Storage and starvation: public granaries as agents of "food security" in early modern Europe

"The development of the 'food security' concept in the 1990s marked a significant change away from state-centered strategies that focused on food availability, towards policies aimed at food access and strengthening individual 'entitlements' (A. Sen) to food. This essay applies the food security approach to early modern food regimes, drawing on the example of the state-granary system in 18th century Prussia to investigate their agents, zones of conflict, and limits. The evident failure of technology-centered approaches raises questions about established periodizations, and modernization narratives on the 'great escape' from hunger. The granary as a 'technology of risk' illustrates the social construction of 'security' through the labeling of security providers and security takers as well as the performance of exclusion and inclusion." (author's abstract)"Das 'Food Security' Konzept markiert seit den 1990er Jahren eine Neuorientierung der Hungerprävention weg von technologiezentrierten Ansätzen der Angebotssicherung auf staatlicher Ebene hin zur Stärkung individueller Nachfragerechte und 'entitlements' (A. Sen) auf Zugang zu Nahrung. Der Artikel überträgt dieses Konzept auf frühneuzeitliche Nahrungsregimes und prüft am Beispiel der preußischen Getreidemagazine des 18. Jh. deren Konfliktzonen, Brüche und Grenzen. Die zu beobachtende Ineffizienz technologischer Maßnahmen der Nahrungssicherung hinterfragt bestehende Epochenzäsuren und Modernisierungsnarrative. Die Risikotechnologie des Getreidespeichers verweist so auf die soziale Konstruktion von 'Sicherheit', die über die Performanz von Inklusion und Exklusion und die Aushandlung von Sicherheitsgebern und Sicherheitsnehmern hergestellt wird." (Autorenreferat

The “Academic Museum” – Göttingen’s University Collection as a space of knowledge production and cultural heritage

„Akademickie Muzeum”. Kolekcja uniwersytetu w Getyndze jako miejsce powstawania nauki i dziedzictwa kulturowego Uniwersytet w Getyndze, posiadający kluczowe znaczenie w niemieckim Oświeceniu, może się poszczycić bogatą kolekcją eksponatów z zakresu historii naturalnej i antropologii, technologii oraz szeroko pojętego dziedzictwa akademickiego. Kolekcje te związane są z rozwojem nowych obszarów wiedzy, a co za tym idzie – prowadzeniem nowoczesnych badań naukowych od czasu założenia uniwersytetu w XVIII wieku. Instrumenty naukowe są świadectwem powstałych wówczas dyscyplin naukowych. Wyznaczały one także zawodową odrębność uczonych. Kolekcje uniwersytetu w Getyndze ilustrują historyczną koncepcję obiektywizmu i świadectwa. Współczesne techniki wystawiennicze, skupione na najbardziej spektakularnych dziełach, raczej zaciemniają niż podkreślają zasadniczą rolę kolekcji uniwersyteckich, którą jest ukazanie rozwoju nauki

Transforming Knowledge Orders: Museums, Collections and Exhibitions

The history of museums is closely connected not only with the history of collecting and collections, but also with the history of science and humanities. Collections and exhibitions reflect scientific theory and scholarly practice, and in turn shape them. Hence, museums transmit and disseminate, yet also produce knowledge. On the one hand, they visualise and stabilise orders of knowledge through assembling, classifying and fixing objects in exhibitions; on the other hand, new academic paradigms and political changes lead to rearrangements of facts and artefacts in museum storerooms and displays. This volume brings together case studies from various historical and cultural contexts that illuminate such dynamics. Its point of departure is transcultural collections and exhibitions such as cabinets of curiosities and ethnographic collections, whose attempts to inventorise and display the world testify to the desire for, but also the difficulties in establishing and maintaining orders of knowledge. A particular focus is on transformative moments in the history of museums, in particular on the early 1900s, when science and technology museums were established, and on more recent times, which have seen the refurbishment of numerous art and ethnographic museums

The role of climate and famine in the medieval eastward expansion

Rüther A. The role of climate and famine in the medieval eastward expansion. In: Collet D, Schuh M, eds. Famines during the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300-1800). Socionatural Entanglements in Premodern Societies. Berlin : Springer ; 2018: 133-147

