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Notes:
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L’estiu de 1990 moria a Amsterdam un dels sociòlegs més preeminents del segle XX, l’alemany
Norbert Elias. La seva vida i la seva obra, profundament imbricades, són un reflex de
la complexitat, de les llums i les ombres del segle passat. Amb aquesta proposta de retrat
intel·lectual pretenem per una banda commemorar l’efemèride dels 20 anys de la mort
d’un sociòleg poc reconegut i poc emprat. I d’altra banda, oferir una introducció a un
personatge i una obra que, per la seva magnitud i originalitat, mereixen estar entre les més
rellevants de la sociologia. Com a fil conductor de l’article proposem una combinació de
llocs físics i simbòlics que van marcar la seva trajectòria.
In the summer of 1990, one of the most eminent sociologists of the 20th century, the German
Norbert Elias, died in Amsterdam. His profoundly interwoven life and work are a reflection
of the complexity —the light and shade— of the last century. With this proposed intellectual
portrait, taking the opportunity of the twentieth anniversary of his death, we attempt
offer an introductory guide to a figure and a body of work which, because of its magnitude and
originality, undoubtedly deserves to be considered among the most important in sociology. As
the thread running through this portrait, we propose a combination of the physical and symbolic
places, spaces and people, events and connections that marked a long life and academic
career which was little known and largely unrecognised until his later years. It is a career which
undoubtedly constitutes one of the most outstanding and attractive legacies that the sociology
of the last century has passed on to new generations of social science researchers. |
