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Viewed from a diachronic perspective, street musicians represent one of the characteristics of city life globally. The focus of this research has been on music practices on the streets of Belgrade over the last four decades. The street is seen as a sort of alternative music scene. Through their activities, musicians contribute to building the city identity, while influencing the passers-by who come in contact with them. This paper analyzes the problems faced by street musicians, as well as the effects of various social factors on their activity and genre commitment. Particular consideration is given to the appearance of musicians performing classical music on the street as a kind of rebellion against the distastefulness.

This work focuses on the role of the amateur theatre King David, founded in 1986 with the Jewish community of Belgrade, in the preservation of Jewish cultural heritage and establishing of intercultural dialogue primarily on the microlevel of a neighbourhood, but also within a wider community framework.1 Over the last thirty yeras the theatre has been devotedly run by one person, Mirijam Salom, who also writes play scipts, makes song arrangements and directs plays. Members of the theatre group are mostly primary and secondary school children and university students. The fact that most of them are not actually of Jewish but of Serbian descent is a sort of a phenomenon. In this way, the theatre has an educational role in presenting Jewish culture primarily to the young people who actively participate in plays and consequently to their family members and the Belgrade audience. One of the aims of this research is to give some answers to questions concerning the role of the theatre in the lives of the young people who take part in it as well as the reception of the plays with the audience. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177027: Multiethnicity, multiculturalism, migrations contemporary processes]

The focus of this research is on the function of the holiday Purim in the life of Belgrade Jewish community. In diachronic perspective we are looking at general and local characteristics of the holiday, and different levels of its celebration (private, public sphere). In the studied community this holiday has undergone a transformation from a religious to a secular feast followed by revitalization of its religious context. This paper analyzes the mechanisms of various levels of recovery and conceptualization of this holiday, on the institutionalized level and in the form of spontaneous personal initiatives. We are looking at different functions of this holiday in broad social context and their diachronic changes. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177027: Multietnicitet, multukulturalizam, migracije savremeni procesi]

This research focuses on spontaneous remigrations from the United States to Serbia, since the beginning of the 21st century to the present. One of the problems in studying remigrants is a large territorial dispersion of the repatriates. Analysis of the narratives - life stories of the remigrants allows us to perceive the key factors that influenced leaving for the United States and then the causes and motivation for returning to Serbia. In addition, the paper discusses issues related to the reintegration of migrants, the ability to apply acquired knowledge and cultural problems faced by remigrants. Remigrants face a number of problems, and major difficulty is the lack of government institutions to assist their reintegration. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177027: Multietnicitet, multukulturalizam, migracije - savremeni procesi]

This research focuses on the correlation between migrations and ethnic and religious identities on the example of the United Methodist Church (UMC)2 in Banat. This paper observes a complex network of social, political and cultural factors which induced the changing of the number of members of the UMC local congregations, and their ethnic structure. Ever since the founding of the first UMC congregations on the territory of Serbia (mostly in Vojvodina) at the beginning of the 20th century until the end of World War II, the greatest number of their members were German. After they had immigrated, there was a sharp membership decline and many UMC congregations were extinguished. Today there are four UMC congregations in Banat, the largest one being the Macedonian Roma congregation in Jabuka, which is called the ’’Roma church’’ by the local people. Protestant congregations in Serbia are minority denominations and the UMC in Banat does not have many members. In the UMC in Jabuka the pastor is a woman, which is also very rare. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177027: Multiethnicity, Multiculturalism, migrations: Contemporary process]

This paper focuses on issues of complex relationships between religion and local tradition on the one side and needs of modern society, government laws and migrations on the other, as exemplified by funerals in modern Greece. Overcrowding in big urban centers, especially in municipalities of Athens, consequently led to a lack of space for traditional long-term burial by inhumation. Exhumation follows after three to five years, when family members are forced to face (often un-decayed) remains of loved ones .The question arises concerning the ethical dimension of such a procedure and the emotional traumas it causes. Skeletons stripped of flesh undergo secondary burial by being laid into an ossuary. Cremation is not practiced, although cremation societies of citizens interested in it exist and Greek Parliament voted for the permission to build and operate crematories in 2006. However, Greece is still the only country member of European Union without a crematory. In Greece, Orthodox Christian faith is the official religion with significant social influence, which, consequently leads to a failure of implementation of cremation on its territory even for local and foreign citizens of other faiths and atheists. The deceased are being transported to the cheapest crematories in Bulgaria or, on rare occasions, to some of the “prestigious” ones in Western European countries. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177027: Multiethnicity, Multiculturalism, migrations - contemporary process]

Popular music played in the second half of the 20th century on the territory of former Yugoslavia became known as the newly composed music. During the 1990s wars, music genre known as turbo folk was especially popular in Serbia. Research has shown that this music contains Oriental, most of all Ottoman, influences. Even though it is very popular, this kind of music has been subjected to severe criticism, which may be divided into two main groups. According to some, turbo-folk has been criticized because it was associated with war, nationalism and crime. In the second group are those who are nationalistically terrified of foreign influences in the music, feeling that this music leads to the "tehranization" of Serbia. In addition, critics think that it is kitsch, which favors immorality. The focus of this research is on the perception of turbo folk by You Tube users. The material from this Internet page for video exchange is available in the whole world. Many users from the territory of Former Yugoslavia leave their often nationalistic and political comments about songs. This work deals with the way listeners view their own connection with Ottoman past. What they experience as Turkish and as their own in those songs and what the value system is like. Apart from this, social influence of Internet culture is viewed, in this case on You Tube example. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177027: Multiethnicity, Multiculturalism, migrations - contemporary process]

A more massive migration of Chinese to Serbia can be traced back to the 1990s. The Chinese in Serbia represent the first generation of migrants who came out of economic reasons. This work deals with the role of their religious identity in the gathering of those members of the group who practice Baptist Christianity. Baptist Christians are a religious minority both in China and Serbia. Therefore, the members of this group represent a double minority: both in the reception country (religious and national) and in their own country, compared to the religious orientation of the majority of their fellow countrymen. Apart from this, their church services are marked by certain characteristics by which they can be distinguished from other Baptist groups. The role of the religious factor in the community’s life is being viewed here, as well as the affirmation and making connections between the members.

