1. 'Civility' in history: some observations on the history of the concept.
- Author
-
Nehring, Holger
- Subjects
- *
COURTESY , *VIOLENCE , *IMPERIALISM , *CIVIL society , *WAR & society , *DEATH , *AMBIGUITY , *RELATIVITY , *SUBJECTIVITY ,20TH century European history - Abstract
This article investigates a number of conceptual and empirical issues relating to the ambiguity of the concept 'civility'. By asking what kind of problems 'civility' was a response to, it highlights the ambiguity of the concept in a long-term historical context and demonstrates this in a number of key areas for twentieth-century European history: the relationship between civility and violence, civility and the un-making of death, civility and recognition, civility and subjectivity, as well as the dynamic relationship between inclusion and exclusion that characterises the practice of civility particularly in colonial and post-colonial contexts. It then develops a number of themes highlighted by the use of 'civility' as a historical concept, arguing that contemporary meanings of the concept has to be incorporated in empirical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF