Humanities & Social Sciences

This book, inspired by the thought of Giacomo Becattini, reflects on why local communities continue to exist and spread. Why does the planet not become one place without borders? Why instead do we humans preferentially group ourselves into communities that are neither 'too wide' nor 'too narrow'? What characterizes today's form of community? Why are these communities rooted in places? What is peculiarly 'local' about places? Together with Becattini, we answer that the foundation of local communities is social culture. In its material and symbolic dimensions, social culture animates various forms of proximity between people and between groups: in addition to territorial proximity, social proximity (also online) and institutional proximity matter a lot. This implies that today a local community is not only a place where social culture makes us physically close, but where at least some of the major forms of proximity intersect.

Charles I of Anjou restored the counties according to the Norman system; his successors im- proved them and let them become a space of local power inside the the Royal districts, the gi- ustizierati. At the same time some aristocratic families consolidated themselves, like the Ruffo of Calabria, lords of Sinopoli, who obtained the comital title in 1334. The paper analyses two important records: the cartulario 1 and the cartulario 17, integrating them with all the availa- ble documents. The cartulario 17 contains platea dating from 1335, which includes one or two older texts written in Greek and translated into Latin. It is at the same time an inventory and a municipal statute. The cartulario 17 is the main source for studying the creation, composition and ruling of the county of Sinopoli, not to mention the various world of the subjects to the lords, according to their status (vassallus) or their possessions as freemen (burgenses). We have also suffeudatarii and other people depending on the baron, like the raccomandati.

The publication presents a detailed architectural documentation and reconstruction of the impressive 1,275-years-old, three-story temple-palace of Santa Rosa Xtampak in Campeche, Mexico. The analysis of the 17 m high 50-room structure with two inner staircases revealed unusual construction principles and serious static problems preventing a planned high roof comb. The publication provides several architectural indications for different functions of the structure, which might also be used to study functions at other Maya buildings. Maps see: http://e-book.fwf.ac.at/o:1107

This book argues that there are constitutive links between early twentieth-century German and French film theory and practice, on the one hand, and vitalist conceptions of life in biology and philosophy, on the other. By considering classical film-theoretical texts and their filmic objects in the light of vitalist ideas percolating in scientific and philosophical texts of the time, Cinematic Vitalism reveals the formation of a modernist, experimental and cinematic strand of vitalism in and around the movie theater. The book focuses on the key concepts including rhythm, environment, mood, and development to show how the cinematic vitalism articulated by film theorists and filmmakers maps out connections among human beings, milieus, and technologies that continue to structure our understanding of film. This book draws new connections between twentieth-century German and French film theory and practice and vitalist conceptions of life from biology and philosophy.

This collection of essays on Japanese culture is a tribute to Ikuko Sagiyama, honoring her unwavering humanistic and philological commitment, as well as her generous guidance to colleagues. The volume aims to express the scholarly community’s gratitude for Ikuko’s ability to combine rigor and lightness in research.

Die Reflexion (auto-)biographischer Schreibweisen und Textformen zählt zu den zentralen Aufgaben des Deutschunterrichts. Autobiographisches Schreiben in Online-Medien dominiert ebenso die Lebenswelt Jugendlicher wie eine zunehmende Personalisierung politischer und gesellschaftlicher Debatten. Die Studie bildet die gegenwärtige biographietheoretische Diskussion ab und macht auf dieser Grundlage konkrete Vorschläge für die didaktische Arbeit mit (auto-)biographischen Texten im Unterricht. Sie soll dazu anregen, im Literaturunterricht verstärkt (auto-)biographische Texte für literaturhistorische, interpretatorische und ästhetische Lernprozesse zu nutzen. .

In der atelischen an-Konstruktion im Deutschen treten die Verben mit einer an-Präpositionalphrase auf (an etwas malen/essen/basteln). Basierend auf Korpusdaten wird in diesem Band gegen die verbreitete Alternationsanalyse der an-Konstruktion als präpositionales Pendant der transitiven Verbverwendung argumentiert. Stattdessen werden an-Phrasen als ereignisinterne Modifikatoren von einstelligen Activity-Verbvarianten analysiert, die eine in der lokalen Bedeutung der Präposition wurzelnde boundary-Relation einführen. Aus empirischer Perspektive wird ein Inventar von korpusbasierten Methoden und Maßen für die Untersuchung von (vermeintlichen) Argumentalternationen vorgestellt. Schließlich wird der bisher wenig diskutierte Zusammenhang von Argumentrealisierung und Metaphernbildung diskutiert. Die Studie wurde mit dem Wilhelm von Humboldt Preis des Jahres 2022 der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft ausgezeichnet.

