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Modern Condition (modern + condition)
Selected Abstracts,The unforgettable forgotten': The Traces of Trauma in Herta Müller's Reisende auf einem BeinGERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 3 2002Brigid Haines Trauma can be read as a metaphor of the (post)modern condition, particularly in a German context. This is because it is associated with aporias in memory and understanding which are nevertheless meaningful because they arise from and speak of specific historical circumstances. This article places Herta Müller's 1989 Berlin novel Reisende auf einem Bein within the context of twentieth-century trauma literature. I read the protagonist, Irene, as a traumatised individual, whose experience (in Ceau,escu's Romania, then as an ethnic German immigrant in West Berlin) is locatable, but the causes of whose trauma elude representation because they are not synthesisable into frameworks of understanding. Irene comes to accommodate her trauma by inhabiting her surroundings and renouncing control , while reasserting agency. Thus the structure of trauma provides a way out of the perceived paralysis of postmodern constructions of subjectivity. Finally the novel bears witness to ,the unforgettable forgotten'. ,Das Überleben ist kein Leben mehr und dennoch das einzig mögliche Leben.' (Alexander García Düttmann) ,Whenever one represents, one inscribes in memory, and this might seem a good defense against forgetting. It is, I believe, just the opposite.' (Jean-François Lyotard) ,Nicht Sprache ist Heimat, sondern das, was gesprochen wird.' (Jorge Semprun) [source] The International Relations of the "Transition": Ernest Gellner's Social Philosophy and Political Sociology,INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 4 2007Roland Dannreuther Ernest Gellner's political sociology has been relatively neglected not only in international relations (IR) but also in sociology and social anthropology. This article provides an overview of Gellner's ambitious vision of our modern condition. Central to this vision is the salience of the "transition" from agrarian to industrial society, which Gellner believed had transformed and revolutionized not only our philosophical outlook but also our sociological and historical condition. This article argues that Gellner's work provides an intellectually rich, demanding, and fruitful model which has much relevance to IR. We illustrate this by showing how Gellner's sociological insights into the study of nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism continue to have a direct application to contemporary concerns within IR, as well as providing an illustration of how IR can benefit from a multidisciplinary engagement with the disciplines that Gellner most creatively borrowed from: sociology, anthropology, and philosophy. [source] From bobolinks to bears: interjecting geographical history into ecological studies, environmental interpretation, and conservation planningJOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2000David R. Foster Abstract In these days of supercomputer-based global climate models, large ecosystem experiments including Biosphere II, and aircraft-borne sensors of ozone holes it is often overlooked that many fundamental insights into ecological processes and major environmental issues come not through reductionist or high-tech studies of modern conditions but from thoughtful consideration of nature's history. In fact, it is foolhardy to make any ecological interpretation of modern landscapes or environments or to formulate policy in conservation or natural resource management without an historical context that extends back decades, at least, but preferably centuries or millennia. Oftentimes, the ecological and conservation communities, in their search for more detail on the present and simulation of the future, appear to have forgotten the value of a deep historical perspective in research and application. However, the willingness of the geographical sciences to embrace broad temporal and spatial perspectives and to consider cultural as well as natural processes is worth emulating as we address environmental subjects in the new millennium. [source] Antiquity of postreproductive life: Are there modern impacts on hunter-gatherer postreproductive life spans?AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2002Nicholas G. Blurton Jones Female postreproductive life is a striking feature of human life history and there have been several recent attempts to account for its evolution. But archaeologists estimate that in the past, few individuals lived many postreproductive years. Is postreproductive life a phenotypic outcome of modern conditions, needing no evolutionary account? This article assesses effects of the modern world on hunter-gatherer adult mortality, with special reference to the Hadza. Evidence suggests that such effects are not sufficient to deny the existence of substantial life expectancy at the end of the childbearing career. Data from contemporary hunter-gatherers (Ache, !Kung, Hadza) match longevity extrapolated from regressions of lifespan on body and brain weight. Twenty or so vigorous years between the end of reproduction and the onset of significant senescence does require an explanation. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 14:184,205, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] | ||||||||||