VeranstaltungsortN.0.45Veranstalter Institut für Anglistik und AmerikanistikBeschreibungIn this talk I will give an overview of neuroimaging research from my lab, which showed that metaphors engage readers at the emotional level more strongly than their literal counterparts, by activating neural structures that typically respond to evolutionary relevant or emotionally salient stimuli. In particular, we found that taste metaphors, e.g., She looked at him sweetly, activated neural areas associated with taste perception more strongly than their almost identical literal counterparts, i.e., She looked at him kindly, supporting the idea that concrete, sensory representations help comprehension of abstract concepts. In addition, taste metaphors activated the amygdala more strongly, a structure of the ancient mammalian brain responsible for appetitive or withdrawing reactions to external stimuli, e.g., food versus a threatening bear. Hence, metaphorical formulations may be more emotionally evocative than their literal counterparts. We replicated this finding using different types of metaphors not restricted to taste, natural stories, and idioms, and we have support from research from other labs. One open question now is: What makes metaphors more emotionally engaging? Their link to sensory-motor representations? The activation of multiple or richer meanings? Or an implicit evaluation of metaphors as more aesthetically pleasing? We can discuss these together.Vortragende(r)Dr. Francesca Citron (University of Lancaster)KontaktAlexander Onysko (alexander.onysko@aau.at)

VeranstaltungsortServicegbäudeStiftungssaal (K.0.01)Veranstalter Universitätszentrum für Frauen- und Geschlechterstudien (UZFG)BeschreibungA Brief History of Gender and State Relations in Turkey Currently, Turkey is going through some important political, historical, and economic transformations which are directly affecting its gendered subjects. In this talk, I focus on the gender and state relations in Turkey in different historical periods, which I identify as “discontinuities” and “disruptions.” They are very political moments when women had fought for, demanded, and defended their rights. My cases under scrutiny will range from the social and political movements that are currently affecting Turkey to the late-Ottoman Empire and early modern Turkish Republic, which is said to have “crowned” Turkish women with political and social rights. I argue that these cases offer rich, yet problematic and entangled gender discourses vis à vis the state’s understanding of modernity and secularism. Remarkably, they are “national” issues which have resonances in and for the transnational realm and beg for feminist analyses, especially in the face of the recent political developments.Vortragende(r)Prof.in Dr.in Hande Birkalan-GedikKontaktElisabeth Millonig, Kirstin Mertlitsch (gender.zentrum@aau.at)