scholarly journals The Role of Forgetting in the Commemorative Practices with the Example of the 750 Years of Berlin in the German Democratic Republic in 1987

K@iros ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa GOUDIN-STEINMANN ◽  

The archives of the Berliner Haus für kulturelle Arbeit, an institution of the GDR charged in the 1980s to prepare the 750 years commemoration of the birth of the city Berlin, show that a lapse of memory played a significant role in the production of the past which characterized this commemoration, that we analyze, within the meaning of Paul Connerton, as a set of “commemorative practices” which form the social support of the common memory. The typical case of the GDR where the memory is shared with West-Germany is interessant, because these ceremonies are significant by their assertions but also by their silences. We show how a lapse of memory was built in the GDR, and how this lapse of memory prescribed by the Berliner House of cultural work aimed at developping a feeling of common membership, an identification with the east-german State and with the socialist ideology, while overlooking of broad sides of history. Some categories of analysis of the family memory are transposed: whereas in the case of the family memory, the rewriting of history obeys a tacit law which is that of the family unit to preserve, memory construction in the case of the Berliner House of cultural work also rests on a unit to consolidate: a national unit. The corollary of this instrumentalisation of the past is that it was necessary to describe a linear historical evolution, with a direction and a sense of history. The objective was to promote a teleological approach of history, guided by the principles of the historical materialism. However, we also show that marginal critical voices could sometimes appear, in order to denounce the aporias of this speech on the past.

1981 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Sharpe

One of the most striking features of recent writing on early modern social history has been the emergence of the family as a subject of central concern. As befits an historical area being subjected to new scrutiny, much of this concern has expressed itself in the form of specialized, and often narrowly-focused articles or essays.1 To these have been added a number of more general works intended to examine the broader developments in and implications of family life in the past.2 Several themes within family history have already received considerable attention: the structure of the family, for example, a topic already rendered familiar by earlier work on historical demography; the concomitant topic of sexual practices and attitudes; and the economic role of the family, especially in its capacity as a unit of production. These are, of course, important matters, and the research carried out on them has revealed much of interest and consequence to the social historian; this should not, however, obscure the existence of a number of other significant dimensions of family life in the past which await thorough investigation.


Porównania ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 325-339
Author(s):  
Markéta Kittlová

This study focuses on Adam Borzič, one of the most distinctive contemporary Czech poets. The study contextualises his work within current Czech poetry but also examines his other work that is not strictly classified as art as though it were cultural work with avant-garde features. It investigates four volumes of Borzič’s work in terms of the changes in the author’s creative gesture, which expands from his conviction that the world is at a turning point and the avant-garde longing to change the world by poetry. In the four volumes of Borzič’s poetry (written so far), this gesture is embodied through delicately intimate, acutely physical, or even gigantically all-embracing positions, where he employs motives of the heart, head, hand and mouth. The study attempts to evaluate the change in Borzič’s work in the lightof T. S. Eliot’s understanding of the social role of poetry and avant-garde longing to change reality through art. The Czech poet, Adam Borzič, is one of the most distinctive figures of the current Czech literary scene. His poetry is distinct because of its unique gesture andalso represents a strong current in the poetry production of the past decade with its emphasis on the social function of poetry7 and the poet’s role as somebody who should nurture the world through his/her work or even change it. This study attempts to portray Borzič’s work as focused on the mentioned topics and related issues of the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century and renew interest in them, contextualise his work within current Czech poetry but also investigate his other work, which is not strictly artistic but which possesses some avant-garde features.


Sexualities ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 136346072110136
Author(s):  
Caroline Bem ◽  
Susanna Paasonen

Sexuality, as it relates to video games in particular, has received increasing attention over the past decade in studies of games and play, even as the notion of play remains relatively underexplored within sexuality studies. This special issue asks what shift is effected when sexual representation, networked forms of connecting and relating, and the experimentation with sexual likes are approached through the notion of play. Bringing together the notions of sex and play, it both foregrounds the role of experimentation and improvisation in sexual pleasure practices and inquires after the rules and norms that these are embedded in. Contributors to this special issue combine the study of sexuality with diverse theoretical conceptions of play in order to explore the entanglements of affect, cognition, and the somatic in sexual lives, broadening current understandings of how these are lived through repetitive routines and improvisational sprees alike. In so doing, they focus on the specific sites and scenes where sexual play unfolds (from constantly morphing online pornographic archives to on- and offline party spaces, dungeons, and saunas), while also attending to the props and objects of play (from sex toys and orgasmic vocalizations to sensation-enhancing chemicals and pornographic imageries), as well as the social and technological settings where these activities occur. This introduction offers a brief overview of the rationale of thinking sex in and as play, before presenting the articles that make up this special issue.


