Category: society

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Multilingual aging

Some myths, for example about the effects of multilingual competencies on brain health, continue to hunt people. The proponents of a monolingual world are widespread and have in some countries fatal historical heritage. The study by researchers  (Amoruso et al. 2025) use data from 86.000 persons in Europe  (SHARE Database, waves 1-9) from several countries. They show the better aging of brains for bilingual persons and even more so for persons practicing multilingual 2+ languages. The “domain-independent protective effect of multilingualism” for healthy brain aging is very robust and works after statistical accounting for other potentially intervening factors like socioeconomic or institutional factors. Some known stressors like migration, however, which operate often as psychosocial stressor, can have similar negative effects just as alcohol consumption and sleep disruption. Multilingualism and the correlate of multiculturalism keep a brain “on its toes” and contribute significantly to our healthy brains.  

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Classic Farces

Molière’s theatre pieces were popular pieces. Born with the name Jean-Baptiste Poquelin and son of a rich “tapissier” of the rue Saint-Honoré in Paris, he made a tough choice to devote his life to touring as a ”farceur” and comedian, having studied also law in Orléans before. Only after his first successful performances, farces and theatre plays, he could afford to buy the theâtre du Palais Royal, despite a bankruptcy about 20 years earlier with his own theatre. The much later title “Troupe du Roi” (of Louis XIV) and a pension by the King assured a financial and political independence rarely found in this period of classic theatre.
Molière’s “Les fourberies de Scapin” was written towards the end of his life and as a classic farce in the 17th century. The story is full of funny scenes and witty dialogues, which make it a great “intergenerational” theatre play even today. The plot about the institution of marriage addresses a cleaving social and legal construct “marriage”, which continues to excite all generations and across centuries.
(Source: Histoire de la littérature française XVII siècle. Robert Horville  in (Georges Décote series editor)

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Sociology in Theatre

Thanks to the inspiring direction by Denis Podalydès of Molière’s “Les fourberies de Scapin” we can experience the fruitful application of sociology to classical theatre production. This combination of thoughts has been performed at the “Comédie Française” for more than 7 years in 2025-11. The accompanying booklet of the performance mentioned the ample inspiration of Denis Podalydès by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Personalities in Molière’s theatre are represented as incarnations of the “habitus” each character stands for. Such an interpretation of the roles in the theatre play, raises awareness about the subtle differences between personalities. Even two rich men may differ in their habitus, because their fortunes are of different size or kind, yet they may share even more personality traits. Molière was a particularly crafted author, director and actor to stage such subtle differences, which are embedded into societies often across generations.  

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Philosophy of Voyage

In an interview Claude Lévi-Strauss described himself as a philosopher of voyage. The excursions which lasted sometimes several months to live with indigenous people and study their languages, habits and culture became a scientific field of its own called social anthropology. He travelled with his wife and wrote down hundreds of notes and collected items. Only years later the concept of stuctural theory became evident to him. A voyage might go on after the end of traveling. It might start well before departure as well, not the least due to all the preparations. Colette, the French writer and polyartist, coined the phrase “ce qu’on sait faire, au fond, c’est de la route, ce  n‘est pas du voyage ” in the novel « La chatte ». In the pre- and immediate post 2WW years “taking to the roads” often had a gendered view of this with women being rare to hold a driver’s license. To “find meaning through voyages” or “the voyage is the meaning” fill whole libraries. For better or worse, travel books are still best selling books in a shrinking overall book market (less print books sold, but still higher value of sales).   

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Colette The Cat

The novel “The Cat” (La chatte) was written by Colette with a view on the emancipation of women. The main character “Camille” freshly married to her husband is terribly jealous of the cat 🐈‍⬛ of her husband Alain. In order to deal with this situation she dropped the cat from a window in a moment of anger. As her husband seemed ready to divorce her due to this incident she claimed that her husband defended higher moral standards for the cat than for her psychological wellbeing. The novel certainly raises the issue of hierarchy of rights and duties. The moral dilemma highlights the schism of animal rights and/versus human rights. This specific issue seems to be resolved in the modern context, where both animal and human rights are protected in parallel. On a more abstract level, however, our relationship with animals and nature requires us to balance the rights and relationships again and again.

