Green Open Access Version (Preprint) Original Version: Bibliothek – Forschung und Praxis 2019; 43(1): 1-10, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bfp-2019-2020 ; The PARTHENOS project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 654119.
How We Use Stories and Why That Matters guides the reader through the tangled undergrowth of communication and cultural expression towards a new understanding of the role of group-mediating stories at global and digital scale. It argues that media and networked systems perform and bind group identities, creating bordered fictions within which economic and political activities are made meaningful. Now that computational and global scale, big data, metadata and algorithms rule the roost even in culture, subjectivity and meaning, we need population-scale frameworks to understand individual, micro-scale sense-making practices. To achieve that, we need evolutionary and systems approaches to understand cultural performance and dynamics. The opposing universes of fact (science, knowledge, education) and fiction (entertainment, story and imagination) – so long separated into the contrasting disciplines of natural sciences and the humanities – can now be understood as part of one turbulent sphere of knowledge-production and innovation. Using striking examples and compelling analysis, the book shows what the New York Shakespeare Riots tell us about class struggle, what Death Cab for Cutie tells us about media, what Kate Moss's wedding dress tells us about authorship, and how Westworld and Humans imagine very different futures for Artificial Intelligence: one based on slavery, the other on class. Together, these knowledge stories tell us about how intimate human communication is organised and used to stage organised conflict, to test the 'fighting fitness' of contending groups – provoking new stories, identities and classes along the way.
World War I marks a well-known turning point in anthropology, and this volume is the first to examine the variety of forms it took in Europe. Distinct national traditions emerged and institutes were founded, partly due to collaborations with the military. Researchers in the cultural sciences used war zones to gain access to »informants«: prisoner-of-war and refugee camps, occupied territories, even the front lines. Anthropologists tailored their inquiries to aid the war effort, contributed to interpretations of the war as a »struggle« between »races«, and assessed the »warlike« nature of the Balkan region, whose crises were key to the outbreak of the Great War.
This Policy Brief aims to understand how the EU's endeavours in the fields of culture and scientific research have been received in Egypt and Tunisia, with the aim of developing a sustainable policy direction. After having identified examples of culture and science relations between the EU and MENA countries, the primary question was: What do the EU's partners from the neighbouring countries in the South of the Mediterranean think of its approach to science, innovation and its enhancement of external cultural relations? The results of this study and the first conclusions of its analysis made it possible to make some recommendations to guide future EU policies.
Music Education is traditionally often understood and practiced as teaching musical skills and the aesthetics of music. It focuses on instrumental and vocal skills and repertoire and it seldom deals with the historical, sociological, political backgrounds of the individual pieces of music. Yet music is as much a form or an aspect of culture as fine art or literature. Perceiving music as culture requires thus a view that sees both: music in its specificity and music as a culture expression among others. The paper starts with the question of the impact of the cultural turn in the discourses and programs of musicology and music education. Using the perspective of cultural science the author argues, with two examples as illustration, that such an orientation enables and requires interdisciplinary thinking. It also leads to an attitude of self-reflection in two ways: acting reflexively with regard to its (changing) objects, but also in terms of its own position in culture and its hegemonic and competing discourses. (DIPF/Orig.)
Der Band versammelt ethnographische Beiträge zur Frage der Homosexualität vor dem Hintergrund einer "heteronormativen" Mehrheitskultur. Vorgeführt werden Aspekte der akademischen und politischen Debatte in den USA, das methodische Problem der Wahrnehmung "fremder" Sexualkulturen vor dem Hintergrund "eigener" kultureller Vorstellungen und zuletzt der Umstand, dass sich auch ein beobachtendes Subjekt "im Feld" als Geschlechtswesen präsentieren und etablieren muss. Die Beträge sind durchaus informativ und instruktiv zu lesen, dem Band mangelt es aber an einer angemessenen und zu diesen Punkten theoretisch hilfreichen Einleitung. Insbesondere bleibt das Grundproblem unterreflektiert, ob nicht der erste und wichtigste Schritt zur Abschaffung der "Heteronormativität" ein wirklich radikales Infragestellen der Dichotomie "Heterosexualität" / "Homosexualität" selbst sein müsste. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0302144 ; This issue of the journal brings a sample of cultural anthropologists' papers on homosexuality in relation to the "heteronormative" majority. It deals with US-American academic and political debates, methodical problems in perceiving "alien" sexual cultures under the perspective of one's own cultural beliefs and, finally, the point that epistemic subjects have to present and establish themselves as sexual beings "in the field", too. The contributions are informative and instructive to read, but the issue lacks a helpful introduction. It is never discussed whether the first and most important step in deconstructing "heteronormativity" would be to radically take up the question of the dichotomy of "heterosexuality"/"homosexuality" itself. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0302144 ; Este volumen de la revista ofrece una muestra de artículos de antropólogos culturales sobre la homosexualidad en relación con la "heteronormatividad" mayoritaria. Aborda los debates políticos y académicos en USA, aborda también los problemas metodológicos al percibir las culturas sexuales "extrañas" bajo la perspectiva de las propias creencias de ...
