Assmann Flashcards
Which six senses of culture does Assmann discuss?
- Caretaking in the sense of maintaining a habit or growing something (agriculture)
- Geographical and political localization of ways of living, language, art -> definition only through delimitation
- Ethnographic -> ritual, traditions
- high culture
- “civilization” meaning control of needs and drive
- Culture as opposition to reality and a form of transcendence
Assmann points to a major difference between the six concepts of culture. What is it?
some are descriptive, some are normative/prescriptive
(wertfrei, werthaltig)
Where does the word ‘culture’ come from?
Derived from the latin word “colere” which means to nurse/foster/care.
“Essentialisierung durch Zuschreibung eines Wesens” – essentialization through the attribution of a character – does this make sense to you?
that attribute certain qualities or characteristics to people
- The third sense of culture, which Assmanns explains, is the ethnographic concept of culture. What is culture in this sense?
Everything humans do and look at is seen as culture; rituals, customs and symbols as well as social institutions, art and technical revolution.
The last concept, which Assmann explains, is that of culture as a counter-world. Who is this associated with and what is characteristic of this understanding of culture?
This concept has a religious-like perspective on art, which is opposed to the capitalist view and the products of mass entertainment and involves privileged people as well as oppressed people and tries to connect “high culture” and “civilization”. It includes the idea of preserving some kind of human essence in art.
Where in the anglophone world did cultural studies first emerge?
In the middle of the 1950s the Culture studies emerged in Birmingham due to a Crisis of the Humanities.
Stuart Hall wrote an influential paper on the beginning and development of cultural studies. What is its title?
The Emergence of Cultural Studies and the Crisis of the Humanities
Who stands for the beginning of cultural studies in Britain?
Edward Thompson, Richard Hoggart, Raymond Williams
Stuart Hall
Who was Stuart Hall’s teacher at university?
F.R. Leavis understood culture as something that is only meant for a small amount of society and is not meant for everybody.
What is the title of F. R. Leavis’ most influential book?
The Great Tradition – Literary Canon for the 19 th century
What did the Birmingham school do?
found great resonance in the US and Canada, directly responded to current social change, regarded culture as the arena of fights for power, money, recognition and prestige, studied industrial mass culture, were influenced by Marx, Foucault and Gramsci
Why, according to Assmann, were the 1980s and 1990s a period of unrest?
Because
Because awareness spread about borders and differences between the different sexes and races. It was realised that the white male elite wants the marginalized voices to stay marginalized.
