The period of time during which the following essays were composed at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) – July to December 2003 – was marked by new divisions within the world and within its cultural and intellectual components: the U.S., Israel, the new Europe and the old Europe (characteristically enough, this division excludes and hides more than it includes and shows). The Fellows, Visiting fellows, and Junior fellows at the IWM represented all of the “blocks” of that time. The following collection of papers delivered at the Junior Visiting Fellows' Conference at the Institute covers an equally wide range of topics: sociology, philosophy, ethnology, political science. Leading intellectuals from each of these “bloc(k)s” tried to demonstrate its uniqueness, discover its roots, and prove its relevance. Indeed, there is little discernible internal connection among the contributions. But there is a certain feature that underlies this volume and all of its component articles.
Preface
JVF Conference Papers
