Projects / Programmes
Toward a historic anthropology of intellelctuals: European gender relations and practices of democracy as site of formation of cultural poetics of intelectuals since the Hellenistic age
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.03.02 |
Humanities |
Anthropology |
Social and cultural anthropology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S220 |
Social sciences |
Cultural anthropology, ethnology |
historic anthropology, intellectuals, cultural intimacy, cultural poetics, cultural intersections, Hellenism, polyglotty, multiculturality, practices of democracy, gender relations, urban ethnology, ethics of everyday life, anthropology of images and words, dominant narratives,historic semantics, body history, subculture, nomadism
Researchers (3)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
14974 |
PhD Mojca Ramšak |
Ethnology |
Researcher |
2007 - 2009 |
838 |
| 2. |
14323 |
PhD Svetlana Slapšak |
Humanities |
Head |
2007 - 2009 |
806 |
| 3. |
18009 |
Tamara Zurunić |
|
Technical associate |
2007 - 2009 |
0 |
Organisations (1)
Abstract
Historic anthropology of intellectuals is related to two socio-cultural formations, which define the group even before the creation of first institutions serving intellectuals: gender relations in the patriarchal community and democracy. The theoretical outcome of the project originates from the recent theories of the body and gender. Connecting historic anthropology of intelelctuals to this means on one hand to stop the non-argumentative appropriation of cultures of Antiquity by the modern European culture, and on the other hand to think of possible approaches to a motivational reflection of the triangle gender/women – intellectuals – democracy, which challenges the usual descriptional elements for intellectuals like curiosity, avoiding the established rules, a need for uncompromised research. The result of such an analysis should be a model of cultural poetics, which we could verify by reading the immanet poetics in the texts of the authors from a chosen group. Hence the established model could serve as a base to the central goal of the research, historic-anthropological reading of the population of intellectuals in the new Hellenistic globalized world. The historic-anthropological analyseis pertain to four thematic areas – polyglotty, urbanity/multiculturalism, institutions, subculture/nomadism. All four thematic areas are then put into the context of changed gender relations and changed practices of participation in politics, and the clear division between the public and the private sphere. The changes are then read in the politics of constructing the body and discourses, which witness to key modifications. The modifications are organized into a system, confirmed by the comparative reading of synchronous texts, in order to establish different status and different politics of the gaze in the times of the Athenian democracy, and then in the times of social changes of Hellenism, the goal being to follow possible continuities till today. The result should be changes in the expected horizon of research in historic anthropology of gender and democracy, and their relation functioning as the central site of reflection on the position of intellectuals.
The resulting study will use the methodology of comparing texts and images and establishing diachronic-isochronic inter-sectionalities, after the procedures proposed by the French school of anthropology of Ancient worlds.
Significance for science
The research project deals with a rarely treated topic of historical anthropology of intellectuals, which is not covered by a relevant scientific literature. There are not obvious avenues or schools of thought to follow for a developed or running theoretical debate, a methodology has not been articulated to serve this topic. With the development of such orientation within the historical anthropology a new thematic horizon is opened; its importance for the European perspective of the history of science and culture is clear. The "configuration of conscioussness" is of special importance in this context, because it encompasses the anthropological research of intelelctuals and/as citizens in a historical context: prformatice, discursive and epistemological aspects of interventions of intellectuals/citizens reveals the mechanisms of other anthropological mechanisms, above all of the constructs of social and gender identities.
Thus the innovative approach deconstructs the euro-centric position of intellectuals, and at the same time contributes to the continuation of the school of anthropology of Ancient worlds, by paying special attention to those intellectuals who radically changed the interpretations of Antiquity.
In the context of European gender studies, this approach enables specific research, which is not formated as a canon model (inclusion/exclusion) of an often utopian representation of women, but reveals operational mechanisms of patriarchal censorship in a diachronical continuity: they often facilitate "niches" of intelelctual and civic activities (spaces less controlled by prescribing discourses and narratives, usually subcultures or supra-cultures), where intellectuals directly meet women and their demands. Historical alliances of intelelctuals and feminists are only the most obvious example of the social-cultural production of "niches".
Significance for the country
In Slovenia, differently from other post-socialist countries, the historical anthropology has been introduced and developed, by prof. Svetlana Slapšak. In an interdisciplinary cooperation with archaeology, anthropology of gender and Balkanology, this direction in humanities opens a special area of expertise for Slovenia as a space for scientific meetings, conferences, paedagogical center and innovative research in the traditional disciplines among humanities. ISH, the Ljubljana Graduate School of Humanities, has developed such research and study orientation since 1997, enabling mobility of ideas, knowledge, and academic population. ISH has been aknowledged for its pioneer work in this discilinary area by the universities of Edinburgh, Trieste and Utrecht (grants for post-docs from ISH for specific research in Ancient studies, Summer schools, membership in the Consortium for Humanities at Utrecht university).
In the second disciplinary component of the research project, anthropology of gender, the topic has alrady attracted young researchers from the Balkan region and from EC. Academic relations established by prof. Slapšak facilitated the academic and research cooperation in the programs HESP Modular PhD, GEMMA, Marie Curie EST, NOISE. ATHENA 3 in both ways - coming of foreign students and researchers, and Slovenian students and researchers going to other universities, research centers and projects.
The research of the historical anthropology of intellectuals is of crucial importance for the development of civic conscioussness and cultivating of a high level of public discourse in Slovenia.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2008,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2008,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
