There is a tendency in recent art history to see artistic practice as aligning with political activism, and artists who are women as making feminist art. VALIE EXPORT, the paradigmatic "woman artist" in this regard, encapsulated this position in her formulation of Feminist Actionism. This paper draws out a complementary tendency exhibited in the work of Ingrid Wiener that I call feminist in-action. In contrast with the confrontational practices of many of her contemporaries, Wiener's tapestry collaborations with Dieter Roth present long-drawn-out performances of withdrawal. Her weaving explores a relational and dependent view of both artistic practice and the self. Refusing the feminist-actionist's arsenal of assertive gestures, Wiener picks apart the conventions of highwarp Gobelins tapestry weaving in order to attend to an immanent and intimate, sometimes frayed, sometimes touching, space of correspondence. Wiener's tapestry collaborations with Roth thus articulate an alternative textile politics as a politics of care.
En el imaginario chileno Ingrid Olderock se construye como un monstruo ligado al poder dentro de la institución de Carabineros y luego a los organismos de la represión de la dictadura de Pinochet. Olderock representa un extremo emblemático donde se imbrican distintos discursos sobre la violencia y la locura y que la figura de la camiona condensa en tanto personaje abyecto. Lo horroroso no vincula solo con la mujer sino con la sexualidad no normativa de la despiadada torturadora. Olderock aparece en la obra teatral La mujer de los perros (2017) de Eduardo Vega donde la locura, la falta de feminidad, y el deseo de dominar y hacer sufrir son su marca. El cuerpo femenino abyecto se asocia significativamente a su brutalidad despiadada y a la ausencia de justicia. Por otra parte, en la obra de teatro de Irán 3730 (2019) de Patricia Artés, Olderock no aparece en escena a pesar de ser la encargada principal de la casa de tortura La Venda Sexy en cuyo inmueble se desarrolla la acción dramática del presente. Estas dos miradas frente al pasado y de Olderock se sustentan en visiones distintas sobre el legado dictatorial. La de Artés tiene una perspectiva de género que permite una mayor comprensión de la historia y el rol de las mujeres militantes en el pasado. Su impacto en el presente, desplaza a la torturadora, y realza el activismo feminista y la lucha política de las ex militantes por el reconocimiento y la justicia. ; In the Chilean imaginary Ingrid Olderock is constructed as a monster associated with the power of the institution of Carabineros and later with the agencies of repression in the Pinochet dictatorship. Olderock represents an emblematic extreme where different discourses on violence and insanity overlap and that the butch figure condenses as an abject character. Horror is linked not only to gender but to the non-normative sexuality of the cruel torturer. Olderock appears in the play La mujer de los perros (2017) by Eduardo Vega which underscores her insanity, lack of femininity, and a desire to dominate and inflict pain are her signature. The abject female body is here significantly associated with a heartless brutality and the absence of justice. On the other hand, the play Irán 3730 (2019) by Patricia Artés, Olderock is not seen even though she was in charge of the torture house La Venda Sexy in the property where the dramatic action unfolds in the present. These two takes towards the past and Olderock sustain themselves in different visions of the legacy of the dictatorship. Artés has a gender perspective that allows for a broader understanding of history and the role of women activists in the past. Their impact in the present displaces the torturer and highlights feminist activism and the political struggle of former militants for their recognition and for justice.
This text discusses the more recent changes in Swedish criminal law with a focus on the more serious crime and some of the measures lately taken to counter that kind of criminality. A brief walk through the earlier reasoning on punishment and consequences is followed by a glimpse of the reasoning by the Swedish legislator on the rationale of increasing the penalty levels and remodeling the crimes themselves. In the conclusion we find some answers to whether we are dealing with symbolic measures without support in research or an adaptation to society changes and public view on increasing crime.
