DOCSLIB.ORG

Past and Present Aspects of Czech Phytogeography and Climatology

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Past and Present Aspects of Czech Phytogeography and Climatology Past and Present Aspects of Czech Phytogeography and Climatology MILOS SEBOR A. INTRODUCTORY Phytogeography and climatology, two branches of physical geography, are related to every field of nature study, be it botany, pedology, geo- morphology, hydrography, or conservation of resources. The concept of the biotic triangle - an association of weather elements, soils, and vegetation - is a well-established platform for regional-physical inquiries. By the addition of topography we create a general framework for any geographic approach. Plant geography and climatology may be regarded, then, as fields which represent a greater part of nature study. This is true despite the specialization noticeable today in all divisions of human knowledge. Accepting the formula pars pro toto, a glance at plant geopraphy and climatology should suffice to cast some light, not only on the two selected disciplines, but on the whole body of natural sciences of a nation.1 The second objective of the present article is specific. What are the practical achievements of Czech 2 geographers in these two dynamic 1 For the general position of phytogeography and climatology among the earth sciences, cf. E. W. H. Briault and J. H. Hubbard, An Introduction to Advanced Geography (London, Longmans, Green and Co., 1958), pp. 7-9, 265, 452-3; Richard Hartshorne, The Nature of Geography (Lancaster, Pa., Association of American Geographers, 1959), pp. 79, 416, 435; idem, Perspective on the Na- ture of Geography (Chicago, Rand McNally and Co., 1962), pp. 97, 142-3; S. W. Wooldridge and W. Gordon East, The Spirit and Purpose of Geography (Lon- don, Hutchinson University Library, 1958), pp. 48-52, 60-2. In Czech literature, sources dealing with methodology and philosophy of geo- graphy are scattered throughout works on other subjects. An all-embracing study is FrantiSek Vitasek, Fysicky zemepis [Physical Geography]; Vol. I, Atmosphere and Waters; Vol. II, Continents; Vol. Ill, Flora and Fauna (Prague, Czecho- slovak Academy of Science, 1955). * The main emphasis of the present article is upon Czech sources, more acces- sible to this writer than Slovak geographic literature. Physical geography in Slovakia, according to Kreji! and others [quoted below] is still less developed 1668 Milos Sebor areas of earth's science? To what extent do Eastern and Western in- fluences meet in Czech geography? What are the changes? These are the main questions this investigator has in mind in attempting to intro- duce the reader to a field generally classified as less accessible to Western students because of language difficulties. B. OBJECTIVES, METHOD, AND AIMS The multiplicity of variables present in the natural and cultural environ- ment creates a variety of situations, problems, and solutions. Geography, a study of the earth's surface, is directly involved in this complexity and is necessarily a controversial subject, changing from period to period and from nation to nation. A fair prerequisite of any geographic study, therefore, is to specify the concept of geography as a logical system, based upon three variables - objectives, method, and aims. 1. Geofactors An areal investigation may first deal with phenomena qualifying as "geofactors", that is, agencies characteristic of the nature of the earth's surface. Viewed separately in their distributions, geofactors such as wind systems or types of plant cover make up the objectives of sys- tematic geography. If the combination of geofactors of a given area is studied, the inquiry becomes regional geography. The concept of geo- factors dominates postwar Czech geography.3 It may be, however, that geofactors do not qualify as objectives in the sense defined above. The earth's science, then, becomes a source of information on one element, or several elements, viewed separately, as a "related science", like botany, zoology, and mineralogy. than in Bohemia and Moravia, despite its rise. Slovak geographic centers are at this time (1) the Geographic Institute of Slovak Academy of Science; (2) the Chair of Physical Geography at the School of Nature Science of the Bratislava University; (3) the Teachers College at Presov; and (4) the Slovak Geographical Society, a branch of the Czechoslovak Geographical Society. Cf. Jan Krejci, Josef Kunsky, and Michal LukniS, "Fyzicky zemSpis v CSSR v poslednich letech" [Physical Geography in Czechoslovakia in the Last Years], Sbornik ceskoslo- venske spolecnosti zemepisne [Journal of the Czechoslovak Geographical Society], Vol. 65 (1960), pp. 301-314. 