Thu-Fri, 31 May–1 June 2012

“Heimat” and Place
Prof. Edward S. Casey (SUNY Stony Brook)
Public Workshop und Public Lecture

Place: TU Dresden, Von-Gerber-Bau, Room 052 (External Event from TU Dresden)

In the public lecture, Edward S. Casey will address the question of the effective reality of international borders with particular reference to the U.S.-Mexico border, often referred to as “La Frontera.” Special attention will be paid to the specificities of the massive wall that has been built to demarcate and to protect this border. To analyze the
circumstance more adequately, Professor Casey will make use of a basic distinction between “border” and “boundary,” which enables us to gain a fresh understanding of the
dynamics now occurring at La Frontera. The paradoxes of being an invisible but fateful borderline will be investigated. The entire situation will also be discussed from the standpoint of transcendence and common sense – terms that have an unusual ability to illuminate this complex situation more adequately. Audience discussion and participation will be encouraged.

On the following day we will discuss at length Casey´s book “The Fate of Place - A Philosophical History.” In this book he shows that place, which is a basic concept of “Heimat,” long reigned as the supreme term in Western thought. In the modern age the natural scientific method relegates places to mere positions in space. However, the starting point of interpreting the world is not abstract space but “our own lived body.” In structure and function, our body is oriented, and so are all perception and consciousness. “We are never anywhere, anywhen, but in place.” One might say that the meeting point of the anthropological relations of place, time, and community (Gemeinschaft) could be called “Heimat.” Heimat always
has boundaries which one has to transcend but no borders. While boundaries invite being transcended, and in this way open Heimat, the closure by borders would destroy it.

You are kindly invited to discuss these questions during the public lecture as well as the workshop.

(Dr. Joachim Klose, Representative of the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation for the Free State of Saxony, Head of the Project Group “Heimat”)