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Archive Arts and Social Sciences 2018

Article list Arts and Social Sciences

  • Hedi Fritz-Niggli Visiting Professor

    Taming the Goddesses of Vengeance

    For philosopher Martha C. Nussbaum it is clear: Anger and revenge are destructive and don’t get us anywhere – whether it’s personal or political. She wants us instead to embrace “transition anger”: Anger that acknowledges problems but looks for solutions.
  • Children’s and Young Adult Literature

    Through the Eyes of Children

    The Swiss Institute for Children’s and Young Adult Books (SIKJM) researches, documents and promotes children’s literature in Switzerland. On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, in September the institute published the Atlas der Schweizer Kinderliteratur.
  • History

    Fridges and other Revolutions

    UZH students teamed up with historians to shed light on the little known Swiss Trotskyist movement during the Cold War. The seminar project was adapted into a book, which has now been published.
  • Social and Cultural Anthropology

    Inventing the Future

    Financial analysts' expertise and predictions are imaginary constructs, says Stefan Leins. The social anthropologist researched their daily routines and their work.
  • Phonetics

    Drawing the Voice

    By decoding voices, forensic phoneticians provide important clues for the police or secret services. UZH phonetician Volker Dellwo hopes that in the future it will be possible to make identikit images based on voices.
  • Linguistics

    Death – A Public Affair

    Things that were once strictly in the private sphere are becoming increasingly public thanks to the internet – even the end of life. Linguist Karina Frick researches the niceties of online mourning.
  • Zürich meets San Francisco

    Building Bridges with San Francisco

    Last week saw researchers from Switzerland and California gather at the Zürich meets San Francisco festival. On the agenda was the influence of social media on democracy.
  • Center for Historical Mediology

    Center for Historical Mediology

    Fake news isn’t a new phenomenon. According to German philologist Christian Kiening, who has established a Center for Historical Mediology at UZH, authenticating information was already a problem back in the Middle Ages. In this interview he takes a historian’s look at today’s media landscape.
  • Behavioral science

    Animals and us.

    Language, intelligence, cooperation – the things that supposedly set humans apart are increasingly being discovered in the animal kingdom. Animals hold a mirror up to our own nature and help us understand what makes us human.
  • End of Life

    Death with Dignity: Maria’s Story

    People who suffer from dementia are unable to express themselves. They rely on outside help, particularly at the end of their lives. The research team behind the Zurich Life and Death with Advanced Dementia Study has published a guide for relatives of dementia patients.
  • Ethics

    Rethinking Our Relationship with Nature

    Should we protect nature because it provides us with resources, or do so simply for its own sake? Philosopher and biologist Anna Deplazes Zemp wants to look at this question from a new point of view using an argumentation of environmental ethics. Her research project is made possible thanks to the generous funding of the NOMIS Foundation.
  • Slavonic Studies

    Seeing through the Masquerade

    Slavonic studies expert Sylvia Sasse grew up in the German Democratic Republic. The state wanted her to take up a commercial training program, but she headed to the West and went to university. Today she researches how performance artists stood up against the totalitarian regimes of Eastern Europe.
  • Musicology

    Cultural History with Reverberations

    The Royal Musical Association has awarded its Dent Medal to a member of the University of Zurich for the third time, recognizing musicologist Inga Mai Groote for her outstanding work on music history.
  • Developmental Psychology

    Systematische Babys

    A research group at the chair for developmental psychology in infancy and childhood has shown that babies as young as six months can recognize changes in patterns of activity. The findings also have consequences for our understanding of language development in young children.
  • Continuing Education Course

    When our Lifestyle Damages our Health

    Everyone knows that they ought to lead a healthy lifestyle. But not everyone finds it so easy to put into practice. That’s where experts offering effective and sustainable support can be of help. In order to train such experts, UZH is offering a new continuing education course, the first of its kind in Switzerland, in physical and mental lifestyle change and mind-body medicine.
  • Political Science

    “Media loss is a threat to democracy”

    The less the press report on local politics, the lower the voter turnout in the municipalities, a study by political scientist Daniel Kübler has shown. He warns that the crisis of local journalism poses a threat to democracy.
  • Latin American Center

    Interdisciplinarity is our trademark

    The second edition of the Tschudi Lecture in honor of the polymath from Glarus, Johann Jakob von Tschudi, takes place next week. For the University’s relatively new Latin American Center, the event presents an opportunity to consolidate its reputation.
  • Death and Dying

