12th Joint Conference of Bulgarian and American Scholars “Living Bridges Through Time”

SOFIA, JUNE 15-17, 2024

Dedicated to the 120th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the USA and Bulgaria, which took place in 2023.

In June of 2024, the Bulgarian Academy of Science (BAS) and the Bulgarian Studies Association (BSA) hosted the 12th Joint Conference of Bulgarian and American Scholars “Living Bridges Through Time”. A total of 43 established researchers and young scholars from Bulgarian and North American universities, museums and other academic institutions presented their papers at the conference. The program included ten panels, in which the subject of analysis and discussion were diverse problems related to the Bulgarian and North American relations in various academic fields, including history, diplomacy, cultural studies, cultural anthropology, folklore studies, archaeology, sociology, psychology, literature, theatre, cinema and linguistics.

Acknowledgments

The conference was made possible with the support from:

• The Bulgarian National Scientific Program “Development and Promotion of Bulgarian Studies Abroad”, financed by the Ministry of Education and Science
• The Council for Bulgarian Studies Abroad (BAS)
• Institute for Bulgarian Literature and Institute for Bulgarian Language (BAS)
• The Institute of Balkan Studies with the Center for Thracology (BAS)
• The American Research Center in Bulgaria Inc.

Conference Participants and Papers:

Aleka Strezova (Institute for Historical Studies, BAS)

THE BULGARIAN DIPLOMATS IN THE USA (1914-1941): SOCIAL PROFILE AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY

Penka Peykovska (Institute for Historical Studies, BAS)

ETHNO-DEMOGRAPHIC AND ETHNO-CULTURAL PROCESSES AMONG BULGARIANS IN CANADA FROM LATE 19TH TO MID-20TH CENTURIES

Naoum Kaytchev (Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohrdiski”)

THE IMAGE OF USA IN THE BULGARIAN TEXTBOOKS IN HISTORY

(1878-1944)

William Zieske (Independent Researcher)

DECOLONIZATION TO DIFFUSION: THE CONTRACTION OF OTTOMAN POWER IN THE BALKANS AS A DETERMINANT OF EARLY BULGARIAN IMMIGRANT TRAJECTORIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 1858-1908 (PART II)

Kristian Kafozov (Saint John’s University, Queens, New York, NY)

AMERICAN PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND PROPAGANDA EFFORTS TO CHANGE ‘HEARTS AND MINDS’ IN A SOVIET SOCIALIST STATE (BULGARIA) DURING THE COLD WAR, 1945-1991

Ivajlo Nachev (Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology, BSA)

BULGARIAN-AMERICAN EXCHANGES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF BULGARIAN MEDICAL SPECIALISTS BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS

Elmira Vasileva (Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology, BSA)

AN AMERICAN IN THE BALKANS: THE PROTESTANT MISSIONARY JOHN HENRY HOUSE AND HIS WORK IN THE EUROPEAN PROVINCES OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE, LATE 19 TH – EARLY 20TH C.

Daria White (Liberty University, USA)

BULGARIAN IMMIGRATION TO THE USA: CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF “HOME”, NATIONAL NOSTALGIA AND BUILDING OF TRAUMA-BASED IDENTITIES

Milena Benovska (South-West University “Neofit Rilski”)

SOCIOCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF “OTHERNESS”

Ana Luleva (Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum, BAS_

REVITALIZING “THE TRADITION” – CONNECTING TIMES, PLACES AND IDENTITIES

Dilyana Ivanova Zieske (The Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL)

MIGRATION AND PRECARITY CORRELATION: ETHNOGRAPHIC ASPECTS

Yana Hashamova (Ohio State University, Columbus, OH)

CULTURAL IDENTITY OF BULGARIAN DIASPORA: SUNDAY SCHOOLS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS

Desislava Tiholova (Rousse Regional Museum of History)

THE CASE OF “EBERHARD UNDZHIYAN” – PATTERNS OF MIGRATION & MOBILITY

Irina Gigova (College of Charleston, Charleston, SC)

THE SOCIALIST CHILD IN 1980S BULGARIA, OR COMICS AS AN IDEOLOGICAL INSTRUMENT

Ivan Hristov (Institute for Literature, BAS)

REUBEN MARKHAM’S CONCEPT OF TOTALITARIANISM

Dimitar Kamburov (Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”)

GEORGI GOSPODINOV’S TIME SHELTER: THE CRAFT OF ALLEGORY AND THE ART OF THE MISTAKE IN THE ORIGINAL AND ITS ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Petranka Nedelcheva (Bulgarian National Historical Museum)

ENDANGERED CULTURAL HERITAGE. THE CASE OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE “MEDIEVAL MONASTERY OF ST. YANNI”, AHTOPOL