3 Cf. Josef Kunsky, Vseobecny zemepis [General Geography]; Vol. I, Intro- duction to the Study and Bibliography (Prague, Czechoslovak Academy of Science, 1960), p. 15. Kunsky's paper, substantively documentary and rich in detail, is a general index to the Czechoslovak and foreign geographic sources. Aspects of Czech Phytogeography and Climatology 1669 2. Method Next to objectives, the method [process, approach] is a criterion relevant to the classification of the earth science. It involves various stages of scientific inquiry. No matter whether the work is geographic or non-geographic, system- atic or regional, the method may be descriptive, or explanatory, or ap- plied. Description - explanation - application; ideally, these would be the three classic phases of the earth study. In geography, the descriptive stage includes the discovery of regions, collecting of facts, observation, and recording. Description does not necessarily mean an elementary approach. The great discoveries, a classically descriptive stage, were among the most remarkable achieve- ments of history. Today, of course, a mere description of the earth's surface would have no purpose in itself; it would be, rather, the basis of a more advanced study as a kind of "sub-geography". A higher level of geographic inquiry is formulating hypotheses, de- duction of further facts, testing the hypotheses, and eliminating the in- valid ones; the last step is to present theories based upon sufficient proofs. The aim of this second stage, which is basically analytic, is to interpret the geofactors previously discovered and recorded. The last stage is applied geography, that is, the proper and practical use of those elements described and explained, and of principles already produced. One function of this stage, which is basically synthetic, is the long-range forecasting of consequences, or a look into the possible distant future of the region. Another role of applied geography in this phase is its contribution to statecraft in the widest sense, and support of the ceaseless human effort to control man's terrestrial environment.4 Evaluation of the existing scene has increasingly become a guide to the development of the legislative process and to regional and city planning, general administration, and law enforcement. These are the main ideas relevant to a critical evaluation of the two selected branches of Czech geography. They pass through the well- defined historical phases, identified above as descriptive, or initial; the explanatory, or interpretative phase; and applied, or practical, phase. 4 S. W. Wooldridge and W. Gordon East, op. cit., p. 172. The emphasis on practical aspects of geography has been general in the last two decades. Cf., e. g., Status and Trends of Geography in the United States, 1957-60 (Washington, As- sociation of American Geographers, 1961), p. 27 ff; Pierre Dagenais, "M. Michel Phlipponneau" (honoring a French geographer, a representative of the école géographique ultra-moderne), Revue canadienne de géographie, Vol. XIII (January-June, 1959), p. 83. 1670 Milos Sebor C. DESCRIPTIVE PHASE As late as the second half of the nineteenth century, there was no in- dependent branch of geography concerned with the distribution of floristic and vegetational features. There was no climatology in the sense of a systematic analysis of weather elements studied over longer periods of time in their averages and extremes. Both plants and weather were observed and recorded within the regional framework. Czech geo- graphic writings reported on travels to various parts of the world, with attention to natural plant cover, such as types and density of forests, grassland, marshy land, and deserts. Examples include the first religion- inspired reports of trips to the Holy Land, and, later, the voluminous works of explorers, like Emil Holub's Sedm let v Jizru Africe [Seven Years in South Africa] of the 1890's. However, occasional attempts to explain geographic relationships - association of climate and vegeta- tion, for example - are not uncommon. The descriptive method was predominant in the first articles of geographic content, published in the Czech journal, Krok, founded by Josef Jungmann and edited by Jan Svatopluk Presl in 1821-36 as the forerunner of modern Czech learned