Search

Studying how people relate to the future and how it shapes individual or collective affects is a way to grasp what motivates social practices. What would be the effect of the climate crisis and democratic disillusionments on social mobilisations? What impact does the disappearance of the horizon of progress have on individuals' lives? Based on long-term fieldwork among a dozen neo-farming anarchist libertarian collectives in the Massif Central (France), I analyse how the future horizon of despair, anxiety, or abandonment is necessarily intertwined with utopian projection. This interaction between antinomic futures creates a paradoxical and Camusian 'absurd' present that resonates with a shared temporality emphasising the 'here and now' and prefigurative politics. Through this study of the 'back-to-the-land' movement, I will propose a broader epistemological discussion related to how anthropology has historically approached incoherence and contradictions. I advocate for deepening our understanding of the meaning of social practices by interrogating the intrinsic multiple representations of time that impel them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the memory of war, trauma, and revolt in Albanian poetry emerging from the aftermath of the 1998–99 Kosovo War. It focuses on constructing Kosovo Albanian post-war poetry and asks about the avenues of literary representation of war. It examines the work of Xhevdet Bajraj, Arben Idrizi and Halil Matoshi, focusing on the subjects' positions – exile and national victimhood in the case of Bajraj; critique of violence in the case of Idrizi; disillusion and trauma in the case of Matoshi. The article also finds that Kosovo's post-war literature stands in a broader framework of the literature from ex- Yugoslav republics, providing a geographical and cultural background to war poetry. The view and interpretation of the literary response to the Kosovo War aims to highlight poetry that keeps memory about the war alive, as well and explores the impact of war, to protest against violence and domination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the critical issue of student attendance and engagement in education, particularly in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. Topics discussed include the detrimental impact of chronic absenteeism, the five enemies of student engagement such as disenchantment and disconnection, and the importance of fostering a sense of magic and wonder in the learning experience to counteract these challenges.

The promotion of self-reliance for refugees is a well-established policy priority within the global refugee support regime, hosting states and for many refugee-supporting organizations. For urban refugees, there is growing recognition of needs as well as potential for self-reliance support. However, meaningful investments in and commitment to the objective of self-reliance remain insufficient and critiques of the concept as an empty buzzword are many and substantial. This is a dialogue between Kellie Leeson and Boel McAteer, in which they elaborate on empirical examples of self-reliance programmes as either beneficial (Kellie) or counterproductive (Boel) to achieving genuine self-reliance. They conclude that self-reliance can only be wholly achieved alongside full refugee rights. They provide novel views of the concept by framing self-reliance as temporal and pragmatic on the one hand, and, on the other, by highlighting that the "self" in self-reliance often becomes unrealistically accentuated for urban refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we approach urban belonging as place-based affect to understand how it emerges and evolves in qualitatively different ways through everyday interactions with the city. Moving beyond a narrowly defined and fixed notion of urban belonging as feeling at home in place, we examine diverging feelings about Amsterdam during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Confronted with the abrupt reconfiguration of everyday life, some residents felt a strong sense of contentment in relation to place, while others developed more ambivalent feelings. These ranged from anxious detachment, to disenchantment and even alienation and rejection, raising existential questions about their place in the city that reach beyond the pandemic. We demonstrate how these affective inequalities are grounded in everyday practices and evolve through social and material encounters in domestic and public space. Our findings draw attention to the processual and relational nature of urban belonging, highlighting the affective capacities of the city in everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay offers a reading of Penelope Fitzgerald's The Beginning of Spring (1988) and relates it to the cultural conception of Modernity as an age of "disenchantment," and to the potential contribution of the "subtler language" of literature (to borrow Charles Taylor's phrase) to a "re-enchantment" of the world. Following a brief theoretical introduction of