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

https://hrcak.srce.hr/45135

Publication date:

18.12.2009.

Article data in other languages: croatian

Visits: 3.372 *