journals.5 Distributions of the representative plant formations were shown on maps in the earliest period of cartography, going back to the 16th century. The most popular method was to use pictorial symbols for woodland and river bottoms, current until the nineteenth century, when Austria began detailed topographic surveys under the auspices of its army, and considerably improved all cartographic methods. D. EXPLANATORY PHASE During the second half of the past century, advanced geography became explanatory, or interpretative, dealing with causal relationships and, oc- casionally, with interconnections of the plant world and other physical elements, like climate, soils, and topography. The founder of advanced phytogeography was Jan K.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Austria As a 'Baroque Nation'. Institutional and Media Constructions
    Austria as a ‘Baroque Nation’. Institutional and media constructions Andreas Nierhaus Paris, 1900 When Alfred Picard, General Commissioner of the World Exhibition in Paris 1900, declared that the national pavilions of the ‘Rue des Nations’ along the river Seine should be erected in each country’s ‘style notoire’, the idea of characterizing a ‘nation’ through the use of a specific historical architectural or artistic style had become a monumental global axiom. Italy was represented by a paraphrase of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice, Spain chose the look of the Renaissance Alcazar, the United States selected a triumphant beaux-arts architecture, Germany moved into a castle-like building – in the style of the "German Renaissance", of course – and the United Kingdom built a Tudor country house. However, there were considerable doubts about the seriousness and soundness of such a masquerade: ‘Anyone wanting to study national styles at the Quai d' Orsay would fail to come to any appreciable results – just as the archaeologist who wants to collect material for costume design in a mask wardrobe [would equally fail]. Apart from few exceptions, what we find is prettily arranged festive theatrical decoration (...).’1 Whereas the defenders of modernism must have regarded this juxtaposition of styles as symbolic of an eclecticism that had become almost meaningless, both the organizers and the general public seemed very comfortable with the resulting historical spectacle. It was no coincidence that the Austrian Pavilion was given the form of a Baroque castle. (Fig. 1) Its architect Ludwig Baumann assembled meaningful quotes from the buildings of Johann Bernhard and Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach, Lucas von Hildebrandt and Jean Nicolas Jadot in order to combine them into a new neo-Baroque whole.
    [Show full text]
  • African Studies in the Czech Republic-From the Early Czech-African Contacts Until the 21St Century1
    Afrikanistik online 2006, http://www.afrikanistik-online.de/archiv/2006/596/ African Studies in the Czech Republic-from the early 1 Czech-African contacts until the 21st century Jan Záhořík (Prag) 1. Early contacts <1> We cannot talk about African Studies in the Czech Republic without first mentioning the preceding tradition of mutual Czech-African relations. The Czech Republic has quite a unique position among other countries of Central or Eastern Europe for its long tradition of travelling to the African interior. Among the first Czech travellers in Africa we have to stress the name of Václav Remedius Prutký, a missionary who visited Ethiopia between 1751-1753 and not only described his travels but also compiled a vocabulary of the Amharic language in his so- far unpublished Vocabularium linguae Gallicae, Arabicae et Abyssiniacae. His travels (Itinerarium, 2005) in Ethiopia and India were translated from Latin and published in English by J.H. Arrowsmith-Brown (1991) under the title Prutky’s Travels in Ethiopia and Other Countries. His contribution to understanding and describing the history and culture of Ethiopia is unquestionable, but the importance of his work was outshined by the Scottish traveller James Bruce’s five-volume work Travels to discover the source of the Nile (1790) that enjoys worldwide renown. Václav Remedius Prutký was a Franciscan missionary, who travelled to Ethiopia from Cairo, but he was not the only one, other Czech missionaries in Ethiopia were Jakub Římař (1682-1755) and Martin Lang. <2> In the 19th century there was a much more important Czech traveller, Dr Emil Holub, whose works are also available in English.