The “Academic Museum” – Göttingen’s University Collection as a space of knowledge production and cultural heritage

(Polish title: 'Akademickie Muzeum'. Kolekcja uniwersytetu w Getyndze jako miejsce powstawania nauki i dziedzictwa kulturowego). The 'Academic Museum' constitutes a crucial locale for a new history of science. As a space of academic self-fashioning and self-affirmation, it can illustrate historical concepts of objectivity, cultures of evidence or the performance of knowledge. University collections delineate emerging academic disciplines and allow scientists to use material culture in order to mark out their professional identities. Accordingly, the 'Academic Museum' can be investigated as accumulated cultural capital for academics and their scientific fields

Heidelberg Center for the Environment (HCE) - HCE-Nachwuchsgruppe "Umwelt und Gesellschaft"

Die Forschernachwuchsgruppe untersucht die Verflechtung und das Ineinandergreifen von Umwelt und Gesellschaft. Im Zentrum stehen dabei die frühneuzeitlichen Nahrungskrisen. Die Gruppe ist interdisziplinär ausgerichtet und verknüpft Ansätze der Umweltgeschichte, der Paläo­klimatologie, der Sozialen Ökologie und der postcolonial studies. Nachwuchsgruppe: Umwelt und Gesellschaft. Handeln in Hungerkrisen der Frühen Neuzei

Resumption of Antiplatelet Therapy after Major Bleeding

Major bleeding is a common threat in patients requiring antiplatelet therapy. Timing and intensity with regard to resumption of antiplatelet therapy represent a major challenge in clinical practice. Knowledge of the patient's bleeding risk, defining transient/treatable and permanent/untreatable risk factors for bleeding, and weighing these against thrombotic risk are key to successful prevention of major adverse events. Shared decision-making involving various disciplines is essential to determine the optimal strategy. The present article addresses clinically relevant questions focusing on the most life-threatening or frequently occurring bleeding events, such as intracranial hemorrhage and gastrointestinal bleeding, and discusses the evidence for antiplatelet therapy resumption using individual risk assessment in high-risk cardiovascular disease patients

Terrestrial laser scanning reveals differences in crown structure of Fagus sylvatica in mixed vs . pure European forests

Competition with neighboring trees of different species can affect crown size and shape. However, whether intra-specific differences in crown characteristics in mixed stands compared to pure stands are dependent on site conditions remains poorly understood. We used terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) to examine the differences in Fagus sylvatica crown characteristics at four sites, each of which contained pure stands of F. sylvatica and their mixture with Pinus sylvestris. These sites covered the area where the mixture occurs in Europe from south to north, representing a gradient of F. sylvatica productivity, defined as the mean increment of annual volume growth in pure F. sylvatica stands. Despite the large range in productivity, F. sylvatica trees in mixtures had larger crowns regardless of site conditions, with a higher proportion of their crown volume in the lower canopy compared to trees in pure stands. Larger crown volumes were related to higher live crown ratios and greater crown expansion, depending on the site. The magnitude of the mixing effect was variable among the crown characteristics evaluated, but overall our findings provide evidence that for a given species combination and density, the effect of mixture increased in the two most productive sites. TLS-derived novel crown metrics revealed that the mixing effect was affected by productivity, which was not captured by traditionally measured crown variables

Die Begegnung mit Fremden und das Geschichtsbewusstsein (Volume 88, Edition 1)

Freiwillige oder erzwungene Reisen von Menschen in fremde Länder und ihr Leben in der Fremde, die Begegnung mit Fremden in der eigenen Gesellschaft – das sind nicht erst Erfahrungen unserer Gegenwart oder der jüngeren Vergangenheit. Zu allen Zeiten machten viele Menschen solche Erfahrungen. Dieser Band beleuchtet das Geschichtsbewusstsein von Migranten ebenso wie die Bedeutung des Eindringens fremder Kulturen in das eigene Land und die Aufnahme dieser Erfahrungen in eigene Geschichtskonzeptionen. Der Blick wird bewusst über Europa hinaus gelenkt: Veränderte sich durch die Ankunft von Europäern auch das Geschichtsbewusstsein und die Geschichtsschreibung von Menschen in Afrika, Asien und Lateinamerika