Browsing by Author "Takovski, Aleksandar"

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Advertising Semiotics: A methodological discussion on the complexity of the communicatively modeled processes
(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Takovski, Aleksandar
The aim of the paper is to provide a comprehensive insight into the net of activities that shape, give content and meaning to the complex process of advertising communication. In this attempt, the paper will primarily refer to the existent semiotic research on meaning making using it as a general methodological background against which it builds and presents its own account. The account itself will focus on the semiotic agents, resources, processes and factors, both supportive and restrictive of the semantic complexity of the advertising message (here taken as metonym of the communication). For the purposes of convenience the whole advertising process is subdivided into three sets of related and semioticly relevant activities: a) processes that precede the production of the message, and are related to the market concerns like company’s image, USB, objective, previous advertising history etc, and that should correspond to the question of What to communicate, b) processes related to the shaping and the communication of the message, and that relate to the question of how to shape and communicate the meaning(s), and c) the comprehensive reception and reaction on the part of the audience, which covers the question of what audiences make from it.
Extending ethnic humour theory: Genuine vs. functional ethnic jokе scripts
(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Takovski, Aleksandar
Most ethnic humour that has been studied so far consists of jokes which use ethnically nonspecific qualities such as stupidity or canniness in order to ridicule an ethnic group and thus to preserve and perpetuate ethnically based social hierarchies in western industrial societies. In light of this dominant logic in ethnic humour theory, the objective of this study is to problematize the relation of such non-ethnic qualities and the notion of ethnic identity, as well as their relation to a specific type of society, in an attempt to convincingly argue in favour of the need to differentiate between ‘ethnically-empty’ functional joke scripts and genuine ethnic joke scripts that are related to the ethnic identity of the target. In so doing, I extend ethnic humour theory by introducing and testing the notion of genuine ethnic joke scripts in order to motivate future research that will tackle other potential ethnic humour idiosyncrasies. Toward this end, I have collected and analysed joke material (N=369) coming from Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Albania, societies with histories and relations very different that those in the western industrial societies. Additionally, the study incorporates two questionnaires with members of the two largest ethnicities in the Republic of Macedonia, Macedonians and Albanians, to ascertain the relation between the genuine ethnic humour and ethnic identity.
F!!! In the name of the father. Abusing the discourse on reproduction
(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Takovski, Aleksandar
Regulating sexuality has long been an institutional practice exercised towards the accomplishment of strategic economic and political ends. The fundamentally functional triad framing this practice is ‘power-ideology-discourse’. Relying on this general conceptual framework, the study’s prime objective is to identify and account for the elements of power abuse potentially present in the Macedonian government discourse on reproduction deployed as means of combating the problem of depopulation. Thus, within a critical discourse framework, the analysis focuses on linguistic manifestations of power abuse present in texts and talks produced by the Government and on their discursive relations with underlying and supporting practices, policies and procedures.
FROM AGORA TO PANDORA: THE UNPRECEDENTED CASE OF THE SIMPLE SKOPJE SQUARE
(AAB College, 2025-07-14) Takovski, Aleksandar
This paper maps the multitude of symbolic meanings and popular receptions and interpretations that are being discharged in the process of realization of an architectural and heavily ideological project in Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. Skopje is currently in the process of an intense urban reshaping and remodeling created through a project called Skopje 2014. This project, in all its extravagance, glitter and kitsch, also known and criticized as Antiquisation, prompts one to see the collision of nationalistic frustration that produced it in the first place and that still resonate around it. It is to a great extent an expression of a multitude of frustrations of Macedonians that finally found their reification and palpability in the Skopje 2014 project. It is in this context of plethora of potential significations, both complementary and radically opposed; that the paper tries to map the multifarious nature of the semiotic processes emerged by and through the culturally redefining project of Skopje 2014 by looking at the full spectrum of the meaning production process, form the imposing intention of the maker, through the sociopolitical connotations by the act of its still on-going execution to the accepting or bitterly rejecting end of popular interpretations by the most affected of all, the citizens of both, the capital and the country in general.
From Epic to Memic Balkan National Heroes and Villains across Time, Space, and Genres
(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Takovski, Aleksandar
Heroes and villains are universal archetypes that, until the fragmented and chaotic nineteenth century, were expressions of the same collective fears and desires: fear of extinction, striving for survival and perpetuation, and expression of collective identity. Despite the universal nature of these functions, different geographical and temporal circumstances have affected the processes of hero and villain construction. Using various genres (epic folk poetry, folklorized art, and internet images), this study traces contingencies and continuities in the hero and villain creation processes in four different countries: North Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia.