The text proposes the reading of a shared and recognizable image as an iconic photograph, namely as a part of the collective visual memory: a still that shows the ex-presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt during her kidnaping. The anonymous authorship of the photograph, its circulation in the press, its character as a document and its symbolization in the public debate do not impede us from analyzing it as well for its aesthetic or aesthetic-political characteristics. On the contrary, we will see how any photograph can help us understand the links between form and discourse. We will analyze its value as photographic proof of life, its consonance with the long history of images and their capacity to raise awareness, in a literal sense to put in images and to make visible nameless places of the geographic and political Colombian landscape from the first decade of the millennium. ; El texto propone la lectura de una imagen compartida y reconocida como foto icónica, es decir, como parte de la memoria visual colectiva: un fotograma que muestra a la excandidata presidencial Íngrid Betancourt durante su secuestro. La autoría anónima de la foto, su circulación en la prensa, su carácter de documento y su simbolización en el debate público no impiden analizarla también por sus características estéticas o estético-políticas. Por el contrario, veremos cómo toda foto puede ayudarnos a entender los lazos entre forma y discurso. Para hacerlo, se analizará su valor de prueba fotográfica de supervivencia, su sintonía con la larga historia de las imágenes y su capacidad de visibilizar lugares indecibles del paisaje geográfico y político colombiano de la primera década del milenio. ; O texto propõe a leitura de uma imagem compartilhada e reconhecida como foto icônica, ou seja, como parte da memória visual coletiva: um fotograma que mostra a ex-candidata à presidência Íngrid Betancourt durante seu sequestro. A autoria anônima da foto, sua circulação na imprensa, seu caráter de documento e sua simbolização no debate público não impedem sua análise também por suas características estéticas ou estético-políticas. Pelo contrário, veremos como qualquer foto pode nos ajudar a entender as ligações entre forma e discurso. Para tanto, será analisado seu valor como prova fotográfica de sobrevivência, sua harmonia com a longa história das imagens e sua capacidade de tornar visíveis incontáveis lugares da paisagem geográfica e política colombiana da primeira década do milênio.
Through an analysis of selected representative poems from Ingrid de Kok's Familiar Ground, this article examines the role played by feminist poetry in the quest to address gender-related issues as well as to contribute constructively to South Africa's liberation from patriarchal apartheid. The article further argues that feminist writers desire to (re)negotiate the space within which they can (re)construct and articulate their identities as women and mothers, and that in such a context the politics of identity cannot be detached from other aspects within the struggle for socio-political and economic emancipation. Thus characteristics of apartheid oppression are contrasted with the patriarchal domination opposed by feminist writers.
CONTENIDO Editorial Bello de Arellano, María Eugenia Investigación Identidad en el Táchira. Identity in Táchira. Izarra, Douglas Lengua y frontera en el Táchira: un estudio sociolingüístico sobre actitudes. Language and frontier in Táchira: a sociolinguistic study about attitudes. Freites Barros, Francisco La Zona de Integración Fronteriza: Táchira-Norte de Santander: aspectos jurídicos, institucionales y administrativos. Border Integration Zone in the area of Táchira and Norte de Santander: legal, institutional and administrative aspects. Sánchez Chacón, Francisco Javier Las desigualdades en los TLC con Estados Unidos: el caso colombiano. Inequalities in the United States' FTAs: the Colombian case. Romero, Alberto y Vera C., Mary A. La Universidad Latinoamericana en la encrucijada. Latin American university in the turning point. Castellano de Sjöstrand, Egilda La educación ambiental desde la explicación de la realidad geográfica. The environmental education from the explanation of the geographic reality. Santiago Rivera, José Armando Democracia, proceso de democratización y espacialidad de poder. Democracy, the process of democratization and the spatiality of power. Aragort Solórzano, Yubirí Análisis El estado Los Andes en la época de Antonio Guzmán Blanco 1881-1887 Artigas D., Yuleida Colombia y Venezuela: nuevas tensiones. Cronología del canje que nunca se dio. López, María Eugenia Agenda De las relaciones colombo - venezolanas (mayo - octubre 2007) López, María Eugenia Índice acumulado ; 51-58 ; castellanome@yahoo.com ; semestral ; Nivel analítico
In September 2013, the city of Chilpancingo was hit by the passage of hurricane Ingrid and tropical storm Manuel; the damages in infrastructure, housing and equipment were of great magnitude, which galvanized the federal government into formulating a reconstruction plan. The interventions exhibited serious failures, recreating with greater intensity the socio-territorial conditions that caused the disasters. Faced with that panorama, this work aims to identify the elements that contributed to the disaster and the failures in the repair of damages; at the same time, it suggests other modes of action to promote the improvement of the living conditions of those affected. Preliminary results indicate that although there were economic resources and government agencies to coordinate reconstruction, personal interests, corruption, opacity in information, insecurity and disregard for the needs and demands of citizens characterized the process. ; En septiembre de 2013, la ciudad de Chilpancingo fue azotada por el paso del huracán Ingrid y la tormenta tropical Manuel; los daños en infraestructura, vivienda y equipamiento fueron de gran magnitud, lo que generó que el gobierno federal formulara un plan de reconstrucción. Las intervenciones exhibieron serias fallas, reeditando con mayor intensidad las condiciones socioterritoriales que propiciaron los desastres. Ante este panorama, este trabajo pretende identificar los elementos que contribuyeron al desastre y a los desaciertos en la reparación de los daños; al mismo tiempo, sugiere otras modalidades de acción que incidan en el mejoramiento de las condiciones de vida de los afectados. Los resultados preliminares indican que a pesar de que existieron los recursos económicos y las instancias gubernamentales para coordinar las acciones de reconstrucción, intereses personales, corrupción, opacidad en la información, inseguridad y desatención a las necesidades y demandas de la ciudadanía caracterizaron el proceso.
