scholarly journals Sinaps-opsporing tussen self en ander in Antjie Krog se Mede-wete (2014)

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andries Visagie

The poetry volume Mede-wete by Antjie Krog is a sustained questioning of ethical relations between self and other, an on-goingpreoccupation of Krog in both her poetry and literary non-fiction works. This review article of Mede-wete (also available as Synapse in translation from Afrikaans into English by Karen Press) traces four forms of interconnectedness or synapses that shed light on Krog’s project to establish ethical connections between the self, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, both the human and non-human other. Love and family bonds, reaching out to the cultural other, a sense of shared materiality with the environment, and, consequently, a longing for mystical unity constitute four of the synapses as announced in the title of the volume of poetry. The strength of the often challenging poetry emanates strongly from the daring use of language that includes syllable disturbances and surprising compounds. In many respects, Krog’s impressive volume belies her apparent pessimism that Afrikaans poets and writers today are little more than “thighshifters-in-flinching-language” (Synapse 113). 

Author(s):  
Stefan Krause ◽  
Markus Appel

Abstract. Two experiments examined the influence of stories on recipients’ self-perceptions. Extending prior theory and research, our focus was on assimilation effects (i.e., changes in self-perception in line with a protagonist’s traits) as well as on contrast effects (i.e., changes in self-perception in contrast to a protagonist’s traits). In Experiment 1 ( N = 113), implicit and explicit conscientiousness were assessed after participants read a story about either a diligent or a negligent student. Moderation analyses showed that highly transported participants and participants with lower counterarguing scores assimilate the depicted traits of a story protagonist, as indicated by explicit, self-reported conscientiousness ratings. Participants, who were more critical toward a story (i.e., higher counterarguing) and with a lower degree of transportation, showed contrast effects. In Experiment 2 ( N = 103), we manipulated transportation and counterarguing, but we could not identify an effect on participants’ self-ascribed level of conscientiousness. A mini meta-analysis across both experiments revealed significant positive overall associations between transportation and counterarguing on the one hand and story-consistent self-reported conscientiousness on the other hand.


Author(s):  
Stacy Wolf

This chapter examines the eight female characters inCompany, what they do in the musical, and how they function in the show’s dramaturgy, and argues that they elicit the quintessential challenge of analyzing musical theater from a feminist perspective. On the one hand, the women tend to be stereotypically, even msogynistically portrayed. On the other hand, each character offers the actor a tremendous performance opportunity in portraying a complicated psychology, primarily communicated through richly expressive music and sophisticated lyrics. In this groundbreaking 1970 ensemble musical about a bachelor’s encounters with five married couples and three girlfriends, Sondheim’s female characters occupy a striking range of types within one show. From the bitter, acerbic, thrice-married Joanne to the reluctant bride-to-be Amy, and from the self-described “dumb” “stewardess” April to the free-spirited Marta,Company’s eight women are distillations of femininity, precisely sketched in the short, singular scenes in which they appear.


2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-181
Author(s):  
Kirsten Linnemann

Abstract. With their donation appeals aid organisations procure a polarised worldview of the self and other into our everyday lives and feed on discourses of “development” and “neediness”. This study investigates how the discourse of “development” is embedded in the subjectivities of “development” professionals. By approaching the topic from a governmentality perspective, the paper illustrates how “development” is (re-)produced through internalised Western values and powerful mechanisms of self-conduct. Meanwhile, this form of self-conduct, which is related to a “good cause”, also gives rise to doubts regarding the work, as well as fragmentations and shifts of identity. On the one hand, the paper outlines various coping strategies used by development professionals to maintain a coherent narrative about the self. On the other hand, it also shows how doubts and fragmentations of identity can generate a critical distance to “development” practice, providing a space for resistant and transformative practice in the sense of Foucauldian counter-conduct.


Author(s):  
Emil Bernhardt

My aim in this article is to develop a possible understanding of Adorno’s thoughts on musical interpretation as they appear in a collection of fragments posthumously published in 2001 under the title of Zu einer Theorie der musikalischen Reproduktion [Towards a Theory of Musical Reproduction]. I do this by using an actual sounding example, with emphasis on the dialectical relationship between the written text and the sounding realization. On the one hand, I use a passage by Beethoven (Symphony No. 1, First Movement) that is characterized by some philological uncertainties regarding articulation, explained in slightly different ways in three so-called Urtext-editions of the score. On the other hand, I use a recorded interpretation of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Austrian Nikolaus Harnoncourt. I will argue that, in this performance, Harnoncourt’s articulation of the actual passage provides a useful illustration of the tension between text and sound. Moreover, as the interpretation is also musically intriguing, it seems to function as a thought-provoking example of the dialectical relationship which for Adorno characterizes a successful musical interpretation. Thus, the article aims to shed light on both Adorno’s somewhat intricate speculations and Harnoncourt’s personal practice of interpretation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Faustino

AbstractThis paper examines Nietzsche’s relation to the therapeutic philosophical tradition paradigmatically represented by the Hellenistic schools. On the one hand, given his project of rehabilitating Western culture and his understanding of the philosopher as a “physician of culture”, Nietzsche seems also to hold a therapeutic understanding of philosophy; on the other hand, he is extremely critical of any (philosophical, moral or religious) attempt to heal mankind. This paper does not aim to solve this tension but rather characterizes Nietzsche’s endeavor in this respect as a therapy of therapy. Through analysis of a) the basic features of the Hellenistic conception of philosophy, b) Nietzsche’s development of the analogy of the “philosophical physician”, c) his diagnosis of culture, and d) his criticism of previous therapists, I show that Nietzsche can be formally included in this tradition of thought, even if this inclusion has implications for the tradition itself. As I suggest, given the self-referentiality of Nietzsche’s therapy, his inclusion in this tradition might in fact simultaneously entail its own self-suppression.