the concept of Disenchantment, as framed by Lukács, Weber, Taylor and, more obliquely, Roland Barthes, the essay offers a close reading of The Beginning of Spring. This novel, I suggest, encapsulates the tension between the "hermeneutics of suspicion" and the "hermeneutics of restoration," initially coined by Ricoeur and more recently developed in the work of Eve Sedgwick and Rita Felski, and orchestrates the reading experience through its intertextual relations with Tolstoy, the subtle strategic navigation of the narrative between the register of the ridiculous and that of the Sublime, and the consequent shift from a mode of disenchantment to a poetics of re-enchantment. The closure of the novel may thus be read in the spirit of "restoration," by no means simplistic or naïve, but clearly oriented in the direction of the Sacred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sense of agency, our felt sense of authorship for our actions, is a difficult concept to define, yet its faltering stands at the heart of psychopathology. Historically undertheorized by psychoanalysis and typically positioned opposite relatedness by clinical psychology, Jeremy Safran conceived of agency and relatedness as paradoxically related. This paper pays tribute to Safran's ideas by taking his writings on agency as a starting point to elaborate how agency forms, and goes awry, in the relational crucible of early life. In doing so, the paper draws on the developmental theory of Winnicott, empirical research on embodied agency from adjacent fields of study, and Safran's clinical phenomenology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines how impoverishment and disillusionment in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot (1949) have been rendered on the Greek stage (transl. Papathanassopoulou 1984). Ιt examines the use of impoliteness which renders the protagonists' outcast identity and frustration, as Godot is not showing up. Findings show that respondents appreciated both foul language (impoliteness) and humour (low-power distance) in the Greek version of the play. The significance of the study lies in that target audiences may enjoy aspects of characters' identities perhaps unsuspected in the ST, because local contexts may prioritize codes manifesting intended attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper embarks on a profound journey into the depths of contemporary existence, traversing the multifaceted realms of art, literature, and music to unearth hidden truths and illuminate the intricacies of the human condition. At its core, it grapples with the stark dissonance between the outward appearances we present to the world and the inner struggles that often remain concealed beneath the surface. In an era marked by unprecedented connectivity and technological advancement, it becomes increasingly evident that despite our interconnectedness, many individuals grapple with profound feelings of isolation and disillusionment. Central to the discourse is an exploration of the pervasive prevalence of depression and existential angst in modern society. With the rapid pace of life and the relentless pursuit of material success, individuals often find themselves overwhelmed by a sense of and alienation. This paper delves into the underlying causes of such existential crises, probing the socio-cultural factors that contribute to the erosion of meaning and identity. However, amidst the prevailing darkness, there exists a beacon of hope – the indomitable resilience of the human spirit. Through an in-depth analysis of artistic expressions spanning across disciplines, from the haunting melodies of symphonies to the raw honesty of confessional poetry, this paper uncovers the transformative power of creativity in navigating the tumultuous terrain of existence. Art, in its myriad forms, serves as a mirror to the soul, offering solace and catharsis to those grappling with the complexities of human experience. Moreover, this paper seeks to contextualise the significance of art as a catalyst for social change and collective healing. Through case studies and critical analysis, it elucidates how artistic movements have historically served as catalysts for challenging oppressive systems and fostering empathy and solidarity among disparate communities. From the Harlem Renaissance to the feminist art movement, art has played a pivotal role in amplifying marginalised voices and advocating for justice and equality. In conclusion, this paper underscores the indispensable role of art, literature, and music as vehicles for introspection, empathy, and social transformation. By delving into the untold realities of modern existence and celebrating the resilience of the human spirit, it endeavours to inspire readers to engage more deeply with the profound insights and revelations that artistic expression has to offer. Ultimately, it is through the exploration of our shared humanity and the cultivation of empathy and understanding that we can forge a path towards a more compassionate and equitable world.