International audience ; The work of British photographer Ingrid Pollard constantly weaves the threads of imperial history, personal history, and visual and symbolic representations of English identity. Using the genre of the landscape, Ingrid Pollard raises the issue of the symbolic investment of rural and seaside places with values of purity and order in the production of discourses and representations of national identity. In the series « Pastoral Interlude » (1987), the literal intrusion of lone Black figures in Lake District landscapes gives a material reality to the historically and socially produced boundaries which organise the exclusion of Black people from rural spaces. The artist's highly constructed images challenge mainstream narratives of English identity by bringing to the fore more complex layers of history and experience. At the end of the 1980s characterised by the rise of Black photographers, Ingrid Pollard's visual research engaged in a fundamental critical debate on multicultural identities in post-colonial England. ; Le travail de la photographe britannique Ingrid Pollard tisse des fils entre l'histoire impériale, l'histoire personnelle, et les représentations visuelles et symboliques de l'identité anglaise. Utilisant le genre du paysage, Ingrid Pollard met en question l'investissement symbolique des espaces ruraux et maritimes par des valeurs de pureté et d'ordre, dans la production de discours et représentations identitaires. Dans la série « Pastoral Interlude » (1987), l'intrusion littérale de sujets noirs isolés dans les paysages du Lake District donne une réalité matérielle aux frontières historiquement et socialement produites qui continuent d'organiser l'exclusion des Noirs de ces espaces. Les images très construites de l'artiste mettent à l'épreuve les récits dominants de l'identité anglaise en convoquant des niveaux de lecture historique et subjective plus complexes. À la fin des années quatre-vingt, marquées par l'arrivée de photographes noirs sur la scène artistique, la recherche ...
International audience ; The work of British photographer Ingrid Pollard constantly weaves the threads of imperial history, personal history, and visual and symbolic representations of English identity. Using the genre of the landscape, Ingrid Pollard raises the issue of the symbolic investment of rural and seaside places with values of purity and order in the production of discourses and representations of national identity. In the series « Pastoral Interlude » (1987), the literal intrusion of lone Black figures in Lake District landscapes gives a material reality to the historically and socially produced boundaries which organise the exclusion of Black people from rural spaces. The artist's highly constructed images challenge mainstream narratives of English identity by bringing to the fore more complex layers of history and experience. At the end of the 1980s characterised by the rise of Black photographers, Ingrid Pollard's visual research engaged in a fundamental critical debate on multicultural identities in post-colonial England. ; Le travail de la photographe britannique Ingrid Pollard tisse des fils entre l'histoire impériale, l'histoire personnelle, et les représentations visuelles et symboliques de l'identité anglaise. Utilisant le genre du paysage, Ingrid Pollard met en question l'investissement symbolique des espaces ruraux et maritimes par des valeurs de pureté et d'ordre, dans la production de discours et représentations identitaires. Dans la série « Pastoral Interlude » (1987), l'intrusion littérale de sujets noirs isolés dans les paysages du Lake District donne une réalité matérielle aux frontières historiquement et socialement produites qui continuent d'organiser l'exclusion des Noirs de ces espaces. Les images très construites de l'artiste mettent à l'épreuve les récits dominants de l'identité anglaise en convoquant des niveaux de lecture historique et subjective plus complexes. À la fin des années quatre-vingt, marquées par l'arrivée de photographes noirs sur la scène artistique, la recherche ...