Learning from Skopje 2014: Architectural spectacle in the 21st century
(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Takovski, Aleksandar
Lubricating culture awareness and critical thinking through humour Aleksandar
(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Takovski, Aleksandar
There is an ample evidence supporting the benefits of instructional humour, including increased attention and interest, information retention and learning speed, more productive learning environment, a more positive image of the instructor, more efficient acquisition of linguistic and cultural competencies, an increased conversational involvement, enhanced cultural awareness and more stimulated critical thinking. However, most of the research findings rely on what is termed appropriate humour, such as puns, jokes, anecdotes, and alike, while potentially offensive humour that relates to sexual, ethnic, religious, and political identity is generally labelled inappropriate and advised to be avoided in the classroom. It is in this particular context that this study seeks to test the potential of such humour, sexual and ethnic in particular, to act as a tool of increasing cultural awareness and stimulate critical thinking among university students. To do so, the study relies on an experimental class design combining in-class and extracurricular activities created by using sexual and ethnic humour samples.
Political alliance with COVID-19: Macedonian politics and the strategic use of the pandemic
(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Takovski, Aleksandar
The emergence of COVID-19 in Macedonia in March 2020 overlapped with a period in which the country was run by a technical Government tasked to organize premature elections. In circumstances of highlighted inter-party conflict predating the health crisis, the newly emerged health emergency has only added to the political confrontation and the existing political crisis. COVID-19 and the resulting discourses on health crisis in this respect, I argue, have been used strategically by the political actors to make a populist advancement in the struggle over state power. Moreover, the strategic use of the COVID-19 by the two major political parties in a discourse marked by blame casting and (inter)dependence on past political misconduct indexes, and at the same time perpetuates, a larger ongoing political crisis in the country. To demonstrate the strategic use of the COVID-19 health discourse within the interparty conflict and its diagnostic potential to witness a prolonged political crisis, I will use internet data collected from the websites of the two largest Macedonian political parties in order to analyze the discursive strategies of predication and argumentation employed by the political parties.
Redefining national identity in Macedonia: Analyzing competing origin myths and interpretations through hegemonic representations
(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Takovski, Aleksandar
This paper analyzes symbolism pertaining to and popular receptions of the project Skopje 214, an architectural journey in the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. While attempting to understand the multifaceted symbolic meanings and perceptions associated with this project, we pay attention to the existence of previous narratives of Macedonian national identity prior to the announcement of Skopje 2014 and therefore position the project against that backdrop. We want to argue that Skopje 2014 represents a monumental and spectacular turning point in official narratives of Macedonian national identity. ' e gap between the previously dominant narrative of Macedonian national identity, and the new official discourse offered and realized in and through Skopje 2014, and the multicultural reality of the country are the central themes of this work.
REPRESENTING SEXUALITY THROUGH FOLKLORE: EROTIC FOLKTALES AND ONLINE JOKES AS ‘MIRRORS’ OF GENDER HIERARCHIES
(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Takovski, Aleksandar
Gender roles, relations, and structures are aspects of human sexuality that are (re)constructed, negotiated, and even contested through a variety of discourses, including folklore. Erotic tales and sexual jokes are folk genres in which human sexuality is most explicitly presented. In this respect, the two key questions this study seeks to answer are: what kind of sexuality (gender roles, relations, and structures) is constructed through these genres and what inferences may be made about the society underpinning the discourse thus produced. To accomplish the ends, the study uses material collected from the Republic of Macedonia, organized in two data corpuses: erotic folktales and online sexual jokes. The content of the data is analyzed in order to identify the most reoccurring themes, gender roles, and relations constructed vis-à-vis the dominant motif in these narratives – the sexual intercourse, and thus to be able to describe the discourse on sexuality constructed by and through these genres, comment upon its social implications, and suggest way(s) of using it as a tool to counteract gender inequalities.
RIGHT THEN, LEFT NOW1: CONSTRUCTING “MACEDONIA” IN THE MACEDONIAN DIASPORAS IN AUSTRALIA AND EUROPE
(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Takovski, Aleksandar
In the XX century, especially after WWII, a great number of ethnic Macedonians have migrated to Australia and the US, while recently, after the 1991 dissolution of Yugoslavia, the direction of the migration influx has changed its course mainly towards Europe. While the first diaspora community was motivated by economic reasons drawing rural and urban citizens alike in pursuit of better life, the second wave of migration was led by political circumstances pushing mostly young educated people who failed to envisage decent life in the homeland. Hence there is a reason to believe that the two communities have different views and feelings of their homeland that underpin their construction of it. To identify the types of ‘Macedonia’ constructed by these two communities of migrants, and trace similarities and differences, this study will analyze on-line discourses on Macedonia produced by the members of the two diasporas. In so doing, we will be particularly interested in the meanings, attitudes, feelings and images the two communities ascribe to the homeland through the on-line interaction on their FB pages.