The rapid development in biomedicine creates knowledge-intensive policy fields on national and international arenas. In our ongoing project "Biomodifying technologies in change" we study presumably game-changing technologies such as CRISPR-cas9, iPS cells, xenotransplantation and 3D bioprinting. The project could be categorized as part of an "engaged program", using Sismondo's terminology (2008), in that we do not separate the epistemological dimensions from the political aspects of the science practices we study. Rather, we understand language and material processes in research as already in themselves always normative. Hence, the strife to make transparent and democratize scientific and technological processes, is somehow built into the research scope itself - even if not a directly activist agenda. One of the aims of the project is to understand how "responsible researchers" are fostered. We look into how ethical reflexivity is expressed, practiced and understood in the day-to-day of biomedical research environments. But what happens to our knowledge production when we make biomedical researchers engage in this bird's-eye view on their research and its socio-cultural circumstances? How can neither taking a distanced position, nor engaging in direct activism but rather pushing toward areas we consider possible hotbeds for public debate be further theoretically conceptualized? What does such an endeavor imply for our role as STS scholars? And how does that connect to the tendency to engage humanities and social science scholars as interpreters and mediators in cross-disciplinary projects in knowledge-intensive policy fields, such as ours ? In what way is the symmetry principle (Bloor, 1976) affected, when value-laden initiatives as ethical reflexivity and public engagement is treated as an inherent good or as "truths" to be pursued?
In 2020, the Independent Learning-Independent Campus (MBKM) policy was socialized and implemented in various universities to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study aims to analyze the knowledge of sources of information and the implementation of MBKM and SDGS policies towards the Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences (FISIB) of Pakuan University. This study uses quantitative methods with descriptive analysis, based on a survey. The instrument used was a questionnaire with a total sample of 1,053 students from FISIB, Pakuan University. The results of this study indicate that education in Indonesia is still oriented towards producing labor so that things that are socialized in the MBKM program so that MBKM accommodates more pragmatic educational perspectives. Students of FISIB Pakuan University have the perception that MBKM activities can improve technical and non-technical abilities that can be used in the workplace. However, this perception makes FISIB students at Pakuan University tend to choose internships/work practices and student exchanges. Meanwhile, other activities, especially philanthropic activities (building villages, humanitarian projects, independent studies, teaching assistance in education units) are less attractive. Thus, the MBKM program must be able to create a generation that has social awareness. Then, the government and universities can contextualize the SDGs in the socialization of MBKM so that students are oriented towards solving social problems, especially to achieve the SDGs.
Forschungsethik wird in den deutschsprachigen Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften zunehmend zum Thema. Zum einen reflektieren empirisch Forschende vermehrt ethische Fragen, die sich in ihrer Forschungspraxis stellen. Zum anderen wird auf wissenschaftspolitischer Ebene diskutiert, Ethics Reviews, d.h. Begutachtungen von Forschungsvorhaben durch Ethikkommissionen, nun auch in der sozial- und kulturwissenschaftlichen Forschung in Deutschland verstärkt einzuführen. Dies ist unter anderem darauf zurückzuführen, dass Forschende, die in englischsprachigen Journals publizieren oder internationale Fördermittel einwerben möchten, zunehmend aufgefordert sind, eine ethische Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung bezüglich ihrer empirischen Forschung vorzulegen. Ethics Reviews sind international insbesondere im angloamerikanischen Sprachraum üblich, werden dort jedoch durch qualitativ Forschende teilweise scharf kritisiert. Im Mittelpunkt der Kritik stehen neben dem hohen bürokratischen Aufwand vor allem die mangelnde Passfähigkeit der Prinzipien und Prüfverfahren für die qualitative Forschung und die negativen Folgen der institutionalisierten Prüfverfahren für die Freiheit, Qualität und methodologische Vielfalt sozial- und kulturwissenschaftlicher Forschung. Wie lassen sich vor diesem Hintergrund die aktuellen Entwicklungen in Deutschland einschätzen? Anlässlich eines interdisziplinären Symposiums zum Thema "Forschungsethik und ethnografische Feldforschung" kommentieren wir die Entwicklungen in Deutschland aus ethnologischer und soziologischer Perspektive. Wir sprechen uns für eine institutionelle Verankerung des Themas aus und unterstützen die Entwicklung von Strukturen der forschungsethischen Begutachtung, sofern diese freiwillig bleiben und die methodische Vielfalt der Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften sowie die Besonderheiten ethnografischer und explorativer Studien angemessen berücksichtigen. Aus der Perspektive qualitativ Forschender kommt der Förderung methodologischer und forschungsethischer Reflexivität in Forschung und Lehre ...