2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-438
Author(s):  
Eszter Bartha

Abstract The article seeks to place the workers’ road from socialism to capitalism in East Germany and Hungary in a historical context. It offers an overview of the most important elements of the party’s policy towards labour in the two countries under the Honecker and the Kádár regime respectively. It examines the highly paternalistic role of the factory as a life-long employer and provider of workers’ needs for the large industrial working class which the regime considered to be its main social basis. Given that the thesis of the working class as the ruling class was central to the legitimating ideology of the state socialist regimes, dissident intellectuals challenging this thesis were effectively marginalized or forced into exile. After the change of regimes, the “working class” again became an ideological term associated with the discredited and fallen regime. The article analyses the changes within the life-world of East German and Hungarian workers in the light of life-history interviews. It argues that in Hungary, the social and material decline of the workers – alongside the loss of the symbolic capital of the working class – reinforced ethno-centric, nationalistic narratives, which juxtaposed “globalization” and “national capitalism”, the latter supposedly protecting citizens from the exploitation by global capital. In the light of the sad reports of falling standards of living and impoverishment, the Kádár regime received an ambiguous, often nostalgic evaluation. While the East Germans were also critical of the new, capitalist society (unemployment, intensified competition for jobs, the disintegration of the old, work-based communities), they gave more credit to the post-socialist democratic institutions. They were more willing to reconcile the old socialist values which they had appreciated in the GDR with a modern left-wing critique than their Hungarian counterparts, for whom nationalism seemed to offer the only means to express social criticism.


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402110441
Author(s):  
Cristina Maria Bostan ◽  
Tudor Stanciu ◽  
Răzvan-Lucian Andronic

Concordant with classical theoretical guidelines (i.e., social facilitation, social constructivism theory, and the Pygmalion effect) we tested the need for competition and perception of being valued by teachers to be better motivated for learning in school. We extend knowledge by testing these associations mediated by the social economic status given by the well-being of the family (i.e., controlling for gender and socio-economic status). A total of 214 Romanian students (45.3% boys) with ages between 13 and 17 years were administered the PEER questionnaire (i.e., perception of being valued by teachers, school-children motivation, and the need for competition). Results show a positive relation between the need for competition and motivation for learning. We also found positive relations between the perception of being valued by the teacher and motivation for learning and the need for competition. We conclude that motivation is higher when the need for competition is higher and the perception of being valued by teachers is higher.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-377
Author(s):  
Ewa Domańska ◽  
Paul Vickers

Abstract In this article I demonstrate that the ideas outlined in Jerzy Topolski’s Methodology of History (Polish 1968, English translation 1976) could not only offer a reference point for and indeed enrich ongoing debates in the philosophy of history, but also help to set directions for future developments in the field. To support my argument, I focus on two themes addressed in Topolski’s work: 1) the understanding of the methodology of history as a separate discipline and its role both in defending the autonomy of history and in creating an integrated knowledge of the past, which I read here through the lens of the current merging of the humanities and natural sciences; and 2) the role of a Marxist anthropocentrism based on the notion of humans as the creators of history, which I consider here in the context of the ongoing critique of anthropocentrism. I point to the value of continuing to use concepts drawn from Marxist vocabulary, such as alienation, emancipation, exploitation and overdetermination, for interpreting the current state of the world and humanity. I stress that Marxist anthropocentrism, with its support for individual and collective agency, remains crucial to the creation of emancipatory theories and visions of the future, even if it has faced criticism for its Eurocentrism and might seem rather familiar and predictable when viewed in the context of the contemporary humanities. Nevertheless, new manifestations of Marxist theory, in the form of posthumanist Marxism and an interspecies historical materialism that transcends anthropocentrism, might play an important role in redefining the humanities and humanity, including its functions and tasks within human and multispecies communities.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Mahmoud Safy Mahmoud ◽  
Hoda Mitkees

