Three new fellows in the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften – Institute of Advanced Studies will cooperate closely with the research focus “Democratic Vistas. Reflections on the Atlantic World.”
Dr. Gladys Kalichini is an art historian and visual artist from Lusaka, Zambia. She holds a doctorate in art history and visual culture from Rhodes University in South Africa. Kalichini analyzes the visibility of women in the portrayals of African states’ independence movements. She explores the way in which (visual or other) narratives of state formation, which are connected with women in Zambia and Zimbabwe, change over time. “These shifts in the narratives or perspectives from which women are viewed make women either more or less visible,” Kalichini explains.
Her research seeks to uncover the complex conditions under which narratives about women either become visible or disappear. “This means narratives associated with women can become either more or less invisible owing to several factors, including:
- definitions – the way in which terms such as ‘freedom fighter’ are developed excludes some of the activities carried out by some women;
- the preservation of history and memory at cultural heritage sites (archives, museums, monuments, memorial sites, public and national commemoration events);
- the quantity of the materials documenting the past, e.g. photos and videos;
- the prevailing liberation narrative;
- government policies;
- culture and social traditions.”
One of the theoretical assumptions for her work at the Forschungskolleg, Kalichini says, is that the visibility of women in the liberation narratives of other African countries could be influenced by factors similar to those in Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Does she think her research results can also be transferred to developments on other continents? “We can say that the inadequate visibility of women is a global problem. However, it’s important to understand that the problem is not the same everywhere,” she explains. Unlike African countries, for example, Germany was never colonized. All the same, she adds, Germany’s path to becoming a democracy was fraught with turbulence. This history, like all other histories, is recounted from a certain perspective, in which people are accorded varying levels of importance. “We could also think of White and Black feminist movements in the American context, which exhibit parallels not only with Africa, but possibly also with Europe (East and West) and even with Asia.”
She sees her work with Democratic Vistas as promising, particularly in relation to concepts of democracy: “Democracy isn’t a static concept, but one that has many different meanings around the globe. It’s obviously rooted in a philosophical meaning, but its seeds are spread and planted across different regions, each with its own ‘environmental conditions’ – this is a metaphor I use for researching democracy and freedom in my work.”
“My stay at the FKH has been great so far,” reports Kalichini, who is currently busy sorting and analyzing various materials, including archive photos relating to liberation movements. She would like to gain a better understanding of ideas of nation-building and experiences with democracy, and at the same time make the role of women in this context visible. Kalichini finds that sharing and discussing ideas with the other researchers at the FKH is very fruitful, especially with regard to the different views about what the concept of democracy entails and how differing perspectives leave their mark on it in a variety of contexts.
Spanish philosopher Dr. Belén Pueyo-Ibáñez, who earned her doctorate at Emory University in Atlanta, is working on a book project entitled “Rationality in a Polarized Society: Exploring the Socio-Affective Preconditions of Collective Discourse”. In it she discusses that while reforms of and improvements to institutions are indispensable for preserving and strengthening the democratic order, it is equally important to study how these processes of reform and improvement are formed by our discursive practices. Her work focuses not only on such discursive practices between political and social leaders, but also on those between leaders and ordinary citizens, and those among the citizens themselves. Even the apparently irrelevant conversations we all have with family members, friends, colleagues and even total strangers on social media can greatly influence our decisions and actions.
Pueyo-Ibáñez points out that any approach to these discursive practices must consider the nature of the interpersonal relationships involved: “How we perceive other people – especially those who think differently, whether we regard them as legitimate interlocutors, what interest we have in their life circumstances, and whether we’re willing to consider their demands – can have a sizable influence on these conversations.” She adds that it is also crucial to take account of their emotional dimension: “As participants in democracy, we cannot act in a purely rational way – whereby rationality is wrongly understood to mean free from any emotional component. Instead, reason and emotions in fact act simultaneously. So the aim is not to remove all emotion from our conversations – which would be impossible in any case – but to choose carefully which emotions we’re going to rely on. Contrary to the widespread claim that people can only combat polarization and the decline of democracy by adopting a more rational attitude, I believe what our endangered democracies need most urgently is for us to rethink how we perceive and interact with other people (especially those with different values and beliefs), and that we cultivate more constructive relations with them.”
The Democratic Vistas research focus, where Pueyo-Ibáñez is developing her book project, concentrates on the idea of democracy as an ongoing experiment. She is particularly interested in how polarization, intolerance and authoritarianism impede and jeopardize this experiment’s development. “This is what my research will focus on this year. I’d like it to foster a better understanding of what it means to act democratically.” Pueyo-Ibáñez enjoys being part of the FKH’s international and interdisciplinary community of researchers: “It’s very lively and you get a lot of support. I can’t imagine any better place for my work.”
Dr. Philip Mills completed his doctorate at Royal Holloway, University of London, after which he took on a postdoc position in French literature at the University of Lausanne, where he also taught philosophy. His research topic at the FKH is “Poetic Forms of Life and Democracy:” Mills defines the central concept – “forms of life” – with these words: “I understand the notion of a form of life in the sense of Wittgenstein, although I also associate it with other traditions. For Ludwig Wittgenstein, forms of life create the background for our linguistic practices. In this context, and following on from French linguist Henri Meschonnic, poetry can be seen as the mutual transformation by forms of language and forms of life. This transformative dimension is essential for understanding the socio-political aspects of the concept of the form of life.” Contemporary artists and poets are becoming increasingly explicit in addressing social and political questions, and their work casts a new light on the notion of a “form of life”, Mills says. Their poetic practices are moving away from the romantic ideal of poetry as detached from everyday matters; yet even for the romantics, poetry was an attempt to find a way to live here on Earth. “In my research I conceptualize this interdependence between language forms (poetics) and ways of living (ethics), with the aid of the poetics concept employed by some contemporary poets and theorists.”
He sees “Guantanamo” by Frank Smith and “Bogoro” by Franck Leibovici and Julien Seroussi as examples of works by French poets who have used excerpts from official reports to shed additional light on official discourses. Examples from North American poetry, he says, might be NourbeSe Philip’s “Zong!” or, in a different vein, Claudia Rankine’s works such as “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely, Citizen” or “Just Us,” which weaves together autobiographical experiences, documents and theories. On the notion of “form of life” in particular, Mills says that Leibovici (des formes de vie) gives an overview of contemporary poetic and artistic practices that are understood as forms of life.
In Democratic Vistas, Mills would like to introduce a focus on the intersection of philosophy and poetry. “How can poetry help us invent alternative forms of life, and what is their relationship to questions of democratic theory? Understanding how poetry can transform forms of life also constitutes an attempt at understanding how poetry can help us rethink democracy or at least tackle the challenges confronting democratic forms of life.” Like the two other new fellows, Mills greatly appreciates his time at the FKH: “The regular contacts with my colleagues create an intellectual atmosphere that opens up new perspectives for my research.”
More information:
https://www.forschungskolleg-humanwissenschaften.de/index.php/fellows/present
https://www.forschungskolleg-humanwissenschaften.de/index.php/projects/democratic-vistas
