256 research outputs found
Worrying about Emotions in History
As a medievalist, I have cause to be worried about emotions in history. I do not worry about the emotions themselves: people in the past, as now, expressed joy, sorrow, anger, fear, and many other feelings; these emotions had multiple meanings then (as they do today); they had their effects on others and were manipulated in turn (as ours do and are). What medievalists - indeed, all historians who want to get their history right - must worry about is how historians have treated emotions in history. The purpose of this article is to survey the historiography of emotions in
Western history and to suggest some fresh ways to think about the topic
Les émotions des puritains sont-elles genrées ? (Nouvelle-Angleterre, milieu xviie siÚcle)
Si les historiens ont Ă©tudiĂ© les Ă©motions des premiers groupes protestants, dont les puritains, ils ne se sont pas demandĂ© sâil pouvait y avoir des diffĂ©rences dans les Ă©motions exprimĂ©es et ressenties par les hommes et les femmes appartenant Ă des congrĂ©gations puritaines. Cet article analyse une sĂ©rie de confessions consignĂ©es dans les annĂ©es 1648-1649 par Thomas Shepard, qui Ă©tait Ă la tĂȘte de lâĂ©glise puritaine de Cambridge, dans le Massachusetts. Trois approches diffĂ©rentes sont utilisĂ©es. La premiĂšre Ă©tudie les « émotions basiques », la seconde examine les Ă©motions telles que les puritains les envisageaient eux-mĂȘmes et la troisiĂšme sâintĂ©resse aux Ă©motions dans le contexte de la « pratique », câest-Ă -dire dans le cadre de comportements habituels. Lâarticle dĂ©montre quâil y avait bel et bien des diffĂ©rences de genre dans la vie Ă©motionnelle de ces femmes et de ces hommes de Cambridge.Although scholars have begun to explore the emotions of early Protestant groups, including those of the Puritans, they have not considered whether there might be differences in the emotions expressed and felt by Puritan men and women. This paper analyzes a set of confessions recorded for the period 1648-1649 by Thomas Shepard, who led the Puritan church of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Three different approaches are employed. The first considers âbasic emotions,â the second examines the emotions considered as such by the Puritans themselves, and the third observes the emotions in the context of their âpracticeââ that is, in the context of habitual behavior. It concludes that there were indeed some gender differences in the emotional lives of these Cambridge women and men
Les communautés émotionnelles et le corps
Il y a longtemps Alain de Lille affirmait que les gestes et les expressions faciales des Ă©motions Ă©taient des fenĂȘtres ouvertes sur la «âdisposition intĂ©rieureâ» dâune personne, tandis que de nos jours Paul Ekman soutient que certaines expressions faciales constituent des «âĂ©motions basiquesâ». Cependant, comme cet article le montre, en rĂ©alitĂ© le lien entre le corps et les Ă©motions est (et demeure) extrĂȘmement divers. Lâarticle aborde les Ă©motions dans le contexte des «âcommunautĂ©s Ă©motionnellesâ» â des groupes sociaux Ă lâintĂ©rieur desquels les individus sont animĂ©s par des intĂ©rĂȘts, des valeurs et des styles Ă©motionnels communs ou semblables. Les communautĂ©s Ă©motionnelles intĂšgrent (ou nâinÂtĂšgrent pas) le corps dans lâexpression de lâĂ©motion de diffĂ©rentes maniĂšres. Ce constat est illustrĂ© par trois exemples mĂ©diĂ©vaux. Ă la cour mĂ©rovingienne de Neustrie au viie siĂšcle, les Ă©motions Ă©taient rarement incarnĂ©es. Au contraire, pour Thomas dâAquin et ses disciples au xiiie siĂšcle, les Ă©motions Ă©taient explicitement associĂ©es au corps et aux changements somatiques. Mais cependant, pour ce groupe de dominicains, les Ă©motions pouvaient, si elles Ă©taient orientĂ©es de façon appropriĂ©e, transcender le corps. Enfin, Margery Kempe et ses semblables usaient de leur corps en manifestant leurs Ă©motions de façon dramatique, par des hurlements, des larmes ou des contorsions de douleur. Lâarticle se clĂŽt en suggĂ©rant que ces variations dans les modalitĂ©s dâincorporation permettent de questionner la conception dâĂ©motions «âuniversellesâ».Alain de Lille long ago proclaimed that gestures and facial expressions were windows onto a personâs «âinternal dispositionâ», while today Paul Ekman claims that certain facial expressions represent «âbasic emotionsâ». However, as this paper argues, in fact the association between the body and emotion is (and remains) highly variable. The paper treats emotions within the context of «âemotional communitiesâ» â social groups within which people are animated by common or similar interests, values, and emotional styles. Emotional communities have different ways of incorporating (or not) the body in emotional expression. This point is exemplified by three medieval examples. At the seventh-century Merovingian court in Neustria, emotions were rarely embodied. By contrast, for Thomas Aquinas and his disciples in the thirteenth century, emotions were clearly associated with the body and somatic changes. Even so, for this group of Dominicans, emotions could, if properly directed, transcend the body. Finally, Margery Kempe and others of her ilk employed their bodies in dramatic expressions of feeling via roars, tears, and writhing. The paper ends by suggesting that these variations in embodiment help challenge the view of «âuniversalâ» emotions
