scholarly journals Fitness for the Muscles and the Mind

Author(s):  
Steffi Retzlaff

This paper describes the incorporation of a mind-body (fitness) technique called Nia into a drama-pedagogical teaching unit of Thomas Brussig’s novel Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee. The participants were third year university students of German at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. The focus is on the description of the preparation and execution of a seven-hour weekend workshop on Brussig’s Sonnenallee. The ‘prerequisites’ for that workshop included research on life and resistance in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) as well as a summary of the book and the production of character profiles for the main characters. The description of the workshop includes the portrayal of various activities such as the building of Standbilder (frozen frames), perception exercises und improvisations and, of course, the one-hour Nia session. According to the opinions of the students and my own experience and perception, drama-pedagogical elements and the inclusion of Nia have a great impact on the students’ understanding of various texts and themes and make for a truly holistic experience. This paper describes the incorporation of a mind-body (fitness) technique called Nia into a drama-pedagogical teaching unit of Thomas Brussig’s novel Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee. The participants were third year university students of German at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. The focus is on the description of the preparation and execution of a seven-hour weekend workshop on Brussig’s Sonnenallee. The ‘prerequisites’ for that workshop included research on life and resistance in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) as well as a summary of the book and the production of character profiles for the main characters. The description of the workshop includes the portrayal of various activities such as the building of Standbilder (frozen frames), perception exercises und improvisations and, of course, the one-hour Nia session. According to the opinions of the students and my own experience and perception, drama-pedagogical elements and the inclusion of Nia have a great impact on the students’ understanding of various texts and themes and make for a truly holistic experience.

Author(s):  
André Steiner ◽  
Kirsten Petrak-Jones

This chapter provides a striking account of corruption in a state that saw itself as both free from corruption and as a clear exponent of the modern belief in the end of corruption; namely, the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR). It discusses the official ideology and the anticorruption laws that were in place but also three distinct types of corruption that were present in the GDR. Ultimately, the chapter shows how the image of anticorruption was maintained by, on the one hand, accommodating to certain privileges and overlooking the clear misconduct of a part of the communist elite and, on the other hand, by concealment of the actual evidence of corruption.


2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-77
Author(s):  
Hamilton Beck

Abstract In the late 1950s, the last major works of W.E.B. Du Bois appeared in the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic and other Eastern Bloc countries before they were published in the US. While Eastern Bloc countries provided welcome support for Du Bois at a time when he was effectively blacklisted in America, they found that his texts presented them with certain challenges. On the one hand, the GDR printed his English-language anthology An ABC of Color complete and without editorial interference. When it came to translating his Autobiography in the GDR and USSR, however, some chapters were dropped for reasons of space, while others were reformulated or excised to eliminate politically awkward views, religious vocabulary, and matters touching on sexuality. This essay provides a close examination of selected passages in the German and Russian translations, compares them with the English original, and argues that in making Du Bois conform to accepted views, the East German and Russian versions straight-jacketed his text.


2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-171
Author(s):  
Nāṣir Al-Dīn Abū Khaḍīr

The ʿUthmānic way of writing (al-rasm al-ʿUthmānī) is a science that specialises in the writing of Qur'anic words in accordance with a specific ‘pattern’. It follows the writing style of the Companions at the time of the third caliph, ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān, and was attributed to ʿUthmān on the basis that he was the one who ordered the collection and copying of the Qur'an into the actual muṣḥaf. This article aims to expound on the two fundamental functions of al-rasm al-ʿUthmānī: that of paying regard to the ‘correct’ pronunciation of the words in the muṣḥaf, and the pursuit of the preclusion of ambiguity which may arise in the mind of the reader and his auditor. There is a further practical aim for this study: to show the connection between modern orthography and the ʿUthmānic rasm in order that we, nowadays, are thereby able to overcome the problems faced by calligraphers and writers of the past in their different ages and cultures.


