WiSe 2017/18: Emerging Topics in the Study of Culturehttps://www.uni-giessen.de/en/faculties/ggkgcsc/events/knlseries/knlarchive/wise-2017-18https://www.uni-giessen.de/@@site-logo/logo.png
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WiSe 2017/18: Emerging Topics in the Study of Culture
Stefan Iversen (Aarhus University, Denmark)
Strange Narratives in Rhetorical Discourse
14.11.2017, 18-20, room 001, MFR
Abstract
During the last decade, narrative theory has seen a burst of interest in what has been called the nexus of mind and narrative (Herman 2013), carried forth by ideas of the similarities between understanding real life and understanding fiction (Zunshine 2007; Palmer 2010). This interest has been accompanied, and at times directly challenged, by an equally energetic interest in how experimental and strange narratives found in literature, film and other media may obstruct, subvert, or deconstruct real-world protocols for sense making by presenting readers with “strange” (Caracciolo 2016), “unreadable” (Abbott 2014), or “unnatural” phenomena (Richardson 2015; Alber 2016; Iversen 2013).
The starting point for this talk is the observation that storytelling constellations that defy, test or mock everyday processes of sense-making also exist outside of the realms of generic fiction. Elaborating on a rhetorical reading of the concept of defamiliarization, the aim of the talk is to show that not only do experimental, strange and unnatural narratives materialize across contemporary public discourses; they also come to serve communicative functions. This will be shown trough readings of cases from a range of traditionally nonfictive rhetorical genres such as the discourse of humanitarianism, NGO-branding, protest movements and present-day political rhetoric.
It is a truism that history of science and – more generally – cultural studies was not interested in the role of visualisation in the process of knowledge production before the 1990s. Knowledge, it was said, was often produced without and sometimes with images, but in principle they were regarded as marginal. Why did the situation change so profoundly? In my lecture, I shall argue that the rise of images is part and parcel of the postmodern condition. My main point is not that this condition is characterized by an aesthetization of the world, but by a combination of new digital technologies of producing images and a new understanding of the status of knowledge. I will analyse the postmodern status of image and knowledge by focussing on the work of Lyotard and Latour, and then interpret neuroimaging as a paradigmatic case for the new regime of visualisation.
Diana Hummel (Institute for Social-Ecological Research Germany)
Social Ecology as Transdisciplinary Science of Societal Relations to Nature
12.12.2017, 18-20, room 001, MFR
Abstract
The discourse on sustainable development in the Anthropocene is, essentially, centered on the question of how the complex relations between society and nature can be conceptualized, analyzed, and shaped. In my lecture, I present a specific interpretation of social ecology as an attempt to address this question. The basic idea of Frankfurt social ecology is to put the modern distinction between nature and society at the start of a critical analysis. Theoretically, relationships between humans, society and nature are conceived as societal relations to nature. This concept focuses on patterns and modes of regulation, as well as on the entanglement of material-energetic and cultural-symbolic aspects of the relationship in different areas of action such land use, mobility, or water, energy and food supply. Using an approach that conceptualizes social-ecological systems as provisioning systems, I will show in which way theory and empirical research practice can be linked. Research that aims at contributing to sustainable development needs to integrate different kinds of scientific and non-scientific knowledge. It must combine scientific research with societal practice, in order to offer solutions for real-world problems while at the same time producing generalizable knowledge. Therefore, I will discuss transdisciplinarity as the research mode of choice for social ecology as a problem-oriented science.
Tim Cresswell (Trinity College, Connecticut, United States)
Space, Place and the Humanities: The Emergence of GeoHumanities
16.01.2018, 18-20, room 001, MFR
Abstract
In this talk I outline the development of the new interdisciplinary field of the GeoHumanities linking relatively recent developments in the digital humanities and GIS to ancient concerns for space, place and ways in which we inhabit the world, the flowering of spatial theory since the 1970s in geography, and the spatial turn across the humanities and social sciences of the last few decades. In addition, I link the fusion of all of these histories with the embrace of ‘geo’ themes in the creative arts ranging from geo-poetry to conceptual art. While the emergence of GeoHumanities is not without problems and dangers I argue that the new field presents many theoretical, creative and strategic opportunities for scholars across the humanities and social sciences.
Prof. Ramón Reichert (University of Vienna, Austria)
Emerging Topics in the Study of Culture: Introducing Digital Literacy
30.01.2018, 18-20, room 001, MFR
Abstract
The term literacy has become a ubiquitous metaphor in recent years, particularly in connection with digital technologies. Literacies remain an attractive option to describe the use of new communication technologies and different communication modes for the production of medially-mediated utterances. This lecture gives an overview of the theories and methods of the new literacy studies and shows in this context their critical potentials and the latest developments in the research field of the digital literacies. Digital literacy involves an understanding how search engines function, how hypertexts and links are structured to encourage us to navigate in particular ways, how information is gathered about users, and how the activity of users is governed and constrained by technological and commercial forces. Digital Literacies develop a theoretical framework of their own owing to the media specificity of digital media culture. In another sense digital literacies focus on technological application competencies when it comes to using convergent media. Finally, i would like to point out that the idea of digital literacy is not only as a question of technological transformation but also as a question of social practices.
