The Emotional Content of the Bulgarian National Identity: Historical Roots and Modern Dimensions


Research Team: Prof. Rumyana Damyanova, Assoc. Prof. Radoslava Ilcheva, Senior. Asst. Prof. Anna Aleksieva (Institute for Literature - BAS); Prof. Nadia Danova, Prof. Raya Zaimova (Institute of Balkan Studies with Center of Thracology - BAS); Prof. Krastina Petkova, Prof. Pepka Boyadzhieva, Prof. Galin Gornev, Asst. Prof. Teodora Karamelska (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology - BAS)


The aim of the interdisciplinary project is to study the emotional content of the Bulgarian national identity from historical, socio-cultural and socio-psychological perspectives. Observations focus on group emotions (admiration, pride, shame, insecurity, etc.) as a product (and generator) of social identity and social context and as a mediator of social action. The project is based on the integration of the theory of social identity with the theory of intergroup emotions. The main goals of the project are:

  1. To differentiate the emotional components of the Bulgarian national identity and their attitude to other key identities (personal, gender, religious, etc.), as well as to the process of European integration.
  2. To study how the international comparative context influences the nature of collective emotions and the manifestation of national identities.
  3. To study how the audience to which the identity is exposed influences the nature of the collective emotions the manifestation of the national identities.
  4. To establish the extent to which it is possible to purposefully cause changes in some of the emotional components of (Bulgarian) identity.
  5. To study the interdependence between the emergence of internal (semi) structural divisions in society and the strength and emotional color of national identity.

 

Publications:

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