Article Norbert Finzsch, Der Widerspenstigen Verstümmelung. Eine Geschichte der Kliteridektomie im „Westen“, 1500–2000. Bielefeld, Transcript 2021 was published on August 1, 2022 in the journal Historische Zeitschrift (volume 315, issue 1).

Article Sebastian Justke, „Brückenbauen“ gegen Apartheid? Auslandspfarrer in Südafrika und Namibia. (Hamburger Beiträge zur Sozial- und Zeitgeschichte, Bd. 59.) Göttingen, Wallstein 2020 was published on June 1, 2021 in the journal Historische Zeitschrift (volume 312, issue 3).

This introduction to the special issue on the ‘sexotic’, reflects on the heuristic potential of the ‘sexotic’ lens. It situates this approach within existing research on the history of sexualization and exoticization and demonstrates how the ‘sexotic’ opens up fresh vistas on topics like mobilities and migrations, arts and media, as well as science and moralities.

No AccessLebensführung, Menschenführung und die Gesellschaftsgeschichte Westdeutschlands um 1968Pascal EitlerPascal Eitlerhttps://doi.org/10.13109/9783666557798.65SectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail About Previous chapter Next chapter FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Download book coverArbeiten zur Kirchlichen Zeitgeschichte. Reihe B: DarstellungenVolume 65 1. AuflageISBN: 978-3-525-55779-2 eISBN: 978-3-666-55779-8HistoryPublished online:February 2016 PDF download

This book tries to combine two fields of historical scholarship that are both gaining growing attention: the history of animals and the history of emotions. In Germany, both debates are still focused on theoretical questions. Only a few detailed empirical monographs exist in these fields. Against this background, Nastasja Klothmann’s dissertation is a highly welcomed addition to the literature, rich of source material and interesting observations. But the book should not be read as an outcome of the very distinct and important theoretical debates in the field. The author seems not to be interested in those overarching theoretical questions and in changing perspectives in historical scholarship. Her book is a rather traditional, cultural and intellectual history of the German zoo from the late nineteenth to the middle of the twentieth century. As such, this book draws a colourful picture of different representations of ‘wild’ animals and urban ‘civility’, of the manifold emotions that different observers were showing towards these animals, of the controversial debate on animal welfare within the zoo, or of the specific role of the zoo within German colonialism and fascism — from ethnological expositions and the ‘human zoo’ to Hermann Göring’s understanding of racial superiority. The author analyses a remarkable sample of newspaper articles, scientific studies, advice literature, flyers, diaries and letters. Concentrating on Hamburg and Berlin, she is emphasizing the sometimes conflicting impressions and interests of zoo directors, keepers, scientists, visitors or animal welfare activists. In her analysis, the zoo becomes a kind of hub for viral ideas of the time about education and entertainment, family and childhood, moral and aesthetic manners or class and gender relations from the German Empire, when many zoos became an urban mass attraction, to the End of World War II, when most zoos in Germany were strongly damaged or totally destroyed.

I remember when Your light came in . . . I felt like I could walk on water then . . . But I have learned that feelings come and go, And we all know emotions ebb and flow . . . So when I don’t feel You moving, That doesn’t mean that You have disappeared. And when I don’t feel You with me, oh God, That doesn’t mean You’re not here. So I keep on believing, yeah, Cause faith is not a feeling. Josh Wilson ‘Faith is not a feeling’—with this refrain from an album released in April 2013, Josh Wilson, a young Christian pop singer from Texas, attests to the fact that, though he initially experienced the presence of God as such, faith cannot be reduced to emotion. This point of view stands in stark contrast to the message that TV viewers, newspaper readers and internet surfers are confronted with every day: here religious belief is all about feelings; feelings seem to be intimately tied to faith. In the media, all sorts of images support this idea: so-called hate preachers urging holy war; tears flowing on St Peter’s Square when the name of the new Pope is announced; the uproar over cartoons perceived as offensive to religious feelings; believers meeting in stadiums and other public spaces to sing and pray and be ‘deeply moved’ together. All the while, theologians and church leaders warn against an excess of emotions in religion, against all that ‘esoteric and folkloric stuff’, reminding us that faith must also stand up to the light of reason. 1 This dichotomy would indicate that the relationship between faith and feeling is not as clear as it might seem, and that it is always contested.