It has been almost a century since James Truslow Adams’ formulation of the concept “American dream” in “The Epic of America” (1931). The review aims to follow the concept of the American dream and its evolution over centuries, encompassing the attainment of such core values as freedom, equal opportunity, and the search for happiness. It has been established that at the heart of this notion lies the belief that the United States offers boundless possibilities to those with determination, courage, and audacity to pursue their dreams, relying on hard work and risk-taking rather than mere luck or chance. An integral facet of American “mythology” is highlighted - each individual’s capacity to achieve their dreams and secure a comfortable lifestyle through diligent effort and self-sacrifice, propagating the idea that everyone can be successful. It is concluded that an expression dedicated to this social accomplishment is “to go from rags to riches,” encapsulating this journey.

Despite its great popularity in both the scientific and non-scientific fields, Max Weber's concept of "disenchantment" remains mostly obscure and in recent years it has become the center of an interdisciplinary debate on modernity involving both Weberian specialists and non-specialists. The aim of the article is to return to Weber's text and analyze Weber's use of the term and the meaning of what he calls the "disenchantment of the world." To do so I follow Taylor's and Schluchter's insight and investigate how Weber would picture an initial condition of enchantment. However, while these interpreters did not explore the Weberian perspective on magic, I instead show that not only Weber had a precise and original conception of magic as the primitive attitude toward the world, but also that this conception may clarify the meaning and dynamics of the process of disenchantment in both the spheres of religion and of science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the issue of the fragility of Western liberal democracies, the divisions in Western society as a whole and within particular countries, and the loss of faith in the Western model of civilization. My focus will be (1) on the initial enchantment of the Eastern European countries (with special emphasis on Romania) with the West European models of freedom, democracy, lifestyle, and living standards, which explains why these countries overwhelmingly voted in favor of joining the European Union after the fall of Communism; and (2) on their subsequent disenchantment with how far liberal democracies could go, and their general discontent with the restrictions and preconditions imposed on them for obtaining EU funding for their economic development. In dealing with the issue of globalism, nationalism and identity, I will elaborate on the role of identity, personal and national, in the creation of roots, stability, self-esteem, hard work and progress, with reference to the manifestations of populism in Europe. Finally, I will consider the positive effects Eastern countries with their traditionalism and religious values could have on their Western counterparts, in order to revive and sustain their initial enchantment and diminish their disenchantment with Europe, the European Union, and Western civilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'Arab Spring' posed major emotional challenges to European diplomats. Sympathies for the demonstrators' open embrace of European norms and values merged with discomfort about incalculable consequences following the former rulers' eventual fall. Focusing on Egypt, this contribution analyses how European diplomats reacted to Hosni Mubarak's ouster and the following developments. With their reminiscences to Europe's own history and the European Union's (EU) self-perception as 'force for good', a two-sided sense of disillusionment grew among European representatives: about the regime's eventual unwillingness to reform, and about their own incapacity to meaningfully support change. Based on extensive research in Cairo and Brussels, this article analyses the emotions that escorted the actions of officials from the EU and its member states in Egypt. From a multi-level perspective, it considers activities by the EU Delegation to Egypt and EU member states' embassies in Cairo, plus initiatives coming from Brussels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the interaction between Cervantes' Don Quixote and its cinematic transmutation in Un tal Alonso Quijano by Libia Stella Gómez (2020), focusing on the characters of Don Quixote and Dulcinea. We begin with a consideration of the type of adaptive approach and the change in semiotic medium proposed by Un tal Alonso Quijano, based on which we compare some aspects of both stories. Subsequently, we analyze the interpretation and original development present in the film of the characters Don Quixote and Dulcinea, specifically as residents of Bogotá in the 21st century who, amid frustration, choose to wear a mask. However, in the end, through a process of disenchantment, they will come to understand that they must confront their fears without resorting to imposture. Thus, Gómez's proposal gives the characters a new configuration that ultimately contributes to keeping the Cervantine myth alive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-colonial Africa and its attendant challenges, including disillusionment during democratic dispensation and racial tensions among black and white people, constitute a problem that calls for interventions from all social actors. Theology, especially pastoral care, is challenged to broaden its vision and focus on health, healing, and human flourishing by adopting a public dimension. Thus, public pastoral care can emerge as a critical approach through which to make a meaningful contribution to fostering holistic personal care. This assumption prompts an examination of the place and role of pastoral care as a science