scholarly journals Conceptual Results of the Practice of Re-reading and Rethinking of Ruth Benedict’s Patterns of Culture

Author(s):  
Yurii Dzhulai

Ruth Benedict’s Patterns of Culture has a long history of professional criticism by cultural anthropologists. Still, at the beginning of the 1990s, appeared singular attempts of critical rethinking of the concept of patterns of culture, which were provided with appropriate reconstruction. The initiative belonged to P. Bock and S. Leavitt. Other instances of critical analysis came from attempts to generalize the phenomenon of re-reading the works of Ruth Benedict. In this article those rare initiatives of ‘critical re-reading’ are represented by the paper by B. Babcock and J. Boon. As an analytical unit for reviewing B. Babcock’s academic exposition of conceptual considerations and criticisms, we chose the description of positive perception by Ruth Benedict of the idea from W. Dilthey that we have no grounds for hoping to get any eventual categorical form of rationalization of life from philosophy. As the textual analysis has shown, Ruth Benedict picked this postulation of W. Dilthey’s to block the effect of ‘final’ apologetical theses for support and acceptance of functional descriptions of living archaic cultures of Trobriand Islands and Mainland of Melanesia by B. Malinowski as a template for description of any culture. Regarding the attachment of gestalt psychology implications to existing apologetic arguments for presentation of the mentioned functional descriptions of living archaic cultures as a sample for description of any living culture, the multiplicative meaning of Dilthey’s thesis for Ruth Benedict becomes clear. This multiplicative assignment of Dilthey’s argument shows that in critical reconstruction by P. Bock and S. Leavitt gestalt psychology implications were incautiously presented as a horizon for inclusion of the ideas of configuration, individuality, and culture into the concept of pattern of culture. Concurrently, J. Boon managed to demonstrate that descriptions of antagonism of Indian tribes of Pueblo and Plain cultures contain no depictions of internal testing of one culture by the other. Therefore, a full description of these cultures antagonism as opposition of Apollonian and Dionysian patterns of Indian tribes of Pueblo and Plain culture made up the focal matter of ‘dispositional description’, which is an important methodological achievement of Ruth Benedict.

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-23
Author(s):  
Raissa De Gruttola

Abstract Christian missionaries play an important role in the history of the relationship between China and Europe. Their presence in China has been widely explored, but little attention has been paid to the role played by the Bible in their preaching. From 13th to 19th century, although they did not translate the Bible, Catholic missionaries preached the Gospel orally or with catechisms. On the other hand, the Protestant missionaries had published many version of the Chinese Bible throughout the 19th century. It was only in the 20th century that the Franciscan friar Gabriele Allegra decided to go to China as a missionary to translate the Holy Scriptures into Chinese. He arrived in China in 1931 and translated from 1935 to 1961. He also founded a biblical study centre to prepare expert scholars to collaborate in the Bible translation. Allegra and his colleagues completed the translation in 1961, and the first complete single-volume Catholic Bible in Chinese was published in 1968. After presenting the historical background of Allegra’s activity, a textual analysis of some passages of his translation will be presented, emphasizing the meanings of the Chinese words he chose to use to translate particular elements of Christian terminology. This study will verify the closeness of the work by Allegra to the original Greek text and the validity of some particular translation choices.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-83
Author(s):  
Zachary Daniel Sharp

This paper argues that Elizabethan handbooks on poetics enact two coevolving traditions in the history of rhetoric and poetics: one sees poetry as a rhetorical art of stylistic invention, while the other sees it as an object of study, analysis, and ethical training. To show this, I examine George Puttenham's Art of English Poesy and contrast it with William Scott's recently discovered Model of Poesy. Puttenham demonstrates how poetic style works as a tool of rhetorical invention; Scott, on the other hand, treats poetics as a method of literary critical analysis. Scott's poetics, I argue, is derived from a “paideutic” tradition, the aims of which mirror those found in educational treatises that concern the hermeneutic training students received in English grammar schools. Puttenham, writing for courtiers, instead makes a case for poetics as a means of rhetorical adaptation at court—his handbook, in short, shows poetry to be a rhetorical and pragmatic art of verbal performance that exists outside the schoolroom.