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Polypharmacy issues

As we age, we become more likely to confront polypharmacy issues. Polypharmacy is defined as taking 5 or more medications per day. The study reported in The Lancet healthy longevity by Payne et al. 2025 had participants with a median of 4 health conditions and a median of 8 prescriptions. Even a comprehensive set up which involved several experts from medical doctors and pharmacists did not manage to achieve a significant improvement in polypharmacy outcomes in this experimental study with otherwise carefully matched intervention and control group. However, the mental health (measured in patients as “health-care-related quality of life”) slightly increased and the “treatment burden” experienced by patients was slightly reduced.
In combination with a previous study the probability of errors in nurses, who are the prime persons responsible for the administration of medications in institutionalized settings, the reduction of potentials for errors like they are to be found in polypharmacy should continue to be a prime target of this research in future. Together with the knowledge about the prevalence of functional illiteracy at older ages, polypharmacy remains a critical issue on the public health agenda beyond the experimental settings in this study.

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Opera design

France celebrates 150 years of the National Opera Garnier in Paris. The exhibition in the splendid building traces the history of the building from the competition for the design to the legendary performances and celebrities attending. The stairs outside and even more so inside are built to enhance the glamour around operas and dance. The drawings by Garnier are a highlight as much as the videos about celebrities walking up the stairs of an Opera building.
Charles de Gaulle, as many French Presidents before, dressed and took the famous stairs to impress the official invitees. The image of de Gaulle together with Konrad Adenauer is another interesting example of opera politics showing the authentic friendship after the fierce fighting of the 2 WW, the Nazi-terror and Shoa.
The design of the Paris Opera 150 years ago made for an impressive ritual performance of state diplomacy enhancing international reputation.
(Images: 150 years of Opera Garnier Paris – 3 designs, winning design by Garnier on the right).

 

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Colette nature narratives

In the 21st century we know that posting images of cats and dogs yields thousands of likes on the digital social media. Long before today, writers have tried to make us understand our existence through the narratives among animals, also beyond cats and dogs.
Embedded in nature, stories unfolded through the interaction of these animals. Transfigurations and lessons were derived from such fables as well as the tales constructed around the interaction of nature, animals and humans. The commemoration of Colette in the park of the Palais Royal in Paris combines all those aspects.
She grew up in the countryside, wrote “La Chatte” and lived in an apartment at the Palais Royal with a splendid view of the park later in her life.
It is a tiny spot of cultivated nature in the heart of Paris, even a bit isolated from the busy surroundings. Certainly, these days in the centre of Paris you are more likely to meet “Aristocats”, maybe from the 5 star hotels around, rather than the ordinary cat passing by.
(Image, bench in park of Palais Royal, Paris: inscription is a citation from Colette 1925 letter)

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AI as individualizer

In a one pager in the journal “Rolling Stone” (2025, p. 9) Bruno Patino writes about the legendary David Bowie who was the first rock musician to launch a new song on the internet before it became available as CD (Telling Lies, 1996). As a pioneer in co-creation, Bowie anticipated somehow the trend and wish of people to personalize preferred songs even further and distribute such versions among friends. In this process, AI has become a powerful tool to push individualization even further and the digital social media allow even broader audiences beyond a more narrow circle of friends. Music maybe setting the trend  for some in the same field, other creative fields might follow the footsteps. The need to co-create collective experiences and participate in collective musical moments is likely to rise again as well.
Good news for music festivals across the world. Live concerts are the new form “collective individualism”.

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Colette Home

  1. The home of Colette, the French writer of the first half of the 20th century, is an interesting example of the high attributed value for her later creative career. The home and the gardens around, seemingly had a huge and lasting impact on her imagination.Her writings are firmly embedded into not just her home of childhood and adolescent years, but also the changoof homes and contexts literally made Colette. The documentation of this in the “Musée Colette”, which presents the different phases of her life course, allows to get a better understanding of the interconnected world of experiences and artistic work. It takes an especially broad set of influences to form such a polyartist. The libretto for an opera orchestrated by Maurice Ravel or a model for Matisse, stand for the openness to new experiences and take risks when she embarked on new creative endeavors. (Image Musée Collette catalog p. 6)  

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Digital Social Networks

Social networks have become the place to be. The need to distinguish the digital social networks from the social networks of people in the analog or “real” world is important, as we realize that many young persons seem to suffer from loneliness despite a hundred personal links in the digital social networks. This paradox of digital and non-digital social networks needs careful attention of researchers because of the opportunities and risks involved in the transferability of contacts from one network to another.
There is s a kind of “conversion rate” of digital contacts into face-to-face contacts and even purchases for marketing purposes in the world of business. The sociology of the virtual has to deal with these paradoxical social relationships and study the increasing phenomenon of being «alone together». Increasingly we are alone, but together. Over the life course this phenomenon and the digital social network paradox change as well.
To research such a topic we need rather intrusive, personal data and access to the digital traces of people as they construct and deconstruct either form of social networks. 

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Social Anthropology

Dina Dreyfus, married several years to Claude Lévi-Strauss, has shared with Claude the long anthropological expedition to Brazil in the 1930s. They jointly studied the social organization of indigenous people across Brazil. Their abundant notes of field studies have now been digitized and the BNF is making this accessible.
Additionally, an exhibition on these field studies reveals the close collaboration of both partners. Returning to France in 1939 meant that soon after the return due to their Jewish decent had to interrupt their academic careers in France and some notebooks were lost during the Nazi occupation of France. After the war both separated and Claude Lévi-Strauss embarked on the drafting of the structuralist theory, Dina became influential in the field of the philosophy of education and teaching philosophy herself.
Besides all these lasting achievements, the exhibition shows the typewriter which had accompanied them for many years. The German language layout is quite remarkable as this asked for an additional mental versatility in putting their thoughts and experiences into the form of a manuscript. According to Claude Lévi-Strauss the use of this technical device allowed him to detach himself emotionally from his analytical work.
(Image: Exhibit: typewriter Claude Lévi-Strauss, BNF 2025-10)

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Modernist Urban planning

Saint Augustin in Brussels is one of the lesser known defining architectures in Brussels. It is visible from far away much beyond the immediate surroundings. Situated on Altitude 100 it is on the highest hill in Brussels with a 58 meters high Campanile built out of concrete in 1933 in a predominantly art nouveau style. The order of the St. Augustines in the center of Brussels was terminated and at the outskirts of Brussels as a new city suburb was being built starting in the late 19th century An appropriate way to demonstrate continuity despite discontinuity was the placement of the church in the middle of a roundabout and a star-like organisation of roads des descending from the top. The form of an equal length (orthodox) cross is in the spirit of the unity of the Christian churches. Even despite the prominent and exposed situation, most people pass by with little concern for the innovative, architectural features of this edifice. (Image: View from capanile St Augustin Brussels). On a small scale this urban planning concept resembles the Paris of the « Arc de Triomphe » and the views and corridors which we designed and implemented.

 

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Embedded Artists

The Brussels districts have their specific identities. 

The Forêt district is reconfiguring itself rapidly. In addition to the Modern Art Gallery Wiels, It hosts a multitude of diverse artists. Many of them opened their doors to the public as part of the 4 days of Parcours 1190. It turned out to be a truly Inclusive experience in the broadest sense possible. The immersive experience of seeing the work and the artists, some of them in their private homes, created a sense of an embedded connection to their work and personalities. The artists are embedded in the district around them nd the people of the district might feel a bit more connected to the artists surrounding them. The artist has integrated the pink poster of parcour1190 into one of his works under the overarching theme of inclusion. Social inclusion can take many forms, The Brussels district Forêt has added new dimensions to it. (Image entry to Hassan Bouzougarh‘s exhibition on 2025-10-5, Brussels Forêt). 

