Einheit in der Vielheit (unity in diversity) — On the topicality of Humboldt’s ethnographic reflections for today’s world

Link:
Autor/in:
Erscheinungsjahr:
2020
Medientyp:
Text
Schlagworte:
  • Perspective change
  • Monolingual
  • multilingual
  • language politic
  • language education
  • migration
Beschreibung:
  • My contribution is based on Alexander von Humboldt’s essay Die Einheit des Menschengeschlechts (1852). This is a wonderful example of the humanistic ethos in the mindset of the time, yet it is also an excellent illustration of a Eurocentric perspective. In a similar way ambivalent is the position taken by Alexander together with Wilhelm von Humboldt on the role of language in a community. On the one hand, they praised comparative language studies (das vergleichende Sprachstudium) as the ideal way of understanding not only “the other,” but also “the own” language. On the other hand, they were strong advocates of the development of a monolingual (German) nation. I wish to illustrate in my contribution that this ambivalence is a feature of not only Germany’s national self-conception until today—which is a challenge for language politics and education in a migration society.
Lizenz:
  • info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Quellsystem:
Forschungsinformationssystem der UHH

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Quelldatensatz
oai:www.edit.fis.uni-hamburg.de:publications/0fb6095a-bc84-46d4-ba9e-956e229e19e0