Kristina Eiviler joined the URPP Language and Space in April 2019.
PhD Project: Cross Cultural Analysis of Interaction between People and Unconventional Places and Objects of Veneration
In my research, I apply EMCA methodology on the ethnographical data, to analyze the cross-cultural phenomenon of interaction between people and publicly venerated objects, along with the spacial modifications that emerge as a result of these interactions.
The commonly seen form of the indicated phenomenon is: people touching specific parts of the statues, or stones, for luck. Nonetheless, this phenomenon can attain significantly complex expressions, such as accomplishing more engaging physical contact with the object (sitting, standing, lying, bowing to the object, etc), incorporating other objects to the venerated object (food, flowers, coins, notes, etc), constructing new discourses about the place or institutionalizing it (making it a public facility, organizing touristic venues, etc). Given that these objects are a part of the public landscape and that the interactions occur in mundane settings, the human-object, human-human and the spatial dimensions of the interactions are strongly entangled. Therefore, I examine the embodied forms of the behavior and the semiotic resources of the space which are being activated through these encounters and which might differentiate ritual(ized) from everyday actions. My focus in on naturally-occurring interactions, namely object-cantered sequences and sequences of distinctive spatial practices. I analyze how participants moderate their trajectories, postures, gestures, how they interact with the object and through the object, how the dynamics of these interactions re-shapes spacial dimensions.
In order to answer the research questions, I include disciplines such as linguistic anthropology, material culture studies, sensory anthropology, popular culture studies, urban studies. The data I am currently working on consists of video recordings, audio recordings, photographs, texts and interviews. The significant part was collected in Russia, in the Moscow Metro station “Revolutionary square” with the 76 human-size bronze statues; in the Moscow park Kolomenskoe, with the Gus stone – male stone and the Deviy stone – female stone, and in Pereslavl-Zalessky (Yaroslavl Region), which, thought the years, became a pilgrimage hot-spot due to the Synyi stone, located there.
Supervisor: PD Dr. Klaus Wolfgang Kesselheim
Funding Source: URPP Language and Space
Conferences
Eiviler, K. (2019). "The Touch of Luck: A Case Study on the Practices of Touching
Monuments in Public Spaces in Moscow." 17th Annual Conference of the European
Association for the Study of Religions (EASR), Tartu, Estonia.
Eiviler, K. (2019). "Monuments and the Places of Veneration in Moscow: Commemoration, Rituals, Mythology." 19th International School in Folkloristics and Cultural Anthropology, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Russia.
Eiviler, K. (2018). “`Взято – проклято`. Представления о скрытом сокровище:
мифические хранители и способы получения ” (`Seized-Cursed` the Idea of the Hidden Treasure – Mythical Keepers and the Ways of Getting the Treasure). V International Conference Demonology as Semiotic System. Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia.
Eiviler, K. (2018). “Ritual and Theatre: Anthropology of the ‘Theatre of the Oppressed”. II International Scientific Conference Anthropology of Everything for 10 minutes. Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia.
Eiviler, K. (2018). “К вопросу о переводе драматургических текстов на примере пьесы Ивана Вырыпаева `УФО`” (Towards the Problematics of a Theatre Drama Translation, on the example of the Translation of Ivan Vyrypaev`s Drama the `NLO`). III International Scientific Conference for Students Translation – an Object of Scientific Research. Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia.
* Award: winner in the category “The most original and innovative topic”.
Eiviler, K. (2018). “Легенда о невесте из Елашници” (The Legend of the Bride of
Jelasnica). International Conference of the Young Scientists Folklore and Cultural
Anthropology Today. Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia.
Eiviler, K. (2015). “О нестајању `повлашћених простора`, или: концепција простора у савременим словенским драмама породичне тематике] (: On the Disappearance of the “Privileged Space”, or: The Concept of Space in the Contemporary Slavic Plays Dealing with the Theme of Family). International Conference for Students of Comparative Literature – Prva stran. Faculty of Philosophy, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Eiviler, K. (2015). “Сатана као антихерој у савременој руској, српској и хрватској
књижевности” (Satan as an (Anti)Hero in the Contemporary Russian, Serbian and Croatian Literature). International Conference for Students of Slavic Studies – Jučer, danas, sutraslavistika. Faculty of Philosophy, Zagreb, Croatia.