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Deus ex machina

The term “deus ex machina” used to be applied more in its figurative meaning. With the rise of digital tools like chatbots, facilitated and enhanced through AI, God is speaking to us not only in multiple languages, but also from our pockets through our smartphones and headsets. This is a rather recent form of “deus ex machina”, which we did not expect some years ago. The bible as e-book or pdf-file has been around for some decades, but only more recently we can enter conversations with God through chatbots as another version of “deus ex machina “ about almost everything (and pay for it via digital credit card). Programming of such an AI-tool is easily achieved. AI will prepare a weekly or daily sermon or prayer for you, following your predilections of your favourite quotes of the bible. An interesting twist to the programming is to use authorized as well as unauthorized translations of the bible across several centuries.
Another interesting enlargement of the input data base is the inclusion of interpretations and discussions not only within your own religious community, but beyond. Maybe the discussion of several different religious chatbots with each other could prevent aggressions due to differences in basic beliefs. These “dei ex machina” might further our understanding of what makes us humans different from machines and machine-based solutions of human conflicts.
As genetic clones of ourselves have become already technically more feasible, our digital alter-egos (the comprehensive collection of traces in the internet and digital images, plus social scoring) help to empower those “dei ex machina”.
This kind of “Brave New World” asks us to be rather brave ourselves.
(Image: interior St Denis Basilique Cathedral Paris 2024)

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Inclusive images

In the last 2 decades we can observe a strong concern among photographers to broaden the spectrum covered by images beyond well established imagery of non-binary gender. Diversity in imagery has taken a broader scope to extend, for example, the age range of people who are portrayed as central topic of exhibitions. The topic of mental diversity is more recent and needs a similar or even increased sensitivity to do justice to the whole spectrum of people. The photography of people with mental challenges necessitates a much more careful approach to the persons and complex personalities the photographer intends to portray. Trust and the development of trust of more vulnerable persons is a time sensitive process. The work by Charlotte Abramow “Maurice, Tristesse et rigolade” is a fine example of a photographer who portrayed over a long time of taking care of her father, previously a medical doctor, The years of the final stages of the life course of her father have been the subject over many years as the survivor of an extended medical coma had to struggle with the tough challenge of re-learning basic life skills again.
Abramow portrays her father as an actor of his “second life”, where the borders between reality, reconfigurations of his memories,   and “mise en scene” to co-produce the images. The images go far beyond the portrayal of aging and mental challenges as a deficit of persons. Yes, it is an integral part of these persons, but there is so much fun and positive emotions that derive from the intensive collaboration of actor, father and photographer that the images stick with us for a longer time. The presentation of props along with the photos creates an immersive installation, which strengthens the emotional bonding with the inclusive images of the later phase of the life course of Maurice.

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Marc Aurel critics

In the literature on and about Marc Aurel (Brenan 1882, pp. 484) the end of the ancient world is mentioned frequently. This refers to the beginning of the end of the Roman empire and the rise of Christianity to be become more influential. What caused the decline? The nepotism in the governance structure through the placement of family members to influential positions and as successor alienated many followers who previously believed in the high moral standards advocated by Marc Aurel.
Justifications of superiority by social origin are standard at the time of writing, but Marc Aurel did not see the potential of a more equitable distribution of offices. Women were relegated to subordinate or no public positions and are not mentioned with respect to  the importance of reasoning or social competence either, none but one in his acknowledgements (Book 1). The discrepancy between the formulation of virtues as well as ideal standards versus own practices of hierarchical leadership, recourse to slavery and brutal upholding of the empire should not go unmentioned.

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Marc Aurel Book 11

Throughout the Meditations, Marc Aurel concerns himself with the idea and importance of the common good. Based on his experience as Consul and Roman Emperor, the common good is of primary concern. At least in his thinking and writing these concerns play a very prominent role just like the “social“. In order to ensure his own successor, as described by Katherine Kennedy (2020 through www.classicalwisdom.com) he was only the 2nd Roman Emperor  to appoint a biological heir as his successor, which met a lot of criticism already at that time. Nevertheless, in his philosophical thinking and leadership guidelines he cherished the common good above all. “Have I done something for the common good? Then I too have benefited. Have this thought always ready to hand: and no stopping.” (Book 11 paragraph 4, Penguin Classics edition). This is in contrast to the predominant utilitarian thoughts many centuries later where the pursuit of your own benefit will further the benefit for society. The reversal of the logical sequence in later thoughts is particularly remarkable as well. The process of individualisation seems to be another additional factor in the lack of concern for the common good in the 21st century. Raising the awareness to further the common good is a continued challenged in most societies.