International audience ; The work of British photographer Ingrid Pollard constantly weaves the threads of imperial history, personal history, and visual and symbolic representations of English identity. Using the genre of the landscape, Ingrid Pollard raises the issue of the symbolic investment of rural and seaside places with values of purity and order in the production of discourses and representations of national identity. In the series « Pastoral Interlude » (1987), the literal intrusion of lone Black figures in Lake District landscapes gives a material reality to the historically and socially produced boundaries which organise the exclusion of Black people from rural spaces. The artist's highly constructed images challenge mainstream narratives of English identity by bringing to the fore more complex layers of history and experience. At the end of the 1980s characterised by the rise of Black photographers, Ingrid Pollard's visual research engaged in a fundamental critical debate on multicultural identities in post-colonial England. ; Le travail de la photographe britannique Ingrid Pollard tisse des fils entre l'histoire impériale, l'histoire personnelle, et les représentations visuelles et symboliques de l'identité anglaise. Utilisant le genre du paysage, Ingrid Pollard met en question l'investissement symbolique des espaces ruraux et maritimes par des valeurs de pureté et d'ordre, dans la production de discours et représentations identitaires. Dans la série « Pastoral Interlude » (1987), l'intrusion littérale de sujets noirs isolés dans les paysages du Lake District donne une réalité matérielle aux frontières historiquement et socialement produites qui continuent d'organiser l'exclusion des Noirs de ces espaces. Les images très construites de l'artiste mettent à l'épreuve les récits dominants de l'identité anglaise en convoquant des niveaux de lecture historique et subjective plus complexes. À la fin des années quatre-vingt, marquées par l'arrivée de photographes noirs sur la scène artistique, la recherche visuelle d'Ingrid Pollard prend sens dans un débat critique fondamental sur les identités multiculturelles d'une société anglaise post-coloniale.
Traditionally, the school pupil has been regarded as an important actor, both in the preservation of society and in encountering predicted outcomes of the future. Today, even the youngest children are included in the educational project, fabricating 1-5-year-olds as universal pathfinders for the somewhat conflicting mission of creating both economic growth and sustainable development (European Commission, 2010). Considering this process, it is worth examining how the young child is articulated as an educable subject within the framework of dominating perspectives in the ECEC field. We do so by focusing on two contrasting discursive movements: the policy-driven social economic and the philosophically inclined posthumanist discourses. These discourses provide seemingly opposing basic assumptions about the subject within the same educational context, that is, early education. Yet, education is accentuated in both discourses as the single most important factor in handling contemporary and future global economic, social and ecological crisis.In what many scholars, as well as educational policy actors, call a precarious time long-term challenges such as globalisation and the pressure on resources are intensified (e.g. Malone, Truong & Gray, 2017; Taylor & Giugni, 2012; European Commission, 2010). In Early Childhood Education policy, the child figures as a social, economic and political project, mirroring both the existing society and current political endeavours in trying to control the outcome of the future. Recurring in the history of the young institutionalised child is the idea that the child can be emancipated and released from a future predestined by unfavourable background conditions (connected to culture and socioeconomic environment), through education. This assuming that children will participate in education early on, which is why the goal of providing preschool activities for all children (even when the economic or the social incentives are missing) is prominent in the international education policy for younger children (Nagazawa, Peters & Swadener, 2014). This idea of the educable child focuses on individual cognition and receptivity in relation to predefined subject knowledge, where education is the "intervention" that captures political intentions and expectations (Eurostat, 2017) through, what we call, a social economic discourse. The social economic discourse is not uniform but contains several different intentions within the governing field of education, which together produce a particular subject: the entrepreneur, ready to invest in her/himself and in the future (Bacchi, 2009). However, the social economic discourse, albeit historically dominant within the ECEC field, has not been unopposed. The emergence of critical pedagogies and the growing interest in the sociology of childhood in the 1980s and 90s, offered alternatives to the developmentalist and social economic view on the child. In the wake of these movements, posthumanist theory has gained an increasing influence in early education research at large, and in the ESD field in particular. According to the proponents of posthumanism, in order to thrive and survive we (as humans) need to re-evaluate our position in the world by realising the complex relational nature of existence. In this endeavour, early education becomes crucial and posthumanist theory is proposed as an invitation to reconsider the humanist notion of "human" through the child (Lenz Taguchi, 2010; Taylor, Pacini-Ketchabaw and Blaise, 2012).By studying the terms and conditions of the social economic and posthumanist discourses, we examine what is represented as being at stake (e.g. growth, competitiveness, the environment and not least human survival) and offer a critical reflection on the different, but surprisingly consistent, articulations of the educable young child.