and art of fostering social health and well-being. Public pastoral care practices are used to encourage, promote, and foster 'coexistence' and 'being with' other people in the same geographical spaces where tension and disillusionment exist. Using the South African lens, this article aims to pastorally address challenges emerging from post-colonial African public contexts by developing a public pastoral care approach. Pastoral care principles of empowerment care, prevention care, conversational care, and care by being with the other in shared spaces of coexistence are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of interpersonal cognitive distortion between phubbing and relationship disillusionment. Relationship disillusionment is feelings of disappointment, regret, defeat and hopelessness in the relationship (Niehuis et al., 2011). Phubbing behavior, misperception, unrealistic expectation and rejection feeling contribute to relationship disillusionment. Sample consisted of newly married peoples from Sargodha Divisions in Punjab, Pakistan (N = 225). A cross-sectional research design and purposive sampling technique was used to collect data. 'The Phubbing Scale' developed by Karadağ et al. (2015), interpersonal cognitive distortions scale by Hamamci and Buyukozturk (2004) and relationship disillusionment by Niehuis and Bartell (2006) were used. The finding indicated that all variables were correlated in the expected directions and all subscales of interpersonal cognitive distortions moderate the relation of phubbing with relationship disillusionment. Moreover, women experienced higher relationship disillusionment than men. This investigation focused exclusively on newly married people. Future studies should incorporate a sample with more diverse characteristics and also need to develop intervention programs that will help partner to control phubbing behavior and interpersonal cognitive distortions to improve interpersonal relation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Erik Castrén Institute (ECI) was founded in 1998 at a moment in history when human rights had become to be seen as the beacon of the liberal world order. However, as inevitable as the world order guided by human rights and humanitarian values might have seemed in the late 1990s, the moment soon melted into one of disenchantment, reflected in the populist backlash. This article provides an overview of law, human rights, and humanitarianism during ECI's life so far, with a special focus on how critical scholars have responded to changes in the field and to shifting constellations of power. Using Russia's aggression against Ukraine as an example, the article also maps current trends in the field, arguing that, after the hegemony of the United States, we have now entered an era of fragmentation – an era that is characterised by strategic uses of the humanity language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of structural (Heider) balance is applied to moral issues. The data from the European Social Survey 2012-2016, collected on beliefs of Polish respondents in 21 issues, are used as initial conditions for the differential equations, which generically drive the system to one of balanced states. The obtained partition of beliefs is consistent with the split of Polish population into so-called Defenders and Explorers, known in the literature (J. Reykowski, Disenchantment with Democracy: A Psychological Perspective, Oxford University Press, 2020). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many scholars have understood conspiracy theories as sense-making mechanisms. Among them, a particular strand further inspected them in parallel with religion and magic. This comparison bears the risk of framing conspiracy theories as irrational interpretations and anachronisms with respect to contemporary ways of explaining reality. This contribution takes off from the reflections of those who have highlighted this risk. It tries to confront the possibility of using the concept of enchantment without implying a normative judgment on the irrationality of conspiracy theories. This paper carries out this effort by closely inspecting Max Weber's texts. I argue that Weber's notion of enchantment and disenchantment allows for a punctual use of both, devoid of normative implications. After setting out this non-normative notion of enchantment, this paper examines the characteristics of the enchanted worldview and its usefulness in reading conspiracy theories. Finally, this paper supports this effort using the identified characteristics to systematise a reading of conspiracy-based accounts of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary folklore casts light on and is shaped by the socio-economic milieu from which it arises. This article explores one aspect of this: the metaphorical points of comparison between oral accounts of the mamlambo, a South African wealth-giving spirit, and the mythmaking surrounding the idea of entrepreneurship in present-day South Africa. Such notions of entrepreneurship draw on key capitalist narratives, including the idea that financial well-being, and even affluence, can be accessed by those who seek to become entrepreneurs, having faith in the fictions of free enterprise, the magic of the market, and the magical potency of money. There are significant parallels with the tales concerning the mamlambo, which describe how a fortune awaits those that enter into a pact with this being, trusting the promises of wealth that it proffers. Yet both the mamlambo and the proponents of entrepreneurship are dealers in dreams and delusions. The affluence the mamlambo offers comes at a cost, and many of those that have faith in the fictions of entrepreneurship are doomed to disillusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some defenders of democratic rights and the rule of law are becoming increasingly frustrated by the European Union's inadequate response