Malaysia has adopted several developmental plans since 1969 starting with the New Economic Policy (NEP), passing by the National Development Plan (NDP) and ending with the Vision 2020 adopted in 1991 under the rule of Mahathir Mohammed (1981-2003), whereby Malaysia has aimed to become a developed country by 2020. Looking for the future, Malaysia 2020 should build upon the older developmental plans; however there are some new elements that need to be considered if Malaysia is to continue on its successful developmental path. This paper aims at focusing on the issues that still need to be considered in Vision 2020 from an outsider point of view. This paper addresses the questions of what Malaysia’s economic plans adopted in the past which were able to achieve high economic growth rates while preserving at the same time the social aspects. And the paper focuses on trade policy in Malaysia under Mahathir rule, identifying how was it shaped and how likely it will continue in 2020. The paper identifies the challenges likely to be faced by Malaysia in the coming period and how such issues should be tackled in Vision 2020.


2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 956-963 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marja Rany Rigotti Baltor ◽  
Giselle Dupas

OBJECTIVE: to describe and to analyze the experience from families of children with cerebral paralysis living under circumstances of social vulnerability. METHOD: six resident families in area with this characteristic were interviewed. It was opted to use the Symbolic Interactionism as theoretic reference and the Thematic Content Analysis of Bardin as analysis method for the data. RESULT: the experience of such families is represented in the subjects: Reorganizing the Life, with the categories "Discovering the way" and "Accommodating the routine", and Stopping a Constant Fight with the categories: "Primary Carer being overcharged", "Coexisting with the preconception", "Having locomotion difficulty" and "Living with financial difficulties". CONCLUSION: the social vulnerability influences how the family bears the chronic condition. Professionals and strategies of public health are a power to minimize impacts including those related to the family budget, but they have not been effective. They need to be sensitized to become supporting resources, to offer and to guide the access to the support networks and to spur the social service in action when necessary. This study adds knowledge to the already existing by pointing out peculiarities of the family experience in situations regarding two variables of difficult handling: chronicity and social vulnerability, evidencing the role of the professional in search of the solution for the confrontation of demands and sufferings together with the family.


Politeja ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2(65)) ◽  
pp. 189-204
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Marcol

The Role of Language in Releasing from Inherited Traumas. Negotiations of the Social Position of the Silesian Minority in Serbian Banat The aim of the paper is to show the dependence between language, collective memory (also post-memory) and sense of identity. This issue is analysed using the example of an ethnic minority living in the village of Ostojićevo (Banat, Serbia) called ‘Toutowie.’ Their ancestors came in the 19th century from Wisła (Silesian Cieszyn, Poland); they left their homes because of great hunger and were looking for jobs in Banat. Narratives about the past contain traumatic experiences of the past generations transmitted in the Silesian dialect and constituting communicative memory. At the same time, a new Polish national identity is being constructed, supported by institutions and authorities; it carries a new image of the world and creates a new cultural memory. This new identity – shaped on the basis of national categories – leads to changes of its self-identification and gives the opportunity to raise its social position in the multi-ethnic Banat community.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 316-326
Author(s):  
Ambar Sulianti ◽  
Jamilah Laela Apriyani ◽  
Dadang Sahroni ◽  
Wida Adila ◽  
Yiyin Karlina ◽  
...  

Motivation/Background: The formation of a lesbian mindset does not happen immediately. This study aims to explore the process of family roles experienced by research subjects who have a lesbian sexual orientation even though it is not accordance with their religion. Method: The research method used was a qualitative research of phenomenology in two subjects who had lived lesbian sexual orientation for more than 2 years with different backgrounds. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was conducted to analyze the role of the family as a model, how the subject perceives the stimulus, direct or indirect environmental contributions, and how close family experiences form a lesbian mindset about the subject. Results: The results of this study indicate the subject "I" had a model of his father's behavior and reinforces the general perception of his mother that men had bad behavior. The social Environment made the subject felt ostracized and entered the domain of the lesbian community who can accept the subject with the circumstances as she was without much demand. A female friend in this environment became modes and informants experienced being lesbian. Meanwhile, "R" was growing psychologically with a style of parenting that is too spoiled by her mother and got a model and informants experienced from her older sister. Conclusions: Both subjects get different experiences in the process of forming a lesbian mindset. From a neurocognitive social perspective, the formation of a lesbian mindset is very complex. Neurocognitive response of the experience of getting too many rough touches or too long getting a hug of comfort, both can trigger perceptions that supported by the environment will form a lesbian mindset.


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