A profound reminder of mortality: catabasis, relationality and retrovision in Ingrid Winterbach's Die benederyk (2010) The aim of this article is to indicate that Die benederyk (The underworld) may be read within the theoretical framework of catabasis, relationality and retrovision. My point of departure is that relationality manifests itself in two ways in Die benederyk, namely as an ontological relationship on a personal level between people (whether it be family relations or the bonds of friendship), and also as an ontological relationship between specific artists through the ages. With reference to Kaja Silverman's book Flesh of my flesh (2009), but also referring to Etty Mulder's Freud and Orpheus (1987), a brief summary of the theoretical concepts of relationality, catabasis and retrovision will first be provided. It will be shown, furthermore, that at the same time Die benederyk is a narrative philosophical reflection on the nature, value and function of art and the artistic process. However, since every artist also works within a specific public sphere and tradition this aspect, too, is relationally based. The title itself, Die benederyk, already establishes a connection with death and the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice that is confirmed throughout the story. Silverman uses this well-known myth, as recorded by Ovid in Book X of The metamorphoses, as her starting point from which she develops her theory of relationality. What is not so well known in Western literature is the fact that after the second disappearance of Eurydice into Hades, Ovid adds a redemptive coda to Book XI, which largely invalidates the woman-death link and lays the foundation of relationality. Orpheus is murdered by the vicious Maenaden. This results in his second descent into the underworld. When he arrives in Hades he sees what he had seen before, but he sees it anew and differently. He embraces Eurydice lovingly and in doing so he acknowledges her ontological equality (Silverman 2009:181). In this way, they re-enact what had happened before, cancelling the violence of the events and transforming it into a reversible and ontological equalising analogy (Silverman 2009:181). Orpheus's descent into the underworld is related to the Greek concept of katabasis–a concept defined as a movement or journey downwards. According to Falconer (2005:2) the Greeks used the term katabasis (Latin descensus ad infernas) metaphorically to refer specifically to the story of a living person who had visited the underworld and returned reasonably unscathed to the land of the living. Silverman's (2009) thesis regarding the theory of relationality is bound up with the fact that mortality is the most comprehensive and basic feature that man shares with every other living being on earth. Finiteness marks the time and place where we end and others begin, both spatially and temporally. It is the acknowledgement of this limitation that gives us a sense of our place within the larger whole (Silverman 2009:4). Silverman (2009:8) then engages with the ideas of psychoanalyst and writer Lou Andreas-Salomé. She refers to Salomé's memoir, Looking back, in which she voices insights that correspond with Ovid's coda in the recording of the Orpheus myth. Salomé attributes a redemptive power to this type of looking, i.e. the capacity to revive the past so that it happens again, but in a new way. She refers to this process as the healing power of Nachträglichkeit–a term originally created by Freud, but used in a different sense by Salomé. She also attributes a number of other powers to Nachträglichkeit, namely the possibility that it can cleanse sin, raise the dead and resolve differences between people. Die benederyk tells the story of two brothers, Aaron Adendorff and his brother Stefaans. The novel addresses, among other issues, the quest for the meaning of life by both characters after each one descends into his own personal hell and in the slow process of re-emerging back towards the light. Both are struggling with their own sins, the death of their loved ones, broken relationships between people and the intense emotions of dealing with loss. The most striking reference to someone visiting the underworld and returning is found when Stefaans is said to have gone down to the darkness and had been lost for a long time. During the course of the narrative Stefaans is likened to the biblical New Testament Lazarus, who was resurrected to life, but also to Joseph of the Old Testament, who was saved from certain death in the pit. Among other things, the novel tells the story of Stefaans's descent into darkness due to drug addiction, the turning point in his life, as well as his gradual return to the land of the living. After this catabatic experience, Stefaans gains insight into his relationship with other flesh being of his flesh and understands his existence as an aware being with a body that has limitations, so that relationality is established. He then reflects on those that he has left behind, whether dead or alive, and so he starts his journey to renewal and regeneration. He accepts his fate, reconnects with his lost brother and heals broken relationships with