Das Buch bietet die Chronologie der Flucht von Herrn Hussein Al Mūsā, Frau ʿAbās (seiner Ehefrau) und ihres zum Zeitpunkt der Flucht 1 ½ jährigen Sohnes Hādī im Sommer 2015 (Herr Al Mūsā) bzw. im Sommer 2016 (Mutter und Kind) aus dem Süden Syriens über die Türkei nach Deutschland. In einfacher, sachlicher Sprache werden – z.T. Tag für Tag – die dramatischen Ereignisse der Flucht dieser kleinen Familie berichtet, die stellvertretend für viele andere im Detail natürlich abweichende Fluchten aus dem syrischen Bürgerkrieg nach Deutschland in den Jahren 2015/2016 stehen kann. Auch die Integration der Familie von Herrn Al Mūsā in Deutschland wird bis zu dem Bezug einer eigenen Mietwohnung in Nürnberg dokumentiert.

This open access book summarizes the findings of the VUELCO project, a multi-disciplinary and cross-boundary research funded by the European Commission's 7th framework program. It comprises four broad topics: 1. The global significance of volcanic unrest 2. Geophysical and geochemical fingerprints of unrest and precursory activity 3. Magma dynamics leading to unrest phenomena 4. Bridging the gap between science and decision-making Volcanic unrest is a complex multi-hazard phenomenon. The fact that unrest may, or may not lead to an imminent eruption contributes significant uncertainty to short-term volcanic hazard and risk assessment. Although it is reasonable to assume that all eruptions are associated with precursory activity of some sort, the understanding of the causative links between subsurface processes, resulting unrest signals and imminent eruption is incomplete. When a volcano evolves from dormancy into a phase of unrest, important scientific, political and social questions need to be addressed. This book is aimed at graduate students, researchers of volcanic phenomena, professionals in volcanic hazard and risk assessment, observatory personnel, as well as emergency managers who wish to learn about the complex nature of volcanic unrest and how to utilize new findings to deal with unrest phenomena at scientific and emergency managing levels. This book is open access under a CC BY license. ;

Over the past ten years there has been a massive growth in call centres worldwide. These centres are said to represent the most dynamic growth area in white-collar employment internationally since the mid 1990s. Yet the footloose and global nature of the industry means that jobs will always be susceptible to outsourced operations, ICT developments, public sector subsidization of business restructuring and re-location, and cheaper operations elsewhere. This book conducts a thorough analysis of this modern phenomenon.

Ritual, Embodiment, and Agency shows through rich ethnographic analysis how Mande people in West Africa resort to multiple ritual practices to address an “episteme of doubt.” In the context of armed conflicts and terrorist attacks, climate disruptions, financial crises, and illness, members of “hunter societies,” experts who handle certain agentive artifacts, and adepts in a spiritual possession cult deal with a complex past and uncertain future through creative embodied engagement. Formed within and partially against a predominantly Islamic context and the spread of charismatic Christianities, such embodied ways of acting enable these religious specialists to become “virtuous subjects” to change their relations to the world and to themselves.

Industrial / commercial art & design

Since the nineteenth century, ethnic Koreans have represented a small yet significant portion of the population of the Russian Far East, but until now, the phenomenon has been largely understudied. Based on extensive historical and ethnographic research, this is the first book in English to chart the contemporary social life of Koreans in the complex borderland region. Dispelling the commonly held notion that Koreans were completely removed from the region during the country's attempt to 'cleanse' its borders in 1937, Hyun Gwi Park reveals timely new insights into the historical and current experiences of Koreans living along the Eurasian frontier.

Sandra Gunning draws on nineteenth-century African diasporic travel writing to explore the conditions and possibilities of race, gender, sex, and class that early black Atlantic travel enabled.

Die Reihe Bulgarien-Jahrbuch wird von der Deutsch-Bulgarischen Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Beziehungen zwischen Deutschland und Bulgarien e.V. seit 1997 herausgegeben. Ab 2017 erscheint sie unter dem Titel „BULGARICA“. Die Thematik der Beiträge ist vor allem auf den Austausch zwischen der bulgarischen und der deutschen Wissenschaft in einem breit angelegten Spektrum gerichtet: Geschichte und Kulturgeschichte, Archäologie, bulgarische Sprache und Literatur, Translationslinguistik, Geographie und Umweltschutz, Theologie, Musik, Kunst und Naturwissenschaften. Dem deutschen Leserkreis wird durch diese aufschlussreichen Publikationen ein EU-Mitgliedsstaat in Südosteuropa näher gebracht, der sowohl reiche historische Traditionen aufweist, als auch der heutigen Wissenschaft und Forschung ein hohes Potenzial bietet.