Abstract:

One of the issues surrounding globalization concerns ways of preserving identity, understood as awareness of ethnicity and nationality.The topic is particularly relevant to ethnic communities organized outside the country of origin. The analysis shows that upbringing and educational practices play a key role in maintaining We-identity: the development of cultural memory and self-awareness for ethnicity. The example of educational practices from the Bulgarian diaspora shows how traditional and contemporary educational approaches are combined. Values, moral and aesthetic categories, rituals and holidays, characteristic of the Bulgarian model, are updated and coexist with the ideas, type of thinking of the foreign cultural model of the host country. Through education, on the one hand, We-identity in such communities proves to be the thinking of the imagined community, the foundation of the country of origin. On the other hand, through education, the We-identity of the diaspora is also based on the knowledge, cultural meanings, habits and skills characteristic of the host country. An important factor that particularly influences the content of these processes of self-awareness is globalization.The Bulgarian diaspora today includes two groups: traditional communities formed over the centuries and newly formed communities formed over the last three decades from the 20th to the 21st centuries. Their self-awareness, their cultural memories, the basis of the Bulgarian We-identity, are maintained, but also developed through the education of their mother tongue, literature and history.The Bulgarian Diaspora maintains a school which, in addition to its educational tasks, plays a significant role in maintaining and nourishing the memory of the Motherland and its culture. Educational approaches and practices include the celebration of memorable dates, the anniversaries of great figures in national history. Through the holiday, as part of the commemorative anniversary, the school brings to life the cultural memories of the community. On the other hand, the Motherland also supports the educational and cultural processes of the Bulgarian diaspora abroad through innovative educational approaches.Such an innovative project - cultural itinerary, is being composed at the University of Library Science and Information Technology in Sofia. The cultural route is related to the events and personalities studied in the Bulgarian educational system, an important element in shaping We-identity. The design of the cultural route is based not only on the freedom of travel - a characteristic phenomenon of globalization, but also on the specificity of humanitarian knowledge - to achieve the idea through objectification in the image.

Keywords:

Globalisation, education, identity, Bulgarian diaspora, cultural itinerary.