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Marc Aurel Book 8-9

In book 7 paragraph 38 the stoic wisdom is exemplified in the the the short phrase „If you have sharp sight, use it: but, as the poet says, add wise judgment“. Being sharp in your reasoning or data collection is only part of the human endeavor. A wise judgement is, however, an ambitious aim as judgments have different short term and long term consequences. Intergenerational considerations as for climate change ask for respect of other species, biodiversity and to take into account very long time horizons.  The quote from book 8 paragraph 5 appears very modern or post-modern in this context. „There can often be wrongs of omission as well as commission.“ (both citations from Penguin Classics edition) Not acting on behalf of future generations and disappearing species is the most crying omission of our time.

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Marc Aurel Book 7

In paragraph 63 Marc Aurel refers to Plato as one of his sources: “No soul”, says Plato, “likes to be robbed of truth” ( and continues himself) “– and the same holds of justice, moderation, kindness, and all such virtues. Essential that you should keep this constantly in your mind: this will make you more gentle to all.” The remarkable reasoning is to transform the own generalized experience into a behavioural recommendation. It may be argued that Marc Aurel starts from a kind of Aristotelian empirical study of persons in different life domains to derive an empirical fact. Based on this he develops a more Plato inspired “idealistic picture of mankind”. He is very much preoccupied with the philosophical question, how is a good life for all possible. In a previous paragraph (55) he outlined his 3 guiding fundamentals: (1) “The main principles in a man’s constitution is the social; (2)… resistance to the promptings of the flesh, like impulses; (3) judgement unhurried and undeceived”.
With such a claim for a “rational constitution” of man, he puts himself into the footsteps of previous philosophers of the ancient Greek tradition and, therefore, his writing in Greek rather than Latin is also a homage to this philosophical heritage.
(Image: parts of Installation by Fujiko Nakaya in Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin 2025)

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Marc Aurel Book 2-5

There are several translations of Marc Aurel. In the Shakespeare English translation from the Greek original of the Meditations a passage (Book 5 paragraph XXIII) describes or idealises humans as a “reasonable and sociable creature, regulated and directed.” The same short quote of this paragraph in the English translation by Martin Hammond (Penguin Classics p.43) reads: “…my wish is to follow the nature of a rational and social being.” Of course, both translations are pretty similar at first glance, but the difference of “reasonable” versus “rational” and “sociable” versus social” mark very important differences that had and have different impacts throughout the following centuries up to today. As in many other instances going back to the original version in Greek (book link) might clarify the issue, however, the entry barrier is access to the bilingual version and use of an ancient Greek dictionary.
With almost 2000 years of advances in rational approaches and its tools like mathematics, the scope of the rational is huge and the behavioural turn in the social sciences demonstrates the limitations of human’s use of rationality (λογικός) in decision-making. Reasonable seems to come closer in today’s “post-enlightenment” world.
There is also quite a divergent connotation in the simply “sociable” (κοινωνικός) being or the “social” being, which has a wider scope attached to it. Hence, lets be aware of the implicit interpretations of translations. For a start the parallel reading of translation and original (Link) might enhance our understanding and spur even new translations and interpretations, which speak with the classic originals to today’s audiences (with or without AI).
A witty joinder of both previous translations is “And my will is the will of a reasonable and social being”. (Link Book V, paragraph 29 bottom).
From the Greek to French in book V (Link)  with an even broader understanding of the social as “la société universelle”.