2000 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Brothers

The rise of neo-Nazism in the capital of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) was not inspired by a desire to recreate Hitler's Reich, but by youthful rebellion against the political and social culture of the GDR's Communist regime. This is detailed in Fuehrer-Ex: Memoirs of a Former Neo-Naxi by Ingo Hasselbach with Tom Reiss (Random House, New York, 1996). This movement, however, eventually worked towards returning Germany to its former 'glory' under the Third Reich under the guidance of 'professional' Nazis.


Vox Patrum ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 477-498
Author(s):  
Ewa Osek

The present paper is a brief study on Julian the Apostate’s religion with the detailed analysis of the so called Helios myth being a part of his speech Against Heraclius (Or. VII), delivered in Constantinople in AD 362. In the chapter one I discuss veracity of the Gregory of Nazianzus’ account in the Contra Julianum (Or. IV-V) on the emperor’s strange Gods and cults. In the chapter two the reconstruction of the Julian’s theological system has been presented and the place of Helios in this hierarchy has been shown. The chapter three consists of the short preface to the Against Heraclius and of the appendix with the Polish translation and commentary on the Julian’s Helios myth. The Emperor’s theosophy, known from his four orations (X-XI and VII-VIII), bears an imprint of the Jamblichean speculation on it. The gods are arranged in the three neo-Platonic hypostases: the One, the Mind, and the Soul, named Zeus, Hecate, and Sarapis. The second and third hypostases contain in themselves the enneads and the triads. The Helios’ position is between the noetic world and the cosmic gods, so he becomes a mediator or a centre of the universe and he is assimilated with Zeus the Highest God as well as with the subordinated gods like Apollo, Dionysus, Sarapis, and Hermes. The King Helios was also the Emperor’s personal God, who saved him from the danger of death in AD 337 and 350. These tragic events are described by Julian in the allegorical fable (Or. VII 22). The question is who was Helios of the Julian’s myth: the noetic God, the Hellenistic Helios, the Persian Mithras, the Chaldean fire, or the Orphic Phanes, what is suggested by the Gregory’s invective. The answer is that the King Helios was all of them. The Helios myth in Or. VII is the best illustration of the extreme syncretism of the Julian’s heliolatry, where the neo-Platonic, Hellenistic, magic, and Persian components are mingled.


1986 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Gierczycki ◽  
Vladimír Staněk ◽  
Petr Vychodil ◽  
Vladimír Jiřičný ◽  
Jerzy Pikoń ◽  
...  

An approach utilizing the automodel properties in describing the hydrodynamic behaviour of counter-current columns has been extended to regularly stacked beds. Two new kinds of the packing have been investigated: The so-called K-packing, developed in the German Democratic Republic and the Cellular packing, developed in Poland. The results of experiments have been presented in the form of plots of the normalized liquid hold-up, hp, versus the normalized liquid velocity, Ql, and two empirical correlations. A comparison with previous results with randomly packed counter-current trickle bed columns has also been made.


Author(s):  
Grant Macaskill

This book examines how the New Testament scriptures might form and foster intellectual humility within Christian communities. It is informed by recent interdisciplinary interest in intellectual humility, and concerned to appreciate the distinctive representations of the virtue offered by the New Testament writers on their own terms. It argues that the intellectual virtue is cast as a particular expression of the broader Christian virtue of humility, which proceeds from the believer’s union with Christ, through which personal identity is reconstituted by the operation of the Holy Spirit. Hence, we speak of ‘virtue’ in ways determined by the acting presence of Jesus Christ, overcoming sin and evil in human lives and in the world. The Christian account of the virtue is framed by this conflict, as believers within the Christian community struggle with natural arrogance and selfishness, and come to share in the mind of Christ. The new identity that emerges creates a fresh openness to truth, as the capacity of the sinful mind to distort truth is exposed and challenged. This affects knowledge and perception, but also volition: for these ancient writers, a humble mind makes good decisions that reflect judgments decisively shaped by the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. By presenting ‘humility of mind’ as a characteristic of the One who is worshipped—Jesus Christ—the New Testament writers insist that we acknowledge the virtue not just as an admission of human deficiency or limitation, but as a positive affirmation of our rightful place within the divine economy.


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