Civilization and Barbarism

Barbarism/Modernity: notes on barbarism

Helping the poor emerge from "urban barbarism to civic civilization": public bathhouses in America, 1890-1915.

In an era when the luxury of private bathrooms had not yet been made widely available to the masses, local charities and municipal governments worked feverishly to construct public bathhouses. Reformers, including city officials, engineers, physicians, and members of the clergy, increased the number of public bath facilities across America from a mere six in 1894 to 49 by 1904. The urban poor t...

300: Cultural Stereotypes and War against Barbarism

During the era of Bush administration and post-September 11th anti-terrorism discourse, the movie 300 was one of the best exemplar of a close relationship between Hollywood pop culture products and the neo-conservatives’ political discourse of nationalism. From my point of view, 300 is not an example of outstanding artistic films, but a film that more than any other film contains an Iranophobic...

Medicine and western civilization

heart. Margaret was not left in doubt about the risks, benefits and responsibilities of the rational, male education she was receiving. Her learning was to be of purely private benefit. She was warned not to pursue her academic interests to the detriment of those domestic duties for which nature had providentially formed her, or to reveal the extent of her learning to female friends or "ignoran...

Civilization and Culture

A current and major difficulty in civilizational studies is how to deal with the concepts of “civilization” and culture.” As these terms are simultaneously distinct and overlap, arose through a historical process that was key to modernity and are also at the root of a variety of disciplinary connections, they constitute a perfect case of semantic entanglement. Confusion has resulted from this e...