Lietuvos etnologija / Lithuanian ethnology

The aim of this contribution is to explore Julian Ochorowicz’s theory of rudimentary symptoms, a proposition largely based on psychological concepts, balancing between the latest findings in evolutionary biology and anthropology, and exploring the development of man and his history. This concept sought to align the reflection of human nature and culture by introducing a psychological input (the concept of subliminal traditions). The author analyses and reintroduces this concept, somewhat forgotten by researchers, that may have functioned as a bridge, both between evolutionary biology and anthropology, and Polish and West European scientific thought at that time.

One of the perspectives of research on the history of evaluation of ethnological works is to analyse reviews of ethnological and ethnographic works. We have chosen Antanas Mažiulis (1914–2007), who wrote many reviews of works in Lithuanistic studies. The aim of the article is to reveal how Mažiulis understood, appreciated and critically approached the science of ethnology. Since his reviews covered a wide range of topics and issues, we will concentrate only on the analysis of terms and methodological issues in them.

The article examines the concepts and practices of ecology in the construction of the contemporary individual house, which is considered to be one of the most polluting. The paper presents an emic perspective on the owners of houses and architects. This work continues the studies of environmental anthropologists in seeking solutions to environmental problems. An analysis of the emic and etic perspectives could contribute to broadening the concept of ecology and help to select more environmentally friendly practices in construction. The work also offers a hypothetical image of an individual house which corresponds with the holistic concept of ecology.

Based on ethnological analysis, the author of this article presents a new hypothesis concerning the currently obscure origin of the tradition of decorating roadside crosses with aprons and ribbons in the area of the Southern Highlands in Lithuania. Due to an identical and prevalent tradition among the Belarusians, the phenomenon is ascribed to cultural innovations of non- Baltic origin. This enables the identification of the genesis of the custom, for up to the present time the most archaic reminiscenses of proto-Semitic religious-mythological models were interpreted as authentic factographic relics of the Baltic proto-culture: the transformation of mythological images, reflection of necroculture, fertility rites, etc.

Based on the theoretical approach to invented traditions, the article looks at the award traditions created by the staff of the Ukmergė Vladas Šlaitas Public Library. Awards can be seen as a means to establish the power of the governing group; on the other hand, positive initiatives can be found within a team, where the prevailing tradition of electing the best members of the community strengthens the professional identity. This raises the problematic question of the research: were the award traditions which were introduced during the Soviet years only automatic actions, or did they acquire distinct interpretations and become important?

The article aims to analyse the micro-level perspective in ethnography, highlighting the main features of the anthropological analysis of war. The focus of this article is the discourses that the Polish-English anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski applied in the general discipline of anthropology and in micro-level war studies. The article reveals that war is a complex process, inseparable from the daily lives of societies. This is reflected in the theoretical and practical work of anthropologists, who develop academic knowledge and apply anthropology for political purposes. Finally, the micro-level perspective is an example of interdisciplinary thinking that combines anthropological, sociological and historical approaches.

The main aim of the article is to show the results of ethnographic research initiated by the Šilutė district based on the plan of the Macikai camp complex (1941–1955) and its implementation. In this article, the author attempts to represent the cultural memory of the Macikai camps after 1945 (the Soviet period), which were recorded in the ethnographic research of the Šilutė Hugo Scheu Museum in 2018–2020. The material is submitted according to these aspects: the general atmosphere of the time, the social background and the age of the people in the Gulag camp, the prisoners’ living conditions, the fate of Macikai cemetery, and others.