Mahler: Music, Reception, Identity

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 219-242
Author(s):  
Lóránt Péteri

Writings on the socio-cultural complexities of Mahler’s identity and his music in context vary in relation to four basic motifs: his Jewishness; his Germanness; the partly Slav environment of his early years; and his relationship to the Austro-Hungar-ian Dual Monarchy. Studies combine these elements, or privilege one above another. It may help to rethink this subject if we consider that his self-awareness formed amid a changing social environment; if his personal identity will be studied in the context of the identity history of his family; and through scrutinizing the decisive socializing role of the localities in which he lived. These conclusions can reveal the unparalleled mobility of his career in a rapidly-transforming context. Late nineteenth-century Central European societies drew at once on the “past” (post-feudal, pre-modern attitudes and practices), “present” (constitutionalism based on equal civilian rights, and nationalism), and “future” (populist and racist ideologies questioning the enlightened, liberal consensus). All three impacted not only Mahler’s identity, but his image: how the surrounding society perceived him. These approaches also facilitate critical readings of the contemporaneous attempts to embed Mahler’s music in national, regional, and ethno-cultural contexts. This paper examines the reception of the third movement of Symphony No. 1 as a case study, exploring how Mahler’s construed images were reflected in different interpretations of this music.

Author(s):  
James Hopkins

Abstract This paper addresses a gap in our understanding of medical history - the architecture of medical schools - and demonstrates the ways in which architectural form can be used to better understand medical epistemology and pedagogy. It examines an instructive case study - the late-nineteenth-century medical school buildings in Manchester - and examines the concepts that were drawn together and expressed in the buildings. Through its exploration, the paper argues first, that medical schools and spaces for medical education should be given greater consideration as a significant category in the history of medical buildings. Second, that buildings such as its case study are an important source of evidence and means to understand the role of medicine in society and the ideas with which its contemporary practitioners and educators were concerned. Third, the paper argues that, to make best use of buildings as sources, we should view them as agents which have assembled divergent ideas and incorporated them into the built form. In this way, such buildings have woven into them an inventory of ideas which can be untangled using designs and physical evidence.


2014 ◽  
Vol 556-562 ◽  
pp. 6631-6637
Author(s):  
Somchai Seviset

China has had her relations with Thailand for many centuries since the Sukhothai Period (A.D. 1250-1438) including trade contact, diplomatic relations set forth as per an abundance of documentary evidences, architectural works, and artistic object with significant artistic evidences of a long history of Thai-China relations. In Ayutthaya Period (A.D.1350-1767) which was corresponding to China’s Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644) there were Xi Yuan’s supporting written literature (A.D. 1565-1628). He was a Chinese historian who noted that China sent a large junk ship for trade to Ayutthaya fetching goods of silk, and chinaware from China for sale to Siam Court. Thai Traditional Cupboard Furniture in the past also had an interesting mix of Chinese art. Chinese artwork which appeared in the Thai Traditional Cupboard Furniture made from hardwood with surrounding decoration around it were created during the period of A.D. 18-19. From a number of Thai ancient cupboard furniture exhibited in the Phra Nakhon National Museum (the Largest National Museum in Bangkok Metropolis). This case study will explain the inspiration of Chinese art which the Thai craftsmen applied on the design to decorate the cupboard.


Antiquity ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (291) ◽  
pp. 209-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Maischberger

The history of the archaeological disciplines in Germany during the Nazi era can be considered as a locus classicus of nationalist interpretation and misuse of the past. For some time now, various efforts have been made to enhance our understanding of this period, including several aspects related to archaeology and cultural politics. Most studies have been carried on by modern historians, but also archaeologists have engaged in historiographical research on their own discipline. Some freqiiently cited works like Bollmus (1970) Kater (1974) and Losemann (1977) are still fundamental for our understanding of important aspects of Nazi cultural politics as well as the involvement of traditional institutions into the dictatorial system.


2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 1084-1099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Biswarup Sen

In 2001, India’s first private FM station – Radio City, Bangalore – came on air, ending an era of state broadcasting that began in 1930. In the past decade, FM radio has enjoyed spectacular success: over 200 stations are now in operation, and the FM industry has seen spectacular growth in listenership and revenues. FM’s impact goes beyond economics; it is now a cultural signifier synonymous with modernity – as the ‘tagline’ for a popular FM network puts it ‘Radio Mirchi – it’s hot!’ FM, I argue in this article, represents a new kind of radio. The shift from state-controlled, nationwide AM transmission to corporate-owned local FM broadcasting signals a profound change in the very philosophy of radio in India. This article offers a brief account of the history of Indian radio and analyzes the social and economic factors that necessitated a change in modes of broadcasting. It also brings its claims into focus through using a case study that looks at the business structure, programming policies, and audience management strategies of one very popular FM station – Radio Mirchi, Kolkata – in order to demonstrate how these newly shaped practices are reinventing the role of radio in contemporary India.


Sociology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 850-864 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Nettleingham

‘Generations’ have been invoked to describe a variety of social and cultural relationships, and to understand the development of self-conscious group identity. Equally, the term can be an applied label and politically useful construct; generations can be retrospectively produced. Drawing on the concept of ‘canonical generations’ – those whose experiences come to epitomise an event of historic and symbolic importance – this article examines the narrative creation and functions of ‘generations’ as collective memory shapes and re-shapes the desire for social change. Building a case study of the canonical role of the miners’ strike of 1984–85 in the narrative history of the British left, it examines the selective appropriation and transmission of the past in the development of political consciousness. It foregrounds the autobiographical narratives of activists who, in examining and legitimising their own actions and prospects, (re)produce a ‘generation’ in order to create a relatable and useful historical understanding.