Problemi i metode istraĆŸivanja povijesti emocija
Koji se metodoloĆĄki problemi pojavljuju prilikom istraĆŸivanja povijesti emocija? Za odgovor na to pitanje potrebno je razrijeĆĄiti kljuÄan problem karaktera emocija. Ako emocije, prema shvaÄanjima brojnih znanstvenika, predstavljaju bioloĆĄke entitete, univerzalne cjelokupnom ÄovjeÄanstvu, mogu li one imati povijest? Nakon ĆĄto se utvrdi da su emocije manje univerzalne no ĆĄto je uvrijeĆŸeno miĆĄljenje (bez da se pritom negira njihova somatska osnova), otvara se niz pitanja i moguÄnosti za razvoj povijesti emocija. U ovome radu predlaĆŸem studij emocija u proĆĄlosti istraĆŸivanjem âemocionalnih zajednicaâ (ukratko: socijalnih grupa Äiji se Älanovi pridrĆŸavaju istih vrednovanja emocija i njihovih izraĆŸavanja). Osnovna je teza da u istraĆŸivanju povijesti emocija treba uzeti u obzir cjelokupan spektar izvora koje su emocionalne grupe stvorile, te se predlaĆŸu naÄini njihove interpretacije. U konaÄnici, u radu se razmatraju okolnosti i uzroci nastupanja
emocionalnih promjena, pri Äemu se promiÄe ideja da se povijest emocija integrira u druge povijesne subdiscipline â socijalnu, politiÄku i intelektualnu povijest
Feeling less alone online: patientsâ ambivalent engagements with digital media
AbstractDigital media offer the chronically ill, especially those who experience related isolation, unparalleled opportunities to connect with others. This article asks, how do these individuals ascribe meaning to and use these media to manage their condition and related isolation? Using the concepts of affordance and emotional community, and drawing on the findings from an Australian study on patientsâ use of digital media, we examine individualsâ ambivalent ascriptions of media, which are both feared and distrusted for the risks they present and embraced as invaluable tools of social connection. We argue that this ambivalence is explicable in terms of the communities to which the chronically ill belong which are founded on strong emotional bonds. In a context in which individuals tend to feel isolated through pain and/or stigmatisation, digital media may offer powerful means for sharing and affirming their experiences, the subjective benefits of which may outweigh the perceived risks. The article discusses the functions and features of digital media that the chronically ill value and distrust and concludes by considering the implications of our analysis for strategies to address the needs of people who feel isolated as a consequence of their condition.</jats:p
âThe Invisible Chain by Which All Are Bound to Each Otherâ: Civil Defence Magazines and the Development of Community During the Second World War
This article uses local collaboratively produced civil defence magazines to examine how community spirit was developed and represented within the civil defence services during the Second World War. It highlights the range of functions which the magazines performed, as well as the strategies employed by civil defence communities to manage their emotions in order to keep morale high and distract personnel from the fear and boredom experienced while on duty. The article also discusses silences in the magazines â especially around the experience of air raids â and argues that this too reflects group emotional management strategies. The significance of local social groups in developing narratives about civil defence and their workplace communities is demonstrated, and the article shows how personnel were able to engage with and refashion dominant cultural narratives of the âpeopleâs warâ in order to assert their own status within the war effort
Wasting Breath in Hamlet
This is the final version. Available on open access from Palgrave via the DOI in this recordThis chapter draws on instances of disordered breathing in
Hamlet in order to examine the cultural signifcance of sighs in the early
modern period, as well as in the context of current work in the feld
of medical humanities. Tracing the medical history of sighing in ancient
and early modern treatises of the passions, the chapter argues that sighs,
in the text and the performance of the tragedy, exceed their conventional
interpretation as symptoms of pain and disrupt meaning on the page and
on stage. In the light of New Materialist theory, the air circulating in
Hamlet is shown to dismantle narratives of representation, posing new
questions for the future of medical humanities
Recommended from our members
Spirit, mind and body: the archaeology of monastic healing
Archaeology and material culture are used in this chapter to consider how monastic experience responded to illness, ageing and disability. The approach taken is influenced by the material study of religion, which interrogates how bodies and things engage to construct the sensory experience of religion, and by practice-based approaches in archaeology, which examine the active role of space and material culture in shaping religious agency and embodiment. The archaeology of monastic healing focuses on the full spectrum of healing technologies, from managing the body in order to prevent illness, through to the treatment of the sick and preparation of the corpse for burial
- âŠ