Kulturschock in Brasilien : eine Studie zur Interkulturalität in Ina von Binzers Briefroman 'Leid und Freud einer Erzieherin in Brasilien' (1887)

In the years around 1880 the concepts of modern culture studies were still largely unknown. The term 'cross-culture experience' that is now part of the standard vocabulary of today's human sciences had not yet been invented. And yet the heyday of colonialism saw the publication of numerous texts that analysed the experience of the strange and unfamiliar with remarkable sensitivity. The German governess Ina von Binzer was twenty-four when she left for a two-year visit to Brazil, where she worked with the family of a wealthy coffee plantation owner. On her return to Germany she turned her diary jottings into a fictionalised epistolary novel, describing in great detail the domestic and social reality of the Segundo Império, while also depicting the way in which the daily experience of otherness gradually increased in intensity until it became a very real feeling of culture shock. On the strength of its conscious struggle with the sense of being different and alien, Binzer's work may be characterised as a 'culture study avant la lettre'

„Und natürlich darf geschossen werden!“ : politische Lyrik und Linksterrorismus in Deutschland

In the late 1960s, West Germany was swept over by a wave of student protest. The movement of 1968 hit the country especially hard because the young generation aimed to overcome the Nazi past of their parents once and for all. As their peaceful demonstrations did not have any success, some of the leftist activists decided to take violent measures. Among other terrorist groups, the Red Army Fraction was born. This article tries to bring to light, if and how far the political poetry of the German postwar period predicted and legitimized this process

Perdido nas trevas do iluminismo: 'El siglo de las luces', de Alejo Carpentier, como literatura memorialística

Em 1962, Alejo Carpentier publica um romance que se diferencia consideravelmente da maioria das obras de ficção geralmente associadas à corrente da nueva novela latinoamericana: El siglo de las luces parece um romance histórico de cunho tradicional, bem distante da estética do real maravilhoso americano concebida por Carpentier poucos anos antes. O presente artigo propõe uma leitura alternativa do texto, baseando-se em categorias dos estudos memorialísticos. Desta maneira, revela a ambivalência do romance, que descarta os mitos fundadores da civilização europeia para substituí-los por mitos fundadores especificamente latino-americanos

Modellbasierter Ansatz zur probabilistischen Interpretation von Fahrsituationen

Diese Arbeit stellt ein methodisches Konzept vor, welches eine probabilistische Interpretation von Fahrsituationen auf Basis der Objekte im Fahrzeugumfeld ermöglicht. Wissen über Fahrsituationen wird in einer formalen Repräsentation abgelegt. Abhängig von den gemessenen Objektinformationen der Umfeldsensorik wird daraus ein graphisches Modell erzeugt. Aus diesem werden durch Inferenz Schlüsse über die Fahrsituation gezogen. Das Konzept wurde in Experimenten und realen Situationen erprobt

Perdido nas trevas do ilumninismo : El siglo de las luces, de Alejo Carpentier, como literatura memoralística

Em 1962, Alejo Carpentier publica um romance que se diferencia consideravelmente da maioria das obras de fi cção geralmente associadas à corrente da nueva novela latinoamericana: El siglo de las luces parece um romance histórico de cunho tradicional, bem distante da estética do real maravilhoso americano concebida por Carpentier poucos anos antes. O presente artigo propõe uma leitura alternativa do texto, baseando-se em categorias dos estudos memorialísticos. Desta maneira, revela a ambivalência do romance, que descarta os mitos fundadores da civilização europeia para substituí-los por mitos fundadores especifi camente latino-americanos.En 1962, Alejo Carpentier publica una novela considerablemente distinta de la mayoría de las obras de fi cción que solemos asociar a la corriente de la nueva novela latino-americana: El siglo de las luces parece una novela histórica de carácter tradicional, bastante lejos de la estética de lo real maravilloso americano ideada por Carpentier pocos años antes. El presente artículo propone una lectura alternativa del texto, basándose en categorías de los estudos de memoria. Esta lectura desenmascara la ambivalencia de la novela, anulando así los mitos fundadores de la civilización europea y los sustituye por mitos fundadores específi camente latinoamericanos

