively studies the significance of carrying out Chinese studies education, pondering and exploring how to carry out ideological education by analyzing the current situation of Chinese Studies Education in Higher Vocational colleges.

Wedding the dragon: The powerful feminine as seen in Jewish women’s dreams

This article addresses the theological and liturgical problem of incorporating mythic traditions of the divine feminine into contemporary practice, given the typically essentialist nature of these traditions. The article considers the dream practice of a Jewish women’s learning community, the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, and applies this practice to several “dragon dreams” in which dragons appear as powerful, erotic, sacred figures that “queer” the divine feminine by offering a norm-upending vision of what the feminine is and does. These dragon dreams provide a powerful alternative to traditional Jewish images of the female dragon in which the dragon represents the demonic feminine. I suggest that dreams can offer a “queering” of mythic images of the sacred feminine because they contain images that have mythic depth but also upend norms and expectations. The article then explores how these dragon images have made their way into the liturgy and theology of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute.

Shinto: A History by Helen Hardacre

Reviewed by: Shinto: A History by Helen Hardacre Mark Teeuwen Shinto: A History by Helen Hardacre. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. Pp. xi + 698. $39.95 cloth, $26.99 e-book. Shinto: A History is by far the most comprehensive and detailed history of Shinto to date in any Western language. Starting in the Yayoi period (300 BCE–300 CE), this historical overview of almost seven hundred pages takes the reader up to the latest developments in Heisei (1989–2019) Shinto. Overall, Hardacre's account is admirably balanced and broad, covering ideas, practices, institutions, funding, and reflections of Shinto in contemporary popular culture. She offers a very useful overview of the state of the field, enriched by her own critical perspective. The amount of reading that has gone into this work is nothing short of baffling; the bibliography alone is worth the price of this impressive tome. In addition, Shinto: A History includes a number of case studies that offer new and original material. There is no doubt that this monumental work represents a landmark in the study of Shinto and its history. The book is organized in sixteen chapters, four of which deal with the ancient and classical periods, three with the medieval period, four [End Page 335] with the Edo period (1603–1868), two with the years 1868–1945, and the final three with postwar Japan. The milestones of Shinto history are covered in impressive detail: the classical myths of Kojiki 古事記 (Records of ancient matters) and Nihon shoki 日本書紀 (The chronicles of Japan) and the rituals of the Jingikan 神祇官 (Department of divinities), the emergence of medieval Buddhist Shinto, the reinvention of Shinto by Yoshida Kanetomo 吉田兼倶 and the Edo-period institutionalization of Shinto, the rise of Kokugaku 国学 (Nativism), the Meiji nationalization of Shinto and its impact both on shrines and on groups now designated as sect Shinto, and the postwar settlement and the policies of the national Association of Shinto Shrines (Jinja Honchō 神社本庁). In addition, there are chapters on aspects that are not often discussed in such depth. There is a detailed discussion of female Inari 稲荷 mediums in the late Edo period, as well as a whole chapter about the postwar transformation of shrine festivals and their changing place in the public sphere. Hardacre offers both solid coverage of the basics and excursions into topics that are equally essential but have for some reason been mentioned only in passing, or completely ignored, in earlier works of this nature. Another commendable feature of this history is Hardacre's insistenceon discussing abstract ideas and policies through the lens of concrete cases and examples. A good example of this approach is her treatment of the incorporation of shrines and Shinto in kokutai 国体 (national essence) propaganda in the Meiji (1868–1912) and prewar years. Hardacre not only analyzes the rhetoric about shrine as stages for "state rites" (kokka no sōshi 国家之宗祀), but she also puts the priorities of the state apparatus to the test by providing a detailed overview of shrine-related expenses in the national budgets between 1875 and 1939. Her comments on the ups and downs of allocations to shrines (pp. 551–52) offer a revealing perspective on the realities of state support for shrines during this period. Also in other places, Shinto: A History tests the impact of new conceptualizations on Shinto and shrines by concretizing their effect, either by means of quantifiable data or selected case studies. This work, then, puts the field of Shinto studies on a new footing. But it also has its problems. As one must expect, mistakes creep in when one author covers such a wide timespan, either because of misunderstandings or because of dependence on unclear or outdated secondary [End Page 336] sources. It would be churlish indeed to list such errors, many of which are not particularly consequential. A more fundamental issue is the fact that writing a history of Shinto involves making choices that are conceptually problematic, whatever the perspective one chooses to apply. In a review of a historical overview of Shinto that Hardacre frequently quotes approvingly (for example, on p. 44), Sarah Thal puts her finger on the sore spot.1 She writes, "Shintō . . . can, at most, only be said to...

Understanding the Cultural and Nationalistic Impacts of the moguchaya kuchka

This paper explores Russian culture beginning in the mid nineteenth-century as the leading group of composers and musicians known as the moguchaya kuchka, or The Mighty Five, sought to influence Russian culture and develop a "pure" school of Russian music amid rampant westernization. Comprised of César Cui, Alexander Borodin, Mily Balakirev, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, this group of inspired musicians opposed westernization and supported Official Nationalism by the incorporation of folklore, local village traditions, and promotion of their Tsar as a supreme political leader. In particular, the works of Balakirev, Cui, and Mussorgsky established cultural pride and contributed to Russian nationalism. Through studying the works and cultural context of these three influential composers, one can gain both a better understanding of the essence of Russian Official Nationalism in the nineteenth century and an enriched appreciation for the prevalent Russian musical styles and compositional techniques that were employed to achieve a unique "Russian" sound.

El sistema de servidumbre en Estonia: visión general e influencia sueca

This article is based on a research about the serfdom system in Estonia and how the Swedish domination influenced the daily life of the Estonian peasants. The relevance of this topic emanates from the Estonian peculiarity determined by the national essence of the system because the farmer frame was formed exclusively by national Estonians and because of the socially advance Swedish actions. The current territory of Estonia was occupied for several foreign people and powers, as the Baltic Germans, the Danish, Swedes, even for a short period Polish and Russians. Still currently the Swedish period is referred as the golden times, or the good Swedish time, because it has a positive print of the serf’s lives. The research reveals these differences and exposes them with several temporal comparisons with other parts of Europe.

Innovation as Conservation: Reflexivity, National Cinema, and Male Hegemony in Takeshi Kitano’s Hana-bi

The article aims to illuminate the intersections of reflexivity, national cinema, and male hegemony in Takeshi Kitano’s award-winning film Hana-bi (1997). Hana-bi marks a transition to a discourse espousing Japaneseness, particularly the dominant male versions of national identity in Kitano’s filmmaking. The article assesses the impact of reflexivity that plays a crucial role in the discourse. To demonstrate these ideas, this article is separated into two sections. The first section discusses the problematic concepts of national cinema, analyzes the cultural and industrial contexts that informed Hana-bi, and illustrates the way in which the film reinforces the Japanese national essence and gender norms. The second section highlights the functions of reflexivity used in the film, drawing from the critical concept developed by film and television scholar Jane Feuer (1982).