    [Show full text]
  • KNJIGA Zbornik 58.Indd
    FUNERARY PRACTICES DURING THE BRONZE AND IRON AGES IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST EUROPE Proceedings of the 14th International Colloquium of Funerary Archaeology in Čačak, Serbia 24th – 27th September 2015 Beograd - Čačak, 2016 University of Belgrade National musem Faculty of Philosophy Čačak International Union for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences (UISPP) – 30th Commission: Prehistoric and Protohistoric Mortuary Practices Association for Studies of Funerary Archaeology (ASFA) – Romania FUNERARY PRACTICES DURING THE BRONZE AND IRON AGES IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST EUROPE Proceedings of the 14th International Colloquium of Funerary Archaeology in Čačak, Serbia, 24th – 27th September 2015 Edited by Valeriu Sîrbu, Miloš Jevtić, Katarina Dmitrović and Marija Ljuština Beograd - Čačak, 2016 CONTENT RASTKO VASIĆ, Biography · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 6 RASTKO VASIĆ, Bibliography · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 9 INTRODUCTION · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 23 MIROSLAV LAZIĆ Magura – la Nécropole de l’Âge du Bronze à Gamzigrad à l’Est de la Serbie · · 29 MARIJA LJUŠTINA, KATARINA DMITROVIĆ Between Everyday Life and Eternal Rest: Middle Bronze Age in Western Morava Basin, Central Serbia · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 43 ANTONIU TUDOR MARC Mortuary Practices in the Wietenberg Culture from Transylvania · · · · · 53 CRISTIAN SCHUSTER Burials/Necropoleis vs. Settlements in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages in Wallachia (Romania) · · · · · · · · · · · · · 75 MARIO GAVRANOVIĆ Ladies First? Frauenbestattungen der Späten Bronzezeit und Frühen
    [Show full text]
  • Univerzita Hradec Králové Filozofická Fakulta Katedra Politologie Vznik A
    Univerzita Hradec Králové Filozofická fakulta Katedra politologie Vznik a vývoj české afrikanistiky Diplomová práce Autor: Bc. Michaela Jiráková Studijní program: K-NPAST Politologie Studijní obor: Politologie – africká studia Vedoucí práce: Doc. PhDr. Vlastimil Fiala, CSc. Hradec Králové, 2017 2 Poděkování Zde bych chtěla velmi poděkovat oběma vedoucím mé diplomové práce doc. PhDr. Vlastimilu Fialovi, CSc. a PhDr. Petru Skalníkovi, CSc. za jejich podnětné rady a užitečná doporučení při vedení práce. Dále si velmi cením ochoty a vstřícnosti všech oslovených afrikanistů, kteří mi byli při psaní práce nápomocni a odpověděli na mé dotazy při výzkumu. Jedná se především o prof. Magdalénu Hanerovou, prof. doc. PhDr. Josefa Kanderta, CSc., prof. PhDr. Luboše Kropáčka, CSc., doc. PhDr. Petra Zimu, CSc., PhDr. Otakara Hulce, CSc., PhDr. Vladimíra Klímu, CSc. a PhDr. Zdeňka Poláčka, CSc. Mé poděkování patří též Mgr. Miloslavě Procházkové za jazykovou a stylistickou korekturu práce. V neposlední řadě děkuji mému manželu Pavlovi za pomoc a podporu během studií. 3 Prohlášení Prohlašuji, že jsem tuto diplomovou práci vypracovala pod vedením vedoucího diplomové práce samostatně a uvedla jsem všechny použité prameny a literaturu. V Hradci Králové dne 13. 12. 2017 ………………………… 4 Anotace JIRÁKOVÁ, MICHAELA. Vznik a vývoj české afrikanistiky. Hradec Králové: Filozofická fakulta, 2017, 124 stran. Diplomová práce. Česko-africké vztahy mají v naší historii hluboké kořeny. Na tomto základě vznikl v českých zemích vědecký obor afrikanistiky v 50. letech 20. století. Diplomová práce se zabývá vývojem české afrikanistiky od doby jejího vzniku až do současnosti (r. 2014). V kontextu je brán především minulý politický režim, který se na rozmachu bádání a orientalistických oborech neblaze podepsal.
