Journals an der JLU Gießen (Justus-Liebig Universität)
Not a member yet
1237 research outputs found
Sort by
Dementia becoming popular. Representations of a cultural phenomenon in contemporary fiction, the arts, and mainstream media
Get PDFDie Herausgebenden Aagje Swinnen und Mark Schweda versammeln im vorliegenden Sammelband Expertisen aus verschiedenen Disziplinen, die mit einer Fülle von Fragestellungen und Methoden die Repräsentation und die Popularisierung von Demenz in Literatur, bildender Kunst und den Massenmedien kritisch hinterfragen. Dabei werden sowohl die zugrundeliegenden kommunikativen Prozesse als auch Demenzbilder von negativen Stereotypisierungen bis hin zu neuen, alternativen Diskursen beleuchtet. Der Band verweist auf die bestimmende wie heikle Rolle populärer Medien für die Informationsgesellschaft – gerade im Fall eines die Betroffenen marginalisierenden Phänomens wie Demenz. Dieser reichhaltige Band macht von neuem aufmerksam und gibt sowohl der Forschung als auch politischem Engagement wertvolle Anregungen.Editors Aagje Swinnen and Mark Schweda assemble a variety of expertise from different disciplines, and a range of methods and research designs to critically investigate the representation and the popularization of dementia in literary fiction, the visual arts, and the mass media. The volume sheds light on the communication processes at work and the images of dementia ranging from negative stereotypes to new and alternative discourses. It hints at the crucial and delicate role of mainstream media in the information society – especially when it comes to a phenomenon such as dementia – threatening the agency of those affected. With a very broad scope, this book continues to raise awareness and provides stimuli for research as well as activism
Emergent Emergencies in Complex Ecosystems: Reflections on the Limits of Narrative Cognition and a Revisiting of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park (1990)
No full textThis article argues that ‘emergent emergencies’ in complex natural systems or ‘ecosystems’ can be understood as the ethical consequences of cognitive failure or “epistemological error” (Gregory Bateson). More specifically, I hold that complex systems display emergent behaviors, and that narrative cognition is not particularly well suited for understanding emergence. Building on previous narratological work on the incompatibility of narrative and emergence (H. Porter Abbott, Richard Walsh), I argue that narrative thinking and complex systems are each characterized by distinct types of ‘agency,’ or ways of conceptualizing agency. In its second half, the essay turns to Michael Crichton’s classic Jurassic Park (1990), reading the novel as a fictional thought experiment which not only simulates an emergency situation, but also explores the reasons for the collapsing of the control system in the fictional theme park from the vantage of chaos theory. It will be shown that the emergent emergency staged in the novel is the result of cognitive failure on the part of the park managers, who are misled by a ‘narrative of centralized control’ (Abbott) in their attempts to control the park and a reductionist conceptualization of ‘life.’ Such reductionist approaches to life are contrasted with ecological frameworks in this article
Scenes of Trash: Aesthetic Order and Political Effects of Garbage in the Home
No full textThe article discusses the role that non-humans and simple everyday objects play in political matters. It relates ideas of political theory to recent work in discard studies by asking how certain narratives and cultural appropriations of waste shape the way that political ideas are articulated. The paper employs Jacques Rancière’s understanding of politics as a distribution of the sensible with respect to acts of disposing of waste in the home. At issue are politically relevant distinctions such as those between private matters and public concerns, visible and invisible spheres of participation, clean and dirty work. The article explores how, on the one hand, visions of modernity and the future are expressed through the meaning of waste and how trash, on the other hand, is articulated in political terms. The approach is interdisciplinary, ranging from political philosophy and feminist thought to cultural theory, with a specific interest in phenomena that address politically relevant issues through the language and aesthetics of waste
Landscapes as metaphors for national identity/ies
No full textRainer Guldin nimmt in der vorliegenden Monographie die nationalen Landschaftsmetaphern Berg, Wald und Fluss in den Blick und zeichnet ihre historische Nutzung zur nationalen Identitätsbildung in der Schweiz, Deutschland und Österreich nach. Als vierte Metapher fügt er die Luftwurzeln hinzu, die für Identitäten des Exils und der Migration stehen. Dabei führt er eine große Anzahl von Beispielen aus unterschiedlichen Bereichen des öffentlichen Lebens und der Kunst an, um die jeweilige Landschaft aus verschiedenen Perspektiven dargestellt zu begutachten. Für alle diese Metaphern bestätigt sich, dass Landschaften als Metaphern grundsätzlich sehr flexibel und in historischer Perspektive mehrfach kodierbar sind.In his monograph, Rainer Guldin takes a closer look at three types of landscape: mountain, forest and river in their function as national identity metaphors for Switzerland, Germany and Austria. A fourth focus is dedicated to the metaphor of aerial roots in terms of identities of exile and migration. He presents a great number of examples from public life and the arts, areas in which these metaphors have been used. For all of the metaphors it proves correct that landscapes in this sense are flexible regarding their multiple meanings, focusing different aspects and usable for different narrations
For an emancipatory materialism of the brain
