Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 79 No. 4, 2009.
Review article
The Culture of Walls – the Past and Continuity? Down with the Wall! Long Live the Wall! – Twenty Years Later
Ivan Cifrić
; Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
In honour of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the author deals with the question of the socio-cultural meaning of the »wall«. The fall of the wall did no mark the end of all walls in modern mankind. Throughout the history of civilisation various walls were raised. On a theoretical level we start from the theory that during the ‘Modern’ era »cultural walls« were raised while in post-modern times the foundations of »culture were not placed without walls« and even aft er the fall of the Berlin Wall cultural walls continued to exist. New walls are being raised in Europe and the
world – cultural walls are being reproduced.
On a practical level, several explanations are off ered for the notion of walls – i.e. limitations – and so we can speak of physical, cultural, religious, ideological, mental, visible and invisible walls. Walls serve to separate and limit. The fall of the Berlin Wall is symbolic of the end of statehood ideology which for some (transition countries)
meant freedom as well as a diffi cult capitalistic and democratic beginning. For Europe (EU), particularly Germany, this meant the continuation of unifi cation but also opening a space for expansion of world imperators particularly through cultural imperialism.
Croatia’s independence is not in direct relation to its fall.
Keywords
Berlin Wall; culture of walls; system; values; transition
Hrčak ID:
45135
URI
Publication date:
18.12.2009.
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