to democratic backsliding in countries like Poland and Hungary. This study focuses on Poland and introduces the concept of 'Eurodisappointment' to describe this new group, which is conceptually and empirically distinct from Euroscepticism. Rather than being Eurosceptic, the Eurodisappointed self-limit their Euroenthusiasm without opposing integration. Drawing on original survey data, we demonstrate that Eurodisappointment is particularly prevalent among women, opposition party voters, and those dissatisfied with the state of democracy in Poland. It is yet to be seen whether and how the concept of Eurodisappointment can be applied to studies of attitudes towards the European Union in other member states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We live in an Apocalyptic Era, in frustrated disappointed and enraged societies that have lost the future. Eternity has become an outcast and salvation in the afterlife is no longer a leading quest. In short, we live the end of the centrality of the concept of theodicy. The conjunction of the crisis in religious socialization mechanisms and those of secular socialization is what largely generates this widespread disappointment. The idea of Apocalypse, historically related to condemnations and Manichean visions, has returned with force to our contemporary societies through new forms of exclusion and discrimination in populist regimes relating to popular religiosity. The role of sociology of religions is to assess the current social disappointment and demystification of the future and at the same time distinguish and warn about the political processes of reproduction and representation of contemporary apocalypses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze which concept describes the central theme in Max Weber's works — the rationalization processes — best: disenchantment, alienation, or anomie. I first describe how Weber's rationalization processes were understood in the past. Most scholars have interpreted these processes as disenchantment, although some have seen a stronger affinity to the Marxist concept of alienation. Since the majority have regarded disenchantment as the central theme of Weber's legacy, I discuss Weber's rare statements about the disenchantment process, most of which appear in a speech that was published later as Science as a Vocation. I then introduce definitions of key concepts (Hegelian alienation, Marxist alienation, Durkheimian anomie, and de-magification) to provide a more varied and precise vocabulary. This will aid in describing at least two different rationalization processes that can be derived from Weber's theoretical framework (Economy and Society) and his historical studies. The first, in the economic and political sphere, can be characterized as Marxist alienation, whereas the second, in the religious sphere, can be interpreted as de-magification and Hegelian alienation. It is possible to regard Weber's statement in Science as a Vocation as a third rationalization process, in the sphere of knowledge production, which would suggest the concepts of de-magification and anomie. However, such a reading would seem to contradict the greater body of Weber's methodological writings. Finally, it is concluded that the term disenchantment is not a very useful concept for portraying Weber's intended view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims at identifying and interpreting the role that the horse plays in legends, stories, riddles, and sayings. More specifically, we extracted the material from the answers to question number 138 of the first survey issued by The Museum of the Romanian Language in 1922 (the first one in a collection of eight surveys): "What do people believe about the horse? What role does it play in carols, spells, and disenchantments?" The answers were provided by village intellectuals, mostly teachers and priests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Black Sea / Karadeniz is the property of Black Sea / Karadeniz and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the cultural milieu of the 1990s, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) emerges as a compelling exploration of spiritual and moral ambiguity. The film's flamboyantly postmodern narrative intertwines themes of grace and the miraculous, culminating in moments of profound existential reflection—with an ironic twist. Set against the backdrop of a post-Cold War era marked by uncertainty, disillusionment, and hope, Pulp Fiction navigates complex moral and ethical terrain. This paper analyzes Tarantino's movie alongside contemporaneous auteurs such as the Coens and Fincher, exploring their shared engagement with themes of justice, morality, and existential meaning. Through a lens of cultural reenchantment, these films illuminate the moral dilemmas of an era in transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a modified reading of Thomas Elsaesser's theories of cinephilia, taking into account the new viewing practices established by the rise of online media streaming. Elsaesser characterised early film culture (labelled as 'take one') as rooted in celluloid and marked by a longing to view films that were not always easily available. By contrast, his characterisation of the later 'take two' era is one in which each new distribution technology (television, VHS, and so on) promises greater abundance and convenience, to the point where this new generation of cinephiles – in response to the widespread success of DVD – were perceived as having to deal with the 'anachronisms generated by total availability'. Amanda D. Lotz argues that streaming services appear to provide an extension of the 'take two' ideal, offering assurances of ' availability (on-demand libraries with many choices) and reliability (you don't have to watch it now or it's gone)'. I suggest, however, that the underlying impermanence of streaming has prompted fears related to both access and