Blaž Ploj presents a working paper on ‚Implicit Ritual in the Mostellaria‘

In the first part of this paper, a model audience is constructed on the basis of the approaches of the so-called Konstanz School of aesthetics of reception, with the aim of bridging the methodological difficulties arising from the lack of evidence of reception. The second part focuses on the object of my investigation, which I critically revise. My aim is to make it easier to grasp some phenomena which I incorporate into my analysis with the concept of implicit ritual. The third part is a case study in which I try to define by means of an example from the Mostellaria (The Haunted House) what the concept of implicit ritual encompasses.

Bennet Bergmann gives a working paper on ‚Meditation as a practice to develop a mediopassive attitude towards self and world‘

This paper examines the aspect of medio-passivity (both active and passive) in the field of meditation practices. First, the mediopassive attitude is described and contextualized in relation to resonance theory. The illustration in the empirical material is divided into two topics: the practitioners attitude towards their own practice, and the description of their practice (the instruction how to meditate). Finally the underlying principle of medio-passivity is generalized and related to other oppositions (such as interior-exterior). This leads to the assumption that mediation practices could be described as an exercise in taking a medio-attitude.

Cécile Stephanie Stehrenberger is going to present a working paper on ‚Annobón 1988. Slow disaster, colonialism, and the Franco dictatorship ‚

In 1988, plans to dump “toxic waste from Europe” on the island of Annobón were uncovered. This article analyzes the “slow disaster” these plans set into motion, revealing the ways in which it was made possible by the ongoing legacies of Francoist and other colonialisms. It explains how the scheme converted the Annobonese population into “riskable life” and connects it to the 1966 nuclear incident of Palomares. Moreover, it demonstrates how the racist othering of Africa(ns), that had been an important condition of possibility for the disaster, was reproduced in some accounts of it published in Spanish and German print media.

Diana Pavel gives a working paper on ‚Calling upon the gods?! The otherworldly recipients of altar-based ceremonies within the Etruscan world‘

The current colloquium paper represents a draft of the chapter dealing with the communication with the gods, a chapter that is incorporated into the wider topic of vertical relationships as one of the main components of the analysis of altar-focused ceremonies. The aim of this colloquium paper is therefore to investigate the connections that could still be inferred from the archaeological, iconographical, epigraphic record between the practices undertaken at the altar and the divinities that were being called upon during these ceremonies.

The paper is divided into three parts, each one dealing with a specific approach into the topic: the first one investigates the means of communication with the divine, the second part brings together a series of associations between altar-based ceremonies and the respective divine recipients, and the latter introduces the temporal dimension so as to allow reflections upon the changes of divinities brought upon by the change of worshippers throughout time.

Sara Keller is presents a workin paper on ‚A model of water topography in the Western Indian city (10th -16th century) ‚

In arid and monsoon-dependant Western India, harvesting and managing water is a necessity. Thus, monuments and modified landscapes related to irrigation, water storing and water worship represent a large share of Indian architectural heritage. Yet this rich corpus and its attached hydrological knowledge awaits to be fully recognized: So far administrative efforts and scientific studies focus on the most visible elements, especially stepwells and other dug facilities.

Inspired by archaeological observations and historical data, my paper proposes to have a fresh look at the hydraulic elements of the medieval city in order to draw a comprehensive chart of the water resources and water infrastructures available in the urban context. My argument rehabilitates the lake and underlines its crucial function in plain regions depending on the sufficient refill of aquifers. The Solanki city of Western India, and in its continuity the Vaghela and Sultanate city, is disposing of a broad panel of waters capable of meeting the needs of multiple religious and profane activities (hydro-diversity). The generous waterscape and its multifold developments reflect on functions of sociability and religiosity in the city. Water appears as an essential identity marker of urbanity.

Shelley Feldman gives a working paper on ‚In-Situ Displacement: Institutional Practices and the Making of the Hindu Other‘

This paper is focused on developing an analytic, in-situ displacement – being displaced without movement — that can contribute to explaining the particular experiences of Hindus in East Pakistan/Bangladesh who, I argue, cannot be adequately understood by the various approaches proposed for studies of minority groups. Although numerically, and in their political and social positioning, Hindus share many characteristics with other minority communities, their particular relation within the social formation and their history in the country are quite distinct. Thus, as I argue, their positioning can better be understood as constitutive of the project of majoritarian rule. To establish the ground for this claim, I examine court cases brought against Hindus for what they reveal about relations of rule and the social construction of Hindus as others, others who are assumed to be enemies of the state, proxy citizens, and whose loyalty is always questioned. The paper, and the larger project, is framed in the idiom of state formation and moral regulation and recuperates a literature that remains provocative and timely, especially when synergized with new theoretical work on liminality and processes of subjectivation. I encourage you read this contribution as a reflection, rather than what I would consider a draft paper, in hopes that I can engage people in helping to elaborate, and also to assess, in-situ displacement as a productive analytic, especially when embedded in the theoretical architecture of state, nation, and subject formation.

