Beyond 'Hellenes' and 'Barbarians': Asymmetrical Concepts in European Discourse

Forty years ago, German historian Reinhart Koselleck coined the notion of ‘asymmetrical concepts’, pointing at the asymmetry between standard self-ascriptions, such as ‘Hellenes’ or ‘Christians’, and pejorative other-references (‘Barbarians’ or ‘Pagans’) as a powerful weapon of cultural and political domination. Advancing and refining Koselleck’s approach, Beyond ‘Hellenes’ and ‘Barbarians’ explores the use of significant conceptual asymmetries such as ‘civilization’ vs. ‘barbarity’, ‘liberalism’ vs. ‘servility’, ‘order’ vs. ‘chaos’ or even ‘masters’ vs. ‘slaves’ in political, scientific and fictional discourses of Europe from the Middle Ages to the present day. Using an interdisciplinary set of approaches, the scholars in political history, cultural sociology, intellectual history and literary criticism bolster and extend our understanding of this ever-growing area of conceptual history.

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Beyond 'Hellenes' and 'Barbarians': Asymmetrical Concepts in European Discourse

Forty years ago, German historian Reinhart Koselleck coined the notion of ‘asymmetrical concepts’, pointing at the asymmetry between standard self-ascriptions, such as ‘Hellenes’ or ‘Christians’, and pejorative other-references (‘Barbarians’ or ‘Pagans’) as a powerful weapon of cultural and political domination. Advancing and refining Koselleck’s approach, Beyond ‘Hellenes’ and ‘Barbarians’ explores the use of significant conceptual asymmetries such as ‘civilization’ vs. ‘barbarity’, ‘liberalism’ vs. ‘servility’, ‘order’ vs. ‘chaos’ or even ‘masters’ vs. ‘slaves’ in political, scientific and fictional discourses of Europe from the Middle Ages to the present day. Using an interdisciplinary set of approaches, the scholars in political history, cultural sociology, intellectual history and literary criticism bolster and extend our understanding of this ever-growing area of conceptual history.

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Beyond 'Hellenes' and 'Barbarians': Asymmetrical Concepts in European Discourse

Beyond 'Hellenes' and 'Barbarians': Asymmetrical Concepts in European Discourse

by Kirill Postoutenko Postoutenko (Editor)
Beyond 'Hellenes' and 'Barbarians': Asymmetrical Concepts in European Discourse
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Beyond 'Hellenes' and 'Barbarians': Asymmetrical Concepts in European Discourse

Beyond 'Hellenes' and 'Barbarians': Asymmetrical Concepts in European Discourse

by Kirill Postoutenko Postoutenko (Editor)

Overview

Forty years ago, German historian Reinhart Koselleck coined the notion of ‘asymmetrical concepts’, pointing at the asymmetry between standard self-ascriptions, such as ‘Hellenes’ or ‘Christians’, and pejorative other-references (‘Barbarians’ or ‘Pagans’) as a powerful weapon of cultural and political domination. Advancing and refining Koselleck’s approach, Beyond ‘Hellenes’ and ‘Barbarians’ explores the use of significant conceptual asymmetries such as ‘civilization’ vs. ‘barbarity’, ‘liberalism’ vs. ‘servility’, ‘order’ vs. ‘chaos’ or even ‘masters’ vs. ‘slaves’ in political, scientific and fictional discourses of Europe from the Middle Ages to the present day. Using an interdisciplinary set of approaches, the scholars in political history, cultural sociology, intellectual history and literary criticism bolster and extend our understanding of this ever-growing area of conceptual history.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781800736801
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Publication date: 10/14/2022
Series: European Conceptual History , #8
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 358
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Kirill Postoutenko is Senior Researcher in the Special Research Area 1288 (Practices of Comparison) at Bielefeld University, Germany, and Adjunct Associate Professor (Docent) of Russian literature and culture at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He is the author and editor of eight books and eighty articles devoted to the history of Russian poetry and literary criticism, history of media and communication in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, systems theory, conversation analysis, and social history of identity.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Notes on Transliteration

Introduction: ‘Asymmetrical Counter-Concepts’: Chances and Challenges
Kirill Postoutenko

Chapter 1. Treason as Touchstone: Asymmetrical Relations between ‘Heathens’ and ‘Christians’ in Middle High German Epic Literature
Paul Paradies

Chapter 2. “Blond Flowing Hair”, “Tumid Lips,” “Rigid Posture”, and “Choleric Temperament:” Universal Aspirations and Racial Asymmetries in Linnaeus’ Descriptions of Homo Sapiens
Monica Libell

Chapter 3. The Contribution of Asymmetrical Concepts to the Building of the Spanish Liberal discourse in the First Half of 19th Century (Methodological Reflections and Applications)
Ana Isabel González Manso

Chapter 4. ‘Kultur’ / ‘Bildung’ vs. ‘Civilization’: A Close Look at one Conceptual Asymmetry in the Early Nineteenth-Century Finnish Discourse
Heli Rantala

Chapter 5. ‘Liberales' vs. 'Serviles': Symmetrisation of Asymmetrical Counter-Concepts and Political Polarization in Spain and Portugal (1810–1834)
Luis Fernandez Torres

Chapter 6. ‘Hellenes’ Revisited: Asymmetrical Concepts in the Language of the Greek Revolution
Alexandra Sfoini

Chapter 7. ‘Civilization’ and ‘Barbarity’ in French Liberal Discourse During the Conquest and Colonisation of Algeria
Nere Basabe, María Luisa Sánchez-Mejía

Chapter 8. ‘People,’ ‘Plebs’ and the Changing Boundaries of the Political: Asymmetrical Conceptualizations in Spanish Liberalism in Comparative European Perspective
Pablo Sánchez León

Chapter 9. ‘Order’ vs. ‘chaos’: Asymmetrical Counter-concepts and Ideological Struggles in the early 20th Century Russian Poland
Wiktor Marzec

Chapter 10. Dutch Mccarthyism? The Asymmetrical Opposition of ‘Democracy’ and ‘Communism’ in Holland Between 1920 and 1990
Wim de Jong

Chapter 11. Asymmetrical Oppositions and Hierarchical Structures in Soviet Musical Criticism: The Case of Essay Collection Za rubezhom (“Abroad”) (1953)
Kirill Kozlovskii

Chapter 12. “We the Basques”, and the “Other(s)": Ethnic Asymmetries in the Basque Nationalist Discourse
Iñaki Iriarte López

Conclusion: Beyond ‘Hellenes‘ and ‘Barbarians‘
Kirill Postoutenko

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