Publications | Aleida Bertran

FESTIVAL RE-CONNECTIONS FROM THE NEW NORMALITY: THE BALTICA-WEB FORUM 2021

In Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the Singing Revolution (1987-1991) marked a turning point in the restoration of national independence. This movement of non-violent resistance successfully engaged civil society in mass performative events. It provided a new form of social capital, birthing a network of purveyors of folklore and cultural activists. Folk festivals became loudspeakers through events such as this article’s object of study, the International Folklore Festival Baltica (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania).

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CONTINUITY AND CHANGE: LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES OF CATALAN

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Catalonia is an interesting site for language ideology research for several reasons. It is a multilingual and multicultural territory, where both Catalan and Spanish enjoy the status of co-official language. We examined the language ideologies of this cohort through the theoretical lens of linguistic authority, in particular, the concepts of anonymity and authenticity. Two central themes emerged from the data analysis: ‘Catalan: “lingered” authenticity?’ and ‘Spanish: glocal anonymity’. The findings reveal a complex array of language ideologies toward both Catalan and Spanish.

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RETHINKING RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS IN THE ERA OF DIGITAL

ETHNOGRAPHY

The Festival of Sant'Efisio has been carried out for centuries in Sardinia, Italy, to honor a vow made to the Saint after a plague in the seventeenth century. As a result of the global health crisis in 2020, the Festival was performed mainly through social media. Studying this event under such conditions accentuated the inherent complexity of interpreting ethnographic data from religious festivals, in which the body, emotions, and participation play a fundamental role. Emphasizing the hybridity of online and offline worlds, we reflect on how fieldwork has been transformed by COVID-19 through a reflexive account of the methodological challenges of online festival ethnography.