Key Concepts for the Study of Culture

TABLE OF CONTENTS


1. Meanings and Functions of Culture and Cultural Key Concepts 1
Major Characteristics of Cultures 2 · Selected Key Concepts for an Understandingof Cultures 9 · Definitions of and Approaches to Culture 12 · Implicationsof the Meaning-Oriented, Semiotic Understanding of Culture 15 · Dealing Withthe 'Other' 25 · Basic Differences between Cultures 29 · Major Functions ofCulture 33 · Aims and Structure of this Book 34 · Bibliography 39
VERA NÜNNING

2. Cultural Ways of Worldmaking 43
Premises for Understanding Ways of Worldmaking 44 · Getting Things Wrongin the Sixteenth Century: 'Bloody Mary' - and 'Fake News' 46 · Visual Waysof Worldmaking 50 · Narrative as a Means of Worldmaking 59 · Ways of (Narrative)Worldmaking in Cultural History Books 62 · Getting Things WrongToday: Common Misconceptions and Processes of Worldmaking 72 · Conclusion80 · Bibliography 81
VERA NÜNNING

3. Emotions 85
'Irrational' Emotions? Definitions 86 · Culture and Emotions 88 · RedefiningEmotions in the Eighteenth Century: The Culture of Sensibility as a CaseStudy of Cultural Change 90 · Discourses Involved in Changing the Role ofthe Emotions in the Eighteenth Century 95 · The Role of Material Culturewith Regard to the New Appreciation of Emotions 102 · Social Practices andInstitutions Expressing and Influencing the New Understanding of the Emotions105 · Criticism of the Culture of Sensibility 108 · Lasting Impact andFurther Changes 112 · Bibliography 115
VERA NÜNNING, CORINNA ASSMANN

4. Civilization 119
Introduction: Civilization, Cultural Studies and Norbert Elias 119 · 'Civilization':History, Politics, Aesthetics 121 · Civilization and the 'Saddle Period'122 · Case Studies: Christopher Columbus, Cotton Mather, Philip Freneau127 · Culture as a Civilizing Process: Norbert Elias and Cultural Studies 136 ·Bibliography 143
PHILIPP LÖFFLER

5. Performance (Studies) and Performativity 147
Introduction -