Theory and History of Emotions

Though emotions have always been objects of study, only in the past decade or so have they received enormous interdisciplinary attention. The Einstein Forum’s long-running conference series Passions in Cultures, which began in 2003, has helped lead the way. How has our understanding of feelings evolved? What is the relationship between rationality and emotionality? How has emotional life changed in the past decades? How has that change expressed itself in the arts, especially in literature and film? How much have media contributed to the transformation?

Work in progress:

The Passions in Cultures series was conceived by Rüdiger Zill. In the coming years, he will focus the series less on individual emotions than on the communities, media, and situations that shape them. He is currently preparing a collection of case studies titled Gemischte Gefühle (“mixed feelings”), which will highlight particular themes from the series. He has planned a workshop on friendship and emotions for the winter of 2018.

 

Related events:

The Passions in Cultures series, most recently:

Einsamkeit. Von der Versenkung in Gott zum sozialen Problem (2021)
Gefühl zeigen. Emotionen im Kino (konzipiert mit Ursula von Keitz, Filmuniversität Babelsberg, 2020)
(K)ein zweites Ich. Freundschaft zwischen geschäftlichem Kalkül und innigem Gefühl (2018)
Angst machen. Koproduzenten eines Gefühls (2018)
Herztöne. Inszenierungen der Liebe in der populären Musik (2016)
Ansteckend. Vorbilder des Gefühls [Contagious: paradigms of feeling”] (2015)
Masses in (E)motion (2014)
Zum Fest. Heyday of Emotions (2012)
First Love. On Second Thought (co-organized with Wolfgang Hörner, 2012)
Single lectures by Joanna Bourke, Fritz Breithaupt, Anne Hamker, Felix Heidenreich, Hans Dieter Huber, Eva Illouz, Ruth Leys, Barbara Rosenwein, Beate Söntgen, and Gisela Trommsdorff
Passion(s) in Culture(s) Brochure (engl.)

 

Selected publications:

Peter Paul Kubitz, Gerlinde Waz, and Rüdiger Zill, (eds.), Zum Lachen! Dokumentation eines gemeinsamen Symposiums der Deutschen Kinemathek Museum für Film und Fernsehen und des Einstein Forums (2009)
Rüdiger Zill (ed.), Gestalten des Mitgefühls (Berliner Debatte INITIAL, I–II/2006)
Rüdiger Zill, Feiern des Gefühls: Zur arbeitsteiligen Kultivierung der Emotionen im Ensemble der Feste, in Jochen Kleres, Yvonne Albrecht (eds.), Die Ambivalenz der Gefühle: Über die verbindende und widersprüchliche Sozialität von Emotionen (2015)
Rüdiger Zill, Vorbildliche Gefühle: Monarchen als Modelle des Affektmanagements, Berliner Debatte INITIAL 3/2013