Unexpected Encounters Research Articles

Hannah Arendt-Leidenschaften, Menschen und Bücher (review)

Reviewed by: Hannah Arendt—Leidenschaften, Menschen und Bücher Chris Long (bio) Barbara Hahn, Hannah Arendt—Leidenschaften, Menschen und Bücher Berlin: Berlin, 2005. 143 pages. Hannah Arendt—Leidenschaften, Menschen und Bücher consists of a series of six meditative essays on various points of convergence in the life and works of one of the mid-twentieth century's most influential political theorists. At a scant 143 pages, including endnotes and bibliography, it is a short book, and its simultaneously analytical and speculative content derives primarily from the author's intense engagement with Arendt's Denktagebuch, which was first published in a two-volume edition in 2002. "Nun erst wird deutlich, wie eng verknüpft das Netz aus Publikationen, Briefe und Aufzeichnungen ist, das Hannah Arendt hinterließ" (9), writes Barbara Hahn on the first page of her first chapter. Rather than developing into a more or less routine intellectual [End Page 674] biography, however, Hahn's "'unexpected encounters'" (124) with Arendt's texts—both what she wrote and what she read—produce a deceptively loose association of close readings. Such apparent fragmentation is not without purpose, for in asserting Arendt's continued relevance, Hahn sets herself and her readers the profoundly difficult task of reading this renowned author entirely anew "und damit zu überlegen, wo kleine Schritte aus den von ihr hinterlassenen Konjunktiven in den Indikativ möglich sind" (20). Written "im Modus des Wanderns und Anhaltens" (10), Hahn's essays eschew a strictly linear progression in order to seek footholds for possible steps from the hypothetical to the actual in certain recurring personal, intellectual, and textual relations that inform Arendt's work. Nevertheless, as the collection proceeds, there is at least a provisional shift in emphasis from books to people to passions in Hannah Arendt's life. The first two essays, "Wie kann jemand zum Denker werden" and "Das mörderische Alphabet," explore in form as well as content Arendt's engagement with a cyclicality that undermines absolute beginnings. For instance, although the phrase "'Wie kann jemand zum Denker werden'" is formatted as the title of the first essay, it also continues without grammatical interruption into the initial paragraph with "'wenn er nicht mindestens den dritten Theil jeden Tages ohne Leidenschaften, Menschen und Bücher verbringt?'" (9). The words "Leidenschaften, Menschen und Bücher," in turn, recall the second part of the book's title, and with this confluence of texts, Hahn offers a brief example lesson in the ambivalences of revolution (as both change and repetition) with which Arendt grappled. She is not, however, quoting here from Arendt's work on revolution, but from Friedrich Nietzsche's Menschliches, Allzumenschliches, which belongs to "ein[em] unwahrscheinlich[en] Chor von Texten, den Hannah Arendt arrangiert, um von Hinterlassenschaften zu sprechen" (11). This chorus also includes the Hebrew Bible and the works of Bertolt Brecht, and it is exactly the philosophical tension in this "improbable" combination that makes it so useful for Arendt. While the dual creation stories of the former illustrate the dependence of any "first" on a "second" for its status as a beginning, Brecht's Der Neinsager adds a cautionary note: "'Wer a sagt, der muß nicht b sagen. Er kann auch erkennen, daß a falsch war . . .'" (28). From her Denktagebuch to The Origins of Totalitarianism, Arendt finds models for resisting the relentless logic of ABC, "das mörderische Alphabet," in texts that interrupt, contradict, and repeat themselves. The next two essays, "Die Titel der Dinge sind das fürchterlichste" and "Ein Kuss auf der Brücke," underscore the importance of certain personal relationships for Arendt and her work. As a political theorist, Arendt considered human plurality the essential realm of political science, but her more extreme position—"Mensch—in diese Kategorie ist Pluralität eingeschrieben" (23)—is tested here on its author. Hahn notes that in Arendt's Denktagebuch, there are three types of human relations and that these correspond to philosophy, the erotic, and politics (78). The erotic, which subsumes both love and friendship, [End Page 675] serves as a tenuous bridge between the individuality of philosophy and the general community of politics. It is thus significant that "Ein Kuss auf der Brücke" begins with...

Campo de migrações: Fabiano, Manuel, Ranulfo e os anônimos do sertão

This article compares reéent Braiilian· .films - "Baile perfumado" (1996) and ·~cinema, aspirinas e urubus" (2005)- withdassic Cin~ma Novo films, like "Vidas secas", "Os fuzis;' and "Deus e o diabo na terra do sol". ItJocuses on the displacement that took place iq the representation of the experierice of migration in the sertão from the 1990's on. The analysis concentrates in the way the films conceive their main characters and give meaning to their experience, either in connection with the representation of social types living migration as a social need(Cinerria Novo) or in connection with the representation of particular individuais who face unexpected encounters and live . migration as a singuhrr experience of a transnational character (films from the last decades).

