Ronald Daus | |
---|---|
![]() (2010) | |
Personal details | |
Born | Hannover | 12 May 1943
Nationality | German |
Residence | Germany / France |
Alma mater | Free University of Berlin |
Ronald Daus (12 May 1943, Hannover) is a German university Professor of Romance philology and cultural studies at the Free University of Berlin [1] involved in multi-disciplinary studies.
Daus researches in the field of study "Neue Romania" (New Romania) for over 40 years, with the focus on the contacts between European and extra-European cultures. He was a visiting professor in Mexico City for two years, at Colegio de Mexico, and for one year in Singapore, at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, in Manila, at the University of the Philippines, and also in Tahiti, at the Université du Pacifique. Many research trips and lecture tours brought him to Europe, Russia, Latin America, Middle America, United States, Canada, Asia, Africa, Australia and Oceania.
He is a member of the Research Group New Romania, who investigate the «products resulting from the contacts of the Romanic cultures that expanded across the seas for colonialism, featuring, together with other nations, new linguistic varieties and cultures». The languages involving such contacts belong to these groups: [2] Lusophonie , in Brazil and Africa, Hispanophonie , mainly in Latin America and United States, Francophonie , in twenty two African countries, Caribbean, Canada and Latin America.
Romanic peoples like the Portuguese are so considered as the inventors of colonialism. [3] Focusing on «extra-European cities, predominantly in the Southern hemisphere», [4] introducing new study objects in the traditional science of Romania, innovating in cultural anthropology, ethnology and sociology in the areas of popular culture, urban human settlements and architecture, Daus is responsible for «new approaches to excel old theories», [5] contributing for a better understanding of contemporary world».
Ronald Daus studied Romance philology and languages (Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian) in Hamburg, Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro and Kiel. At the same time, as related area, he studied orientalism (Arabic, Malay, Tagalog). [6]
In 1967 he won a doctorate with a thesis entitled The epic cycle of the cangaceiros in popular poetry from northeastern Brazil (Der epische Zyklus der Cangaceiros in der Volkspoesie Nordostbrasiliens). In 1970 he habilitated on Ramón Gómez de la Serna. He got the call as university professor at the Free University of Berlin, aged 27. There he hold lectures and proceeded with his researches until he retired in 2008. [7]
The Age of Discovery would carry, with colonialism, with black slaves captured in Africa, with eager Portuguese trade men and navigators, with devastating plagues, medieval Portuguese popular poetry oral traditions into Brazil. Men and memories would spread through vast plains into the remotest corners of the conquered lands. Bandits like Lampião and other celebrated cangaceiros would embody such traditions. Daus’s first pioneering essay, The epic cycle of the cangaceiros in popular poetry from northeastern Brazil [8] would follow their steps and explain how and why they would become national heroes [9] and fund a new kind of epic literature. Northeastern Brazil would be the first place where he found testimonies of mischievous merriments of human history [10] and an angry Latin America. [11]
Further, Daus would demonstrate, on the other hand, how other Portuguese settlements, on the other side of the world, [12] faraway in Malaysia, would contribute to the «development and maintenance of particular cultural and linguistic practices» [13] at a time when he was seriously concerned with a trifling problem he dared to confront: the wrath against colonialism. [14]
In European expansion, linguistic and cultural interact of humans living overseas, spread all around the world in small groups or vast populations, generated “Euroamerican” and “Euroasian” communities. Large extra-European cities gather large concentrations of European migrants, among others. That is why they deserve particular attention for anyone concerned with the role of romanic influence in the New World, mainly as far as it originated typical Megalopolis, Megacities or Global cities reflecting original models, distorting them in local versions. In some cases, out of norm, forced by the growth of their populations or promoting them, big new cities turn into atypique global cities: Tijuana, Cancún, Dubai. Some old global cities, proud of their influence, grow as “mono maniac reports” of themselves: Berlin, Paris, Mexico City, Schanghai. Expressing new feelings, the wish for pleasure in certain exotique global cities contrasts with the affected mise-en-scène of older and symbolic ones, and that has a meaning. Moreover, there are several European large cities in risk of third world contamination.
In the meantime, Daus conceives a trilogy having as generic title New city images – new feelings ("Neue Stadtbilder – Neue Gefühle”). In order to better understand European colonialism, he analyses in the first volume the origins of the mega-metropolis in America, Asia, Africa and Oceania, cities constructed stone on stone, evoking as typical Luanda, capital city of Angola, one of the most expensive cities in the world nowadays, which will project itself as historical synthesis in future. In the second one, he tries a new understanding of the biggest cities and develops the concept of "package-city", referring Berlin as a curious example. In the third volume, he follows the intellectual and artistic progression of the idea of mega-metropolis to East, until Euro-Asia: Berlin, Warsaw, Minsk, Moscow, Bishkek, Almaty and Astana, “stations” or land-marks of such progress. As inspiring instances of extreme settling in eastern big cities, he mentions Vienne, Istanbul, Teheran, Bombay, Chengdu, Peking, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Manaus, Caracas. [15]
Daus [16] has been busy, describing and studding such phenomena for over a decade, since he reported the existence of a “European fundament” in large extra-European cities (1995). He reveals dangerous signs of extreme colonialism in regions of the Red Sea by the end of the 20th century and talks of “beach culture versus city culture” in Mediterranean metropolis at the early 21st century. New city buildings expressing new feelings, he says, are expressions of permanent chaos.
