TY - JOUR A1 - Ángel Puig-Samper, Miguel ED - Ette, Ottmar ED - Knobloch, Eberhard T1 - Humboldt and his geographical album of New Spain JF - HiN : Alexander von Humboldt im Netz ; International Review for Humboldtian Studies N2 - During his trip to New Spain in 1803, Alexander von Humboldt visited large tracts of New Spanish territory, which includes modern Mexico and part of the United States. This trip provided the data for his geographical Atlas of the region, as well as information about the ancient Mexican cultures that he would later include in the general Atlas and in other major works, such as Vues des Cordillères. Likewise, Humboldt’s Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain displayed a comprehensive physical, natural, economic, and social description of Mexico in the colonial period, which will also be analysed. With these works, Humboldt presented a new geographical and cultural image of New Spain to the European audiences. In addition to this, his work made important contributions to cartographic knowledge. N2 - Alexander von Humboldt en su viaje a Nueva España en 1803 tuvo la oportunidad de viajar por gran parte del territorio novohispano, que incluye Mexico y parte de del actual territorio de Estados Unidos. Este viaje le permitió preparar un Atlas geográfico de la región, además de obtener información sobre las antiguas culturas mexicanas que luego plasmará en el Atlas general del viaje y en algunas de sus principales obras como Vues des Cordillères. Asimismo, Humboldt hizo una excelente descripción física, natural, económica y social de México en la época colonial en su Ensayo político sobre el Reino de la Nueva España que también será analizado. Con estas obras Humboldt logró ofrecer una nueva imagen del territorio novohispano y sus riquezas al mundo europeo, así como un conocimiento cartográfico de gran importancia. N2 - Alexander von Humboldt, lors de son voyage en Nouvelle-Espagne en 1803, a eu l’occasion de parcourir une grande partie du territoire de la Nouvelle-Espagne, qui comprend le Mexique et une partie du territoire actuel des États-Unis. Ce voyage lui a permis de préparer un Atlas géographique de la région, ainsi que d’obtenir des informations sur les anciennes cultures mexicaines qu'il inclura plus tard dans l’Atlas général du voyage et dans certaines de ses œuvres principales comme Vues des Cordillères. Humboldt a également donné une excellente description physique, naturelle, économique et sociale du Mexique à l’époque coloniale dans son Essai Politique sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne, qui sera également analysé. Avec ces travaux, Humboldt a réussi à offrir au monde européen une nouvelle image du Nouveau territoire espagnol et de ses richesses, de même qu’une connaissance cartographique de grande importance. KW - New Spain KW - Mexico KW - geographical album Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-592335 SN - 2568-3543 SN - 1617-5239 VL - XXIII IS - 45 SP - 29 EP - 71 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Maaser, Lucas T1 - Transitional Justice and Nonviolent Resistance BT - Mutually Reinforcing Frameworks for the Consolidation of Democracies? JF - Transitional Justice : Theoretical and Practical Approaches (Potsdamer Studien zu Staat, Recht und Politik ; 7) N2 - At different times and places, civic engagement in nonviolent resistance (NVR) has repeatedly shown to be an effective tool in times of conflict to initiate societal change from below. History teaches us that there have been successes (Mahatma Gandhi in India) and failures (the Tiananmen Square protests in China). Along with the recognition of the duality between transformative potential and stark consequences, the historical development of NVR was accompanied by the emergence of scholarly debate, fractured along disputes around purpose, character and effectivity of nonviolent actions taken by civil society stakeholders engaged in making their voices heard. One of the field’s current points of interest is the examination of the long-term effects of NVR movements resulting in societal transformation on the stability and adequacy of a subsequently altered or emerging democracy, suggesting that NVR contributes positively to the sustainable and representative design of an egalitarian governing system. The conclusion of the Nepalese civil war in 2006 should pose as an unambiguous example for the illustration of this phenomenon, but simultaneously raises the question why there was no successful implementation of a transitional process focusing on the needs of the victims. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-570470 SN - 978-3-86956-473-9 SN - 1869-2443 SN - 1867-2663 IS - 7 SP - 139 EP - 165 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Conner, Sean T1 - Structural and Socioeconomic Approaches to Justice BT - Transformative Justice in Nicaragua’s ‘Dual Transition’ JF - Transitional Justice : Theoretical and Practical Approaches (Potsdamer Studien zu Staat, Recht und Politik ; 7) N2 - Transitional justice is conventionally theorized as how a society deals with past injustices after regime change and alongside democratization. Nonetheless, scholars have not reached a consensus on what is to be included or excluded. Recent ideas of transformative justice seek to expand the understanding of transitional justice to include systemic restructuring and socioeconomic considerations. In the context of Nicaragua — where two transitions occurred within an 11-year span — very little transitional justice took place, in terms of the conventional concept of top-down legalistic mechanisms; however, distinct structural changes and socioeconomic policies can be found with each regime change. By analyzing the transformative justice elements of Nicaragua’s dual transition, this chapter seeks to expand the understanding of transitional justice to include how these factors influence goals of transitions such as sustainable peace and reconciliation for past injustices. The results argue for increased attention to transformative justice theories and a more nuanced conception of justice. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-570170 SN - 978-3-86956-473-9 SN - 1869-2443 SN - 1867-2663 IS - 7 SP - 111 EP - 138 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mair, Theresa T1 - Transforming Transitional Justice to Address Colonial Crime BT - The Nama’s and Herero’s Claim for Justice for Germany’s Colonial Genocide in Namibia JF - Transitional Justice : Theoretical and Practical Approaches (Potsdamer Studien zu Staat, Recht und Politik ; 7) N2 - While the concept of transitional justice and its range of measures have gained importance on an international level to come to terms with major crimes of the past, colonial crimes and mass violence committed by Western actors have not been addressed by transitional justice so far. In this chapter, the Herero’s and Nama’s struggle for justice for the genocide on their ancestors by Germany from 1904 – 1908 and the arising challenges are set in relation to conceptual debates in the field of transitional justice. Building on current debates in the field, suggesting more structural and transformative conceptualizations of transitional justice and an approach ‘from below’, it is argued that decolonial activism of formerly colonized communities and transitional justice debates can inform each other in a dialogic and fruitful form to formulate suggestions for a process towards post-colonial justice. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-570160 SN - 978-3-86956-473-9 SN - 1869-2443 SN - 1867-2663 IS - 7 SP - 73 EP - 109 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Francisco Vásquez Carruthers, Juan T1 - Transitional Justice and Political Opportunism JF - Transitional Justice : Theoretical and Practical Approaches (Potsdamer Studien zu Staat, Recht und Politik ; 7) N2 - This paper aims to contribute a different approach to transitional justice, one in which political decisions are rocketed to the forefront of the research. Theory asserts that, after a transition to democracy, it is the constituency who defines the direction a country will take. Therefore, pleasing them should be at the fore of the responses taken by those in power. However, reality distances itself from theory. History provides us with many examples of the contrary, which indicates that the politicization of transitional justice is an ever-present event. The first section will outline current definitions and obstacles faced by transitional justice, focusing on the implicit ties between them and the aforementioned politicization. An original categorization of Transitional Justice as a method of analysis will also be introduced, which I denominate Political Opportunism. The case of Argentina, a country that is usually described as a model to export but that after 35 years is still dealing with the consequences brought by the contradictions of using several methods of justice, will then be reinterpreted through this perspective. At the end of the paper, the inevitable question will be posed: can this new angle be exported and implemented in every transition? Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-570153 SN - 978-3-86956-473-9 SN - 1869-2443 SN - 1867-2663 IS - 7 SP - 39 EP - 71 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Verlaan, Stephanie T1 - The Misapplication of Western Conflict and Reconciliation Theories on New World Wars JF - Transitional Justice : Theoretical and Practical Approaches (Potsdamer Studien zu Staat, Recht und Politik ; 7) N2 - This chapter deals with the problem that theories of peace building, conflict resolution and reconciliation were predominately created in the West and, therefore, do not necessarily fit the understanding of peace, conflict, and resolution in non-Western societies and cultures. Within these societies, the acceptance of suffering may also be higher, which leads to different priorities of conflict resolution approaches. Furthermore, this chapter deals with the question of whether the current understanding of wars and the nature of conflict change the basis of established conflict theories. These theoretical approaches are then applied in Sierra Leone as a non-Western negotiation scenario. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-570149 SN - 978-3-86956-473-9 SN - 1869-2443 SN - 1867-2663 IS - 7 SP - 11 EP - 38 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beck, Christian ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Review of Hamish Williams: Tolkien and the Classical World BT - Walking Tree Publishers (Zurich/Jena 2021) (= Cormarë Series No. 45), 414 pp . ISBN: 978-3-905703-45-0, 44 € JF - thersites 15 Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.230 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 314 EP - 320 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Keen, Tony ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Legolas in Troy BT - The influence of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies on cinematic portrayals of ancient Greece and Rome JF - thersites 15 N2 - The Lord of the Rings movies were a cinematic phenomenon, extremely popular. They are not often considered as works of Classical Reception. These films’ influence on subsequent ancient world movies has been understudied, and undervalued. A common model of cinematic Greece and Rome in the twenty-first century looks solely back to Gladiator. Undoubtedly Gladiator, and its commercial success, is important to how ancient world movies developed; but focussing solely on Gladiator does not explain a move away from Roman history towards Greek mythology, culminating in a flurry of movies about Greek mythological heroes. Lord of the Rings is an overlooked factor. Already in Troy two LOTR stars are in key roles, and the battle scenes seek to imitate those of Jackson’s trilogy. 300 mythologizes far beyond Frank Miller’s graphic novel, adding several monsters; LOTR’s influence is at play here. LOTR’s influence was one factor in a complex process that saw ancient world movies change in the twentyfirst century. LOTR fed into an atmosphere that moved ancient world movies towards Greece, away from Rome, through promoting the appeal of a combination of epic and the fantastic. KW - classical movies KW - Lord of the Rings KW - classical reception KW - Peter Jackson KW - fantasy movies Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.223 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 285 EP - 313 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stutz, Kathryn H. ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - G. B. Smith’s “Elzevir Cicero” and the Construction of Queer Immortality in Tolkien’s Mythopoeia JF - thersites 15 N2 - Following the death of J. R. R. Tolkien in 1973, an obituary appeared in The Times quoting Tolkien as having said that his “love for the classics took ten years to recover from lectures on Cicero and Demosthenes.” This contentious relationship between Tolkien and the Greco-Roman past contrasts with the work of unabashedly classicizing poet Geoffrey Bache Smith, a school friend of Tolkien’s who was killed in the Great War. When Tolkien collected Smith’s poems for posthumous publication, this paper shows, Smith’s engagements with the ancient world became part of Tolkien’s own philosophy of immortality through literary composition. Within his 1931 poem “Mythopoeia,” and his 1939 speech “On Fairy-Stories,” Tolkien articulated a unified method of mythmaking by looking back to his lost friend’s understanding of mythology as a type of ancient story-craft that enabled poets to preserve the dead against the ravages of time. By tracing a triangular path through the relationships between Tolkien, Smith, and the classical past inhabited by figures like Cicero, this paper argues that Tolkien not only recovered a “love for the classics,” but used classical texts to “recover” his lost friend, granting Smith a queer, classical immortality in return. KW - John Ronald Reuel Tolkien KW - Geoffrey Bache Smith KW - hauntology KW - queer theory KW - mythopoeia Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.225 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 253 EP - 284 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Praet, Raf ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - The Throne of the King BT - The Throne Room in Minas Tirith and Late Antique Ruler Ideology JF - thersites 15 N2 - A conspicuous feature of Tolkien’s description of the city of Minas Tirith in The Return of The King is the depiction of two thrones in the Great Hall; one empty throne reserved for the king, and one seat for the steward of Gondor. This paper aims to ascertain the late antique and mediaeval sources of inspiration behind Tolkien’s creation of the throne room in Minas Tirith. As a starting point, we shall compare the setting of the two thrones in Minas Tirith with a motive in Christian iconography, the hetoimasia, and its architectural expression in the Chrysotriklinos, the throne room in the Byzantine Great Palace in Constantinople. Next, we shall show that Tolkien intentionally obscured his appropriation of the Byzantine throne room to create a multi-layered image of rulership, in accordance with his aesthetics of applicability and allegory. In conclusion, we shall formulate some remarks on the interpretation of the association between the Byzantine Chrysotriklinos and the Gondorian Great Hall. As a form of Tolkien’s literary process of sub-creation, the description of the throne room in Minas Tirith serves to emphasise the significance of The Return of the King as a retelling of Christ’s restoration of the fallen world, placing the work of Tolkien in the context of a strong personal Catholic piety. KW - late antique palace architecture KW - Chrysotriklinos KW - allegory and applicability KW - sub-creation KW - Christ the King Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.210 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 232 EP - 252 ER -