Othering Ourselves: Reflections on Method, Identity, and Ethics (Reflections on Unexpected Encounters in Participatory Research)

Broun's and Heshusius's paper, Unexpected encounters in participatory research: Meeting the abled? /disabled? self when researching the lives of disabled women, unmasks the intertwining of personal and professional realities while engaging in research. Reflecting on and extending these issues, we critically unpack three central concepts: 1) The evolving choice of appropriate method in interpretive inquiry involves thinking through relational issues and our own theoretical understandings; 2) Attending closely to multi-voiced meanings in dialogue with others expands understandings of our own potential selves, and 3) Research activity inevitably involves ethical conundrums around both the relational and interpretive processes. In this commentary, the authors attempt to broaden the disability focus of Broun's experience by revisiting tensions around method, voice, and identity that apply broadly to everyone who conscientiously engages in ethical situated inquiry. The "I" as well as the "Thou" may be metamorphosed through qualitative inquiry.

Colonization of nature in the Soviet Union: state ideology, public discourse, and the experience of geologists

This article combines two perspectives on the history of geology in the Soviet Union. Soviet policy not only transformed the geological profession from a marginal group of intellectuals into a booming field of applied sci ence. State ideology also celebrated the geologists' coloni zation of nature, putting them on a par with cosmonauts and pilots. The hegemonic discourse defined nature as meaning less unless it was exploited for human needs. However, the geologists' everyday experiences looked remarkably differ ent. During month-long stays in the natural environment, the official doctrine gave way to other perspectives: hard ships and starvation, unexpected encounters with men and beasts, and the quest for discoveries in spite of all difficul ties. Geologists also enjoyed nature as visual harmony, and even found a small corner of freedom in nature as the "taiga laws" of behavior, friendship, and hospitality made for an honest atmosphere around the campfire. For Soviet geolo gists, nature was not simply the "house of treasures" that of ficial rhetoric cherished but also an archipelago of freedom. Address all communications to Alia Bolotova, European University at St. Petersburg, Centre for Independent Social Research, P.O.B. 193, StPetersburg, 191040, Russia. E-mail: xnu@pochta.ru. For comments on draft versions and stimulating discussion, thanks to Tatiana Saphonova, Frank Uekoetter, Dmitry Vorobyev, Verena Winiwarter and Bernhard Wieser.

Fried Green Cicadas and a Young African Hunter

Oneof the delights of being blessed with a fascination for insects is the exhilaration of surprise. Unusual and unexpected encounters with insects often produce vivid and lasting memories. It was the last day of November 1998 when my family and I were on holiday near Gonarezhou National Park in southeastern Zimbabwe. Seasonal rains had started about two weeks earlier, and I was having a heyday capturing and photographing insects, particularly beetles. But the afternoons were hot and lazy, so our lodge hosts suggested an early evening excursion into the nearby village of Mahenye. I guess they thought a cultural diversion would do me good because most guests venture to the park to photograph elephants, not chase bugs. We four-wheeled through the muddy, crocodile-inhabited Save River in a Land Rover and across the sandy floodplain into the village. There we were met with an entomological marvel. An innumerable multitude of cicadas, Platypleura quadraticollis Buder, had been liberated from the red soil by the rains. A year earlier I had witnessed the mass emergence of the 17-year cicada in Iowa, so I was familiar with the sights and sounds of a horde of cicadas. But I found two aspects of the behavior of this African cicada to be quite stunning. The first was the deafening sound. When the males synchronized with their neighbors and brought their high-toned whirs, sounding like the letter R, to a prolonged crescendo, it surprisingly was painful to the ears. The second was the profusion of honeydew. Like a gentle rain shower, it dropped in pulsating waves from the mopane trees, glistening against the backlight of a setting sun. I had our guide, Obert, stop the Land Rover; and I jumped out to photograph the falling honeydew. All this commotion attracted the attention of a knot of children. I was, of course, in their backyard taking photographs of apparently nothing. As with children everywhere, they were curious as to what I found

Rethinking Studio Art Education

Post-its are a sign of our times. We're all running between multiple destinations that change constantly. A Post-it will stay in one place long enough to be useful, but the basis of its usefulness is that it comes off, or can be moved, when it no longer serves a purpose. My point here, for us as art educators and administrators, is the need for our fixed positions to give way to flexibility, mobility, and unexpected encounters as a way for our art schools to keep up with changes in the art world and the world-at-large.