Deutschland, vor 100 Jahren: Geburt und Tod des lyrischen Ich

Die Interpretation von lyrischen Texten gehorchte in den vergangenen einhundert Jahren immer wieder neuen Prinzipien: Hermeneutik, Formalismus und Strukturalismus, Literaturpsychologie und -soziologie, schließlich Kulturwissenschaften und Diskurstheorie – all diese Modelle haben unterschiedliche Auffassungen geprägt, wie sich der Sinn eines lyrischen Textes erschließen lasse. Der schnelle Paradigmenwechsel bewirkt, dass die Begriffe der Gedichtinterpretation ihre Gültigkeit meist bald wieder verlieren und durch neue ersetzt werden. Die große Ausnahme dieser Regel bildet das „lyrische Ich“. Seitdem Margarete Susman diesen Begriff vor gut einhundert Jahren eingeführt hat – wie man weiß, in der Studie Das Wesen der modernen deutschen Lyrik (1910) –, ist er eine feste Größe in lyriktheoretischen Studien und Gedichtinterpretationen geworden. Sofern nicht anders definiert, dient es zur Unterscheidung des textinternen vom textexternen Sprechersubjekt. Obwohl das lyrische Ich nicht selten kritisiert und in Frage gestellt worden ist, hat es bislang allen Angriffen widerstanden

Saigas on the brink: Multidisciplinary analysis of the factors influencing mass mortality events

In 2015, more than 200,000 saiga antelopes died in 3 weeks in central Kazakhstan. The proximate cause of death is confirmed as hemorrhagic septicemia caused by the bacterium Pasteurella multocida type B, based on multiple strands of evidence. Statistical modeling suggests that there was unusually high relative humidity and temperature in the days leading up to the mortality event; temperature and humidity anomalies were also observed in two previous similar events in the same region. The modeled influence of environmental covariates is consistent with known drivers of hemorrhagic septicemia. Given the saiga population’s vulnerability to mass mortality and the likely exacerbation of climate-related and environmental stressors in the future, management of risks to population viability such as poaching and viral livestock disease is urgently needed, as well as robust ongoing veterinary surveillance. A multidisciplinary approach is needed to research mass mortality events under rapid environmental change

A comparison between Christian and African traditional paradigms of reconciliation and how they could dialogue for the benefit of South African society.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.This dissertation seeks to compare paradigms of reconciliation in African tradition (including African indigenous religion and culture) and Christianity, in order to enhance the reconciliation process in South Africa. The aim is to enable and promote dialogue between African tradition and Christian tradition, with special reference to the reconciliation paradigms they offer. In order to accomplish this, the first step taken is to establish what African tradition has to offer in terms of reconciliation resources. African traditional religion, philosophy and anthropology are identified as providing a conceptual basis for reconciliation. Certain African traditional legal resources as well as African indigenous ritual resources are also considered able to contribute to social reconciliation. The next step in the dissertation is to establish what the Christian faith tradition has to offer in terms of reconciliation paradigms. The following resources available to, and stemming from, Christianity are discussed: reconciliation in the Bible; the narrative of the cross and the resurrection; the inter-linked concepts of sin, repentance and forgiveness; the church as reconciling community and institution. After having elaborated on certain reconciliation paradigms lodged in both African tradition and Christianity, the next step is to explore ways in which these paradigms interact. In some respects, they are found to clash and disagree because of their differences and the discontinuities between them. Yet in significant ways they indeed connect to and complement each other. This dissertation seeks to highlight points of agreement and connection between the paradigms of reconciliation provided by African tradition and Christian tradition. Moreover, it seeks to illustrate that the two cultural and religious traditions could interact fruitfully for the benefit of South African society. A concrete example of such positive interaction and mutual enrichment is brought forward, viz. a "new" ritual of reconciliation that combines resources from both traditions