departed family and friends through retrovision, exorcises his fears, and finally experiences release. Aaron Adendorff, the painter, is the central character in the novel. His story, too, is one of destruction and salvation. After the death of his wife, Naomi, Aaron descends to the dark depths of depression and is also confronted with his own mortality when a cancerous growth is removed from one of his kidneys. There is another striking link with the Orpheus myth in this novel regarding art and the creative process. A conclusive connection exists between being an artist and relationality. It is specifically the descent into the underworld that is presented as the creative process. In this way, the story of Aaron as an artist highlights a different aspect of relationality. Aaron's art is initially figurative in nature and as such he associates himself with the recognisable image. However, after the 1980s his work becomes more abstract as he loses touch with the physical image. This change in the subject-object relation distresses Aaron, because he is constantly aware that the loss of the image –of a discernible object –could be the death of all structure: a formal deadend. The tone in which the novel is written gets its power from the inevitable influence of the invisible image as is evidenced by the description of the intense experience of loss every time the recognisable image disappears. For Aaron, the benefit of his insights into relationality is the rediscovery of his lost loved one, here being the recovery of the recognisable image. He, too, accepts loss and overcomes his anxiety. His renewed creative drive and the prospect of the exhibition in Berlin is proof of his renewal and regeneration. The ontological relationship between people isn't important only for the personal connections and dialogue with predecessors, but also for the insight it gives into what it entails being an artist. It also highlights the connection between artists throughout the ages. Thus, Aaron's retrovision is also a comprehensive overview of Western art history, including many references to predecessor artists with whom he feels a kinship. Feeling himself marginalised (both as a person and as an artist), Aaron takes a critical look at his own figurative paintings as well as those of a few chosen, fictional artists. These include Jimmy Harris (a videographer who has an obsession with deconstructive creativity) and Moeketsi Mosekede (a politically correct artist). Many deceased artists, of whom Joseph Beuys and Francisco Goya are the most notable, are resurrected through retrovision. This historical layering has the effect of a palimpsest, viewing the present as being intertwined with the past. In this way relationality between the past and the present is suggested. Die benederyk is, therefore, indeed a narrative philosophical reflection on the nature, value and function of art in the early 21st century, the history of Western art and the artistic process. Thierry De Duve's comment, as quoted by Lyotard (1992:16), is especially relevant to this novel as it refers to the issues addressed by it: "The question of modern aesthetics is not 'What is beautiful, but rather what is art to be and what is literature to be?'" This article also briefly explores what the terms art and artwork currently mean. Adorno's statement in Aesthetic theory (1997:1) is relevant here: "It is self-evident that nothing concerning art is self-evident anymore, not its inner life, not its relation to society, not even its right to exist." In fact, it could be argued that this pronouncement is the artistic theoretical framework on which Winterbach constitutes her reflection of art and what it means to be an artist in Die benederyk. This novel reflects on the meaning of art, the origin and nature of creative expression (the formation of art) and the possible value thereof. In conclusion it is clear that Winterbach is making explicit pronouncements on art theory through her characters. This means there is evidence of inter-textual poetic reflection. Although these poetic views cannot necessarily be attributed to Winterbach as a visual artist, the narrative philosophical reflection about the creative process confirms once more the particular relationship between her prose and her visual disposition ; http://litnet.co.za/assets/pdf/5GWNel.pdf
A profound reminder of mortality: catabasis, relationality and retrovision in Ingrid Winterbach's Die benederyk (2010) The aim of this article is to indicate that Die benederyk (The underworld) may be read within the theoretical framework of catabasis, relationality and retrovision. My point of departure is that relationality manifests itself in two ways in Die benederyk, namely as an ontological relationship on a personal level between people (whether it be family relations or the bonds of friendship), and also as an ontological relationship between specific artists through the ages. With reference to Kaja Silverman's book Flesh of my flesh (2009), but also referring to Etty Mulder's Freud and Orpheus (1987), a brief summary of the theoretical concepts of relationality, catabasis and retrovision will first be provided. It will be shown, furthermore, that