An internal model control approach to the design of yaw-rate-control ship-steering autopilot

This technical communication is concerned with the design of inland ship-steering autopilots characterized by turning rate regulation rather than heading regulation found on most ocean-going vessel autopilots. The autopilot design is based on the internal model control approach which allows clear connections between the controller structure and that of the ship model to be established. To fully utilize the limited rudder power without introducing the controller wind-up, which may lead to undesirable long transients, an inverse of the rudder saturation (SAT) and slew rate limitation (SRL) is implemented in the controller. Specifically, an inversion by feedback technique is employed by implementing the noninverted dynamics in a local feedback loop. This resolves the difficulty associated with inversion of the SAT and SRL mathematically. Consequently, high turning rate maneuver can be achieved in case of emergency encounters without causing the controller wind-up. This feature is particularly important for inland ships, since unexpected encounters with other ships are quite common and the capability of quick response is vital to ensure safe maneuvers.

Unexpected Encounters

Unexpected Encounters

NATM to the rescue at Samanalawewa : Hagenhofer, F. Tunn TunnlgV22, N7, July 1990, P19–22

Unexpected encounters with very soft, flowing ground and the presence of groundwater led to severe difficulties with the excavation of the headrace tunnel. The traditional design had to be changed to allow for new support methods developed through observations on site and the application of the New Austrian Tunneling Method.

Ampère's Invention of Equilibrium Apparatus: A Response to Experimental Anomaly

André-Marie Ampère's contributions to electrodynamics came at a late stage in an unconventional career. In 1820, he had reached the age of forty-five and had not as yet done any systematic research in physics. As a member of the mathematics section of the Académie des Sciences, his only significant contributions to the physical sciences had been some constructive criticisms of Fresnel's wave theory of light and three memoirs on chemical classification and gas theory. Meanwhile, his longstanding interests in metaphysics and epistemology had resulted in pointed methodological and philosophical attitudes which both motivated and structured his subsequent work in electrodynamics. Not surprisingly, events during the first few months of Ampère's research included many unplanned and unexpected encounters as this wildly enthusiastic theoretician grappled for the first time with the recalcitrant complexity of actual experimentation in an uncharted new domain.

The use of organic substances as emergency dosimeters

In unexpected encounters with ionizing radiation, it is possible to monitor absorbed exposure or absorbed dose by ESR analysis of incidental organic materials carried by both workers and non-workers with radiations. Materials of interest include plastics, paper, clothing, buttons, human hair and nail. The concept is to correlate with dose the quantity of free radicals generated in organic materials by irradiation. The experiments were aimed at determining the sensitivity, the fading, the effects of differences in conditions of storage such as temperature, illumination, and washing before ESR analysis. The method should prove useful for estimating the extent of radiation exposure at strategic locations on the body.

Melodrama and Totality in "Splendeurs et miseres des courtisanes"

The plot of Splendeurs et miseres des courtisanes has generally been viewed as something of a liability. Lanson saw it as an exemplary illustration of l'ecoeurante extravagance des intrigues que combine lourdement la fantaisie de Balzac,' and this has been a habitual response of criticism ever since (excessively slick, luridly sensational, undeniably extravagant are characteristic of the judgments offered by more recent critics). That the record should be virtually unanimous in its condemnation of the novel is, of course, readily understandable: the tissue of unexpected encounters, violent coincidences, abrupt reversals of fortune, multiple disguises which make up the plot of Splendeurs evidently suggest a cheap sensationalism and an exotic theatricality which speak of a fatal concession to the commercial, sub-literary mode of Eugene Sue (with whom Balzac was engaged in active rivalry during the 1840s). Yet it is arguable that the established critical consensus on the novel has missed a great deal. Such a suggestion should not however be taken as indicating that the customary description of the novel as melodramatic is somehow inappropriate or inadequate. The melodrama is central, and any attempt to develop a revaluation of the novel must start from the fact of that centrality; it dictates the essential terms on which the question of the exact literary status of Splendeurs must be decided. The case I wish to argue here, therefore, is not that the way to rescue Splendeurs from its damaging critical heritage is by asserting an artistic achievement located, as it were, outside Balzac's use of melodrama. On the contrary, what needs to be stressed is the wholeness of Splendeurs, its deep unity of vision and technique, involving above all a recognition that, in this novel, Balzac does work in and through the conventions of contemporary popular fiction, but that his achievement lies in the radical transformation of these conventions in the service of a serious and dignified artistic purpose. The focus of this transforming activity is in a particular type of relationship that Balzac, like Dickens (as we shall see, the meaningful comparison here is with Dickens and not with Sue), establishes between melodrama and This is not the place to enter into the semantic jungle that has grown up around the intensely problematic category of literary realism. Among the various approaches to this concept, there is however one, in relation to which the complex ramifications of the plot of Splendeurs prove to be of great significance. That approach, which has occupied a central and fruitful place in literary theory (and, in particular, in the work of Georg Lukacs and Raymond Williams) springs essentially