TEXTS ARE A-CHANGING, ARE TIMES CATCHING UP? ON THE DIVERGENCE BETWEEN DISCOURSES OF SOCIAL CHANGE IN MACEDONIA
(AAB College, 2025-07-14) Takovski, Aleksandar
By using discourse analysis as main analytic tool, the paper examines the competing conceptualizations of social change as manifested through the texts produced by the Macedonian Government, civil society organizations and Macedonian citizens, with focus on changes within the education discourse in Macedonia. In so doing, it tries to elaborate how power relations and power abuse both structure and determine the discourse with its adherent representations, roles and relations.
Turning eu into me and you the politicization of eu representations in macedonia
(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Takovski, Aleksandar
EU is discursive field where multiple meanings are created, negotiated and contested. Research has shown that it has interpretive power often used as an instrument of political confrontation. Such is the case, this study argues, with the two largest Macedonian parties – the Social Democrats and VMRO -DPMNE – who in a pursuit of changing or maintaining power have produced an EU discourse fitting to their own political agendas. In a situation of a prolonged political crisis, and a significant EU involvement in it, the two parties have turned their EU discourse into an instrument of positive presentation of the self and a negative presentation of the other. The general goal of the study is to analyze the specific discursive strategies in the party programs and media statements of the two parties and their leaders.
WHEN THE OLD MEETS THE NEW: HEROIZATION, VILIFICATION, NEW MEDIA, AND MODERN DAY POLITICS
(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Takovski, Aleksandar
Ironically, defining a hero, is a heroic endeavour in its own right, considering the diversity of hero types (mythological, epic, folk, national, local, up to family heroes), but also the diversity of cultural contexts, which underlie the production of various hero systems.1 Such phenomenological diversity has been tackled by different research areas as diverse as literary studies2, history folk studies, anthropology (Levi-Strauss),3 sociology (Mauss, Hubert)4 all contributing to the fuller understanding of the phenomenon, while also making the simple definition of it an impossible task. Notwithstanding this phenomenological and epistemological complexity, we contend that certain consistencies can be mapped out. What we have in mind are some universal traits of heroism, most notably the cultural and political functions of heroes across diverse contexts. Among these, the key function we would like to focus on, is the hero’s role as a protector of the community which worships him with the belief that he will perpetuate their biological, cultural and political existence through space and time. To do so he needs to confront dangers and enemies incarnated in the image of his Arche opponent, the villain. This dialectically presupposing dichotomy, we contend, is still an existent mode of human perception and interaction with the world. What differs in modern times are the types of social actors that embody the positions of heroes and villains, as well as the means by which they are represented.
While the ball is in the air: Metaphors and humour in the 2018 World Cup commentaries
(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Takovski, Aleksandar
Metaphors and humour are pervasive elements occurring in many spoken genres, among which, the genre of sports commentaries. Football commentators tend to use war metaphors to highlight the competitive nature of the sport while at the same time making the spectacle and its communication more exciting and vivid (Charteris-Black 2004; Nordin 2008). Punning and humour are additionally used as strategies to engage the audience into the game (Chovanec 2005). In this respect our research tends to analyze the use of metaphors and humour by Macedonian TV commentators during the World Cup 2018 and discuss their role and contribution to the ‘vividness’ of the sports language. Through a linguistic analysis of the commentaries of ten sport matches played during the 2018 World Cup, we intend to identify instances of metaphors and humour used in order to analyze and discuss their role in the sports commentaries. In particular we were interested in the following issues: a) type and function of metaphors according to the source domain, and b) type and function of humour identified in the material. In order to investigate the issue further, we conducted semi-structured interviews with two Macedonian commentators making a more detailed inquiry about the use of metaphors and humor in their live commentaries.
Автор-Хумор-Текст: Хуморот на Тери Прачет како смртник и како книжевник
(AAB College, 2025-07-15) Takovski, Aleksandar
Овој труд се обидува да ги истражи поимите автор, хумор и текст и нивната меѓусебна поврзаност, преку анализа на хуморот во делата на Тери Прачет. Во фокусот се поставува улогата на авторот како креатор на хумористични светови, но и како читател и интерпретатор на светот што го живееме. Се следи начинот на кој Прачет создава комплексни хумористични текстови што се карактеризираат со интертекстуалност, иронија и пародија.