scholarly journals Sandor Katz and the Possibilities of a Queer Fermentive Praxis

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Maroney

Fermentation, when embedded in queer politics, offers a conceptual and material challenge to the ideology of purism that structures dominant understandings of health in the North American context. Through a close reading of Sandor Katz’s book Wild Fermentation and the author’s experiences at a 2014 summer residency at Katz’s Foundation for Fermentation Fervor, this article contributes to food studies scholarship exploring the transformative potential of fermentation. In his teaching and writing, Katz challenges the ideology of purism through a queer fermentive praxis that advocates for improvisation, microbial inspiration, and interdependent nourishment. This praxis demonstrates an imperfect, do-it-yourself (DIY) ethos of fermentation that empowers folks to experiment with found and foraged materials. Katz’s theorization of fermentation as social change heralds the queer shape-shifting of microorganisms as inspiration for human action. And, in the context of the queer rural community where he makes his home, Katz’s fermentive praxis cultivates interdependent, inter-species nourishment. This queer fermentive praxis activates the political potential of fermentation by refusing the dominant view of human beings as individuals engaged in purity projects of control and subordination. Instead, it imagines humans as co-constituted, deeply dependent subjects who are responsible to, and in service of creating conditions for flourishing of all kinds of life.

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 49-70

The article examines the clashes in Immanuel Kant’s texts that created the political-historical subject of modernity — the agent who serves as both the creator and interpreter of history. The main difficulty here is the heterogeneity in principle of the subject, which must combine ethical autonomy with the pursuit of goals that are unattainable within the boundaries of autonomous being. The author proposes that in Kant’s thought reflection is elicited by the very temporality of human existence within history and entrained by the paradox of action, which on the one hand is aimless and on the other is striving toward an unattainable goal. Within this temporality, the meaning of the subject’s personal will depends upon the relation of their goals to the presumed goals of human history. Special emphasis is placed on the problem of a specific motive, desire or interest of the mind, which connects the order of nature with the order of freedom. It is Kant’s discovery of this motive, the “subjective basis of human action,” that gives rise to his interpretation of religion. The article maintains that this is as close as Kant comes to a political philosophy. Kant connects the meaning of historicity with the boundary conditions for human action. Describing “religion” as a subjective need of reason, Kant creates a transcendental pattern of being in history. Capturing the ultimate goal of being gives rise to a supersensible motive for action. A person who fulfills the law is affected by experiencing such a promise, which cannot be reduced to a pure consciousness of the law, but expands the limits of practical reason. This gap creates the specific temporality of religion as transcendental history. Its field is limited by the initial revelation of reason, and therefore a messianic demand becomes possible within it. The author maintains that the conditional heterogeneity of Kant’s thinking about human beings is not the result of a compromise or a remnant of metaphysics. It corresponds to the heterogeneity of the subject of historical action, the temporality of which is created by holding different orders of being in a truly impossible relation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  

Philosophy is a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means. It signifies a natural and necessary urge in human beings to know themselves and the world in which they live and move and have their being. Hindu philosophy is intensely spiritual and has always emphasized the need for practical realization of Truth. Philosophy is a comprehensive system of ideas about human nature and the nature of the reality we live in. It is a guide for living, because the issues it addresses are basic and pervasive, determining the course we take in life and how we treat other people. Hence we can say that all the aspects of human life are influenced and governed by the philosophical consideration. As a field of study philosophy is one of the oldest disciplines. It is considered as a mother of all the sciences. In fact it is at the root of all knowledge. Education has also drawn its material from different philosophical bases. Education, like philosophy is also closely related to human life. Therefore, being an important life activity education is also greatly influenced by philosophy. Various fields of philosophy like the political philosophy, social philosophy and economic philosophy have great influence on the various aspects of education like educational procedures, processes, policies, planning and its implementation, from both the theoretical and practical aspects. In order to understand the concept of Philosophy of education it is necessary to first understand the meaning of the two terms; Philosophy and Education.


2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-66
Author(s):  
Arkotong Longkumer

This article considers the importance of “religion” and “identity” in the process of fieldwork in the North Cachar Hills, Assam, India. The political sensitivities in the region provided a difficult context in which to do fieldwork. This is chiefly because of the various armed insurrections, which have arisen as a consequence of the complicated remnants of British colonialism (1834–1947), and the subsequent post-independence challenge of nation building in India. This article raises important methodological questions concerning fieldwork and the relational grounding of the fieldworker relative to the inside/outside positions. It reflects on these issues by discussing the Heraka, a Zeme Naga religious movement. Their ambiguity and “in-between” character accommodates both the “neo-Hindu” version of a nation or Hindutva (Hinduness) and the larger Naga (primarily Christian) assertion of their own cultural and religious autonomy. The Heraka provides an alternative route into ideas of nationhood, religious belonging and cultural identity.


Author(s):  
Alan L. Mittleman

This chapter moves into the political and economic aspects of human nature. Given scarcity and interdependence, what sense has Judaism made of the material well-being necessary for human flourishing? What are Jewish attitudes toward prosperity, market relations, labor, and leisure? What has Judaism had to say about the political dimensions of human nature? If all humans are made in the image of God, what does that original equality imply for political order, authority, and justice? In what kinds of systems can human beings best flourish? It argues that Jewish tradition shows that we act in conformity with our nature when we elevate, improve, and sanctify it. As co-creators of the world with God, we are not just the sport of our biochemistry. We are persons who can select and choose among the traits that comprise our very own natures, cultivating some and weeding out others.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 75-92
Author(s):  
Christian Schröer

An act-theoretical view on the profile of responsibility discourse shows in what sense not only all kinds of technical, pragmatic and moral reason, but also all kinds of religious motivation cannot justify a human action sufficiently without acknowledgment to three basic principles of human autonomy as supreme limiting conditions that are human dignity, sense, and justifiability. According to Thomas Aquinas human beings ultimately owe their moral autonomy to a divine creator. So this autonomy can be considered as an expression of secondary-cause autonomy and as the voice of God in the enlightened conscience.


