COGNITIVE CULTURE STUDIES

Cognitive Culture Studies aims at studying the relation between mind and culture and their mutual interdependence. The mind produces culture as much as it is shaped by it. How the mind reaches out to the world out there and how this world translates into meaning, this is the overall issue of this book.The eight chapters claim, examine and perform the possibility and necessity of intersecting the study of culture and cognition by introducing key concepts like ‘tacit knowledge’, ‘force dynamics’, ‘conceptual blending’ and ‘intramental translation’. They apply these concepts in the analyses of literary works, Walter Benjamin’s ninth thesis on history, the idea of Utopia and Christopher Columbus’ non-discovery of the New World, alluding in the last chapter to the practical consequences of tacit knowledge and intramental translation in the practice of intercultural communication. Introduction Chapter I Intersecting ‘Nature’ and ‘Culture’: How the Study of Culture Could Enhance Cognitive Science Chapter II “My Favourite Things”. The proximal term of tacit knowledge Chapter III Warburg and Jolles: a cognitive approach to the art of viewing and the art of reading Chapter IV Long waves or vanishing points? A cognitive approach to the literary construction of history Chapter V Force dynamics: mental structures for conflict or How Benjamin th/sought history Chapter VI Why Utopia is possible – and why not. Observations from Cognitive Culture Studies Chapter VII Intramental Translation. How culture shapes the mind or Why Columbus did not discover America Chapter VIII Culture, cognition and intercultural communication Bibliography Editorial Note