Author(s):  
Christoph Sondermann-Wo¨lke ◽  
Thomas Mu¨ller ◽  
Jens Geisler ◽  
Ansgar Tra¨chtler ◽  
Joachim Bo¨cker

Integrating dependability in self-optimizing systems is a challenging task. Self-optimizing systems incorporate on the one hand the opportunity to apply novel solutions to complex mechatronic systems, but on the other hand constitute a possible risk because of non-determined behavior. The dependability concept in this paper covers both aspects: Increasing safety with self-optimization and minimizing the risk of self-optimization. This dependability concept is combined with the self-optimization process of the active guidance module which is currently under development at the Collaborative Research Center 614 at the University of Paderborn.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 403-423
Author(s):  
Jacob Weinrib

Abstract In Where Our Protection Lies, Dimitrios Kyritsis develops an innovative constitutional framework that aims to reconcile two commitments: democratic governance and the protection of fundamental rights. This review article argues that the reconciliation fails to provide fundamental rights with meaningful protection. On the one hand, the framework’s moral resources hollow out the duties that rights impose on legislatures. Instead of protecting persons from the abusive exercise of legislative power, the framework narrows what constitutes abuse. On the other hand, the framework’s institutional resources leave persons without the means of vindicating their rights. What Kyritsis terms protection consists in the ongoing susceptibility to the violation of one’s fundamental rights.


2006 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 453-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
VALESKA HUBER

This article analyses the proceedings of eight International Sanitary Conferences which were convened between 1851 and 1894 to address the danger that cholera epidemics posed to Europe. These conferences are examined in the context of the intellectual and institutional changes in scientific medicine and in the light of the changing structure of internationalist endeavours that took place in the second half of the nineteenth century. The article shows that the International Sanitary Conferences were as much spaces of co-operation as they were arenas where differences and boundaries between disciplines, nations, and cultures were defined. Furthermore, it seeks to shed light on a broader tension of the period. On the one hand, the fact that the world was growing together to an unprecedented extent due to new means of transportation enabled Europeans to establish and expand profitable commercial and colonial relations. On the other hand, this development increased the vulnerability of Europe – for example to the importation of diseases. The perception that the world was becoming increasingly interconnected was thus coupled with the need for controllable boundaries. The conferences attempted to find solutions as to how borders could be secured without resorting to traditional barriers; like semipermeable membranes they should be open for some kinds of communication but closed for others.


Author(s):  
Pau Conde Arroyo

Este artículo trata de problematizar la definición taxonómica de Testo yonqui desde una óptica literaria que atiende a su faceta narrativa para dilucidar los cauces por los que se manifiesta en tanto que ensayo queer. Dicha problematización es abordada desde dos lugares: por un lado, desde la propia obra, atendiendo a las autodefiniciones presentes en el texto, que son examinadas a partir del marco teórico de la autobiografía; y, por otro lado, desde la recepción crítica de Testo yonqui. En último lugar, a la luz de lo anterior, se exponen una serie de tensiones relativas a la relación entre narración, referente y representación en la propuesta experimental del principio autocobaya.   This article aims to question the taxonomical definition of Testo Junkie from a literary perspective that considers its narrative aspect in order to elucidate the ways in which it can be regarded as a queer essay. Such questioning is approached from two angles: on the one hand, from the work itself, examining the self-definitions found in the text, which are studied on the basis of the theoretical framework of autobiography; and, on the other hand, from Testo Junkie’s critic reception. Lastly, the principle of the auto-guinea pig is also explored, in reference to the series of tensions arising from the relationship between narration, referent and representation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 205395171985153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia de Vries ◽  
Willem Schinkel

This paper discusses prominent examples of what we call “algorithmic anxiety” in artworks engaging with algorithms. In particular, we consider the ways in which artists such as Zach Blas, Adam Harvey and Sterling Crispin design artworks to consider and critique the algorithmic normativities that materialize in facial recognition technologies. Many of the artworks we consider center on the face, and use either camouflage technology or forms of masking to counter the surveillance effects of recognition technologies. Analyzing their works, we argue they on the one hand reiterate and reify a modernist conception of the self when they conjure and imagination of Big Brother surveillance. Yet on the other hand, their emphasis on masks and on camouflage also moves beyond such more conventional critiques of algorithmic normativities, and invites reflection on ways of relating to technology beyond the affirmation of the liberal, privacy-obsessed self. In this way, and in particular by foregrounding the relational modalities of the mask and of camouflage, we argue academic observers of algorithmic recognition technologies can find inspiration in artistic algorithmic imaginaries.


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