2021 ◽  
pp. 9-10
Author(s):  
David Evans-Powell

This chapter outlines the rationale for the monograph, explaining how and where The Blood on Satan’s Claw sits alongside Witchfinder General and The Wicker Man (often collectively termed the ‘unholy trinity’ amongst folk horror commentators). It places the film centrally within the ‘unholy trinity’ and within the folk horror tradition through references to Mark Gatiss’ appraisal of the film in his 2010 television series A History of Horror. It suggests that Satan’s Claw has received far less critical appreciation and sustained textual analysis than the other two films and concludes with a statement of intent that the monograph intends to rectify this imbalance.


Author(s):  
Anna Luneva

The Jewish prayer “Birkat ha-Minim” (“Blessing on the heretics”), 12th benediction of Amida, attracts attention not only of Jewish Liturgy researchers, but it is also an important plot in the history of Jewish-Christian relations in ancient period. Throughout the 20th century “Birkat ha-Minim” was read in the context of anti-Judean passages of the New Testament’s books and early Christian polemic treatises. Such works often include New Testament references to the excommunication of the Christ’s followers from the synagogue (John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2). On the other side, for 2nd–3rd centuries’ Christian authors “Blessing” was one of the reasons for the emergence of anti-Jewish sentiments in the Christians’ environment. However, in recent times, a number of scholars, after more than a hundred years break, conducted a paleographic and textual analysis of the most currently known manuscripts, containing the text of the prayer, and published number of its versions, accompanied by a new critical apparatus. These publications have radically changed the understanding of this blessing. For this reason, all previous works either require rethinking or completely outdated. Although recent research allows us more accurately determine the time and place of the creation of manuscripts containing prayer, there is still no consensus on what purpose it was created and who should be understood by the term “Minim”. In addition, to what extent we can link “Birkat ha-minim” with the New Testament passages about excommunication Christ’s followers from the synagogue.


2020 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Тетяна [Tetiana] Анатоліївна [Anatoliïvna] Космеда [Kosmeda] ◽  
Олена [Olena] Олегівна [Olehivna] Ковалевська [Kovalevsʹka]

