This article explores the impact of war-related traumatic experiences on political identities and political behavior by exploring different pieces of empirical evidence from the Spanish Civil War, the Franco dictatorship, and its aftermath. On one hand, the author analyzes semistructured interviews of survivors of the civil war and the dictatorship; on the other hand, she assesses data from a specialized survey implemented on a representative sample of the Spanish population. The analyses broadly suggest that, controlling for family leanings during the (...) civil war, victimization experiences during the civil war and the subsequent dictatorship lead to the rejection of the perpetrators’ identities along the political cleavage that was salient during the war. The survey analysis also indicates that although grudges related to severe wartime violations are transmitted through generations, moderate wartime violations do not have such a long-term political impact; the political effects of victimization do not increase with proximity to the traumatic events ; and victimization experiences do not have a significant impact on identities along cleavages that were not salient during the war. (shrink)

This book reveals the sense in which our postmodern societies are characterized by the obscene absence of the intellectual. The modern intellectual--who had once been associated with humanism and enlightenment—has in our day been replaced by media stars, talking heads, and technical experts. At issue is the ongoing crisis of democracy, under the aegis of the société du spectacle and its vast networks of politically-induced idiocy, industrially-produced biocide, and militarily-provoked genocide. Spectacle fills the resulting moral and intellectual vacuum with electronic (...) technologies of control, punishment, and destruction. This postmodern tyranny reduces intelligence to mechanistic, positivist, and grammatological models of inquiry, while increasing the segmentation, fragmentation, and dissolution of human existence. The apotheosis of the spectacle explains the intellectual void that lies at the heart of our postmodern decadence; it also accounts for the need to recuperate the humanist values of enlightenment promoted by the modern intellectual tradition. (shrink)

This book is about the ways in which modern enlightenment, rather than liberating humanity from tyranny, has subjected us to new servitude imposed by systems of mass manipulation, electronic vigilance, compulsive consumerism, and the horrors of a seemingly unending global war on terror. The main intellectual aims of this title are the following: the analysis of spectacle, the criticism of providential enlightenment, and the examination of positive dialectics. The spectacle, in this case, is the apotheosis of the culture industries, a (...) total inversion of reality and of our existences. Providential enlightenment is not only a critique of the failure of enlightenment, but of the mutilation of historical enlightenments. Positive dialectics signal a new era of intellectual engagement in the construction of our historical future. During a time in which national democracies seem an imperial farce, it is not enough for intellectuals faced with all this destruction to blithely recommend resistance. The book thus ties American, British, French and German theoretical traditions into a reflexive challenge to the notion of intellectual as critic, and argues instead for a trespassive tradition of cultural leadership. (shrink)

Con motivo de la reciente publicación del libro de Eduardo Subirats titulado Violencia y Civilización (Losada, Madrid, 2006), sacamos a la luz el siguiente texto, extractado del mencionado libro, para dar a conocer algunas de las claves del pensamiento del autor. A través del concepto de violencia civilizatoria denuncia los abusos cometidos por un poder global y totalitario que actúa, paradójicamente, en consonancia con la defensa de la libertad, con el multiculturalismo neoliberal, y con un capitalismo amable y deconstruccionista.

Partiendo de una reflexión sobre las limitaciones que enfrenta la democracia en el contexto de la globalización actual, el autor analiza las posibilidades de una nueva relación entre las personas, los colectivos y las instituciones del Estado. Los desafíos que enfrenta la humanidad, a escala mundial, no pueden seguir siendo enfrentados con las formas sociales y políticas propias del marco del Estado-Nación territorial. La democracia continuaría siendo la mejor alternativa a esta crisis epocal, pero aquella que surja de una profunda (...) transformación de la relación entre gobernados y gobernantes, y que de cuenta de las nuevas formas de participación que exigen los diversos actores sociales sin necesidad de retornar al rígido centralismo estatista. (shrink)

Reúne una serie de ensayos sobre temas de actualidad que giran en torno a: la crisis de la razón en el mundo moderno, la destrucción y la guerra, la crisis del intelectual, el lugar del arte en la cultura contemporánea o la cultura espectacular. Todos ellos persiguen el hilo de una teoría crítica de la cultura contemporánea y plantean la exigencia de reformular el papel del intelectual en el mundo de hoy.

