Publications

Standard accounts of concepts in philosophy and in cognitive psychology hold that we learn a target concept by learning the concepts that constitute it. If this is the only model of learning we have, then only concepts that are complex or structured can be learned. I argue for an alternative to this framework by presenting a proposal for how we learn some atomic concepts. I show that we can learn a concept through descriptions without thinking that the concepts employed in the descriptions constitute the target concept. I develop this idea by using the notion of a mental file and by employing a general externalist explanatory strategy. In the view I develop, some concepts are akin to files in that the descriptions associated with a given concept are means of properly individuating the extension of the concept, and they are also means of connecting a concept to others, but they do not constitute the concept and can be revised or abandoned. I show how this discussion connects to issues in conceptual engineering.

Digital sovereignty has become a pivotal concern for Africa striving to reduce their reliance on foreign powers for data storage and processing. Central to these efforts is the development of digital infrastructure, including data centres, often established with the support of Chinese telecommunications companies (CTCs). In the context of the ongoing technological rivalry between the U.S. and China, this study contends that CTCs are playing a prominent role in shaping Africa’s digital future. Their involvement in infrastructure projects significantly influences the contours of digital sovereignty across the continent. Yet, amid growing Western concerns over potential cyber espionage and the export of digital authoritarianism through Chinese technology, this paper emphasises that Africa’s digital sovereignty and developmental priorities must remain paramount, regardless of which foreign partners are involved in the continent’s digital transformation.

In today's world, democracy is recognized as both a theoretical idea and a form of government that holds a unique position, largely unaffected by intense academic or worldly controversies. Presently, no scholar can dismiss or oppose democracy and expect to be taken seriously. However, in the Polis of Athens, the birthplace of democracy, the prominent philosophers were critical and often disparaging of this system of governance. This article seeks to demystify prevailing discourses surrounding Western democracy by illustrating how they frequently depend on hierarchizing citizens, peoples, and countries, as well as compartmentalizing human experiences. Moreover, it endeavors to demonstrate that the discourses of democracy and liberalism have often been used by Western powers to interfere in the global south and exploit its peoples. The article also offers a non-evaluative approach to studying democracy, taking into consideration non-Western experiences to preserve the concept’s utopian appeal.

Insbesondere die Jugendzeit und die mit ihr verbundene sekundäre politische Sozialisation ist mit Blick auf die Entwicklung eines differenzierten Verständnisses politischer Strukturen, Prozesse sowie Werte und Inhalte eine bedeutende Lebensphase. In diesem Beitrag wird untersucht, inwiefern Ressourcen, Motivation und Gelegenheiten mit dem politischen Wissen von Schüler*innen der Sekundarstufe I zusammenhängen. Die Auswahl der untersuchten Bereiche und Konstrukte erfolgte dabei auf Basis des Civic Voluntarism Models. Für die Studie wurden die Daten von N = 1047 Schüler*innen der 7. und 10. Klassenstufe an Schulen in Nordrhein-Westfalen analysiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass in jedem der drei Bereiche einzelne Konstrukte mit dem politischen Wissen der Schüler*innen in beiden Klassenstufen assoziiert sind. Dabei wiesen besonders die Lesekompetenz, das kulturelle Kapital sowie das politische Interesse konsistente Zusammenhänge mit dem politischen Wissen auf. Die Ergebnisse unterstützen die Annahmen des Civic Voluntarism Models und dessen Anwendbarkeit auf das politische Wissen. Außerdem verdeutlichen die Ergebnisse die Bedeutung eines breit angelegten Ansatzes zur Förderung politischen Wissens in der Jugendphase.

This article explores the aesthetics and ethics of the diva by offering a comparative analysis of Fassbinder’s penultimate film, Veronika Voss (1982), and the filmmaker’s self-presentation as a diva. Veronika Voss offers a unique mode of engagement with the past in the form of its central female figure, the outsized Nazi-era actress Voss. Voss is not only, like Fassbinder, a drug addict; she is also unlike the divas who came before her in Fassbinder’s films, for she is not rendered a fetish. Fassbinder’s film presents a cinescape of “diva time and space.” Diva time evokes a nonlinear, expansive temporality of queer longing that eschews restorative nostalgia, blending past and present in a manner that complicates Manichean notions of victimhood and capitalist exploitation. And diva space is likewise expansive, as the diva spreads out and multiplies, engulfing space in a manner that is both narcissistic and generous.

Exploring the cross-cultural exchange of ideas between German and Turkish scholars, policymakers, and institutions, this book sheds light on how German theories were interpreted and applied in Turkey during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Situating the flow of ideas within broader patterns of economic globalization, the contributors to this edited volume explore historical, economic, and ideological developments in Turkey and Germany. Within economic thought, there is a particular focus on the influence of the German Historical School in Turkish economic thought; the contributions of German refugee scholars in the 1930s, through their publications, courses they offered, and their relations with the other members of academia; and Marxian Asiatic Mode of Production debates of the 1960s. In terms of economic policy, the book also discusses agrarian populism in the 1930s, German soft power in interwar Turkey, the first Gastarbeiter Agreement and its effects, German investments in Turkey after the World War II, and the role of sports in shaping relations between Germany and Turkey. The book will be of great interest to readers in the history of economic thought, intellectual history, economic history, and the histories of Germany and Turkey more broadly.

