Månen aborteret og genfødt

Månen aborteret og genfød

KOMPARATIV LITTERATURHISTORIE I DET UDVIDEDE FELT - STILLEHAVET SOM CASE

KOMPARATIV LITTERATURHISTORIE I DET UDVIDEDE FELT. STILLEHAVET SOM CASE | The article discusses status and perspectives for writing literary history based on an updated model for comparative literature. While the American re-launching of World Literature is not regarded to be a useful response to the global challenges facing literary historiography, it is proposed to re-evaluate the long history of comparatism in order to find models that match the current situation of literature in the expanded field. The article investigates narratives on expeditions in the Pacific Ocean from the 18th century. Here are outlined two models for comparison: One that leads toward cultural relativism and its problematic tendency to describe the compared societies as autonomous and closed, and another model, which can serve as a point of departure for grasping literature in both its historical and global conditions

Virunga National Park - Steder og rettigheder for gorillaer og mennesker i Afrika

The article outlines some of the historical traces for the eco-crisis that presently threatens the first and most outstanding national park in Africa, homeland of the mountain gorilla. After a short description of the site, the article presents the Congo Reform Movement’s campaign against the bloody suppression in the Congo Free State around 1900, often referred to as the Red Rubber-regime. The Congo Reform Movements “Atrocity Meetings” are considered to be the first human rights campaign, because they established the rhetorical models that we find today in Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Global Witness. The article argues that we can detect similar and highly problematic structures in the animal rights campaigns which took on a global scale in the 1970s – initiated among others by Dian Fossey and her famous and infamous fight for the protection of mountain gorillas in the Virunga mountains. Both human rights campaigns and animal rights campaigns share a responsibility, I argue, for the eco-crisis at Virunga. Finally I present the documentary Virunga from 2014 as a model and as a rhetorical alternative

Virunga National Park, the heart of darkness as UNESCO World Heritage

The article outlines some of the historical traces for the eco-crisis that presently threatens the first and most outstanding national park in Africa, homeland of the mountain gorilla. Texts and films about Virunga reiterate the same rhetorical figures that are frequently discussed in connection with Conrad’s description of the Congo River, thus showing the long-term political effects of the “discours conradien”. After a short description of the site, the article presents the Congo Reform Movement’s campaign against the bloody repression in the Congo Free State around 1900, often referred to as the Red Rubber-regime. The article argues that we can detect similar and highly problematic rhetorical structures in the animal rights campaigns, which took on a global scale in the 1970s – initiated among others by Dian Fossey and her famous and infamous fight for the protection of mountain gorillas in the Virunga. Both human rights campaigns and animal rights campaigns share a responsibility, the author argues, for the eco-crisis at Virunga. Finally, he presents the documentary Virunga from 2014 as a model and as a rhetorical alternative.L’article propose de retracer les pistes permettant d’expliquer l’histoire de la crise écologique qui menace aujourd’hui le premier et le plus exceptionnel des parcs nationaux d’Afrique, foyer ancestral des gorilles des montagnes. Les textes et les films sur le parc national des Virunga reprennent les mêmes figures rhétoriques qui sont fréquemment mises en relation avec la description par Conrad du fleuve Congo, montrant ainsi les effets politiques à long terme du « discours conradien ». Après une brève description du site, l’article présente la campagne lancée par l’association Congo Reform Movement contre la répression sanglante à l’encontre des populations dans l’État indépendant du Congo, résumant ce que l’on a appelé le « régime du caoutchouc rouge ». L’article défend ensuite l’idée qu’il est possible de détecter des structures rhétoriques similaires et hautement problématiques dans les campagnes pour les droits des animaux, qui ont pris une dimension mondiale dans les années 1970 et qui ont été initiées entre autres par Dian Fossey et sa lutte fameuse et pour le moins contestable pour la protection des gorilles des montagnes dans le parc des Virunga. L’auteur avance l’idée que les campagnes de défense des droits humains et les campagnes de défense des animaux partagent une responsabilité commune dans la crise écologique qui affecte le parc des Virunga. Enfin, il présente le documentaire Virunga (2014) comme un modèle de rhétorique alternative

Stranden og havet: Lyserød imperialisme og markedspladser i ”Det store Ocean”

The Marquesas Islands, one of the Pacific’s smallest and most remote archipelagoes, played an important geopolitical role in the years around the French Revolution because they were attributed a symbolic significance as the hub of crossing trade routes between Europe, North America, and China. The fur trade became an essential part of the performative identity games, which ethno-historian Greg Dening has called “beach crossings”. The commodity is of course an essential part of the exchange on the beach, but the trade also defines the meaning of the involved places and spaces in a broader sense. On the basis of comparisons of especially French expeditions to the islands, the article finds a distinctive discursive pattern: The texts develop an idea of The Great Ocean as utopian theater that shapes the form of trade and colonization, which can be called “pink imperialism”, ie. annexation, trade, and commerce as an act of protection or an act of love

Litteraturhistorie og kanon

Litteraturhistorie og kanon