Postkoloniale Impulse für die deutschsprachige Geographische Entwicklungsforschung

Postcolonial scholars are interested in mapping landscapes of power and identity. In doing so, they focus on the historic entanglements between North and South as well as on the unequal power relations and living conditions of the present. Despite sharing common interests, German-speaking development geography has been reluctant so far to incorporate postcolonial perspectives. Against such a background, this paper aims at showing how development geography could benefit from an engagement with postcolonial approaches. To achieve this aim, the paper firstly offers an overview of the theoretical background of post-colonialism. Secondly, it elaborates on the impulses which development geography could get from postcolonial theory. The conclusion finally summarises the challenges that scholars of development geography face in engaging with postcolonial approaches

Für eine Verunsicherung des geographischen Blicks : Bemerkungen aus dem Zwischen-Raum

Die postkoloniale Kritik, die auf einem widersprüchlichen Denken in einem immer wieder <i>anderen</i> Zwischen-Raum basiert, zeichnet sich durch ein entschiedenes Interesse an der De- und Rekonstruktion geographischer Welt-Bilder aus. Dessen ungeachtet hat sich die deutschsprachige Geographie bisher kaum mit den postkolonialen Interventionen auseinandergesetzt. Das ist insofern bedauerlich, als sie viel dazu beitragen können, den geographischen Blick auf die «Ordnung der Dinge» zu bereichern. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird &ndash; in Einklang mit den dekonstruktiv-rekonstruktiven Bewegungen des Postkolonialismus und in Auseinandersetzung mit dem derzeit wohl wirkungsmächtigsten Welt-Bild &ndash; eine Praxis skizziert, die es erlaubt, immer wieder <i>andere</i> und bessere Welt- Bilder zu entwerfen. Diese Bilder verzichten ebenso auf den Anspruch, allgemeingültig zu sein, wie sie ohne die fixierende Verortung eines «Eigenen» und «Anderen» auskommen. Damit korrespondieren sie mit einem Denken, das dazu aufruft, gewohnte Denkschemata in Frage zu stellen und nicht zuletzt den eigenen Blick immer wieder aufs neue zu verunsichern

Framing art and its uses in public space

This book examines the everyday use of artworks in public settings. The forms and means of art, and of public art specifically, vary considerably between different national and regional contexts, having followed different development trajectories. As a consequence, the geographically widespread studies collected here consider art in public spaces from a perspective much broader than the &#039;plop art&#039; of large abstract sculptures in corporate plazas and wider, too, than that defined by many official programs of &#039;public art&#039;, which often determine or imply particular forms, sites, production processes, audiences, kinds of interaction, and particular preconceptions about ownership and value (Cartiere 2008). The book examines a diversity of commissioned and unofficial artworks, including sculptures, memorials, landscaping works, street art, street furniture, performance art, sound art, media installations and other hybrid and emerging forms of creative expression in the public realm. Public engagement with such works varies greatly. The book&#039;s contributors show that people&#039;s encounters with art are not limited to passive reception, and they are not necessarily as the artist, curator or sponsor intended. People seem to make use of art in public spaces on their own terms. These varied uses reflect the disparate, often unanticipated audiences that the art is exposed to and the freedoms of feeling and action that public settings often allow. We feel that an examination of the varied perceptions of &#039;users&#039; and actions around art in the public realm can provide fresh insight into art&#039;s purposes, benefits and reception. The diverse formal and experiential qualities of art, and the distinctive uses these enable, also shed new light on the design, use and meaning of public space more broadly

Does eScience need digital libraries?

eScience has emerged as an important framework for dramatically rethinking the conduct of scientific research using information technology. There is an unparalleled opportunity for the international eScience and digital library communities to create shared infrastructure to support the conduct of science from end-to-end; i.e., from hypothesis generation, to collecting and analyzing scientific data, to the reporting of research outcomes, and the inclusion of scientific data and models in teaching and learning processes. For this vision to be realized, the two communities must establish a shared vision and research agenda encompassing several critical dimensions, including differences in theoretical and methodological approaches, and collaboration goals. Additionally, for the benefits of eScience and digital libraries to be fully realized, it is vital to establish a shared vision of the broader impact of this work for educators, learners, and the general public