Demonstrating feelings of grief was of great importance in the elite culture of liberal Italy. At the same time, mourning the dead flew in the face of societal trends toward secularization. The study analyzes the background of this ambivalent situation of conflict, examines the role of religion and nation in relation to death, discusses the relationship between body and emotions, and shows how grief was expressed across space.
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Humiliation practices are common, for example, in parenting and education, on the internet, in penal law, and in politics. Thus, after 1944, many French women accused of liaising with Germans were degraded by having their hair shorn in public.
Die Politik der Demütigung investigates humiliation as an instrument of power in public settings over the past 250 years, demonstrating that modernity never relinquished the pillory but simply reinvented it. It is no longer the state that shames and humiliates but society.
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Many worry about the recent rise of right-wing populism and extremism in Germany. Racism against foreigners and refugees has reached new levels. Emotions like fear, hatred or anger obviously play a major role in this development. Uffa Jensen explores the role of such emotions in prejudices by discussing the modern history of anti-Semitism, islamophobia, and racism. It thus combines a historical analysis with a critical perspective on contemporary developments.
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Margrit Pernau (guest ed.), "Feeling Communities", Special Issue of The Indian Economic and Social History Review 54.1 (2017).
With contributions by Margrit Pernau, Imke Rajamani, Max Stille, Carla Petievich, Christina Oesterheld and Amélie Blom.