2019 ◽  
Vol 118 (11) ◽  
pp. 365-371
Author(s):  
J Dorasamy ◽  
Mr Jirushlan Dorasamy

Studies, especially in the North America, have shown a relationship between political orientation and moralfoundation. This study investigated whether moral judgements differ from the political orientation of participantsin South Africa moral judgment and the extent to which moral foundations are influenced by politicalorientation.Further, the study investigated the possibility of similar patterns with the North AmericanConservative-Liberal spectrum and the moral foundation. There were 300participants, 78 males and 222 females,who completed an online questionnaire relating to moral foundation and political orientation. The results partiallysupported the hypothesis relating to Liberal and Conservative orientation in South Africa. Further, this studypartially predicted the Liberal-Conservative orientation with patterns in the moral foundation, whilst showingsimilar findings to the North American studies. A growing rate of a neutral/moderate society is evidenced in SouthAfrica and abroad, thereby showing the emergence of a more open approach to both a political and generalstance.”””


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
O. V. Lagutin ◽  
E. O. Negrov

The article deals with the assessment of the prospects of the political future by representatives of Russian youth. The text of the article has been prepared within the framework of the project “Potential of Youth Political Leadership in The Course of Political Socialization and Circulation of Elites in the Russia Regions in the 2010s (using the example of South-Western Siberia and the North-West of the Russian Federation), RFBR grant No. 18-011-01184. The relevance of the research is in combining a fundamental review of the main directions of research of the role of youth participation in the social and political process and the involvement of a specific empirical study conducted in the spring of 2019, which allows highlighting various aspects of the situation. The empirical part of the study is based on the study “Ideas of Youth about Possibilities of Youth Leaders and Youth Organizations in Russia”, which was conducted in spring 2019 in four constituent entities of the Russian Federation — Altai Territory, Leningrad and Novosibirsk Regions and St. Petersburg. The method of research was a personal standardized interview, the sample size was 1000 respondents (250 in each of the regions), representatives of young people aged 14 to 30 permanently reside in the territory of the studied subjects of the federation. Based on factor and cluster analyzes, the main models of expectations of the political future are presented. The article should be of interest to researchers, both professionally involved, and simply interested in the topic of the influence of the real political process on such a significant group of the population as youth.


Author(s):  
Ronald J. Schmidt, Jr

Reading Politics with Machiavelli is an anachronistic reading of certain key concepts in Machiavelli’s The Prince and The Discourses (as well as some of his correspondence). In 1513, soon after the Medici returned to power in Florence, Machiavelli lost his position as First Secretary to the Republic, and he was exiled. On his family farm, he began a self-consciously anachronistic reading of great political figures of antiquity, and, in combination with his own experience as a diplomat, crafted a unique perspective on the political crises of his time. At our own moment of democratic crisis, as the democratic imagination, as well as democratic habits and institutions face multiple attacks from neoliberalism, white nationalism, and authoritarianism, I argue that a similar method, in which we read Machiavelli’s work as he read Livy’s and Plutarch’s, can help us see the contingency, and the increasingly forgotten radical potential, of our politics. Louis Althusser argued that Machiavelli functions for us as an uncanny authority, one whose apparent familiarity is dispelled as we examine his epistolary yet opaque account of history, politics, and authority. This makes his readings a potentially rich resource for a time of democratic crisis. With that challenge in mind, we will examine the problems of conspiracy, prophecy, torture, and exile and use a close reading of Machiavelli’s work to make out new perspectives on the politics of our time.


Author(s):  
Liubov Vetoshkina ◽  
Yrjö Engeström ◽  
Annalisa Sannino

By skillfully shaping and producing objects human beings externalize and make real their future-oriented imaginaries and visions. Material objects created by skilled performance make human lifeworlds durable. From the point of view of history making, wooden boat building is a particularly rich domain of skilled performance. This chapter is based on two research sites, one in Finland and the other in Russia. The analysis is divided into four layers or threads of history making, namely personal history, the history of the wooden boat community, the political history of the nations and their relations, and the history of the boats themselves as objects of boat-building activity. The chapter ends by discussing our findings and their implications for the understanding of skilled performance and history making in work activities and organizations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1142-1161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shira Zilberstein

Standard narratives on the relationship between art and urban development detail art networks as connected to sources of dominant economic, social, and cultural capital and complicit in gentrification trends. This research challenges the conventional model by investigating the relationship between grassroots art spaces, tied to marginal and local groups, and the political economy of development in the Chicago neighborhood of Pilsen. Using mixed methods, I investigate Do–It–Yourself and Latinx artists to understand the construction and goals of grassroots art organizations. Through their engagements with cultural representations, space and time, grassroots artists represent and amplify the interests of marginal actors. By allying with residents, community organizations and other art spaces, grassroots artists form a social movement to redefine the goals and usages of urban space. My findings indicate that heterogeneous art networks exist and grassroots art networks can influence urban space in opposition to top–down development.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document