Istanbul’s intangible cultural heritage as embodied by street animals

ABSTRACT

Green, marginal, and sacred spaces in Istanbul host dogs, cats, and wild birds. In this essay, I argue that citizens enact embodied memories from the Ottoman era by caring for these animals. While birds are iconic representatives of the modern city, and street cats have become media denizens, the lives of street dogs are sadder. Animal rights activists are mobilized by the history of Ottoman administration efforts at eradicating them. Unlike actions inspired by this history, enactments of embodied memory are less conscious, such as residents cooking and distributing food to street cats. However, I argue that these are enacted social memories of compassion and charity and are an embodied form of intangible cultural heritage. Ottoman-era social practices of caring for street animals create an historical and legal foundation for justifying the right of street animals to live in the city.     

Urban Morality and the Great City in the Book of Jonah

Abstract

This paper reads the book of Jonah through the lens of moral geography. It focuses on the topic of the Great City, treating Nineveh as a character within the text, seeking to explore the question as to whether there is an urban morality which can be identified by reading the text of Jonah alongside key works from the field of cultural geography. In particular the paper discusses the parallelism between human and social embodiment as channels for exploring urban identity. In this study urban evil takes its place within a wider concept of city morality when it is measured by the tension between city-state as a powerful political force and the vulnerability and finitude of urban populations.     

西方道德地理研究述评——基于CiteSpace和人工检索的对比分析

利用CiteSpace软件对Web of Science数据库中道德地理相关文献进行共被引分析和关键词共现分析,对比人工检索和文献阅读的结果,对西方道德地理的研究进展进行系统梳理评述。研究结论：①对高中心性和高突现性文献的研究发现,关怀、伦理、道德、责任等关键词和远距离的关怀与责任、道德经济与道德消费、地方政治中的不平等与权利问题等三大研究主题构成了道德地理研究的一大理路,侧重阐释“道德的地理”;②早期道德地理著名学者Sack的系列论著并未能成为高引文献,原因一在于其理论的高度抽象和隐晦难解,二在于他试图建构普适的空间道德评判标准,因而很难被实证主义研究者们理解和追随,但他构建的“二元道德论”强调“地理的道德”,是道德地理研究的另一条理路,可以为评判地方道德提供了全面、明确而实用的标准,值得被后续研究发展和深化;③研究同时揭示：囿于数据库数据和技术手段的限制,单纯依靠文献分析软件的研究方式可能会出现偏差,高质量的人工检索阅读仍是文献研究的必然路径。