E l auto r pa r t e de l reconocimient o d e qu e lo s parámetro s e n lo s qu e s e inscribía n las institucione s d e l a democraci a representat iva ha n cambiad o sustancialmente . E n es e nu evo cont e xt o sitú a e l debat e sobr e lo s posi b le s dé f icit s d e l a democraci a (...) representat iva y espe- cí f icament e e l crecient e desapoderamient o d e l a capacida d popula r d e influi r y condicionar la s decisiones , qu e hac e perde r l e gitimida d a un a democraci a qu e sól o mantien e abie r tas la s pue r ta s d e lo s rito s fo r male s e institucionales . E n s e gund o luga r , e l a r tícul o s e centra e n lo s efecto s qu e tien e l a generalizació n d e inte r ne t e n es e escenario . E l auto r constata cóm o la s estrat e gia s d e us o d e la s TI C hast a ahor a desa r rollada s e n e l espaci o polític o se ha n centrad o e n l a mejor a d e l a capacida d d e prestació n d e se r vicio s o e n l a ampliació n de l a capacida d d e elecció n d e lo s consumidores-ciudadanos , per o n o e xist e un a v olunta d d e ir má s all á d e un a concepció n d e l a democraci a qu e s e centr a e n la s r e gla s procedimentales y e n un a visió n mu y estrict a de l principi o d e representación . F rent e a esta s estrat e gias, e l a r tícul o aborda , po r u n lado , la s relacione s entr e Inte r net , m o vimiento s sociale s y las nu ev a s fo r ma s d e hace r polític a (centrándos e e n l a e xperienci a de l 15M ) y , po r otr o lado , la posibilida d d e repensa r d e nu evo e l viej o tem a d e l a democraci a direct a y l a pa r ticipación ciudadan a qu e l a e xtensió n y generalizació n d e Inte r ne t pe r miten . E n amba s estrat e gia s late l a preocupació n po r l a calida d d e l a pa r ticipació n y l a capacida d d e implicació n d e l a gente e n lo s asunto s colect iv o s tant o a n i v e l polític o com o ví a necesari a n o sól o par a defender su s intereses , sin o com o fo r m a d e entende r l a democracia , un a democraci a relaciona l y pa r ticipat iv a. (shrink)

Traducción de "Cuarteto español", en: Después de la lluvia. Sobre la ambigua modernidad española. Madrid, Temas de hoy. Ensayo 1993.

Hospitals are paying increasing attention to the delivery of humanized care. The purpose of this study was to explore from the nursing perspective what hospital managers might do to facilitate this. A secondary analysis from a primary ethnographic study regarding dignity in nursing practice was conducted. Twenty interviews of internal medicine nurses from four hospitals were analyzed, and three main themes were identified: Management of nursing teams, Management of ethical values, and Management of the context. It is important for institutional (...) values to be closely aligned with those of the nursing profession, and nurse managers play a key role in ensuring that the latter are applied in practice. The proposed actions offer a cost‐effective framework through which nurses and managers may promote the delivery of humanized care. (shrink)

Con el advenimiento del nuevo milenio, las históricas relaciones entre arte y naturaleza siguen más vivas que nunca. La noción de naturaleza se encuentra atravesada por múltiples vectores que llevan los límites de aquello que consideramos «natural» más allá de sus fronteras tradicionales. Y, por otro lado, la naturaleza se ha convertido en el ámbito de trabajo de muchas tendencias artísticas contemporáneas. De la mano de diez autores, esta publicación aborda las dimensiones simbólicas y políticas de las prácticas artísticas que (...) parten de la naturaleza con la voluntad de transformar la realidad, y que tienen como objetivo potenciar un espacio de diálogo y generar un debate y un pensamiento crítico. Desde campos de investigación aparentemente distantes, cada capítulo ofrece un punto de vista diferente para repensar la relación entre arte, naturaleza y política. (shrink)

Since Eveland and Shah published their seminal study on the impact of social networks on media bias perceptions in the US, little has been researched about the interpersonal antecedents of hostile media perceptions. In this study we address this gap by investigating the role of safe, or like-minded, political discussions on individuals’ likelihood to perceive media as hostile. We use survey data from more than 5,000 individuals in Germany. Our findings reveal that like-minded discussions increase one’s likelihood to perceive media (...) as hostile; yet, only among those more politically engaged and ideologically on the left. The significance and theoretical implications of the results are discussed in the concluding section. (shrink)

The importance of cultivating creativity in language education has been widely acknowledged in the academic literature. In this respect, digital technologies can play a key role in achieving this endeavour. The socio-cultural conceptualization of creativity stresses the role of communication, collaboration and dialogical interaction of creative expression in language education. The objective of this paper is to study the literature focusing on cases of collaborative creativity and technology embedded in language education. To this end, we carry out a systematic revision (...) of state-of-the-art literature consisting of 26 blind peer-reviewed empirical studies selected from several databases that address our main research question, namely, which specific roles and forms of digital technology can be identified in the existing literature that support collaborative creativity in language education. Results show that the features of digital technology unfold a range of learning opportunities in language education and can play three different roles in promoting collaborative creativity: as a tutoring device that guides the implementation of key co-creation skills; as a tool that enables and shapes the development of co-creative thinking skills; and as a medium that creates rich and resourceful environments to stimulate the emergence of collective creative processes. The paper also reveals that these three roles can be performed using a wide range of interactive technologies that encourage students to participate in a rich, co-creative language learning experience and equip learners with key competences to approach complex problems in a globalised and hyper-connected world. Finally, this paper may contribute to developing future language technology-enhanced learning projects capable of promoting key collaborative and creative processes. (shrink)