(Image: Camille Claudel 1905: “Persée et la Gorgone, Lucile Audouy collection Paris, exhibited in Berlin 2025, Alte Nationalgalerie)

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Marc Aurel Book 1

The reading of Marc Aurel’s Meditations in its Book 1 offers first of all his acknowledgments of people who had a lasting impact on him or offered learnings to him. He presented these learnings or take-home lessons as we call this nowadays in a style of “positive psychology”. This means writes about the positive influences and which kinds of positive behaviors he saw in living examples of others and which he felt were particularly worthy of general consideration. In philosophical retrospect we might read the book 1 as a list of “categorical imperatives” which would make a decent life feasible for all. His acknowledgments start with 1 line on his grandfather (decency and mild temper), 2 lines on his biological father (integrity and manliness), 3 lines on his mother (piety, generosity, avoidance of wrongdoing and simplicity of living), but 4 lines on his tutor, even more on other advisers, 20+ on his adoptive father, which is more than on “the gods”.  All these experiences impregnated him with a sense for a “ruler’s responsibility for the common good”. (p.8). The stoic virtue lies in the extensive list of positive contributions from others to make him the rather unique philosopher and emperor.

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Chatbot Me

Chatbots are helpful to allow queries to larger data sets like the blog entries here. So here is a try of a Chatbot to query all entries on AI using ChatGPT to create a Chatbot that uses and references it source from www.schoemann.org/tag/ai and the AI reader in pdf-format.
Please send me an email if the hallucinations of this Chatbot 1.0 on AI from a social science perspective are giving strange results. I’ll get back to you. Please use at your own risk as I cannot guarantee for all answers. The usual disclaimer applies here.

ChatGPT proposed the following set of Questions and Answers on the blog for an entry into the chat: Example Q&A with the chatbot

Q: What are the social science concerns with AI?
A: Bias in results, job shifts, democracy risks, privacy, and new inequalities.

Q: What does the text say about reinforcement learning?
A: It’s seen as the next step for AI: focusing on learning and reasoning, not just predicting text. It also uses fewer resources.

Q: How are robots described in the document?
A: Robots are mostly assistants. They can follow people or carry small items, but more complex tasks need sensors and AI training.

Q: What about biased results?
A: Studies can be misleading if control groups are flawed. AI faces the same challenge — social scientists warn: “handle with care”.

Q: What is Schoemann’s blog view on AI?
A: He links AI to energy use, fairness, and its role in the “all-electric society” — stressing efficiency and responsibility.

More on the chatbot (in testing phase) and the Link to the coding help received from ChatGPT on this mini-test-project :
https://chatgpt.com/share/68c1d160-0cc0-8003-bf04-991b9e7c3b24

 

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Marc Aurel AI

In the 21st century it is possible to chat with Marcus Aurelius. Part of the exhibition at the Simeonstift is a chatbot you may freely consult and questions with or about Marc Aurel. Based on your questions the animated screen image of Marc Aurel will reply based on his own writings like the Meditations and (probably) other secondary literature on Marc Aurel. Questions about feminism or slavery are answered based on the original texts. Some of these answers  appeared rather modern like the basic equality of all including women or slaves. The Meditations are an idealistic vision of mankind in the stoic tradition. In practice such ideals have proven very ambitious for the many and growing temptations in the day-to-day lives of ordinary people including their political, religious, business and military leaders. The AI is confronted with the issue to give answers to ethical questions which refer to the time of the author, but not all can apply to today’s ethical standards and basic human rights. Reading the original source, therefore, remains the preferred choice. 