    [Show full text]
  • The Struggle of Becoming Established in a Deprived Inner-City Neighbourhood David May NOTA DI LAVORO 101.2003
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Research Papers in Economics The Struggle of Becoming Established in a Deprived Inner-City Neighbourhood David May NOTA DI LAVORO 101.2003 NOVEMBER 2003 KNOW – Knowledge, Technology, Human Capital David May, Aalborg University, Aalborg Ø This paper can be downloaded without charge at: The Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Note di Lavoro Series Index: http://www.feem.it/web/activ/_wp.html Social Science Research Network Electronic Paper Collection: http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract_id=XXXXXX The opinions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the position of Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei The special issue on Economic Growth and Innovation in Multicultural Environments (ENGIME) collects a selection of papers presented at the multidisciplinary workshops organised by the ENGIME Network. The ENGIME workshops address the complex relationships between economic growth, innovation and diversity, in the attempt to define the conditions (policy, institutional, regulatory) under which European diversities can promote innovation and economic growth. This batch of papers has been presented at the third ENGIME workshop: Social dynamics and conflicts in multicultural cities. ENGIME is financed by the European Commission, Fifth RTD Framework Programme, Key Action Improving Socio-Economic Knowledge Base, and it is co-ordinated by Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM). Further information is available at www.feem.it/engime. Workshops • Mapping Diversity Leuven,
    [Show full text]
  • The Future of Polish – Ukrainian Relations
    The Future of Polish – Ukrainian Relations Piotr Naimski Higher School of Business-National Louis University, Nowy S¹cz Speaking about the future gives me a certain freedom, a possibility to speculate, get carried away with one’s imagination. In order to do so, however, one should first start with a brief description of the present. During the last decade of the 20th century, Poland and Ukraine found themselves a part of Senior British Diplomat Robert Cooper’s post-colonial chaos. Although Cooper usually makes reference to the post-colonial territories of Africa, the Pacific region and Asia, this term might just as successfully describe the post-Soviet Eastern-Central Europe. There is a wide spectrum of possibilities, beginning with the former East Germany, which was externally overtaken by the Bonn-based Republic, thus joining the Fatherland of Germany. Moving further, one encounters the states as the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, all facing difficulties, yet still having distinct successes to show for. When these three joined NATO in 1999, it was an undisputable turning point, as well as actual proof of the establishing ties forming with the ‘normality’ of the West. However, there are also critical cases that might qualify for the ‘failed states’ category. How else would one describe the case of Bosnia-Herzegovina or Kosovo? And yet somewhere in-between, one finds other Balkan states that are struggling to surpass the crisis. The spectrum also has place to encompass states created with the collapse of the Soviet empire, particularly the ones that were directly incorporated. Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova – the Brussels-based Europeans, with a typical dose of political correctness, and perhaps sarcasm as well, would come to refer to those as the Newly Independent States (NIS).
    [Show full text]
  • PARS PRO TOTO.Qxd
    Goran Tren~ovski PARS PRO TOTO Izdava ULIS DOOEL & Skopje Direktor Serjo`a Nedelkoski Likovno-grafi~ki dizajn ULIS DOOEL Pe~at †Van Gog# & Skopje CIP & Katalogizacija vo publikacija Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka †Sv. Kliment Ohridski#, Skopje 791.43(049.3) TREN^OVSKI, Goran Pars pro toto : Studija za kratkiot film i drugi tekstovi / Goran Tren~ovski. - Skopje : Ulis, 2008. - 156 str. : ilustr. ; 20 sm Fusnoti kon tekstot. - Bele{ka za avtorot: str. 155. - Bibliografija: str. 30-33 ISBN 978-9989-2699-4-3 a) Film - Esei © Site prava na izdanieto gi ima Ulis DOOEL & Skopje. Zabraneto e kopi- rawe, umno`uvawe i objavuvawe na delovi ili celoto izdanie vo pe~ateni ili vo elektronski mediumi bez pismeno odobrenie na izdava~ot ili avtorot. Izdanieto e finansiski pomognato od Ministerstvoto za kultura na Republika Makedonija Studija za kratkiot film i drugi tekstovi ULIS, 2008 Sodr`ina I. EDNO, KRATKO, CELO . 7 Pars pro toto . 9 II. BISTREWE MED-I-UM . 35 Pred i potoa . 37 Akterionstvo . 40 Napi{ano so kamera. 44 Novo i staro . 49 ^evli . 53 @ivot i anti`ivot . 57 ^eli~nata Leni . 61 Tri pogleda kon moralnosta . 66 Poetska vizura na turskiot del od svetot. 71 Integrirawe vo dokumentarnata mapa . 78 Stari yvezdi na novo platno . 82 Velikata skromnost kako metafora . 87 Vpe~atlivata prirodnost na stilot . 91 Bezgrani~nite vidici na Asterfest . 101 Strumica 1918. 103 Alijansa vo kinemati~kiot Tiveriopol. 116 Macedonian documentary circle. 121 I. EDNO, KRATKO, CELO PARS PRO TOTO 9 PARS PRO TOTO STUDIJA ZA KRATKIOT FILM Pars pro toto (pars pro toto) e osnovniot metod za filmsko pretvorawe na ne{tata vo znaci.