2020 ◽  
pp. 001083672093840
Author(s):  
Ayşe Betül Çelik

This study analyzes how peace processes in socio-political environments that do not support ‘confronting the past’ (CTP) initiatives are affected by the exclusion and delegitimization of alternative narratives different from dominant ones concerning the nature and history of ethnic conflicts, focusing on Turkey’s failed peace process as a case study. It pays specific attention to the resistance against acknowledging alternatives to dominant narratives by considering the role played by bystanders and antagonistic citizens, who are not directly part of the conflict but nonetheless support it by remaining passive or directly/indirectly supporting dominant narratives. Driven by agonistic peace theory, the article shows how failing to turn these groups into agonistic citizens through some form of agonistic CTP initiative and allowing a space for alternative narratives can result in the fragility of efforts towards a transition to peace.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 867-867
Author(s):  
Andrew C ◽  
Smith M

Abstract Objective To describe neurobehavioral consequences and recovery course in a case of acute infarct of the fornix superimposed on chronic subcortical cerebrovascular disease. Method We present a right-handed, 72-year-old, African American man with cardiovascular risk factors, chronic kidney disease, and history of CVA with no prior functional or cognitive difficulties. He was evaluated twice, first four days post and again two months post-infarct of the bilateral fornix. Results Initial inpatient testing revealed impaired verbal memory characterized by rapid forgetting (HVLT-R Delay T = < 20) with some benefit from recognition cues, and subtle deficits in constructional praxis and practical judgement. On repeat evaluation at four months post-stroke, he demonstrated memory impairment across modalities (HVLT-R Delay T = < 20, BVMT-R Delay T = < 20) with marginal benefit from context and cues. He required assistance with multiple instrumental activities of daily living (e.g., financial and healthcare management) and displayed anosognosia of both cognitive and functional deficits. Conclusion This case illustrates the role of the fornix in the process of memory encoding and self-awareness. Literature describing the neurobehavioral role of the fornix is sparse, however, it has been implicated in episodic memory functions due to hippocampal connectivity. This case study further implicates the fornix in declarative memory formation and will add to the literature by detailing a specific cognitive profile that may inform planning for recovery and rehabilitation.


2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuefei Ren

This article examines the role of historical preservation in the spatial restructuring of postindustrial cities through a detailed case study of Xintiandi, a preservation–based redevelopment project in the inner city of Shanghai. At Xintiandi, two blocks of Shikumen houses, Shanghainese tenements built by Western landlords for Chinese tenants in the colonial period, were turned into a posh entertainment quarter by international developers and architects, with support from local governments. The history of Shikumen as dwellings of lower–middle–class tenants through the twentieth century is being carefully erased. The private–public coalition has repackaged Shikumen into a symbol of Shanghai's cosmopolitan colonial past by emphasizing its Western–influenced architecture. This article argues that historical preservation, far from hindering urban growth, serves the same development goal in globalizing Shanghai. Historical elements in the built environment are selectively recycled to produce a new transnational space.


Somatechnics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-303
Author(s):  
Michael Connors Jackman

This article investigates the ways in which the work of The Body Politic (TBP), the first major lesbian and gay newspaper in Canada, comes to be commemorated in queer publics and how it figures in the memories of those who were involved in producing the paper. In revisiting a critical point in the history of TBP from 1985 when controversy erupted over race and racism within the editorial collective, this discussion considers the role of memory in the reproduction of whiteness and in the rupture of standard narratives about the past. As the controversy continues to haunt contemporary queer activism in Canada, the productive work of memory must be considered an essential aspect of how, when and for what reasons the work of TBP comes to be commemorated. By revisiting the events of 1985 and by sifting through interviews with individuals who contributed to the work of TBP, this article complicates the narrative of TBP as a bluntly racist endeavour whilst questioning the white privilege and racially-charged demands that undergird its commemoration. The work of producing and preserving queer history is a vital means of challenging the intentional and strategic erasure of queer existence, but those who engage in such efforts must remain attentive to the unequal terrain of social relations within which remembering forms its objects.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Abbiss

This article offers a ‘post-heritage’ reading of both iterations of Upstairs Downstairs: the LondonWeekend Television (LWT) series (1971–5) and its shortlived BBC revival (2010–12). Identifying elements of subversion and subjectivity allows scholarship on the LWT series to be reassessed, recognising occasions where it challenges rather than supports the social structures of the depicted Edwardian past. The BBC series also incorporates the post-heritage element of self-consciousness, acknowledging the parallel between its narrative and the production’s attempts to recreate the success of its 1970s predecessor. The article’s first section assesses the critical history of the LWT series, identifying areas that are open to further study or revised readings. The second section analyses the serialised war narrative of the fourth series of LWT’s Upstairs, Downstairs (1974), revealing its exploration of female identity across multiple episodes and challenging the notion that the series became more male and upstairs dominated as it progressed. The third section considers the BBC series’ revised concept, identifying the shifts in its main characters’ positions in society that allow the series’ narrative to question the past it evokes. This will be briefly contrasted with the heritage stability of Downton Abbey (ITV, 2010–15). The final section considers the household of 165 Eaton Place’s function as a studio space, which the BBC series self-consciously adopts in order to evoke the aesthetics of prior period dramas. The article concludes by suggesting that the barriers to recreating the past established in the BBC series’ narrative also contributed to its failure to match the success of its earlier iteration.


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