Congress
Eiviler, Kristina (2019). "От ужаса к смеху: К прагматике демонологических преданий о тенцах на примере нарративов Тимокского района восточной Сербии." (“From Horror to Laughter: Towards Pragmatics of Demonological Stories about Tenci on the Example of Timok Region in the East Serbia”)13th Congress of Anthropologists and Ethnologists of Russia. Kazan (Russia).
Colloquiums
Eiviler, K (2020). “Cross-Cultural Analysis of Interaction between People and
Unconventional Places and Objects of Veneration”. Colloquium of the Postdoc and PhD students, ISEK - Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies. University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Eiviler, K (2019). "Analysing Interaction between People, Objects and Places of Veneration" ZuSaM Colloquium (University of Zurich, University of Salzburg, University of Munich). Georg-von-Vollmar-Akademie e.V., Kochel am See, Germany.
Education
2019 – present |
PhD in General Linguistics |
2017 – 2019 |
MA in Social Anthropology and Ethnology |
2018 – 2019 |
MA in Serbian Literature and Language |
2012 – 2018 |
BA in Russian Language and Literature, |
2010 – 2015 |
Faculty of Philosophy |
Exchange Studies
January 2017 – June 2017 |
CEEPUS Student Exchange Program (spring semester) |
September 2016 – January 2017 |
Erasmus+ Student Exchange Program (winter semester) |
Summer Schools
2019 |
19th International School in Folkloristics and Cultural Anthropology, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Russia. |
2017 |
Let the Youth Play the Lead – Theatre Techniques for Social Problems |
2014 |
Summer school of Serbian folklore II (Stara Planina) |
Workshop Participation
«Open Access and Audiovisual Sources» (2019), November 22-23, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Previous projects
2015 – 2017 |
Protecting the immaterial heritage of the Torlak vernacular, at The Institute for Balkan Studies of Serbian Academy for Sciences and Arts, Museum of Ethnography in Belgrade Website of the project: Timočki govori |
Grants and Scholarships
2017 – 2019 |
Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education Excellence Scholarships for Foreign Students |
Fieldwork experience
Jan., Mar., May, Dec. 2019 |
Moscow and Moscow region, Russia |
April – May 2019 |
Pereslavl-Zalessky, Yaroslavl Region, Russia |
May – June 2018 |
Samara region, Russia |
June 2018 |
Tula region, Russia |
July 2018 |
Zaplanje region, Serbia |
2014 – 2017 |
Timok region, Serbia |
Translations and languages
Translations
2020 |
Zhanar Kusainova “A Bird in the Pocket”, theatre drama (from Russian to English, for the Zurich English-Speaking Theatre). |
2018 |
Матеја Комел Сној, Поезија, коју можемо читати и затворених очију (Mateja Komel Snoj “The Poetry That We Can Read Even with Our Eyes Closed”), literature essay (translation from Slovenian to Serbian). Летопис Матице српске, Књига 503, свескa 4, април 2019. |
2018 |
Иван Вирипаjев “НЛО” (Ivan Ivan Vyripaev “NLO”), theatre drama (from Russian to Serbian, for the Theatre of the Student's Cultural Center in Nis, Serbia). |
2016 |
Преснjаков Владимир и Олег “Тероризам” (Presnyakov Vladimir and Oleg “Terrorism”), III act of the theatre drama (from Russian to Serbian, for the “ArtFrakcija” production, Youth Theatre in Novi Sad and Centre for Culture in Inđija, Serbia). |
Languages
Serbian (native); English, Russian, Slovenian (fluent); Spanish (intermediate); German, Polish, French (elementary).
Ethnographical documentary movie
2017 |
“Молитва под Миджором” (20`, language: Russian, Serbian) |