at the same time Die benederyk is a narrative philosophical reflection on the nature, value and function of art and the artistic process. However, since every artist also works within a specific public sphere and tradition this aspect, too, is relationally based. The title itself, Die benederyk, already establishes a connection with death and the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice that is confirmed throughout the story. Silverman uses this well-known myth, as recorded by Ovid in Book X of The metamorphoses, as her starting point from which she develops her theory of relationality. What is not so well known in Western literature is the fact that after the second disappearance of Eurydice into Hades, Ovid adds a redemptive coda to Book XI, which largely invalidates the woman-death link and lays the foundation of relationality. Orpheus is murdered by the vicious Maenaden. This results in his second descent into the underworld. When he arrives in Hades he sees what he had seen before, but he sees it anew and differently. He embraces Eurydice lovingly and in doing so he acknowledges her ontological equality (Silverman 2009:181). In this way, they re-enact what had happened before, cancelling the violence of the events and transforming it into a reversible and ontological equalising analogy (Silverman 2009:181). Orpheus's descent into the underworld is related to the Greek concept of katabasis–a concept defined as a movement or journey downwards. According to Falconer (2005:2) the Greeks used the term katabasis (Latin descensus ad infernas) metaphorically to refer specifically to the story of a living person who had visited the underworld and returned reasonably unscathed to the land of the living. Silverman's (2009) thesis regarding the theory of relationality is bound up with the fact that mortality is the most comprehensive and basic feature that man shares with every other living being on earth. Finiteness marks the time and place where we end and others begin, both spatially and temporally. It is the acknowledgement of this limitation that gives us a sense of our place within the larger whole (Silverman 2009:4). Silverman (2009:8) then engages with the ideas of psychoanalyst and writer Lou Andreas-Salomé. She refers to Salomé's memoir, Looking back, in which she voices insights that correspond with Ovid's coda in the recording of the Orpheus myth. Salomé attributes a redemptive power to this type of looking, i.e. the capacity to revive the past so that it happens again, but in a new way. She refers to this process as the healing power of Nachträglichkeit–a term originally created by Freud, but used in a different sense by Salomé. She also attributes a number of other powers to Nachträglichkeit, namely the possibility that it can cleanse sin, raise the dead and resolve differences between people. Die benederyk tells the story of two brothers, Aaron Adendorff and his brother Stefaans. The novel addresses, among other issues, the quest for the meaning of life by both characters after each one descends into his own personal hell and in the slow process of re-emerging back towards the light. Both are struggling with their own sins, the death of their loved ones, broken relationships between people and the intense emotions of dealing with loss. The most striking reference to someone visiting the underworld and returning is found when Stefaans is said to have gone down to the darkness and had been lost for a long time. During the course of the narrative Stefaans is likened to the biblical New Testament Lazarus, who was resurrected to life, but also to Joseph of the Old Testament, who was saved from certain death in the pit. Among other things, the novel tells the story of Stefaans's descent into darkness due to drug addiction, the turning point in his life, as well as his gradual return to the land of the living. After this catabatic experience, Stefaans gains insight into his relationship with other flesh being of his flesh and understands his existence as an aware being with a body that has limitations, so that relationality is established. He then reflects on those that he has left behind, whether dead or alive, and so he starts his journey to renewal and regeneration. He accepts his fate, reconnects with his lost brother and heals broken relationships with departed family and friends through retrovision, exorcises his fears, and finally experiences release. Aaron Adendorff, the painter, is the central character in the novel. His story, too, is one of destruction and salvation. After the death of his wife, Naomi, Aaron descends to the dark depths of depression and is also confronted with his own mortality when a cancerous growth is removed from one of his kidneys. There is another striking link with the Orpheus myth in this novel regarding art and the creative process. A conclusive connection exists between being an artist and relationality. It is specifically the descent into the underworld that is presented as the creative process. In this way, the story of Aaron as an artist highlights a different aspect of relationality. Aaron's art is initially figurative in nature and as such he associates himself