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Architecture and Art as Historical Sources: On the Borders of Humanities and Social Sciences

Session led by Monika Brenišínová.

Readings

  • Clifford Geertz. ‘Art as Cultural System.’ MLN 91(6): 1473–1499, 1976.
  • George Kubler. ‘History: Or Anthropology: Of Art?’ Critical Inquiry, 1(4): 757-767, 1975.

In various theoretical discussions on architecture, we may notice that there is not a singular way of approaching it. From the classical perspective of the history of art classical art historical perspective, it is possible to identify at least three basic methods of inquiry: archaeological building survey („Bauforschung“, A. von Gerkan, in Czech “SHP”, D. Líbal); style-critical and style-historical analyses (H. Wölfflin, H. Focillon, M. Dvořák); semantic analysis (G. Passavant, E. Hubala). When we consider art in general, things however get even more complicated. If we take into account the fact that even among historians of art a consensus about the definition of art as such does not exist, what will happen when we will look at art from the perspective of another scientific discipline? When we conceive art as an historical source, traditional art historical categories such as the aesthetic point of view, the author’s fantasy, the styles or commonplaces (loci communes) quickly lose their significance. Moreover, historical work with visual sources is largely interpretative and requires a significantly critical approach. Thus we suddenly find ourselves on the borders of humanities and social sciences. And it is exactly such space, outside the frontiers of clearly defined disciplines, where the space and time change their shapes and where other disciplines – such as anthropology – can be brought into play.

 

Ritual Change in South Asia: Circulations, Transfers, Transgressions

Where: CEFRES, Národní 18, conference room, 7th floor.

Organizers: Cécile Guillaume-Pey (CEFRES & FMSH) and Martin Hříbek (FF UK).

Language: English

A workshop organized by CEFRES and the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, with the participation of researchers from the Heidelberg University (Germany), of University College Cork (Ireland), of Wageningen (Netherlands) and of Charles University.

Program

Panel 1 – Discussant: Barbora Spalová (Assistant Professor, Charles University, Prague)

9:45 AM – Max Stille (Ph.D. student, University of Heidelberg) : Bengali Islamic sermons between ritual and non-ritual frames of interpretation

10:20 AM – Alexis Avdeeff (Maître de Conférences, Université de Poitiers) : Chanting destiny: the commercialization of a traditional “divinatory art”

10:55 AM – Break

11:25 AM – Martin Hříbek (Assistant Professor, Charles University): Animating images of Durga: Art, ritual and technologies of enchantment on the streets of Calcutta

Break

Panel 2 – Discussant: Luděk Brož (Institute of Ethnology, The Czech Academy of Sciences)

2 PM – Lidia Guzy (Assistant Professor, University College Cork): From ritual music to stage, museums and politics. Ritual transfers in Western Odisha, India

2:35 PM – Rhadika Borde (Ph.D. Student, Wageningen University): Politicized rituals of worship: Activist involvement in the Dongaria Kondhs’ worship of the Niyamgiri Mountain in Odisha, India

3:10 PM – Break

3:30 PM – Soňa Bendíková (Assistant Professor, Charles University) : The Kota funeral: change of rituals in time

4:05 PM – Cécile Guillaume-Pey (Postdoctoral research fellow, IIAC, Paris): Drinking letters or talking with spirits? Ritual change in a Sora religious movement

Outline

Rituals are not atemporal, infallible devices that always “work” regardless of the performers’ motivations and social contexts in which they are embedded. Rituals are social and historical constructs sometimes considered to be unsatisfying or useless by the participants. They might even “fail” and are then recast, abandoned or replaced. Highlighting the flexibility and polysemy of rituals, recent studies have emphasized the relevance of a diachronic approach that considers the experience of the actors engaged in the performance, how they criticize and reinvent it, and the ways in which they appropriate alternative ritual models.