    [Show full text]
  • MAGDALENA KOCH2 (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland)
    Originally published in “Porównania” 6/2009, p. 75-93. WE AND THEY – THE OUR AND THE OTHER. THE BALKANS OF THE 20TH CENTURY FROM A COLONIAL AND POST-COLONIAL PERSPECTIVE1 MAGDALENA KOCH2 (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland) Keywords: symbolic colonization and decolonisation of Balkan, balkanisation, literary creation of the Own and the Other, contemporary postcolonial discourse, imperialism of the imagination Słowa kluczowe: symboliczne kolonizowanie i dekolonizowanie Bałkanów, bałkanizacja, literackie kreacje swojskości-obcości, współczesny dyskurs postkolonialny, imperializm wyobraźni Abstrakt: Magdalena Koch, MY I ONI, SWÓJ I OBCY. BAŁKANY XX WIEKU Z PERSPEKTYWY KOLONIALNEJ I POSTKOLONIALNEJ. „PORÓWNANIA” 6, 2009, Vol. VI, ss. 75-93, ISSN 1733- 165X. W artykule został przeanalizowany dyskurs bałkański XX wieku z kolonialnego i postkolonialnego punktu widzenia. Pierwsza część przybliża geopolityczny stosunek do Bałkanów, skupia się jednak nie tylko na nazwie geograficznej Półwysep Bałkański, lecz przede wszystkim na figuratywnym i metaforycznym języku, bazującym na stereotypach i negatywnych „etykietkach” Bałkanów, takich jak: „beczka prochu”, obszar „zadawnionej nienawiści”, „zderzenie cywilizacji”, „strefa rozłamu”, europejskie „jądro ciemności”, „dzika Europa”, „jeszcze-nie” Europa. Ten stosunek opiera się na opozycji My-Oni z kolonialnego, punktu widzenia Zachodu. W drugiej części tekstu zostaje przeprowadzona analiza trzech utworów prozatorskich autorstwa wybitnych pisarzy z Bałkanów – chorwacki dyskurs literacki jest reprezentowany przez Miroslava Krležę w opowiadaniu W Dreźnie. Mister Wu San Pej interesuje się problemem serbsko-chorwackim (1924), serbski dyskurs przedstawia Ivo Andrić w opowiadaniu List z roku 1920 (1946), natomiast bośniacki – Nenad Veličković i jego powieść epistolarna Sahib. Impresje z depresji (2001). Te trzy dyskursy z różnych przełomowych dla Jugosławii okresów pokazują, że pisarze chętnie sięgali po figurę „Obcego”, by uwypuklić problemy związane z własną złożoną, często zwielokrotnioną tożsamością.
    [Show full text]
  • Message from the Head of School
    ISSUE ONE – MAY 2018 . MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL BY PROF. JESMAEL MATAGA In early 2015, on my first day of work at Sol Plaatje and offers possible majors from more than ten University, I walked into a room with two other disciplines. colleagues – the system called them the “Heritage Our focus as a School is to draw from and Studies” Department. The three of us formed the build on the rich human, natural, cultural and nucleus of what was supposed to mutate into a linguistic heritage of the Northern Cape, to fully-fledged School. At this stage, the three- establish a good foundation for teaching and member team ran a one-year undergraduate learning, research as well as community Higher Certificate in Heritage Studies, which has engagement. For instance, we think that Creative remained a flagship programme at the university. Writing is a vehicle for all disciplines/professions That year, we also had our first ever (13) graduates and that study in and use of previously from Sol Plaatje University. Though small, this marginalised African languages contributes to graduation was very symbolic. It represented and the opening up of diverse archives and signaled the first fruits of a journey towards the foregrounds different ways of knowing. establishment of new universities in post-1994 South Africa. All this happened in a particularly In our teaching, we endeavour to develop our tumultuous period in higher education in South students into critically engaged citizens. Our Africa, where fires were literally burning at students learn how to engage and interrogate universities, as students called for free various forms of text and acquire critical thinking, and decolonised education for the poor.
