Special issue of “Filosofia” on pop-culture and politics with a contribution by Matthias Schwartz
The special issue of “Filosofia”, dedicated to the memory of Ivaylo Ditchev (1955–2023), professor of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Sofia, Department of History and Theory of Culture.
Table of contents
Daniela Koleva, The Art of Challenging: Re-Reading and Remembering
Anna Krasteva, Citizens vs. Elites. Symbolic Battles over the Uses of Political Crises in Bulgaria
Svetla Koleva, Rethinking Populism with Pierre Rosanvallon
Ralitsa Kovacheva, Populist Narratives about The EU in the 2024 European Election Campaign in Bulgaria
Andreana Eftimova, Styles of Political Populism: Plain Languages for Ordinary People
Diana Petkova, Populism in Public Communication – From Fragmentation to Radicalization in Times of Crises. The Case of Bulgaria
Silvia Petrova, Trolling as Political Discourse
Nelly Ognyanova, The Wild West of Digital Journalism
Vyara Angelova, Bulgaria’s Law on Professional Journalists of 1941: Effect and After-Effects
Matthias Schwartz, In a Lad’s World. A Popular TV Series and Social Media in the Shadow of the Russo-Ukrainian War
Abstract: The essay deals with the enormous success of the Russian television series The Boy’s Word. Blood on the Asphalt (Slovo patsana. Krov’ na asfalte, 2023), directed by Zhora Kryzhovnikov, on both sides of the trenches during the Russo-Ukrainian war. It discusses the role of social media and the public reception in Ukraine and Russia. In particular, the way the series depicts the so-called ‘Kazan phenomenon’, when the Tatar capital was shocked by criminal youth gangs in the late Soviet Union, makes it attractive and topical in the current situation. By analyzing this, the essay also attempts to gain a better understanding of how popular cultural products take up and process social problems and conflicts in a complex way.
Ventsislav Dimov, On Hip-Hop Music as Pop-Politics: A Look at the Poetics in Trajectories of Content and Form
Zhana Popova, Invisible Professional TV Watchers under Surveillance
Niya Neykova, The Acceleration of Intimacy. Representations of Love, Sexuality and Relationships in Virtual Reality
Rosalina Todorova, Green Acts: Global Politics vs Local Crises (A Case Study in Two Bulgarian Villages)
Mila Stancheva, Polit-Pop Sustainability: Policies, Businesses, and Media Heroes for a ‘Green’ Lifestyle