impEct No. 13 - Romance studies and the European attitude to life

The main topic of this issue 13 of impEct was originally planned differently. My CfP in the online forum Romanistik.de from May 9, 2023 under the title Europe yes, but which one? Experiences and reflections (https://www.romanistik.de/for/5713-Europa_ja_aber_welches_Erfahrungen_und_Reflexionen) was unsuccessful. The topic may have been too ambitious.

In this issue of impEct , the topic of 'Europe' is approached on the one hand from the critical perspective of phenomenologically informed foreign language learning, and on the other hand, the aim is to concretize the "existential background feelings" in Europe; the concept of "deontological feelings" proves to be helpful here. The concept of " attitude towards life" forms the bridge between the two contributions.

• The editor uses this term to make it plausible that the acquisition of European languages cannot be reduced to the horizon of functional multilingualism, as is the case within the framework of EU language policy. If, on the other hand, Europe is seen as an affective space, the phenomena of the embedding attitude to life must also be addressed for language acquisition:

• From a neo-phenomenological perspective, Henning Nörenberg explains the extent to which the seemingly vague concept of the attitude towards life has been clarified in contemporary philosophy. He argues that in the context of existential background feelings, deontological feelings make themselves felt, which can have an influence on the attitude towards life in Europe.

The editor uses this state of discussion to invite students of Romance studies to familiarize themselves with a little-noticed Romance language, e.g. Friulian, and the embedding culture.

• "Settling in" indicates that this is not the usual language acquisition offered to students of Romance studies. The author argues that growing into a little-known Romance culture and language can promote affective multilingualism and thus affective nostrification in Europe. This bodily-atmospheric experience can increase the attractiveness of Romance studies, insofar as the Romance language(s) already learned may also appear in a different light from the perspective of bodily-atmospheric affiliation. Finally, the European attitude to life anchored in European languages should be the necessary basis for a multilingual academic culture.

• Gehler, Michael (2023): The war over Ukraine. Questions - Methods - Results - Theses - Terminologies, in: Jahrbuch Politisches Denken, vol. 32 (2022), Verlag Duncker & Humblot, pp. 27-61. https://elibrary.duncker-humblot.com/article/72525/der-krieg-umdie-ukraine

• The project managers: 9 stages of conflict escalation according to Friedrich Glasl. https://dieprojektmanager.com/konflikteskalation-nach-friedrich-glasl/ : Translation into French

• Gehrmann, Siegfried: "Does science need multilingualism? Language and socio-political comments on the Anglophonization of science in times of globalization", in: Zeitschrift für Kultur- und Kollektivwissenschaft, 2022, Vol. 7 (2), pp.13-56. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.14361/zkkw-2021-070203/html

• Neumann, Victor (ed.): Das Temeswarer Banat: Eine europäische Regionalgeschichte, Berlin: De Gruyter-Oldenbourg, 2022. Available online at Oapen Library: See the review: https://literaturkritik.de/weger-guendisch-marin-neumann-temeswar-kleine-geschichte-des-banats-das-temeswarer-banat,29750.html

• The following is a review by Donald Mengay of Victor Neumann's book: The Temptation of Homo Europaeus. (See below "Self-sufficient entities")

• Witte, Arnd (2023): "Bringing the body into play: The corporeal aspect in second language acquisition." In: The Modern Language Journal, Volume107, Issue 3, Autumn (Fall), pp. 693-712. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/modl.12861

• Position paper of the Association of University Teachers on the importance of the national language in teaching

• "" Self-sufficient entities thanks to their multiple-coded cultural inheritance ", English translation of "Reflections following Victor Neumann: The Temptation of Homo Europaeus. An Intellectual History of Central and Southeastern Europe, London: Scala, 2nd revised and updated edition, 2020", in: impEct 12, 2021 https://www.fh-dortmund.de/medien/hochschule/i12_Art8a_Ueber-V.Neumann.pdf(Opens in a new tab) 
  Published in: World Complexity Science Academy (WCSA): "The Temptation of Homo Europaeus" by VICTOR NEUMANN. https://www.wcsaglobal.org/review-the-temptation-of-homo-europaeus-by-victor-neumann/

• Contribution to the hlb statement (see above 'Position paper of the Hochschullehrerbund')

• Contribution to the colloquium, University of Passau

Recent publications by the editor

Errata (04/2021): Müller-Pelzer (2021): Regenerating Europe.

Werner Müller-Pelzer
Dortmund, May 2024