A New Bilingual Phraseological Dictionary: A Polemical ReflectionThis article presents a critical analysis of the bilingual publication entitled A Lexicon of Polish and Ukrainian Active Phraseology (Leksykon aktywnej frazeologii polskiej i ukraińskiej / Leksykon pol′s′koï ta ukraïns′koï aktyvnoï frazeolohiï), compiled by Roman Tymoshuk, Wojciech Sosnowski, Maciej Jaskot and Yurii Ganoshenko. In the history of Ukrainian-Polish and Polish-Ukrainian phraseography of the twenty-first century, this is the second attempt at creating a bilingual phraseological dictionary, following the publication of A Concise Ukrainian-Polish Dictionary of Set Expressions: Lexical Equivalents, Phraseologisms, Proverbs and Sayings (Korotkyĭ ukraïns′ko-pol′s′kyĭ slovnyk ustalenykh vyraziv: Ekvivalenty slova, frazeolohizmy, prysliv′ia ta prykazky, Poznań and Kharkiv, 2017), compiled by Tetiana Kosmeda, Olena Homeniuk and Tetiana Osipova.The distinctive feature of the reviewed dictionary is that it contains phraseologisms which are most widely used in everyday speech. The compilers developed an original conception: (1) Polish-Ukrainian and Ukrainian-Polish parts differ in content, as they were compiled independently, yet most popular phraseologisms are included in both parts; (2) the most representative set expressions in active use in both languages were selected on the basis of questionnaires and mass media material; (3) entries include illustrative material; (4) it has an optimal size – about 1,000 phraseological units.On the other hand, the dictionary also has some drawbacks, such as: (1) it lacks key criteria for determining the status of the notion “active” phraseology; (2) it does not include slang phraseologisms which do not belong to literary language; (3) the meanings of phraseological units are described by means of simple syntactic structures which lack consistent criteria of clarity and comprehensibility of interpretation, and the dictionary does not cover all semantic potential and pragmatic information of the listed units; (4) excessively categorical interpretation of the notion zero equivalence; (5) not all entries contain stylistic labels, and those used are only of three types: slang, colloquial, vulgar; the label przyslowie/приказка (proverb) seems incorrect, as the compilers do not provide criteria of its separate status; (6) metalanguage of the dictionary is marked with some violations of orthographic and stylistic norms. Nevertheless, the dictionary has undoubtedly enriched the theory of phraseography, phraseographic practice and found its users. Polemiczna refleksja na temat nowego dwujęzycznego słownika frazeologicznegoNiniejszy artykuł przedstawia analizę krytyczną dwujęzycznego Leksykonu aktywnej frazeologii polskiej i ukraińskiej (Лексикон польської та української активної фразеології), autorstwa Romana Tymoshuka, Wojciecha Sosnowskiego, Macieja Jaskota i Yuriia Ganoshenki. Jest to drugi dwujęzyczny słownik frazeologiczny w historii ukraińsko-polskiej i polsko-ukraińskiej frazeografii XXI wieku, po Małym ukraińsko-polskim słowniku utrwalonych wyrażeń językowych: Ekwiwalenty, frazeologizmy, powiedzenia i przysłowia (Короткий українсько-польський словник усталених виразів: еквіваленти слова, фразеологізми, прислів’я та приказки, Poznań–Charków 2017) Tetiany Kosmedy, Oleny Homeniuk i Tetiany Osipovej.Cechą wyróżniającą recenzowany słownik jest jego zawartość – frazeologizmy powszechnie używane ca co dzień. Autorzy zastosowali oryginalną koncepcję, w myśl której: (1) pomimo że część polsko-ukraińska i ukraińsko-polska mają różną zawartość, powstawały bowiem niezależnie, każda z nich zawiera najbardziej popularne frazeologizmy; (2) najbardziej reprezentatywne wyrażenia wybrano na podstawie badań kwestionariuszowych i materiałów ze środków masowego przekazu; (3) hasła zawierają przykłady ilustrujące ich użycie; (4) słownik ma optymalną wielkość: zawiera około tysiąca jednostek frazeologicznych.Z drugiej zaś strony, słownik ma również pewne niedociągnięcia, wśród których należy wymienić: (1) brak określenia kluczowych elementów pojęcia „aktywna” frazeologia; (2) nieuwzględnienie wyrażeń slangowych nienależących do języka literackiego; (3) opis znaczeń frazeologizmów za pomocą prostych struktur syntaktycznych, którym brak spójnych kryteriów jasności i zrozumiałości interpretacyjnej, co sprawia, że słownik nie w pełni uwzględnia potencjał semantyczny i informację pragmatyczną przedstawianych wyrażeń; (4) zbyt kategoryczna interpretacja pojęcia brak ekwiwalencji; (5) nie wszystkie hasła są opatrzone kwalifikatorami stylistycznymi, a lista tych ostatnich ogranicza się jedynie do trzech: slang, potoczne, wulgarne; kwalifikator przysłowie/приказка wydaje się niepoprawny, jako że autorzy nie podają kryteriów, na podstawie których go wyodrębniono; (6) metajęzyk słownika cechuje się pewnymi naruszeniami norm ortograficznych i stylistycznych. Niemniej jednak słownik z pewnością wzbogacił teorię frazeografii i praktykę frazeograficzną, oraz spotkał się z zainteresowaniem ze strony użytkowników.