This work views the relationship between humanitarian actions and ethnic distance in the example of Greeks and Serbs nowadays. There is an issue of a motive and a role of ethnic distance in the manner of conveying humanitarian help, as well as its wider social consequences. The activities of two organizations are taken as an example: the Red Cross and the Greek Caravan of Solidarity. During wars on the territory of Yugoslavia in the 1990s the Red Cross of Serbia was included in an action with the aim of enabling the continuation of education for the children from the war stricken parts. Many other organizations were also included in giving help. The work of the Greek Caravan of Solidarity as an institution which has a specific method of giving help is viewed here. Apart from extenuating the children's war traumas, the numerous gifts and hospitality over the years brought to the deepening of ethnic closeness. Among other things, the expansion of Greek language and culture came as a result of this. The hospitality and friendship have been continued after the war until today.

The theme of this work is the population of recent Turkish migrants who live on the territory of Serbia. I wanted to establish which factors from a wider social context have an effect on the selection of signs by which ethnic groups are differentiated. Parallel to this I wanted to establish if there are any factors which could have an effect on ethnic closeness, and on what level.

The topic of this work is Serbian schools and the teaching of Serbian language in Greece in the 20th century. During the first half of the 20th century the existence of Serbian people in Turkey (later in Greece) was acknowledged through school and church. Thanks to the Serbian schools, Serbs as an invisible minority became a visible one. In the second half of the 20th century there is primarily a teaching of Serbian language as a foreign language. During this period, Serbian was accepted primarily by Greeks at courses and private classes. At the beginning of the nineties in the 20th century because of the war in the territory of Yugoslavia, a large number of refugees went to Greece. Teaching of Serbian as a native language was organized only ten years later (at the beginning of 21st century). In some places, the schools are located in consular sections and have the assistance of the country of origin (Thessalonica, Katerini) while in Hani (Crete) immigrants organized them-selves without the assistance from the country of origin. By studying Serbian schools and the teaching of Serbian language, this work considers relation towards language as a symbol of ethnic identity - at the individual level, at the level of receiving country and at the level of country of origin.

The church of Saint Sava is located at center of Thessalonica; from 1896, the church served as a parish church for Serbian population. The church Register from 1896-1945 is used in this paper. The Serbs from Thessalonica were mostly craftsmen, bankers and traders. All engaged in business that required the knowledge of Greek language, but still had a need for Serbian parish and church services in Serbian language. And although Serbian, the parish was also open to other ethnic groups. For example, Russians used its services for baptism, and there are data indicating that a certain proportion of Jews Muslims, Protestant and Catholics got converted in the church, confirming its missionary dimension. These individuals kept their first names even after the conversions. The Serbs named their children in Serbian fashion, not Greek. However, the Serbs from Thessalonica who came to ex- Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, after WW II, encountered a different situation. Macedonian influence is evident in their first and last names. For instance, name Andjelija becomes Anga, and last name Filipovic becomes Filipovski. The respected parents were Serbs. There is only one case where an adopted Greek raised by Serbs in Thessalonica, had changed his first and last name in Macedonian fashion. The phenomenon assumes preservation of Serbian names in ethnically totally different environment, such as Greece, and the absence of the same in ethnically similar environment such as Macedonia.

The subject of this paper is usage/misusage of a church music by a portion of clergy: a religious identity is being suppressed while a church music is used as a mean of communication of a national identity. The problem is discussed using the territory of the Belgrade-Karlovac diocese. In the 1990’s many choruses were found that were suppose to perform in church-Slavic and Serbian languages. This music has evoked many different reactions, from delight to banishment until finally it was outlawed on the diocese territory. The mode of singing, present among Serbs in the last hundred years was proclaimed native and original, and therefore as the only mode suitable on liturgies. Thus, an invented tradition takes place, where newer mode of performing and singing becomes older and more Serbian.

This paper is the result of original fieldwork performed in the village of Strelac, in southeast Serbia during August 2003. All Slavs believed in the existence of a vampire; still today, this belief is widespread among Serbs. According to the folk stories, a man can become a vampire during his life or after death. It is believed that certain persons have a predisposition to become vampires: informants argued that the condition could descend by inheritance, or if an animal steps over a deceased person. A man can also become a vampire during his lifetime if he suffers from certain illness, but does not take medications, or if, when ill, he is left alone or abandoned by his family. In most cases a vampire hunts his relatives or neighbors, or disturbs their cattle. A vampire makes noise, troubles its relatives, jumps on their back, and sometimes sucks their blood. There are two ways of protection against a vampire: to scold and push a vampire away, and to face the creature in order to "speak out". The "speak-out" method means that a vampire needs to be told about everything it did as a vampire. If a vampire is a vampire-deceased, it is possible to "lure" it with round bread, and banish it from the village. The villagers here use "vampire's bone" for this purpose. These beliefs encourage people to take care of their sick - the ones who do not do so get frequent visits from a vampire.

This paper is based on the life story of one of Belgrade break dance dancers who started dancing and competing in early youth, but later she ceased to dance. I was interested in motives which influenced that young person to begin to deal with the brake dance, what she expressed by that, what the reaction was of social environment to the dance and what factors influenced her to stop dealing with this dance.