Partial list, among other scientific publications:
Ludwig Karl Hilberseimer was a German architect and urban planner best known for his ties to the Bauhaus and to Mies van der Rohe, as well as for his work in urban planning at Armour Institute of Technology, in Chicago, Illinois.
The Bauhaus-Universität Weimar is a university located in Weimar, Germany, and specializes in the artistic and technical fields. Established in 1860 as the Great Ducal Saxon Art School, it gained collegiate status on 3 June 1910. In 1919 the school was renamed Bauhaus by its new director Walter Gropius and it received its present name in 1996. There are more than 4000 students enrolled, with the percentage of international students above the national average at around 27%. In 2010 the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar commemorated its 150th anniversary as an art school and college in Weimar.
Sociology of architecture is the sociological study of the built environment and the role and occupation of architects in modern societies.
Hugo (Ugo) Schiff was an Italian naturalized chemist. The son of a Jewish businessman and brother of the physiologist Moritz Schiff, Hugo Schiff was German by nationality. He discovered Schiff bases and other imines, and was responsible for research into aldehydes; leading to his development of the Schiff test. He also worked in the field of amino acids and the Biuret reagent.
Emil Moritz Rathenau was a German entrepreneur, industrialist, mechanical engineer. He was a leading figure in the early European electrical industry and founder of AEG.
Babelsberg Film Studio, located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film, producing films since 1912. With a total area of about 460,000 square metres (5,000,000 sq ft) and a studio area of about 25,000 square metres (270,000 sq ft) it is one of Europe's large film studios.
Harald Haarmann is a German linguist and cultural scientist who lives and works in Finland. Haarmann studied general linguistics, various philological disciplines and prehistory at the universities of Hamburg, Bonn, Coimbra and Bangor. He obtained his PhD in Bonn (1970) and his habilitation in Trier (1979). He taught and conducted research at a number of German and Japanese universities. He is Vice-President of the Institute of Archaeomythology and director of its European branch.
Ursula Caberta y Diaz is a German politician, former State of Hamburg government official and was the Commissioner for the Scientology Task Force of the Hamburg Interior Authority. She graduated in political economy. According to Deutsche Welle she is considered an expert on the subject of Scientology, and has been observing the organization since 1992. Her book Schwarzbuch Scientology was published in 2007. Caberta is also an official in Hamburg's authority for interior affairs.
Salomé is a German artist. His paintings are in renowned museums and collections all over the world. Salomé became known as one of the members of the art group Junge Wilde or Neue Wilde. He also is recognized as a sculptor and Punk singer.
A metropolis is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.
Mahoma Mwaungulu was a Pan African politician. He was one of the major leaders in the German-African community before and after the reunification of Germany.
Ursula Kuczynski, also known as Ruth Werner, Ursula Beurton and Ursula Hamburger, was a German Communist activist who spied for the Soviet Union during the 1930s and 1940s, most famously as the handler of nuclear scientist Klaus Fuchs. She moved to East Germany in 1950 when Fuchs was unmasked, and published a series of books related to her espionage activities, including her bestselling autobiography, Sonjas Rapport.
There are eleven metropolitan regions in Germany consisting of the country's most densely populated cities and their catchment areas. They represent Germany's political, commercial and cultural centres. The eleven metropolitan regions in Germany were organised into political units for planning purposes.
Dieter Mahncke is a scholar of foreign policy and security studies, and Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Professor Emeritus of European Foreign Policy and Security Studies at the College of Europe. He is the author of books and articles on European security, arms control, German foreign policy, Berlin, US-European relations and South Africa.
Katharina Oguntoye is an Afro-German writer, historian, activist, and poet. She founded the nonprofit intercultural association Joliba in Germany and is perhaps best known for co-editing the book Farbe bekennen with May Ayim and Dagmar Schultz. The English translation of this book was entitled Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out. Oguntoye has played an important role in the Afro-German Movement.
Mario Keßler is a German historian.
Babylon is an opera in seven scenes by Jörg Widmann, with a libretto in German by Peter Sloterdijk. The opera describes life in a multi-religious and multi-cultural metropolis. It was premiered by the Bavarian State Opera, conducted by Kent Nagano, on 27 October 2012.
Hanns-Werner Heister is a German musicologist.
The city of Cologne was significant to the development of the German colonial empire as a whole. During the period of New Imperialism, Cologne was one of the most important trading cities of the German Empire, and was thus the Rheinland's centre for expeditions and scientific colonialism.
Notes
Further reading