Get PDFDoes cognitive capitalism suffer from pathologies that demand attention and cure? Or does it induce pathological reactions in the psyche of its subjects? Whose pathologies are we talking about (individual subjects\u27, those of the socius or of the economic system itself?) and against what standards of "health" or normality are they measured? The fact that such fundamental questions are not explicitly addressed in the present collection points to what remains one of the core problems of this otherwise most relevant and engaging project: the need for additional, rigorous conceptual work that would elucidate the meaning and function of its core concepts, such as pathology and cure, norm and deviance, and therefore attend to their ontological or biological foundation as grounds for political action
The challenges on the way from socialism to nation-states: the perspective from the political left
Get PDFDer Sammelband behandelt ein breites Spektrum an Themen über Jugoslawien und seine Nachfolgestaaten. Der Schwerpunkt des Sammelbandes ist die historische Auseinandersetzung mit den sozialen Bedingungen und Widersprüche der (post-)jugoslawischen Gesellschaft. Das Buch stellt einerseits die jugoslawischen Partisan_innen und die Kriegserinnerungen in den Mittelpunkt; anderseits fokussiert es soziale Bewegungen und ihre Proteste. Die Beiträge umfassen einen Zeitraum von der Zwischenkriegszeit, über das sozialistische Jugoslawien, bis hin zu aktuellen Fragen. Der Sammelband besteht nicht nur aus den wissenschafltichen Beiträgen, sondern wird ergänzt durch zahlreiche Reportagen, Interviews und Fotos.This edited volume aims to cover a wide range of topics related to Yugoslavia and its successor states. The core themes are the historical analysis of the social conditions and the contradictions of the (post-) Yugoslav society. The main focus in this analysis are the Yugoslav Partisans and the war remembrance on the one hand, and the social movements and protests on the other. The book encompasses a chronological framework from the interwar period, through socialist Yugoslavia, to the current issues, providing new perspectives and posing new questions. The volume consists not only of scholarly contributions, but also assembles a diverse compilation of essays, reports, interviews, and photos. 
Bridging the Cultural Gap: Protest and Social Movements (from Mai 68 to 15-M and beyond)
Get PDFDer von Britta Baumgarten, Priska Daphi und Peter Ullrich herausgegebene Band fügt der gegenwärtigen sozialen Bewegungsforschung das zentrale Puzzleteil der Kultur hinzu. Indem es dabei über den aktuellen Forschungsstand der sozialen Bewegungsforschung hinausgeht und ihn zugleich ergänzt, schlägt dieses Werk kritische, interdisziplinäre und translokale Perspektiven in vier Abschnitten vor, um das Konzept der Kultur in der Bewegungsforschung zu verorten. Von den Protesten des 15-M in Madrid hin zum Pariser Mai von 1986 aktualisiert der Band die Idee von sozialen Bewegungen als neue historische Subjekte und schlägt auf überzeugende Weise die kulturelle Brücke in der sozialen Bewegungsforschung.This volume edited by Britta Baumgarten, Priska Daphi and Peter Ullrich adds the crucial element of culture to the puzzle of contemporary social movement research. By complementing and going beyond the state of the art in social movement research, it offers critical, interdisciplinary, and translocal perspectives in four sections to tackle the concept of culture for social movement research. From the protests of 15-M in Madrid and to Mai 68, this volume updates the idea of social movements as new historical subjects and convincingly bridges the cultural gap in social movement research
Experts Fighting Global Poverty – An Alarming Analysis
Get PDFDer Ökonom William Easterly fordert die Entwicklungszusammenarbeit abermals heraus. Im Zentrum seiner Untersuchung steht die Dominanz des technokratischen Ansatzes im Kampf gegen die globale Armut. Dabei stellt er anhand einer historischen, politischen und ökonomischen Analyse zwei divergierende Anschauungen gegenüber. Die autoritäre Entwicklung umfasse Experten und Regierungen, die nach technischen Lösungsstrategien suchen. Ihr entgegen stehe die freie Entwicklung, verbunden mit der Stärkung persönlicher Rechte und spontaner Entscheidungen von Individuen. Beide Ideen sollten den Weg aus der Armut ebnen. Erstere habe sich bereits nach dem ersten Weltkrieg durchgesetzt und gelte bis heute. Nach 65 Jahren Armutsbekämpfung stellt der Autor den Erfolg der autoritären Strategie infrage und fordert den Beginn einer Auseinandersetzung mit der "technokratischen Illusion". Sein neues Buch The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor markiert einen Anfang.The economist William Easterly continues to challenge development work. His survey puts an emphasis on the dominance of a technocratic approach in the fight against global poverty. In doing so he compares it to diverging views through a historic, political, and economic analysis. Authoritarian development comprises the experts\u27 and governments\u27 search for technical solution strategies. Free development, though, bonds a personal-rights consolidation and spontaneous decision-making by individuals. Both ideas were imagined to pave the way out of poverty. But it was the first that has gained acceptance since World War I and still applies today. The author questions the success of the authoritarian idea after 65 years of fighting against poverty and demands a debate on the "technocratic illusion". His new book, The Tyranny of Experts. Economists, Dictators and the forgotten Rights of the Poor, marks its beginning
Consciousness in Post-Modern Times. On Modes of Self-Reflection in Contemporary English Fiction
Get PDFThis Bright Inward Cinema of Thought: Stream of consciousness in Contemporary English Fiction by Sara Strauß offers representative cases for the state of the literature techniques used within contemporary English fiction. Divided into six sections, the book presents a panorama of the different narratological modes in the modern era. Beginning with an introduction that considers the theoretical framework, the author shows the development of those modes by reflecting upon aspects of consciousness, such as free indirect style and interior monologue. The book concludes by highlighting the modernist question about consciousness and its reflection on the post-modernism era