Morena Stefanova (Metropolitan Museum, New York, NY)

BULGARIAN MUSEUMS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE: POST-COMMUNIST TRANSITION AND DECOLONIZATION PROCESSES

Veselina Uzunova (Institute for Historical Studies, BAS)

AMERICA THROUGH THE BULGARIAN PRESS IN THE 70S

Mila Maeva (Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum, BAS)

LABOR MOVEMENTS OF MEDICAL STAFF DURING THE SOCIALISM REGIME

Ivanka Petrova (Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum, BAS)

FROM LABOR MIGRANTS IN THE USA TO ENTREPRENEURS IN BULGARIA: “BRIDGES” BETWEEN AMERICAN AND BULGARIAN LABOR CULTURE

Zlatina Bogdanova (Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum, BAS)

YOUTH SHORT-TERM LABOR MIGRATION IN THE FRAMEWORK OF “WORK AND TRAVEL” PROGRAM – INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS & COMMUNICATION

Aleksander Donev (Institute of Art Studies, BAS)

FAST SPEED AMERICANIZATION. AMERICAN FILMS AND AMERICAN IDEAS IN BULGARIA IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD

Katerina Lambrinova (Institute of Art Studies, BAS)

AESTHETIC AND THEMATIC INFLUENCES OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENT CINEMA ON BULGARIAN FICTION FILMS AFTER 1989

Vessela Warner (The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL)

VOICES IN CONFINEMENT: CONTEMPORARY BULGARIAN DRAMA IN THE UNITED STATES

Simona Samuilova (Institute for Historical Studies, BAS)

THE PEACE CORPS ACTIVITIES IN BULGARIA: GOALS AND IMPLEMENTATION

Sarah Craycraft (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA)

“‘МОСТ’ WANTED”: GENERATIONS AS BRIDGES IN BULGARIAN VILLAGE REVITALIZATION

Ben DeDominicis (Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, South Korea)

TENSIONS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS IN BULGARIA: THE IMPACT OF EURO-ATLANTIC INTEGRATION

Ian MacMillen (Yale University, New Haven, CT)

NOT MUCH MELODY: COVID-ERA AMIDAH PRAYERS AT THE SYNAGOGUE IN SOFIA, BULGARIA

Svetlina Denova (Independent Researcher)

LYUBKA RONDOVA, TO ADOPT SONGS IN ORDER TO GIVE BIRTH TO NEW ONES

Traci Speed (Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”)

FUNERIAL LOGONYMS: THE ONOMASTICS OF ATTRACTING CUSTOMERS FOR THEIR FINAL PURCHASE

Maria Pileva (Institute for Literature, BAS)

THE BRIDGES ОF TRANSLATION IN THE 19TH CENTURY

Lyudmila Mindova (Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology, BSA)

CULTURE OF IRONY: IN “AMERICAN DICTIONARY” BY DUBRAVKA UGREŠIĆ AND “TO CHICAGO AND BACK” BY ALEKO KONSTANTINOV

Tanya Ivanova- Sullivan (University of California Los Angeles)

ACQUISITION OF HERITAGE BULGARIAN IN THE UNITED STATES: STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES AND SOCIOLINGUISTIC FACTORS

Yovka Tisheva, Marina Dzonova (Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”)

ADVERBIAL PHRASES WITH STATIVE AND ACTIVITY PRЕDICATES (BASED ON BULGARIAN DATA)

Svetla Koeva (Institute for Bulgarian Language, BAS)

APPLICATION OF AMERICAN THEORIES FOR EVENTUALITY TYPES TO DESCRIBE THE BULGARIAN VERBS

Margaret Dimitrova (Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”)

NINETEENTH-CENTURY MANUSCRIPTS FROM MOUNT ATHOS CONTAINING TEXTS DEDICATED TO THE THEOTOKOS ACCORDING TO RESOURCES OF HILANDAR RESEARCH LIBRARY (OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY) AND ZOGRAF RESEARCH ELECTRONIC LIBRARY (ST KLIMENT OHRIDSKI UNIVERSITY OF SOFIA)

Andrej Boyadzhiev (Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”)

Anissava Miltenova (Institute for Literature, BAS )

David Birnbaum (University of Pittsburgh, PA)

TO THE HISTORY OF BULGARIAN – AMERICAN COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF DIGITAL HUMANITARIAN STUDIES

Cynthia Vakareliyska (University of Oregon, Eugene, OR)

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE DOBREJŠO GOSPEL

Mary A. Johnson (The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH)

HILANDAR RESEARCH LIBRARY AND BULGARIA: 50 YEARS OF SCHOLARLY COOPERATION