ownership, marking a break from the expectations surrounding the DVD (as well as its successors Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD). The impact of content migration – fracturing access between a greater number of paid platforms – and particularly content delisting – the outright removal of access to a given text – can place certain works in a form of limbo. This article proposes the dawn of a new generation of cinephilia – a potential take three – marked by a newfound concern of ephemerality, albeit much more potential and localised than the widespread unavailability of the take one era. In essence, then, take three wrestles with the anachronisms of loss in a media landscape that, in many other ways, offers unprecedented levels of access to film and television content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction provides an overview of the articles in the special issue. Drawing on Sylvia Wynter's notion of disenchantment, the articles in this special issue interrogate power and inequity in education. They question the given assumptions of education policy and aim to reorient us toward justice and educational transformation, pushing back against claims of "neutrality" or educational projects that reinscribe harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital journalism and its research have evolved significantly over the last twenty-five years. When the first online media were installed on an experimental basis in the mid-1990s, neither media companies nor scientific observers expected them to transform the way journalism operates. However, very soon after these humble beginnings, a seemingly infectious euphoria spread among journalism scholars who hoped to rejuvenate journalism and democracy with the help of user participation and a resulting "dialogue with the audience." Still, many of these promises remained unfulfilled, and this led to considerable disenchantment of academics with online media and user participation during the second decade of the 2000s. Indeed, current journalism scholars exhibit a preoccupation with fears of disinformation and forms of "dark" participation. This essay analyzes the process of co-evolution in digital journalism and academia from the personal perspective of a European scholar. Four broad empirical phases are discussed: (1) niche, (2) euphoria, (3) disillusionment, and (4) doom and gloom. Using this typology, a fifth phase will be suggested to extend the current state of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American juvenile court system does not recognize a right to a jury trial. It should. The juvenile court system was born out of the Progressive Era, a period of social and political change in the U.S. Its creators envisioned a system that cared for children and considered which individual treatment would suit each child in the system. However, the actual history of the juvenile court did not follow this idealistic vision. To combat the punitive system into which juvenile court had evolved, the Supreme Court decided in subsequent years that children deserve the due process rights recognized in adult criminal court: the right to counsel, notice, confrontation and crossexamination of witnesses, the privilege against self-incrimination, and the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard of proof. The Court reasoned that because the juvenile court does not act all that differently from the adult criminal court, the same rights afforded to adults should be afforded to children. Despite upholding the above rights for juveniles, the Court has expressly rejected the jury trial right in the juvenile court. However, states should still elect to provide jury trials in their juvenile courts. Juries would give the juvenile court system more legitimacy, protect children from bias, and ensure that the juvenile court system has fair processes and appropriate punishments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the major paradoxes embedded in religion is the complex dynamics between enchantment and disenchantment. This article takes a critical look at the theoretical implications of the political dynamics of enchantment by examining its stages in depth. We use the term 'enchanted moments of place' to challenge the use of the term 'enchanted' as a static historical or historiographical designation. It takes long-term ethnographic work at a recently emerging pilgrimage site in the north of Israel/Palestine commonly known as the Shrine of Mariam Bawardy, as an empirical point of departure to explore the dynamics of enchantment. We suggest an anthropological theory of enchantment that embraces an analysis of the ways time/place intermingles religious and everyday grassroots political dynamics. This perspective sheds light on the creation of sacred place during moments of renewed creativity, the reformulation of indigenous identities, the process of reinvented rituals, and the restoration and staging of material objects and place. Uncovering these moments can clarify the ways sacred places are politically voiced and spatialized by pilgrims, and appropriated by visitors and religious agents. Our analysis shows that these 'enchanted moments', places are more fragile and susceptible to changes caused by macro- and micro- political shifts. Enchanted moments are more sensitive to local decision-making processes, creativity, contingencies and rivalry among native agents and their aspirations for place and territoriality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article delves into the shared interests and divergent paths of Aby Warburg and Karl Sudhoff during the 1910s, particularly in the realms of astrology and medicine. It explores their exchange of ideas, highlighting their differing disciplinary backgrounds and interpretations of historical images. It offers insights into broader debates concerning modernity, rationality, and the interplay between magic and science.