    [Show full text]
  • The Emperor Wears No Clothes!»: a Laclaudian Perspective on Europopulism
    «The emperor wears no clothes!»: a laclaudian perspective on EUropopulism Tiago Vieira1 Abstract. The current paper consists of thought exercise that aims at challenging the quasi-universal assumption that only those opposing the multidimensional integration project underlying the construction and expansion of the European Union are populists. Analyzing the Europe Commission’s president - Ursula von der Leyen - innaugural speech against the backdrop of Ernesto Laclau “On populist reason”, this paper unveils traces of populism in the EU actions and discourse, only to confirm populism as a logic inherent to the political, rather than an ideology per se. Keywords: Populism; European Union; Ursula von der Leyen; Laclau; Discourse analysis INTRODUCTION Throughout the last decades, the development of the European Union (hereafter, EU) has relied on discourses increasingly marked by a normative agenda centered on democracy and peace (Tocci, 2020). More often than not, through the self-appraisal of its own merits as pluralist and cosmopolitan beacon, the leading forces of the EU have dismissed all those struggling against the mainstream directives of the Union as eurosceptics (Schneider, 2019), accusing them of being populists (eg, Norris & Inglehart, 2019), disregard they stand on the Left (Kioupkiolis & Katsambekis, 2018) or the Right (Vieten & Poynting, 2016) of the political spectrum. 1 [email protected]. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 103103 Tiago Vieira As the up until recently undisputed, mainstream consensus around the liberal democratic model and cosmopolitan-oriented policies seems to be rapidly eroding (eg, Fukuyama, 2018), the question that remains to be asked is whether one can call the EU itself a populist too. For the proponents of the EU, such possibility would pose it itself as a logical (almost offensive) impossibility, for their definition of populism relies on the anti- pluralist exclusion of given fringes of the demos by the populists (Müller, 2016).
    [Show full text]
  • Power, Identity, and Belonging: a Mixed-Methods Study of the Processes Shaping Perceptions of EU Integration in a Prospective Member State
    Received: 8 March 2019 | Accepted: 19 May 2020 DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2691 RESEARCH ARTICLE Power, identity, and belonging: A mixed-methods study of the processes shaping perceptions of EU integration in a prospective member state Sandra Obradović | Jennifer Sheehy-Skeffington Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, London School of Abstract Economics and Political Science, London, UK What is at stake, psychologically, when a nation considers joining a supranational Correspondence body such as the European Union? This article addresses this question from the per- Sandra Obradović, Department of spective of power, identity, and belonging vis-à-vis superordinate groups. Taking a Psychological and Behavioural Science, London School of Economics and Political mixed-methods approach, using focus group (N = 67) and survey (N = 1,192) data, we Science, London, UK. explore the psychosocial dynamics that shape perceptions of European Union (EU) Email: [email protected] integration in a prospective member state, Serbia. Findings from the qualitative study highlighted the role of power imbalances in triggering concerns of compatibility in the present, and in shaping the expected consequences for national identity continuity in an EU future. The survey functioned to explore these relationships further, enabling the testing of two moderated mediation models. The first showed that perceptions of national powerlessness predicted lower perceptions that Serbia was representa- tive of Europe, and this was associated with weaker identification as European. In the second model, perceptions of the EU as a hierarchy-enhancing union predicted heightened fears of Serbian identity discontinuity in an EU future, which in turn had downstream consequences for support for working toward EU accession.
    [Show full text]
  • The Planetary Turn
    The Planetary Turn The Planetary Turn Relationality and Geoaesthetics in the Twenty- First Century Edited by Amy J. Elias and Christian Moraru northwestern university press evanston, illinois Northwestern University Press www .nupress.northwestern .edu Copyright © 2015 by Northwestern University Press. Published 2015. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data The planetary turn : relationality and geoaesthetics in the twenty-first century / edited by Amy J. Elias and Christian Moraru. pages cm Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-8101-3073-9 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8101-3075-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8101-3074-6 (ebook) 1. Space and time in literature. 2. Space and time in motion pictures. 3. Globalization in literature. 4. Aesthetics. I. Elias, Amy J., 1961– editor of compilation. II. Moraru, Christian, editor of compilation. PN56.S667P57 2015 809.9338—dc23 2014042757 Except where otherwise noted, this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. In all cases attribution should include the following information: Elias, Amy J., and Christian Moraru. The Planetary Turn: Relationality and Geoaesthetics in the Twenty-First Century. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2015. The following material is excluded from the license: Illustrations and an earlier version of “Gilgamesh’s Planetary Turns” by Wai Chee Dimock as outlined in the acknowledgments. For permissions beyond the scope of this license, visit http://www.nupress .northwestern.edu/.
    [Show full text]