This workshop aims to investigate the processes of transformation, circulation and transfer of rituals in South Asia. Whether adjusting a “traditional” ritual form in a new social, political or religious context, or integrating new media – writing, audio or video – to diffuse a religious message, the papers will highlight the different ways in which actors reshape their ritual practices and invent new liturgical forms.

 

Inside the Lobbying Regulation Processes in Central Europe: Negotiating Public and Private Actors’ Roles in Governance

In the frame of IMS and CEFRES’s common seminar “Between Areas and Disciplines”, Jana Vargovčíková (CEFRES-FF UK) will present her PhD work on Modes of Legitimating Lobbying in Central Europe and their Ambivalences. Her presentation will be discussed by CNRS Research Professor Pierre Lascoumes, a member of the European Studies Center (CEE), and a specialist among others on political corruption, law-making process, and contemporary forms of economic crime.

Where: CEFRES library, Na Florenci 3.

Language: English.

 

Can Elites Be Delinquent?

LascoumesA lecture by French sociologist and CNRS professor Pierre Lascoumes, in the frame of the lectures of the CEFRES Platform.  His presentation will be discussed by Pavol Frič (ISS FSV UK), who dedicates part of his research to the analysis of corruption in the relationships between elites and public sphere in the Czech republic.

Language: in French, with simultaneous Czech translation.

Where: Národní 18, Prague 1, conference room, 7th floor.

Trained as a jurist and a sociologist, Pierre Lascoumes (CNRS and Centre d’Etudes européennes of Sciences-Po Paris) has led major works on the perceptions of corruption and economic and financial crimes. He’s also a lead in the field of the history and the implementation of environmental policies and risk management.

His latest work, cowritten with Prof. Carla Nagels, a specialist in criminology, deals with recent cases (such as Bettencourt, or HSBC), which despite their strong médiatisation, have benefited from a form of social acceptation in France (Sociologie des élites délinquantes: de la criminalité en col blanc à la corruption politique).  A man of theater, Pierre Lascoumes has also created a play in 2015 around a text written by Mazarin, which gave some insight on the Cahuzac case.

From the Berlin Wall to Brexit: Why Politics needs a Free Press

A lecture by Daniel Johnson in partnership with FSV UK (IMS, IPS, IKSŽ) and CEFRES.

Daniel Johnson is a British historian and conservative journalist, co-founder in 2008 and editor of an influential cultural and political monthly Standpoint.

Where: Conference room, Narodni 18 (7th floor), Prague 1
Language: English

More information on the website of Standpoint.

The Uses of Analogy in Human and Social Sciences

A session led by Lara Bonneau

It is possible to conceive transdisciplinarity as sharing of objects or methods by several disciplines. Besides objects and methods, it can also be – and this might be its first form – the sharing of a common lexicon. The tendency of certain human sciences – philosophy in particular – to use concepts elaborated by other disciplines in other contexts was sharply criticized by Alan Sokal in 1994, in what remains known as the Sokal Affair. The physicist tried to discredit the way certain philosophers were using concepts that belonged to the natural sciences, showing their ignorance about the real meaning of these concepts in their original field and thereby reducing their work to vain language games. Indeed, the use of analogy and metaphor in the human sciences can be put into question. During this session, I will try to show that, if it is not without danger, the use of analogy and metaphor is inherent to the scientific activity, which can moreover be both legitimate and fruitful. I will start with a concrete example: the way the art historian Aby Warburg uses analogy and metaphors from the natural sciences. I will then rely on a more reflexive text about the legitimacy of this method entitled Théorie de l’acte analogique in Simondon’s L’individuation à la lumière des notions de forme et d’information.

Readings:

  • Gilbert Simondon. L’individu et sa genèse physico-biologique. Paris: PUF, 1964, pp. 264-268.
  • Alan Sokal. ‘A Physicist Experiments with Cultural Studies.’ Lingua Franca May/June 1996, available at: http://linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org/9605/sokal.html
  • Aby Warburg. Miroirs de faille, A Rome avec Giordano Bruno et Edouard Manet. Paris: Presses du réel/L’écarquillé, 2011, pp. 62, 64.