Marburg, Germany - Course Descriptions - Water the Source of Life: Cultural and Ethnical Definitions of Water

Course Information

Contact Hours and Credits

Availability

Full Description

Water, the source of life, fundamentally influences the identity of peoples. Basic for many stories of creation, it is also a spiritual source for people. Waters addict limits of thoughts, cultures, lands, and countries and therefore protect men. At the same time waterways connect ethnic groups, describe trade routes, and are the way of freedom and return. Water bares the forces of nature and their control through men. Furthermore, people have learned to use the power of water. For centuries they have located villages at the shores of lakes and rivers, and until today the majority of mega cities are built by the waterside.

The inalienability of drinking water and waters as living space is indisputable. Hydropower gives energy, sewerage and freshwater systems seem to be the basis communities live on. Water shows the connection between the knowledge on the use of and the life with this source (fishing, seafaring, transition points, hygiene) and concepts of power in and between societies. Spiritually seen, religions and ethnic groups all over the world implicate womanhood, fertility, timelessness, temporality, and finiteness with the flow of water. It is the place of ancestry, transcendentalism and supernatural experiences.

The seminar is looking on different interpretations of the importance of water. Ethnical, cultural, religious, and gender aspects are going to be discussed and examined in the context of time and place.