LFU:online

Understanding other anthropologic movements from the perspective of historic anthropology. Understanding, discussing and presenting different aspects of the history of civilization and individualisation of occidental humans through specific examples.

The essential question of the course is „How become humans?“. It is an ‚open‘ question and is stated from the perspective of historic anthropology. It is a search of traces of what humans gain through experience/s. This search is not performed from an observatory but starts with concrete humans and their fates against the background of the humanly possible and impossible. Historic hereby means an anthropology that emanates from the present age, trying to understand the currently active individual and collective thought patterns, forms of experience, imagination and states of mind of humans by understanding their history. This effort for knowledge itself is historical because it is influenced by the constitution and concerns of the researcher.

For a better understanding of the perspective and the paradigm of historic anthropology we will also look at other anthropological movements (scientific, philosophic, cultural, psychoanalytical, and pedagogical).

The case of application is the nascence of the modern individual. The individual will be reconstructed in his/her relation of body and soul from a perspective of history of civilization and psychology with reference to Norbert Elias. Specific examples from today’s field of extreme sports will serve to extend these theories.

Presentation, discussion, media, independent work with online articles.

Students can choose a topic from the contents discussed in the course for their final paper. Text material will be provided through OLAT.

- Wulf, Christoph (Hg.): Vom Menschen. Handbuch Historische Anthropologie. Beltz: Weinheim/Basel 1997

- Dülmen, Richard van (Hg.): Erfindung des Menschen. Schöpfungsträume und Körperbilder 1500-2000. Böhlau: Wien/Köln/Weimar 1998

- Wulf, Christoph: Anthropologie. Geschichte Kultur Philosophie. Rowohlt: Reinbek b. Hamburg 2004 (Taschenbuch)

- Zirfas, Jörg: Pädagogik und Anthropologie. Eine Einführung. Kohlhammer: Stuttgart 2004

- Rathmayr, Bernhard: Selbstzwang und Selbstverwirklichung. Bausteine zu einer historischen Anthropologie der abendländischen Menschen. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag 2011 (€ 24.-)

- Rathmayr, Bernhard: Die Frage nach den Menschen. Eine Historische Anthropologie der Anthropologien. Opladen u.a.: Barbara Budrich 2013 (€ 17.-)

- Wulf, Christoph/Zirfas, Jörg (Hg.): Handbuch der Pädagogischen Anthropologie. Springer VS: Wiesbaden 2014