Anders Moe Rasmussen presents a working paper on ‚Modernism as Nihilsm. Nihilism in Jacobi, Fichte and Kierkegaard Existential Thought Reconsidered. German Idealism as Existentialism‘

The project intends to pursue F.H. Jacobi´s “double philosophy”, his distinction between two radically different ways of thinking, one representing rationalism and idealism, in terms of nihilism, and the other his own realistic alternative, called “Glauben”, into post-Kantian philosophy. More specifically the project aims at uncovering the impact of Jacobi´s thinking on the philosophy of the later Fichte as well as on the thinking of Søren Kierkegaard. The essential claim of the project is that both Fichte´s later philosophy and

Kierkegaard´s thinking is to be interpreted as responses to a nihilistic worldview, as different qualifications of Jacobi´s notion of “Glauben”

Josef Römelt presents a working paper on ‚Theological Ethics within the rational conditions of Cultural Studies‘

The text offered for the colloquium is intended to demonstrate the increasing interest of geography in ethical questions. Part of the dissertation project describes a process of increasing sensitivity for ethical questions on the part of geography, which overcomes the scientific positivism of the second half of the 20th century and leads to the transdisciplinary questions of the 21st century. Under the heading of „moral geographies“, the PhD project attempts to discuss the results of these cultural studies processes in geography. This could be helpful hints to possibly supplementing this analysis (however, it has already turned out to be relatively broad). However, the aim of the dissertation project is to obtain helpful suggestions for theological ethics from the increasing sensitivity of geography to ethics. „Geographical“ terminology seems particularly helpful for the task of structuring ethical problems. For example, Integrative Ethics speaks of topology, aporetics and poristics as essential components of striving ethics. Just as in geography topography designs maps for orientation, in ethics the demonstration of topoi, i.e. problem centres, paths of possible solutions (poristics) and the description of cul-de-sacs (aporetics) should provide ethical orientation services. In connection with the ethics of responsibility, Hans Jonas contrasts the Christian principle of „charity“ with the principle of „responsibility at a distance“. This addresses the problem that present generations are capable of destroying the living conditions of future generations from an ecological point of view. The spatial metaphors from near (charity) and far (responsibility for the farthest) serve to describe ethical problems in spatial and temporal distance. In media ethics, the attempt to establish spatial and temporal presence via media services (immediacy of the individual’s fate, language of images …) is thematized, so that moral action become politically effective.

The collection of ideas for the analysis of further points of contact between geographical metaphors and attempts at ethical structuring would be helpful for the project.

Simone Wagner gives a working paper on ‚The Cistercians of the Upper Rhine. Foundation, Relationships and textual Production of female monasteries‘

This paper overviews the history of three south-western female Cistercian monasteries (Günterstal, Wonnental, Marienau) from the 13th to the 15th century. In order to analyse the specific and non-specific characteristics of female Cistercian monasteries in contrast to their male counterparts and other non-Cistercian female communities it focuses primarily on three different aspects: 1. the foundation of the monasteries and their affiliation to the Cistercian order, 2. their relations to different worldly and religious actors such as the father abbot as well as cities and 3. the written record of the monasteries.

Applying to all examples the relationship with the order was complicated and it is unclear whether they all were incorporated into the order or if this question was important for contemporaries. However, all communities developed a Cistercian identity. Nevertheless, they were also in (close) contact to other non-Cistercian religious actors and their religious lifestyle resembled other female communities. Equally, the relationship with cities was quite important for the south-western monasteries. The women had options to shift the boundaries being normatively imposed on them. Men and women did work together regarding administrative business and the nuns didn’t always adhere to strict enclosure. Their written record — though perhaps quantitatively not comparable to the men’s – should also be taken seriously and offers a lot of inside in 15th century religiosity.

Javier Francisco presents a working paper on ‚Clashes of Empires: Europe’s Zero-Sum Games in America‘

In my research project I investigate the paradox of European imperial longevity in the Americas when compared to the second European empires in Africa and Asia (19th-20th centuries). The aim is to offer a new argumentative narrative for understanding imperial cohesion and centrifugal forces that ultimately led to colonial secession. This narrative is based on zero-sum thinking which I interpret as a main driver. Herein, I identify several fragile phases which I use as a foundation for historical theory formation, while focusing on the US-American Revolution of 1776. I investigate how zero-sum thinking became a problem for imperial stability because colonists were no longer afraid of their potentially hostile neighbors (due to inter-imperial consolidation after the Treaty of Madrid of 1750 and France’s loss of the French and Indian War in 1763); because the thought of zero-sum expansion could still be pursued at the cost of the indigenous (“frontiers”); because zero-sum thinking was no longer a defining idea of economic growth and prosperity (mercantilism loses support); and because the spread of universalism of ‘sovereignty’ entered the socio-political stage and forced reforms that were not met (in the case of the British) or partially and insufficiently met (in the case of the Spanish, i.a. Cádiz Cortes). Following the argument of imperial fragility throughout the centuries, the US-American Revolution has to be seen in a historical line of fragility which was then ultimately cut.