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Marc Aurel Philosopher

2025-9 marks an additional landmark in the achievements of the late Marc Aurel. In the Roman built city of Trier, 3 museums offer exhibitions on the life, ideas and imperial governance style of Marc Aurel. Libraries and bookshops around the city portray a wealth of books and studies by and about Marc Aurel as well in many languages (image below 2025-9). The stoic author and practitioner has served as an example of a leadership style which became for many subsequent leaders a hard-to-achieve precedent. The writing style of Marc Aurel in short paragraphs and aphorisms proved highly accessible, although his readership swell only after a Latin translation of his Greek original appeared in the 16th century. The title “Meditations” in English, “Pensées pou moi-même” in French or “Selbstbetrachtungen” in German demonstrate the difficulty to get to grips with the author’s intention and objectives in writing down these reflections on life, ethics, humanity and good governance. Through the use of Greek rather than Latin he puts himself in the line of Greek philosophers rather than the succession of Roman emperors. As the numbers of bad leaders still outnumber the good governance style advocated by Marc Aurel, these exhibitions in the Simeonstift, the Landesmuseum and the Stadtbibliothek are a perfect opportunity to demonstrate that good governance is something that can be studied and learned even in the distant Roman history.  

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Vacation or Workation

Vacation or Workation, that is the question. Remote work and outsourcing of work have  created the opportunity for more people to work from distant places. Logging into the firm’s or the administration’s secured intranet enabled to work from where you prefer to work rather than on the premises of the firm. After the technological shift to enable secure remote work, the acceptability of remote work is a societal issue. Whereas bosses worked or had to work while on travel for many decades, the same has become feasible due to reduced costs for many other employees as well. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced another shift in the need to accept and advance remote work as well. Taken together the option of a “workation” instead of a vacation became equally more feasible. The borderline between remote work, “workation” and vacation has become more and more blurred. It remains to be seen, whether these options enhance an outsourcing trend by firms or whether  more “back-sourcing” or “in-sourcing” will be the consequence.
Employers with their associations and employees with their trade union representatives have a need to include such topics in their bargaining agenda in addition to pay, health and safety, as well as working time adaptations.
(Image created with Canva 2025-9)

 

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Paris Sorbonne

The history of the university on the left bank of “La Seine” dates back to 1257 when Robert de Sorbon an advisor to Louis IX was asked to create a unifying structure of several colleges which provided room and board already. The location on the left bank in Paris allowed these colleges to escape the religious doctrines and archbishop who dominated the right bank. The choice of the name of the advisor rather than the King was already showing early signs of independence which was cherished by generations of students and professors. The Colleges had individual names like “Collège des Bernardins” or “Collège de Navarre” and operated under the title of “La Sobonne”. The “Musée Histoire de Paris Carnavalet” shows an early design of the Collège de Navarre. Independent thinkers and writers were formed there who became very influential later on in their careers. Thomas d’Aquin was one of them.

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liberté urbanité

In the museum of the history of Paris “Musée Histoire de Paris Carnavalet” we find a special place devoted to the commemoration of the terror attacks in Paris in the Bataclan event location and the office of the journal “Charlie Hebdo” (see image below”. The skateboard on the bottom left of the wall raises the value of “urbanité” next to liberté, égalité, fraternité. The attack of an urban living style with youth going out as they like and journalists and caricaturists speaking their minds freely had been attacked, but continues nevertheless. This statement is part of the Paris state of mind. 

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Home for dog

The places where some dogs live can be rather big. But even tiny dogs may enjoy a luxury home like their owners. This was certainly the case for the dog’s niche in a Paris home, a few years before the French revolution (1785). The exhibit is a testimony of the tough inequality of the late 18th century in Paris, where some enjoyed far reaching luxury and large parts of the population were forced to live in poverty within Paris or the suburbs with little access to basic sanitary facilities. The discrepancy between the luxurious homes of pets and the average person might serve as an indicator for income and health inequality. The Musée Histoire de Paris Carnavalet has a great stock of artifacts that can speak to the issue. Image: Musée Histoire de Paris Carnavalet dog niche 1785). 

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Emotional history

The making of emotional memories of a city is an art in itself. Many cities have professional photographers who accompany all major events in a city over years. Paris has had the chance that artist photographers and film makers have contributed greatly to the emotional history of the city. Agnès Varda was such a formidable person whose images and movies moved people and allowed to share emotions about the city’s busy and diverse neighborhoods. The « Musée Histoire de Paris Carnavalet » combines an autobiographic perspective with the emotional depiction of live in Paris from the 1950s onwards into the late 20th century. (Image: Agnès Varda, 1950 self-portrait, MEP Paris).