Bodily and Embodied: Being Human in the Tradition of the Hebrew Bible

A depiction of the ancient Hebrew understanding of the human being must take into account the fact that the Bible does not contain a systematic anthropology, but unfolds the multiplicity of human existence inductively, aspectively, and in narrative fashion. In comparison to Greek body/soul dualism, but also in the context of body-(de-)construction and gender debates, this circumstance makes it a treasure trove of interesting, often contrasting recollections and insights with liberating potential. This assertion will be illustrated concretely in terms of the nexus points of the human body (throat, heart, and womb), the relationship of humans to animals and angels, and the questions of the power and value of a human being.

Alles koscher? Die Renaissance jüdischer Restaurants zwischen Tradition und Innovation

Die Erfindung eines jüdischen „ethnic food“ im urbanen Kontext Die religiösen Speisegesetze, die Kaschrut, sind heute nur noch für eine kleine Minderheit der Juden im Alltag verbindlich. In urbanen Zentren Europas finden sich heute jedoch eine Vielzahl von Restaurants, die Bezug nehmen auf das Judentum und seine kulinarischen Traditionen. Am Beispiel von fünf verschiedenen Städten (Berlin, Lodz, Paris, Wien, Zürich) wird aufgezeigt, wie „jüdische“ Gastronomie vor dem Hintergrund unterschiedlicher historischer Erfahrungen und vielfältiger Migrationsbewegungen von Juden aber auch von Nichtjuden neu interpretiert werden können. Auch wenn die meisten Gaststätten keine koscheren Speisen im religionsgesetzlichen Sinne anbieten, sind diese Restaurants doch ein wichtiges Merkmal eines innovativen und integrativen Umgangs mit Europas jüdischem Erbe.

Die frühe hebräische Geschichtsschreibung und die Historien Herodots - zwei Paar Stiefel?

In der Vergangenheit ist vielfach behauptet worden, dass die Hebräische Bibel und die Historien Herodots in ganz verschiedene literarische bzw. konzeptionelle Kategorien gehören. Ein Textvergleich soll klären, ob diese These haltbar ist. Der Tagungsbeitrag gibt Einblick in grundsätzliche Überlegungen im Zuge der Präzisierung des methodischen Zugriffs und der Fragestellung. Es werden zunächst kurz verschiedene Begründungen für die Verneinung von Historiographie im Tanach beleuchtet (Christian Meier, Erhard Blum, Philip Davies) und dann kurz die Schwierigkeiten bei der Definition von antiker Geschichtsschreibung dargestellt, die im Ergebnis für das Offenhalten von Kategorien- und Genregrenzen sprechen. Möglicherweise kann beim Umgang mit dieser etwas diffusen Situation die Kategorienbildung in der Prototypensemantik helfen. Ausgehend von einer Liste von Elementen, die nicht als ‚KO-Kriterien‘ für antike Geschichtsschreibung in Frage kommen wird kurz erläutert, warum Geschichtsschreibung und mythisches Erzählen in frühen historiographischen Texten miteinander kompatibel sind. Kurze Beispiele zeigen, dass Herodots Verhältnis zu mythischen und religiösen Vorstellungen keineswegs einheitlich ist, und dass diese Tradition einen der Bezugsrahmen seines Werks ausmacht. Diese Einsichten schlagen sich in den methodischen Überlegungen nieder. Ein wichtiger Ausgangspunkt ist hier die Annahme der Andersartigkeit der antiken Historiographie und ihrer Auffassung von der Arbeit und Aufgabe eines Historikers. In der Forschung sind zu meinem oder ähnlichen Themen verschiedene methodische Ansätze gewählt worden; so das Ausgehen von modernen oder antiken Geschichts- bzw. Literaturtheorien oder die Rekonstruktion des Umgangs der Autoren mit ihren Quellen. Demgegenüber bietet eine literaturwissenschaftlich-vergleichende Erzähltextanalyse gewisse Vorteile. Damit die Auswahl der Vergleichshinsichten nicht willkürlich erfolgt, brauchen komparatistische Textanalysen trotzdem ein theoretisches Konzept oder zumindest einen übergeordneten Leitgedanken. Hier scheint mir das Herausarbeiten der jeweils spezifischen ‚historischen Wahrheit‘ der Texte fruchtbar zu sein.

