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Wednesday 11 April 2012 11.00 - 13.00
A-2 CUL04 Cultures of Modernity 2: Managing Modernity
Boyd Orr: Lecture Theatre A
Networks: Culture , Religion Chair: Ed Jonker
Organizers: Ed Jonker, Joris van Eijnatten Discussant: Joris van Eijnatten
Maria Heidegger : “Modern” Psychiatry and Pastoral Caring of Religious Madness. A Tyrolean Example
My contribution to the discussion of the viability of modernity as a cultural historical concept deals with and compares pastoral and psychiatric discourses and practices of curing religious madness in 19th-century Tyrol. Therefore I conceive “modernity” primarily as a term of positioning and legitimating on the part of psychiatric and ... (Show more)
My contribution to the discussion of the viability of modernity as a cultural historical concept deals with and compares pastoral and psychiatric discourses and practices of curing religious madness in 19th-century Tyrol. Therefore I conceive “modernity” primarily as a term of positioning and legitimating on the part of psychiatric and medical actors. Following Doris Kaufmann I suggest that “modern” psychiatrists in the 19th century set double boundaries against “pre-modern” forms of treating the insane on the one hand, against traditional competences of clergymen as well as metaphysical explanations of mental illness on the other hand. I consider that it would be worthy to analyse the connotations and representations of “modernity” within this historical demarcation dispute. Accordingly, I prefer conceptions of “modernity” addressing historical self-conceptions.
Deriving from this focus of interest I want to present an empirical study mainly based on medical case histories from the early years of the k. k. Provincial Mental Hospital in Hall (founded in 1830). Against the background of collective and general catholic piety in 19th -history Tyrol, the salvation of mentally ill persons was perceived as a problem of high significance. The sources show clearly that religiousness and religious practices of patients formed a focal point of medical observation and anamnesis. In light of this, I intend to examine the impact of modernity as an attitude of secular rationality connected with a new conception of science on the treatment of religious madness by early psychiatrists.
An additional point is the impact of modernity on attempts of pastoral caring and counselling by catholic caregivers in 19th century asylum and parish communities. Within her gender-critical analysis of confession Edith Saurer has observed that in the early 19th century a therapeutic appreciation was assigned to confession by some theologians. Clerics maintained to provide medical and spiritual care in asylums and outside. Recently Benjamin Ziemann has challenged the assumption of the disenchantment of the world (Max Weber) in the 19th century from an empirical point of view. According to psychiatric sources about religious madness I would agree to that and put into question to which extent secularisation as part of modernisation can be described as a process of separation of church and medicine. Therefore I want to elaborate more clearly since when, why, and in which forms religious expressions were perceived as pathological by psychiatrists and official church. Last but not least, I would like to stress the various conflicts and contacts in professional caring for and curing of the soul between medical protagonists and clergymen in a micro-historical perspective. Thus, I hope to enrich the discussion of modernity with one representative aspect of a cultural historical formation for a period of discontinuities and breaks. (Show less)

Kate Hill : Modernity and Materiality: Identities, Museums and the Affect of Objects around 1900
This paper will examine the utility of modernity to explain the relationships between people and things around 1900. It has been suggested that modernity is a key concept for understanding changing relationships with materiality, and changing displays of that materiality in museums; it is argued that modernity entailed a loss ... (Show more)
This paper will examine the utility of modernity to explain the relationships between people and things around 1900. It has been suggested that modernity is a key concept for understanding changing relationships with materiality, and changing displays of that materiality in museums; it is argued that modernity entailed a loss of authenticity in mass produced and consumed objects, and also that objects came to function as a new focus for the historical imagination. The paper will be based on research into donations to museums in England around this time: donating entails an encounter between publicly valued objects and those with more personal meaning, and thus is ideal for illuminating the official and intimate narratives surrounding objects. The paper will examine the growth in collecting and donating of objects which could be classified as ‘folk’, social history and craft. Whereas collecting and donating had previously been based on ideas about taste, and about systematicity as a means of knowing, what came to be valued around 1900 were objects which constructed authentic modern identities; the paper will discuss the nature of these identities, exploring how gender, historical depth, imaginative understanding, and appreciation of an aesthetic of the handmade and humble were all constructed and reconstructed through interaction with these objects. However, the paper will also consider the extent to which continuities between older ways of valuing and interacting with objects can still be seen in the modern museum. (Show less)

Svein Ivar Langhelle : Religion between Tradition and Modernity. A Norwegian Case
With a reference to Erich Bayreuther, this paper discusses the implementation process of new ethical standards that took place in South-Western Norway during the first half of the 19th century, caused by the comprehensive religious revivals of followers of Hans Nielsen Hauge.

In regions where the Haugeans gained a significant ... (Show more)
With a reference to Erich Bayreuther, this paper discusses the implementation process of new ethical standards that took place in South-Western Norway during the first half of the 19th century, caused by the comprehensive religious revivals of followers of Hans Nielsen Hauge.

In regions where the Haugeans gained a significant appearance, their presence led to a change in lifestyle, also affecting those people not taking part in the revivals, for example in regard to level of liquor consumption, new customs at social events and gatherings, manual labour on holidays, and so on.

The spiritually awakened appealed to the traditional religious authorities and were solidly rooted in the pre-modern world-view. On the other hand, the methods they used were radical and pathbreaking for the modernisation process, modernisation implying a change in mentality leading in turn to changes in society and economy. In reality, the early Christian awakened advocated personal religious choice, by promoting individualization and personal responsibility. The religious revivals of the 1800s were thereby an important element in the process of modernisation, distancing themselves from traditional and local frames and leaving the individual no longer in the same obligation to the local community and face-to-face meetings. Furthermore, this demanded a civilising process, by Norbert Elias’ interpretation, which implied both self-discipline and individualisation.

The paper will discuss several probable causes of the early arrival of religious awakenings and their far-reaching consequences in South-Western Norway. In this paper I refer to Anthony Giddens’ work on modernity. I argue that the changes in the local community may have influenced the “climate” for the new religious thinking and changes in norms, and that people gave religious answers to the new questions of the time. (Show less)



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