1972 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-492
Author(s):  
J. Chandran

THIS is an attempt to provide a broad and critical analysis of British policy towards the Siamese Malay States which lay to the north of the British possessions and protectorates in the Malay Peninsula. Four of them, Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Trengganu, were transferred to British suzerainty in 1909 and now form part of Malaysia. The period under examination was one of unusually keen rivalry between Britain and France in the whole of mainland Southeast Asia and one of its unique features was the preservation of the independence of the Kingdom of Siam. Apart from the other needs of imperialism, the policies of die two Powers in Siam were to a considerable extent influenced by the presence of their vast colonial possessions in the periphery of Siam. These basic facts of the history of the region have, not unnaturally, led to a variety of approaches to the problem of the extension of British political control in the Malay Peninsula.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-121
Author(s):  
Saeyd Rashed Hasan Chowdury ◽  
Vahit Göktaş

The purpose of this study is to present an analysis of the teachings and ideals of the life and thought of Imam Rabbani Ahmad Sirhindi’s followers inspires the Muslims of the present world to pursue the path of truth, welfare, and justice. We tried to collect data from secondary sources and found that various superstitions entered Sufism when many non-Islamic issues permeated Islam. Imam Rabbani has made tireless efforts in writings and discourses through Sufism to return Islam to its original purity. He was awarded the title of “Reformer of the second millennium” because he first introduced Islamic thought in the history of the Indian subcontinent. On the other hand, Imam Rabbani taught the Waḥdat al-Shuhūd doctrine by criticizing the Waḥdat al-Wujūd doctrine introduced by Ibn ‘Arabī. As he continued the pure tradition of religion by subverting the superstitions of sharia in Islam, he established “Mujaddidiya Tariqa” in the spiritual world and coordinated the sharia-tariqa in Sufism. However, the outcome of our research shows how Imam Rabbani builds equality of status, love, and fraternity and instructs people through Sufism to respect the religion, emotions, and practices of others.


2008 ◽  
pp. 147-176
Author(s):  
Dariusz Libionka

This article is an attempt at a critical analysis of the history of the Jewish Fighting Union (JFU) and a presentation of their authors based on documents kept in the archives of the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw. The author believes that an uncritical approach and such a treatment of these materials, which were generated under the communist regime and used for political purposes resulted in a perverted and lasting picture of the history of this fighting organisation of Zionists-revisionists both in Poland and Israel. The author has focused on a deconsturction of the most important and best known “testimonies regarding the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising”, the development and JFU participation in this struggle, given by Henryk Iwaƒski, WΠadysΠaw Zajdler, Tadeusz Bednarczyk and Janusz Ketling–Szemley.A comparative analysis of these materials, supplemented by important details of their war-time and postwar biographies, leaves no doubt as to the fact that they should not be analysed in terms of their historical credibility and leads one to conclude that a profound revision of research approach to JFU history is necessary.


Author(s):  
Colby Dickinson

In his somewhat controversial book Remnants of Auschwitz, Agamben makes brief reference to Theodor Adorno’s apparently contradictory remarks on perceptions of death post-Auschwitz, positions that Adorno had taken concerning Nazi genocidal actions that had seemed also to reflect something horribly errant in the history of thought itself. There was within such murderous acts, he had claimed, a particular degradation of death itself, a perpetration of our humanity bound in some way to affect our perception of reason itself. The contradictions regarding Auschwitz that Agamben senses to be latent within Adorno’s remarks involve the intuition ‘on the one hand, of having realized the unconditional triumph of death against life; on the other, of having degraded and debased death. Neither of these charges – perhaps like every charge, which is always a genuinely legal gesture – succeed in exhausting Auschwitz’s offense, in defining its case in point’ (RA 81). And this is the stance that Agamben wishes to hammer home quite emphatically vis-à-vis Adorno’s limitations, ones that, I would only add, seem to linger within Agamben’s own formulations in ways that he has still not come to reckon with entirely: ‘This oscillation’, he affirms, ‘betrays reason’s incapacity to identify the specific crime of Auschwitz with certainty’ (RA 81).


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document