Ladino Proverbs: Edition, Recovery and Dissemination of the Endangered Cultural Heritage in the post-Holocaust Yugoslavia

Project Information

LadinoProverbs

Grant agreement ID: 792150

DOI

10.3030/792150

Project closed

EC signature date 28 March 2018

Start date 1 September 2019

End date 31 August 2021

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 158 121,60

EU contribution

€ 158 121,60

Coordinated by

AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LadinoProverbs (Ladino Proverbs: Edition, Recovery and Dissemination of the Endangered Cultural Heritage in the post-Holocaust Yugoslavia)

Reporting period: 2019-09-01 to 2021-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

“Ladino Proverbs: Edition, Recovery and Dissemination of the Endangered Cultural Heritage in the post Holocaust Yugoslavia” (acronym LadinoProverbs, n. 792150) is an interdisciplinary project that started on 1 November 2019 and ended on 31 August 2021. The main idea of the project consisted of working on an intangible material which included various unedited manuscripts of Ladino or Judeo-Spanish proverbs in order to analyse, safeguard and disseminate knowledge of a culture and a language that has been declared by UNESCO in 2002 as a seriously endangered heritage. The material was collected by a few surviving members of the Sephardic community in Serbia and Bosnia following the events of World War II and the Holocaust, which adds an additional value to the material. In fact, we have become aware that the only way to secure the continuation of this European heritage is by preserving the remaining testimonies, which are spread throughout different countries and institutions, and often kept in inadequate conditions, thus jeopardising their survival. The aim of this project was to contribute to that idea by conducting an interdisciplinary study on the Sephardic paremiology from Serbia and Bosnia, which thus far has been neglected in Sephardic studies.

The importance of this project for society as a whole lies above all in two aspects. First, as mentioned above, we are dealing here with an extremely sensitive material in that it represents the last remnants of the Sephardic culture and language from Serbia and Bosnia, countries which formed part of the former Ottoman Empire. Working on this material guarantees its survival and its preservation for posterity. Second, the Sephardic heritage and its language form part of the rich and varied European cultural history and linguistics, but have remained largely unknown to date. The project, thus, intended to shed light on an unexplored aspect of the Sephardic culture and raise/spread awareness of the importance of its preservation for the European and World cultural map.

The overall objectives consisted of producing: two papers and a monographic study on the Ladino/Sephardic proverb tradition; organising an international conference that would set the basis for future collaborative projects by gathering together experts in different disciplines (to secure an interdisciplinary approach to the matter) and of different backgrounds; and to raise awareness and urgency in society of the importance of similar projects whose aim is to protect the survival and testimonies of endangered cultures. The activities undertaken as well as their results (detailed below) demonstrate that these objectives have been fully accomplished.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

From the outset I have organised my work around four main activities: 1) setting basis of the project, developing it and accomplishing the main goal (a monograph); 2) promoting and disseminating the project and its results both among academic and general public; 3) organising an international conference; 4) publishing the main results.

The activities undertaken have exceeded those presented in the Grant Agreement. From the start I initiated an intensive promotion of the project and its results among academic audiences by participating at two national and five international conferences in four different countries and in three different languages. I have also delivered two invited talks at the University of Bremen (Germany) and at the ILLA of the CSIC (Madrid, Spain). Furthermore, one of the fundamental results of the project has been the organisation of an international conference that took place on 2 and 3 March 2020 at the Fellow’s host institution. I spent three months preparing the event which aimed at gathering over twenty leading experts in the field from Spain, UK, France, Israel, Serbia and Germany. This activity allowed me not only to promote the project, but also to build up my network of collaborators and set grounds for an international cooperation and an interdisciplinary approach.

One of my major efforts during my MSCA has involved important public engagement. I gave several promotional talks at important events: the Comunidad de Madrid’s Science Week (2019), European Researcher’s Night (2020), Cambridge Festival of Ideas (2021); or Sunday Encounters (2021). Furthermore, I have established important collaborations with institutions such as Centro Sefarad-Israel (Madrid), University of Bordeaux (France), Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Israel) and CSIC (Madrid), where I organised and delivered several talks for the general public on diverse topics related to the Sephardim.

One of the ways to disseminate information on the project and its importance for society as a whole was through media. I was interviewed for a newspaper article as well as a radio (Radio UNED) and a television programme (‘La aventura del saber’ on TV2), which gave me an opportunity to widely promote the project and draw attention to the precarious situation of the Ladino language and culture.

I have turned the results of my research into several important forthcoming publications, which include: a book (2022); a collective volume of which I am one of the editors (2021); and, two articles (2022), all of them to be published in Open Access.

Covid-19 pandemic created certain impediments for the development of the project. This refers to the secondment at the Fundación Ramón Menéndez Pidal in Madrid that was scheduled in two stages, but the outbreak of the pandemic in March that year led Spain to a total lockdown for nearly three months, followed by strict restrictions. The Fundación RMP remained completely closed until September 2020, but also once it reopened it could not provide a safe working environment for both its full-time and non-permanent staff. These are the reasons why I was unable to carry out my secondment.

At the end I would like to stress that having enjoyed the prestigious Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellowship has undoubtedly secured me an important career breakthrough. I have achieved a tenure track (a full-time lecturer position) at INALCO in Paris (France).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The forthcoming monographic study on the Sephardic paremiology represents the first study of this kind that contemplates modern proverbial texts in the context of their medieval roots and, thus, will undoubtedly become the key reference in the field, setting basis for future studies that aim to observe the remarkable centuries-long continuity in the tradition. It will also serve as a testimony of a language and a tradition that are at the verge of disappearing due to different historical and social reasons.

The project has shown why the study of minority and endangered languages and cultures should be the mainstream rather than a sporadic interest within the study of dominant languages and cultures. Moreover, these two should be studied together, as the project has demonstrated, in order to fully appreciate the inter- and intra-cultural exchanges. The approach to the matter that the project adopted contributed to the idea of diversity and tolerance as well as a claim for an appreciation for unfairly marginalised groups and their cultural values. In this way, the project has helped create a more open society that will embrace linguistic and cultural richness.

Poster that was made for a talk I gave that later turned into a paper to be published.