‘Folk Culture’ in its second year Conditions of continuation and indicators of success

Professionally, it is well-known that the simpler condition for any scientific specialized printed to keep published and success is the exigent need of its existence, a right planning for publication, feeding it with scientific materials of high quality, presenting these materials in a distinguished artistic and printed form, ensure its financing, asserting its regular publication to be distributed among a large and perfect net that covers all the targeted regions of the map, in addition to a condensed announcement and studied circulation. What remain are the writers and readers determination and the market circumstances that the producer cannot control. By the publication of the 5th issue, ‘Folk Culture’ begins a second year of a hopeful long age. The passing of one year from the age of a quarterly specialized journal is nothing compared to the continuation of similar journals at the same field in modern countries, where they live long and enables scientific and cultural experiences to be rooted, so as to be considered as a mark and achievement from a generation to another. However, in our societies, given the burying, weakening, and destruction of experiences due to conflicts, interest’s rivalry, and ignoring the value of the folk culture. One year of publication is a good criterion of stability in the road, an indicator of seriousness and rightness of the method and the horizon of putting forth this culture propositions and dealing with its material, particularly its collection, writing, classification, documentation, and analysis. We have the right to look attentively at what are the achievements of this experience during it’s short age, and what are the indicators, which emerge from the four issues, of the collaboration of local, official and international efforts to provide the most important conditions that help in the continuation of the experience, its success, and rising up to the outlined purposes accurately and with a great awareness. The precious trust of his Majesty King Hamad Ben Issa Aal Khalifa, king of Bahrain, May Allah protect him, his permanent financial support, personal and moral encouragement, and the difficult task of the journal, namely the communication of (the message of folklore from Bahrain to the world) in collaboration with an international organization that its activities cover almost all over the world; all this expensive trust and this national charging, inasmuch as are a responsibility and obligation, they are at the same time the first indicator of success of a very young experience facing all challenges that face all the specialized journals in the Arab homeland. Choosing Manama as a regional site for IOV is not a mere coincidence or a comity. Bahrain has been prepared cross history to play this role and other thematic roles given its geographical spot in between the east and the west, an international connection station, embracing a number of coming arts from African and Persian shores and rooting them beside its own folk arts, in addition to that human property that characterized the people of the islands in their ability to be naturally opened to the other, accepting multiplicity, adaptation and reaction with different races, colors, religions, doctrines, and languages; and the position of folk culture on the local and official levels, the continuation of the royal patronage of the folklore festival for more than 17 years. All this corroborate the dimensions that qualify it to be an international secure site to run the activity of the organization in the Middle East and North Africa. Add to this the vitality of members from Bahrain who works at the organization, and the role of some of them in its founding in Austria at the end of the 70s. Bahrain is expected to play a historical cultural successful role to unify Arab countries efforts as a major square for field work that covers 3/4 provinces in Middle East and Africa, so that the Arab homeland has an international significance to supervise and protect folklore. Moreover, this role paves the way for a research, logistic and organization partnership between ‘Folk Culture’ journal and this organization which helps in supporting the specialized scientific aspects and to communicate the message of folklore to the readers in far away regions in the world that we have never imagined to be in touch with them. The organization of the presidential conference of the organization in Manama, the reception that his majesty accorded to Karmen Badila, the general secretary Mr. Hans Holz, and to the members of the presidential council in the celebration of the inauguration of the Aissa Cultural Center, has been a topping of this partnership and an emphasizing on its importance to achieve the goals of the journal to contribute with the role of making culture as a strategic deep for the national reform project in Bahrain kingdom. The level of welcoming and accepting the form and content of ‘Folk Culture’ was reflected in 3 indicators: firstly, in the number of high level academic diverse contributions and researches that have been submitted for publication, we have taken care of them, and that help in preparing the publication of a number of issues. Secondly, in a number of Faculties of Letters and Human Sciences in more than 10 big Universities in the Arab homeland who have expressed their need and willingness to sign partnership research contracts in the domain of carrying field studies concerning folklore, training cessions dealing with theoretical and applied aspects of folklore. In fact, these contracts have been signed and their executive programs have been established. The first University was the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences at the University Hassan II –Ain Chokk, in Casablanca in Morocco, which calls for the formation of a common field research teams in Bahrain and other brother countries. Thirdly, in the number of distributed numbers and the increasing of requests to sell the journal in each country in addition to the branches of the organization all over the world. The maximum hope of any specialized journal in a given domain is to realize a parallelism between targeting elite of specialists and ordinary readers. For this, we have worked hard and will continue to work so as to satisfy all the needs, even if it costs to reprint some of the missing issues. Since the 1st issue, we have published abstracts in English and French, sticking to a good translation so that the communication with the world can be achieved in a proper manner. We have believed that the publication of translated abstracts in both languages is enough to transmit a concise picture of the contents to the world. We have also encouraged publication of articles in one or both of the languages. By the continuation of publication and the arrival of the 1st and 2nd issues to Spain, Latin America countries speaking Spanish, China, and Japan, we have received a number of letters from professors of folklore in a number of universities, friends, and members in the international organization of folklore to add Spanish and Chinese translations to English and French, regarding their importance as two international languages. In front of this situation, we have promised last year to study the request in its different aspects. Despite the difficulty of realizing this request that we consider as an indicator of interest towards our journal, we promise to achieve it step by step in our website. Finally, our best regards to his Majesty the king of the Bahrain kingdom may Allah protect him, to the international organization of the folklore, to the scientific consulting board of the journal, and to all the people, particularly the work team, who have contributed by their writings, opinions, supervision, or sincere and serious work. Our greetings to our readers who accompany ‘Folk Culture’ with love and interest, and hand in hand we carry out the folklore message from Bahrain to the world.

Ali Abdulla Khalifa
Editor In Chief