In the late twentieth century librarians prototyped expert systems in reference services in order to respond to the reference 'crisis' of the time and to harness the power of emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Creating intelligent systems required librarian designers to codify the expertise of reference librarians and the resources of reference services into knowledge representation mechanisms suitable for inferences by the system. In this process, librarians explored the theoretical and pragmatic bases of reference and experimented with how to implement them in AI. The successes and failures of these prototypes reveal how librarians felt about these new technologies and how they might transform libraries. While expert systems in libraries failed and were abandoned by the end of the century, lessons and insights from this seminal work can inform current activities in the application of machine learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

José Ignacio Cabrujas was a renowned Venezuelan playwright whose work was characterized by representing archetypal situations and characters. Throughout his career, Cabrujas experienced disillusionment with his religious and political beliefs, seeking to purify himself from them. His Catholic upbringing and subsequent conversion to communism generated tensions in his life. In the 1960s, Cabrujas experienced an intense ideological and political crisis that influenced his theatrical writing. His most representative works include "Profundo" (Deep), "Acto cultural" (Cultural Act), "El día que me quieras" (The Day You Love Me), and "El Americano Ilustrado" (The Illustrated American). In these works, Cabrujas explored truths, falsehoods, and human emotions, offering a unique vision of human existence in Venezuelan drama. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Annals of Social Sciences / Roczniki Nauk Społecznych is the property of Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL & Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawla II and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Bildungsroman as a sub-genre of narrative fiction depicts a person's maturing journey in which one encounters harsh realities of the world, grows through diverse experiences, and eventually finds oneself and one's place in the world; it is essentially about a person's initiation into society. In this essay, I borrow R.W.B. Lewis's coinage "denitiation" and delineate an alternative pattern to the socially oriented individual development in literature, one in which the hero's encounter with the world leads to insurmountable disillusionment and ends with renunciation or retreat; it turns out to be an initiation out of the world. I illustrate the literature of denitiation with examples from European, American, and Chinese literatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organisational absurdity is an emerging field of study in management sciences. Often described in conceptual terms in the existing literature as a loss of meaning arising from the collapsing frontiers of rationality, there have been few attempts to engage empirically with this absurdity, particularly from the perspective of new recruits joining organisations, and more specifically those who have recently completed their studies. Our research seeks to explore the ways in which young graduates respond to organisational absurdity and its consequences. To do this, we use an original empirical approach, which has been recognised elsewhere as a pertinent means of tackling absurdity, namely, fictional analysis. We thus propose an analogy between today's young graduates and the young Romantics of the 19th century, invoking a number of literary references for heuristic ends, in order to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon in question. Now as in centuries past, upon coming face-to-face with absurdity, a considerable number of young people respond by retreating from their professional responsibilities. This state of affairs is illustrated by a series of 35 interviews, revealing a profound sense of disenchantment, which, in many cases, can lead young professionals to turn inwards and withdraw from their professional environments. In the face of this distress, our research invites organisations to rethink the way they manage young graduates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reviews the status of mourning as a pillar of healthy adjustment and relates this individual capacity to the context of the large group or society. This introduces the concept of social melancholia, a society that has foreclosed on mourning and interprets its losses and disillusionments through the lens of conspiracy and betrayal. This "negative of mourning," its effacement from consciousness and outlawing in the national discourse, is discussed in terms of