with the recognisable image. However, after the 1980s his work becomes more abstract as he loses touch with the physical image. This change in the subject-object relation distresses Aaron, because he is constantly aware that the loss of the image –of a discernible object –could be the death of all structure: a formal deadend. The tone in which the novel is written gets its power from the inevitable influence of the invisible image as is evidenced by the description of the intense experience of loss every time the recognisable image disappears. For Aaron, the benefit of his insights into relationality is the rediscovery of his lost loved one, here being the recovery of the recognisable image. He, too, accepts loss and overcomes his anxiety. His renewed creative drive and the prospect of the exhibition in Berlin is proof of his renewal and regeneration. The ontological relationship between people isn't important only for the personal connections and dialogue with predecessors, but also for the insight it gives into what it entails being an artist. It also highlights the connection between artists throughout the ages. Thus, Aaron's retrovision is also a comprehensive overview of Western art history, including many references to predecessor artists with whom he feels a kinship. Feeling himself marginalised (both as a person and as an artist), Aaron takes a critical look at his own figurative paintings as well as those of a few chosen, fictional artists. These include Jimmy Harris (a videographer who has an obsession with deconstructive creativity) and Moeketsi Mosekede (a politically correct artist). Many deceased artists, of whom Joseph Beuys and Francisco Goya are the most notable, are resurrected through retrovision. This historical layering has the effect of a palimpsest, viewing the present as being intertwined with the past. In this way relationality between the past and the present is suggested. Die benederyk is, therefore, indeed a narrative philosophical reflection on the nature, value and function of art in the early 21st century, the history of Western art and the artistic process. Thierry De Duve's comment, as quoted by Lyotard (1992:16), is especially relevant to this novel as it refers to the issues addressed by it: "The question of modern aesthetics is not 'What is beautiful, but rather what is art to be and what is literature to be?'" This article also briefly explores what the terms art and artwork currently mean. Adorno's statement in Aesthetic theory (1997:1) is relevant here: "It is self-evident that nothing concerning art is self-evident anymore, not its inner life, not its relation to society, not even its right to exist." In fact, it could be argued that this pronouncement is the artistic theoretical framework on which Winterbach constitutes her reflection of art and what it means to be an artist in Die benederyk. This novel reflects on the meaning of art, the origin and nature of creative expression (the formation of art) and the possible value thereof. In conclusion it is clear that Winterbach is making explicit pronouncements on art theory through her characters. This means there is evidence of inter-textual poetic reflection. Although these poetic views cannot necessarily be attributed to Winterbach as a visual artist, the narrative philosophical reflection about the creative process confirms once more the particular relationship between her prose and her visual disposition
Rezension von: Andrea Liesner / Ingrid Lohmann (Hrsg.): Gesellschaftliche Bedingungen von Bildung und Erziehung. Eine Einführung. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2010 (326 S.; ISBN 978-3-17-021211-4; 19,80 EUR).
Im Mittelpunkt des Sammelbands, der von den Politikwissenschaftlerinnen Ingrid Kurz-Scherf und Alexandra Scheele herausgegeben ist, stehen Betrachtungen aus feministischen Perspektiven zum Verhältnis von Ökonomie und Politik im Kontext der Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise seit 2008. Dabei werden feministische Diskurse zur aktuellen Krise reflektiert sowie Möglichkeiten ausgelotet, wie ökonomische und finanzpolitische Diskurse um feministische Perspektiven erweitert werden könnten, Schlaglichter auf die Anti-Krisenpolitik und die Auswirkungen der Krise auf Geschlechtergerechtigkeit in einigen europäischen Ländern geworfen sowie alternative Denkangebote beleuchtet. Trotz der Heterogenität der Zugänge, Methoden und Qualität der Beiträge finden sich hier diverse Anstöße zum Weiterdenken und ‑forschen. ; Central to Ingrid Kurz-Scherf's and Alexandra Scheele's edited collection are observations of the relationship between economy and politics in the context of the 2008 financial crisis from a feminist perspective. The collection reflects on feminist discourse on the crisis, explores the possibility of expanding economic and fiscal policy discourse to include feminist perspectives, highlights crisis policies and the effects of the crisis on gender equality in several European countries, and comments on alternative avenues of thought. In spite of the heterogeneous approaches, methods and quality of the contributions, the collection offers food for thought and diverse impulses for research.