Mauritius is widely praised for policies that have minimized tensions between ethno-religious groups. Other types of groups, however, are excluded from that sociopolitical ordering of society. In particular, LGBTQI+ Mauritians have long been stigmatized and criminalized by an anti-sodomy law, enacted by the British colonial administration. Despite a reputation for a strong commitment to human rights, the Mauritian government never repealed that law. Drawing in large part on interviews with LGBTQI+ activists in Mauritius, this article analyzes how and why they challenged that anti-sodomy law in court, what they achieved and what the implications are. It argues that the state’s and political parties’ emphasis on traditional cultures made it difficult to convince the government to act, leaving strategic litigation as the best option for getting LGBTQI+ rights recognized. Grounded primarily in constitutionally guaranteed rights and harnessing support from international nonstate actors, their court cases succeeded in carving out greater space for LGBTQI+ rights within the conservative multicultural framework, even though the verdict was rather limited in scope. Significant pressure will be needed to achieve more political and social change, potentially including more strategic litigation, which poses a significant challenge to LGBTQI+ activists.

Understanding the interplay between political participation and political efficacy is crucial for fostering democratic engagement. This two-wave panel study investigated the potentially reciprocal relationship between non-institutionalized political participation and internal and external political efficacy among adolescents. The study drew on a German sample of 444 students from Grade 7 and Grade 8 (wave 1: Mage = 12.94, SDage = 0.61; 46.9% female). It examined whether and how internal and external political efficacy are related to participation and whether participation, in turn, is related to political efficacy over time. Results revealed low stability for external political efficacy and non-institutionalized participation and moderate stability for internal political efficacy between Grade 7 and Grade 8. When students’ demographics were controlled for, internal political efficacy in Grade 7 was positively related to non-institutionalized participation in Grade 8, but no significant effects of participation on efficacy were observed. This study provides initial insights into the relationship between open democratic practices, like petitioning, protesting, and boycotting, and adolescents’ perceptions of political efficacy. Results suggested that the transformative potential of participatory activities may depend on specific conditions. The findings highlight the need for further research to explore these dynamics longitudinally and across different forms of participation.

In recent years, the issue of administrative burden in universities has received growing attention around the world. Although professional staff are central to the operation of universities, little effort has been made to understand how these staff see these administrative burdens impacting their work, and to harness their views on how to best tackle such burdens on the ground. Examining the Australian case, this focused paper presents key findings from a nationwide survey capturing the perspectives of universities’ professional staff on manifestations and implications of administrative burden within their workplace. In the majority, professional staff reported that administrative burden had been increasing for all university staff, ultimately making for a less collegial work environment. Our participants identified fewer organisational restructures, better staff involvement in digital design, and better formal recognition of administrative workloads as key to reducing administrative burdens within universities.

Ancient Egyptian and Nubian sources on war from the third millennium BCE to the turn of the era typically portray foreign women as captives or, occasionally, victims of physical violence. The decorum seems to have changed during the New Kingdom when Egypt became an empire and controlled a vast territory from Nubia in the south to the Levant in the north. In this period, women are not visually depicted as victims of physical violence. However, captured men, women, and children were often assigned to temple workshops in both ancient Egypt and Nubia. Elite women in ancient Egypt were sometimes buried with weapons to symbolize their status. However, only royal or ruling women in Egypt were shown as actively engaging in violence. A ruling woman such as Hatshepsut was depicted as a pharaoh (man) smiting and trampling over male enemies. Queens (i.e., great royal wives) are depicted smiting and trampling over female enemies in those scenes in which their husbands, ruling kings, are doing the same to male enemies. These queens are mirroring martial goddesses who are attested as both fighting for god Re and assisting the king on the battlefield. More than a millennium later, some Meroitic female rulers are depicted smiting male enemies just as their husbands do. This iconography suggests that they truly shared power with their husbands.

Are policies in pursuit of economic growth good or bad? This question continues to divide thinkers, especially against the backdrop of escalating socio-ecological problems. In this chapter, I approach the polarized debate about growth through a constructivist lens that regards its (un)desirability as a social fact. I undertake an exploratory analysis of the policy position of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) under the leadership of Robert Habeck from the Green Party. The empirical evidence leads me to argue that the BMWK remains firmly in the pro-growth camp. Notably, the ministry insists that ‘sustainable growth’ can be attained with the right policies. It does not even entertain growth-critical ideas at a time when post-growth arguments are gaining more traction. Overall, the chapter suggests that growth-friendly policies are not good or bad as such, but certain social groups deem them to be good or bad.

The rise of remote work, coupled with evolving traveler preferences, has created a new phenomenon called workations. This study explores the impact of workations on the hospitality industry and their role in the New Work paradigm. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory and New Work concepts, we examine the motivations of workationers, and the adaptations hospitality providers have made to serve this emerging market. Through qualitative analysis of interviews with five hospitality industry experts and six workationers, we uncover key drivers behind the workation trend, including the desire for improved work-life integration, escapism, and the pursuit of novel experiences. Our findings reveal that successful workation offerings depend on providing environments that support autonomy, competence, and relatedness - the core tenets of self-determination theory. Destinations looking to capitalize on the workation trend could improve infrastructure and amenities, foster community integration, enhance work-life balance opportunities, and expand their long-term stay offerings. All in all, this study contributes to the growing body of literature on the intersection of work and tourism and offers insights into how destinations can leverage the workation trend to increase their competitiveness and resilience in a rapidly evolving tourism landscape. The analysis suggests that workations are more than a temporary trend. Instead, they represent a fundamental shift in how work, leisure, and travel are conceptualized and experienced in the era of New Work.