its corrosive effects, polarizing and bringing the society closer to the mentality of war. Using Russia and Rwanda as examples, the author illustrates how societies which foreclose on mourning can regress into social melancholia while trying to reclaim some illusive lost destiny or ideal. The capacity to mourn is the pathway to social justice, whereas the negative of mourning instills paranoia and the ongoing thirst for vengeance, which is a formula for interminable conflict and even war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the semicentennial celebrations and a global pandemic, Bangladesh seemed well on track to achieve the promises of furthering both democracy and development. But while development was visible in the completion of spectacular infrastructural projects, democracy continued to suffer, as the government plans to host the 12th parliamentary elections without the participation of the main opposition party. The war in Ukraine and a depleting foreign exchange reserve severely affected the country's economic profile, while a dengue outbreak once more revealed the inadequacies of its public health system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article suggests that the conditions under which the Chilean constitutional process of 2021–22 undertook its task held the seeds of its doom. Constitutional conventions are always tasked with reaching agreements on the controversial allocation of decision rights, and doing so is no simple feat. The Chilean process combined (1) very dispersed preferences regarding the problems the new constitution should solve and the institutions to best enable solutions, with (2) a brief timeframe to allow for agreements to emerge, aggravated by (3) a composition of the Convention that was dominated by independents lacking experience in legislative bargaining, and (4) a severe disenchantment of the population with parties and politics as the backdrop. Together, these hurdles proved impossible to overcome. Despite the notorious political achievements of the Committee we study here, the proposal that came out of Chile's Constitutional Convention in 2021 was plagued by controversy and a negative perception of the Convention's work, and was ultimately rejected by the people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of ifo Dresden Berichtet: Ueber Konjunktur, Struktur, Wirtschaftspolitik is the property of ifo Institute for Economic Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Four Icelandic narrative texts with historical and thematic ties to the conversion of Norway and the Faroe Islands to Christianity are examined from the vantage-point of converts' prior statements of their belief only in their own might and main. Disillusionment with the 'old gods' is the common reason given for such professed self-reliance, which does not, however, exclude opportunistic assistance from magical objects. Conversion to the Christian religion by an authority figure is largely transactional in nature, with only low-key emotional engagement. The objective of these texts, written some century and a half after their events, is the full discrediting of heathendom and promotion of skepticism of advantage in the existential void of individuality. Life as a Christian appears unchanged for the saga principals and, in a tacit recall of archaic belief, the soul's redemption does not seems to cancel out the body's destiny. The clerical authors of sagas of Icelanders occupied an exposed position comparable to the men of might and main, in that they had to negotiate an accommodation between heathen story-telling matter and its conventions, and a Christian world view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the educational approach for women in the late seventeenth century, focusing on the teachings of Madame de Maintenon at the Saint-Cyr school. Maintenon emphasized the realities of marriage and the importance of practical skills and self-sufficiency for women. She aimed to prepare the young girls for the challenges they would face in a patriarchal society and promote their agency. The article also discusses the negative effects of courtly life and marriage on women, as seen through Maintenon's perspective. Overall, the text provides a realistic and balanced view of women's education and the societal expectations they faced during this time period. [Extracted from the article]

Objective: To describe disillusionment amongst the clinical community as a result of repeated ideological and organisational change and to suggest a road map forward. Conclusion: Despite knowing that change can be disruptive, it will likely remain a constant and necessary feature of organisational life. Various approaches, including the development of a personal sphere of influence and knowing when to resign, are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]