RESUMOO presente artigo analisa processos de alterização na biologia humana e na biomedicina. A alterização é entendida aqui como o processo cultural de produção de alteridades por meio da delimitação, rotulação e categorização das formas possíveis de ser outro, desde um determinado marco de referência sócio-histórico. Ainda que a alterização faça parte de qualquer processo de delimitação de categorias de identidade no seio de uma cultura - e, nesse sentido, possa apresentar visões do outro tanto positivas quanto negativas -, aqui (...) nos interessamos especificamente na alterização como fator de marginalização e exclusão social de diferentes grupos humanos. São analisados diversos processos de alterização operantes nos discursos e nas práticas das ciências biomédicas ao longo de sua história recente, os quais têm conduzido à exclusão social de diferentes categorias de outros, ou a tratá-los como inferiores, em pretendidas bases científicas, ou em função de determinadas práticas institucionalizadas dentro da comunidade científica. Exemplos típicos de grupos marginalizados pelas ciências ocidentais ao longo de sua história incluem as raças não europeias, as mulheres, os homossexuais e os "pobres". O principal objetivo do presente artigo é analisar, na história recente das ciências biomédicas, esses processos de alterização que têm conduzido à marginalização de tais grupos e a considerá-los como inferiores. ABSTRACTThis article analyzes processes of "othering" in human biology and biomedicine. Othering is understood here as the cultural process of production of otherness by means of the delimitation, tagging, and categorization of the possible ways of being "other" within a given socio-historical context. Although othering can be considered as a constitutive aspect of any process of delimitation of identities within a given culture - and in this sense it can present both positive and negative views of the "other" -, in the present article we are specifically interested in processes of othering that lead to the marginalization and social exclusion of different human groups. We will analyze processes of othering, which have operated in the discourses and practices of biomedical sciences throughout their recent history, that have led to the social exclusion of different categories of "others", or to treating them as inferior, and that have supposedly scientific bases or as a consequence of the institutionalization of certain practices within the scientific community. Typical examples of these "others", marginalized by the Western sciences throughout their history, are the non-European "races", women, gay and lesbian people, and the "poor". The main objective of this article is to analyze, in the recent history of the biomedical technosciences, these different processes of othering that have led to the marginalization of such "others" and to treating them as inferior. (shrink)

Cette contribution s’inscrit dans l’axe de recherche des projets CIRIT, 2009 SGR 808, et MCeI, FFI2009-09630. Merci à Laia de Ahumada, Maria Toldrà et Pep Valsalobre pour leur collaboration. L’intérêt pour l’écriture féminine antérieure à la fin de l’Ancien Régime va grandissant de façon significative dans l’aire linguistique catalane, en Catalogne, mais aussi dans la Communauté Valencienne et aux Îles Baléares, au moment où l’histoire des femmes se développe et se renforce. Avant les années...

La palabra alegría es muy importante para Fernando Savater... Y es el tema central en tomo al que se articula el libro "Misterios gozosos", una antología de textos, a cargo de Héctor Subirats, que recorre 25 años de la producción filosófica y literaria de Savater. El escritor definió la palabra alegría como "afirmación del presente, no nostalgia del pasado ni del futuro". Misterios gozosos se divide, en cinco capítulos en los que se recogen las razones para la (su) alegría: (...) el solo hecho de vivir, el gusto por la comida, el buen vino, el regocijo por la polémica, el entusiasmo por lo admirado, desde figuras históricas como Voltaire o Spinoza a personajes míticos como Groucho Marx o King Kong. De hecho, Savater aparece en la portada, del libro con un pequeño King Kong en las manos. El escritor, siempre vitalista, reflexiona también en su libro sobre cuestiones de primordial interés como las drogas, la salud, los derechos humanos, el amor, la muerte o la soledad.Subirats explicó que seleccionó los textos con "mala leche, para mostar la evolución o involución de Savater". Preguntado sobre cómo ha sido la involución del escritor, Subirats respondió que "Savater permanece en su sitio. Ha sido el mundo el que se ha echado para atrás". Y Savater precisó: "Las ideas no entran en uno como en la religión. A los 20 años se piensa de una manera y a los 50, de otra. Si uno lee, va al cine, sigue atento la marcha del país... y sigue pensando invariablemente lo mismo es que no ha pensado nunca". "El resultado del pensamiento no es siempre gozoso: lo gozoso es pensar", añadió. (En "Fernando Savater defiende la alegría de vivir en "Misterios gozosos"". Madrid : El País. 28 de febrero de 1995). (shrink)