    A Legacy on Film

    The Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine is presenting a series of events devoted to the topic of film and dying. On Tuesday the discussion focused on the film Vergiss mein nicht.
  • Eastern European Studies

    “Russia has not yet found its place in the world”

    A dangerous dynamic is developing in Russia’s foreign policy, says UZH Professor Jeronim Perović in an interview. He is director of the Center for Eastern European Studies at UZH, which opens next week with a discussion event on the subject of “Russia and the West”.
  • Talk im Turm

    Discussing Educational Opportunities and Fair Taxation

    At the latest Talk im Turm event, educational scientist Katharina Maag Merki and economist Florian Scheuer discussed equal opportunities in education and a tax system that provides performance incentives rather than merely redistributing wealth.
  • Cultural Studies

    Wolf Territories

    Wolves are here and making political waves: their presence is fueling wild debate about different moral values, and even causing cantonal boundaries to be redrawn. These are the findings of researchers at the UZH Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies.
  • Social and Cultural Anthropology

    Dried Stars

    Star anise is a popular spice used in cooking and also known for its medicinal properties. Social and cultural anthropologist Annuska Derks follows the fruit from its cultivation in Vietnam on its journey through a globalized world.
  • Technology and Philosophy

    Der Hype um die künstliche Intelligenz

    What are the philosophical questions that we need to debate in connection with artificial intelligence? UZH sociologist of law Christoph Graber organized a workshop on this topic at UZH in cooperation with Harvard University.
  • Education

    The Swiss education system is full of hurdles. For children from less privileged families, navigating the route to university is tough. Reforming the system could change that
  • Psychology

    "Leave the mobile phone in your bag"

    The first thing many of us think about in the morning is our mobile phone. Indeed, our daily lives are dominated by smartphones. According to psychologist Theda Radtke, we should deliberately keep our mobile phones out of sight as well as out of the hands of small children. By Thomas Gull and Roger Nickl
  • Essay

    Science-Fiction bereichert die Ethik

    Science fiction in literature and film can offer us insights into ethics for the post-human age, says Johann Roduit. On the occasion of the 50th birthday of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the UZH ethicist has launched a series of events.
  • Portrait

    Sport with Head and Heart

    Triathlete and cultural studies scholar Yonca Krahn researches the links between space, sport, and the body.
  • Exhibition

    Pacific Entanglements

    The new exhibition in the Johann Jacobs Museum focuses on Japan's rise as a global power. The exhibition was developed in cooperation with the professorial chairs of UZH art historian Hans Bjarne Thomsen and UZH historian Martin Dusinberre.
  • Communications research

    Learning to Surf

    The Swiss National Science Foundation elected UZH communications scholar Eszter Hargittai to be a member of its National Research Council from April 2018 onwards. Her research focuses among other things on the different ways in which people can benefit from the internet.
  • Digitalization

    Democracy under Pressure

    The 10th edition of the Aarau Democracy Days is dedicated among other things to looking into the effects of digitalization on democracy. In his essay, UZH political science scholar Uwe Serdült discusses the potential of digitalization to change our day-to-day political life. He makes the case for using the opportunities of digital democracy in a constructive way.
  • Talk im Turm

    Wormholes and the Cradle of Modernity

    Screws, glasses, printing: The inventions of the Renaissance triggered a dramatic surge in development. Will digitalization have a comparable impact on modern society? Historian Bernd Roeck and physicist Titus Neupert debated the question at UZH’s Talk im Turm podium discussion.
  • Film Studies

    Utopian Cinema

    Movies such as Blade Runner paint a grim picture of the future. Positive utopias, hardly ever seen in entertainment cinema, have found a home in documentaries. Film studies scholar Simon Spiegel tells us why.
  • Japanese Studies

    Water Clocks and Eternity

    Medieval Japan wasn’t a pre-modern timeless paradise, says Raji C. Steineck. The Japanese studies scholar is examining the nature of time and researching how time is perceived in the land of the rising sun.
  • Philosophy

    “The freedom of thought appealed to me”

    The first-ever Zurich Philosophy Festival kicks off next week. The theme: “Me, Me, Me.” We spoke to the man behind the festival, UZH philosophy student Urs Siegfried.
  • Social Policy

    “Investment instead of insurance”

    Polarization in Swiss politics makes the country less able to reform, says political scientist Silja Häusermann. She wants to see a welfare state that helps people to stay in the employment market.