The Social Imaginary of Culture/Civilization in the Arabic Literary Tradition

Charles Taylor’s contribution to social imaginaries offers an interpretive framework for better understanding modernity as secularity. One of its main aspects is conceiving of human society in linear, homogenous time (secular time). Looking into the Arabic intellectual tradition, I will argue in my paper that Taylor’s framework can help us understand major social and intellectual transformations. The Ottoman and Arabic modernization process during the 19th century has often been understood by focusing on certain core concepts. One of these is tamaddun, usually translated as “civilization.” I will be mostly talking about the works of two “pioneers” of Arab modernity (which is traditionally referred to as an-nahḍa, the so-called Arab Renaissance): the Syrian Fransīs Marrāsh and the Egyptian Rifāʿa aṭ-Ṭahṭāwī. First I will focus on Marrāsh’s didactic novel “The Forest of Truth” (1865), as it offers a complex view of tamaddun, which has sometimes been construed as merely a social and political reform program. The category of "social imaginary,” however, is useful in grasping the wider semantic scope of this concept, which is reading it as a signifier for human history conceived of in secular time, as Taylor defines it. This conceptualization of human history functioning within the immanent frame can also be observed in the introduction to “The Extraction of Pure Gold in the Description of Paris” (1834), a systematic account of a travel experience in France that was written by the other “pioneer,” aṭ-Ṭahṭāwī. Finally, in translating tamaddun as “the modern social imaginary of civilization/culture,” the talk aims to consider this imaginary as a major factor in the emergence of the “secular age.” Furthermore, it suggests the importance of studying (quasi-) literary texts, such as historiographical, geographical, and self-narratives in the Arabic literary tradition, in order to further elaborate continuities and ruptures in social imaginaries.

From emotion perception to emotion experience: Emotions evoked by pictures and classical music.

Most previous neurophysiological studies evoked emotions by presenting visual stimuli. Models of the emotion circuits in the brain have for the most part ignored emotions arising from musical stimuli. To our knowledge, this is the first emotion brain study which examined the influence of visual and musical stimuli on brain processing. Highly arousing pictures of the International Affective Picture System and classical musical excerpts were chosen to evoke the three basic emotions of happiness, sadness and fear. The emotional stimuli modalities were presented for 70 s either alone or combined (congruent) in a counterbalanced and random order. Electroencephalogram (EEG) Alpha-Power-Density, which is inversely related to neural electrical activity, in 30 scalp electrodes from 24 right-handed healthy female subjects, was recorded. In addition, heart rate (HR), skin conductance responses (SCR), respiration, temperature and psychometrical ratings were collected. Results showed that the experienced quality of the presented emotions was most accurate in the combined conditions, intermediate in the picture conditions and lowest in the sound conditions. Furthermore, both the psychometrical ratings and the physiological involvement measurements (SCR, HR, Respiration) were significantly increased in the combined and sound conditions compared to the picture conditions. Finally, repeated measures ANOVA revealed the largest Alpha-Power-Density for the sound conditions, intermediate for the picture conditions, and lowest for the combined conditions, indicating the strongest activation in the combined conditions in a distributed emotion and arousal network comprising frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital neural structures. Summing up, these findings demonstrate that music can markedly enhance the emotional experience evoked by affective pictures.

Modulation of corticospinal activity by strong emotions evoked by pictures and classical music: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study.

Using transcranial magnetic stimulation and skin conductance responses, we sought to clarify if, and to what extent, emotional experiences of different valences and intensity activate the hand-motor system and the associated corticospinal tract. For that purpose, we applied a newly developed method to evoke strong emotional experiences by the simultaneous presentation of musical and pictorial stimuli of congruent emotional valence. We uncovered enhanced motor-evoked potentials, irrespective of valence, during the simultaneous presentation of emotional music and picture stimuli (Combined conditions) compared with the single presentation of the two modalities (Picture/Music conditions). In contrast, vegetative arousal was enhanced during both the Combined and Music conditions, compared with the Picture conditions, again irrespective of emotional valence. These findings strongly indicate that arousal is a necessary, but not sufficient, prerequisite for triggering the motor system of the brain. We offer a potential explanation for this discrepant, but intriguing, finding in the paper.

Prognostic factors for advanced-stage human immunodeficiency virus-associated classical Hodgkin lymphoma treated with doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine plus combined antiretroviral therapy: A multi-institutional retrospective study.

BACKGROUND The treatment and outcomes of patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) continue to evolve. The International Prognostic Score (IPS) is used to predict the survival of patients with advanced-stage HL, but it has not been validated in patients with HIV infection. METHODS This was a multi-institutional, retrospective study of 229 patients with HIV-associated, advanced-stage, classical HL who received doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) plus combination antiretroviral therapy. Their clinical characteristics were presented descriptively, and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the factors that were predictive of response and prognostic of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). RESULTS The overall and complete response rates to ABVD in patients with HIV-associated HL were 91% and 83%, respectively. After a median follow-up of 5 years, the 5-year PFS and OS rates were 69% and 78%, respectively. In multivariate analyses, there was a trend toward an IPS score >3 as an adverse factor for PFS (hazard ratio [HR], 1.49; P=.15) and OS (HR, 1.84; P=.06). A cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4)-positive (T-helper) cell count <200 cells/μL was associated independently with both PFS (HR, 2.60; P=.002) and OS (HR, 2.04; P=.04). The CD4-positive cell count was associated with an increased incidence of death from other causes (HR, 2.64; P=.04) but not with death from HL-related causes (HR, 1.55; P=.32). CONCLUSIONS The current results indicate excellent response and survival rates in patients with HIV-associated, advanced-stage, classical HL who receive ABVD and combination antiretroviral therapy as well as the prognostic value of the CD4-positive cell count at the time of lymphoma diagnosis for PFS and OS. Cancer 2014. © 2014 American Cancer Society.