Despite the growing profile of 'implementation science', its status as a field of study remains ambiguous. Implementation science originates in the evidence-based movement and attempts to broaden the scope of evidence-based medicine to improve 'clinical effectiveness' and close the 'implementation gap'. To achieve this agenda, implementation science draws on methodologies from the social sciences to emphasise coherence between qualitative and quantitative approaches. In so doing, we ask if this is at the expense of ignoring the dominating tendencies of the evidence-based movement and consider if some of the methodologies being drawn on should be considered irreconcilable with evidence-based methodologies.
Despite the growing profile of 'implementation science', its status as a field of study remains ambiguous. Implementation science originates in the evidence-based movement and attempts to broaden the scope of evidence-based medicine to improve 'clinical effectiveness' and close the 'implementation gap'. To achieve this agenda, implementation science draws on methodologies from the social sciences to emphasise coherence between qualitative and quantitative approaches. In so doing, we ask if this is at the expense of ignoring the dominating tendencies of the evidence-based movement and consider if some of the methodologies being drawn on should be considered irreconcilable with evidence-based methodologies.
I would like to start off my cultural-historical intervention with a trouvaille from the 'Denktagebuch', a sort of intellectual notebook, of Hannah Arendt, the famous German-Jewish philosopher (1906–1975). Arendt's publications include a most profound book on the 'Human Condition' (1958, in German 'Vita activa', 1960) in which she develops the idea of 'acting / Handlung' as the crucial realm of intersubjectivity and humanity. This realm is based in the space between human beings, a literal 'inter-est' of togetherness. It is only in this space, only in the relationship to others, that the full sense of the Self, including the involuntary expressions of the person, manifests itself. It is the same realm in which the moral, social and political life is created. In the notebook of the 44-year-old Arendt one comes across the following entry: "In nichts offenbart sich die eigentümliche Vieldeutigkeit der Sprache [.] deutlicher als in der Metapher. So habe ich zum Beispiel ein Leben lang die Metapher 'es öffnet sich mir das Herz' benutzt, ohne je die dazu gehörende physische Sensation erfahren zu haben. Erst seit ich die physische Sensation kenne, weiss ich, wie oft ich gelogen habe [.]. Wie aber hätte ich je die Wahrheit der physischen Sensation erfahren, wenn die Sprache mit ihrer Metapher mir nicht bereits eine Ahnung von der Bedeutsamkeit des Vorgangs gegeben hätte?" (Notebook II, 22 December 1950, Arendt 2002, 46) The entry discusses the mutual transferral between mind and body by reflecting the role of language as a mediator for minding the body and the embodiment of the mind. Since the phrase of the 'open heart' belongs to a register of long-established metaphors, these reflections concern the comprehension of body-metaphors and their role for a 'shared meaningful space of experiences' (Gallese 2009a, 527), i.e. language as transmitter of experiences and memory in cultural history.
Contemporary science has brought about technological advances and an unprecedented understanding of the natural world. However, there are signs of dysfunction in the scientific community as well as threats from diverse antiscience and political forces. Incentives in the current system place scientists under tremendous stress, discourage cooperation, encourage poor scientific practices, and deter new talent from entering the field. It is time for a discussion of how the scientific enterprise can be reformed to become more effective and robust. Serious reform will require more consistent methodological rigor and a transformation of the current hypercompetitive scientific culture.
Peer-reviewed journals are the cornerstones to communicating scientific results. They play a crucial role in quality assurance through the review process, but they also create opportunities for discussions in the scientific community on the implications of the results or validation of methods and data. This requires that journals adhere to commonly accepted scientific standards and are open about their editorial policy. Norwegian scientists experience problems in getting research on minke whales accepted for publication where the data have been collected in association with commercial whaling. The journal Biology Letters refuses to publish papers based on data from the Norwegian whale register while publically claiming a sole focus on scientific quality. Although there are good arguments for claiming that clearly unethical research should not be rewarded with scientific publications, one also has to realize that some fields of research are beset with unresolved ethical and cultural debates. In these cases, it is to the benefit of the progress of science, and indeed society, to be open about the issues and support arguments through scientific studies. Political or cultural censoring of scientific information will in any case jeopardize the role of journals in quality assurance of scientific research and undermine the credibility of science as a supplier of objective and reliable knowledge. ; publishedVersion
- ; Peer-reviewed journals are the cornerstones to communicating scientific results. They play a crucial role in quality assurance through the review process, but they also create opportunities for discussions in the scientific community on the implications of the results or validation of methods and data. This requires that journals adhere to commonly accepted scientific standards and are open about their editorial policy. Norwegian scientists experience problems in getting research on minke whales accepted for publication where the data have been collected in association with commercial whaling. The journal Biology Letters refuses to publish papers based on data from the Norwegian whale register while publically claiming a sole focus on scientific quality. Although there are good arguments for claiming that clearly unethical research should not be rewarded with scientific publications, one also has to realize that some fields of research are beset with unresolved ethical and cultural debates. In these cases, it is to the benefit of the progress of science, and indeed society, to be open about the issues and support arguments through scientific studies. Political or cultural censoring of scientific information will in any case jeopardize the role of journals in quality assurance of scientific research and undermine the credibility of science as a supplier of objective and reliable knowledge.