Zentrum Moderner Orient (Web)

Ort: Zentrum Moderner Orient, Kirchweg 33, 14129 Berlin
Time: 27.–29.09.2017
Einreichfrist: 15.01.2017

The ‘New Man’, here, is understood to encompass a plethora of theoretical constructs as well as social projects closely linked to aspirations of ‘progress’, modernity and so-cial utopias (or dystopias) that were characteristic of the end of the 19th and the earlier part of the 20th centuries. It was, however, not a ‘Western’ idea but can be said to have evolved simultaneously in different regions of the world where people were grappling with their own visions of possible futures. The ‘New Man’ was the idealized type of personality that could be created by way of a deliberate and planned social process.

The (historically overloaded) term ‘New Man’ was not always explicitly used and had certainly fallen out of fashion by the second half of the 20th century. We have nevertheless opted to use it for this later period as well since the need for large-scale social engineering and the creation of the right type of citizen remained, and occupied a prominent position in late colonial and post-colonial nation-building projects. The methods, goals and relevant categories were transformed but also exhibit continuities that make a comparative exploration worthwhile. Read more … (PDF)