ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

The Acts of the Ecumenical Councils of Late Antiquity include (purportedly) verbatim minutes of the proceedings, a formal framework and copies of relevant documents which were either (allegedly) read out during the proceedings or which were later attached to the Acts proper. Despite this unusual wealth of documentary evidence, the daunting nature of the Acts demanding multidisciplinary competency, their complex structure with a matryoshka-like nesting of proceedings from different dates, and the stereotype that their contents bear only on Christological niceties have deterred generations of historians from studying them. Only in recent years have their fortunes begun to improve, but this recent research has not always been based on sound principles: the recorded proceedings of the sessions are still often accepted as verbatim minutes. Yet even a superficial reading quickly reveals widespread editorial interference. We must accept that in many cases the Acts will teach us less about the actual debates than about the editors who shaped their presentation. This does not depreciate the Acts’ evidence: on the contrary, they are first-rate material for the rhetoric of persuasion and self-representation. It is possible, in fact, to take the investigation to a deeper level and examine in what manner the oral proceedings were put into writing: several passages in the Acts comment upon the process of note-taking and the work of the shorthand writers. Thus, the main objective of the proposed research project could be described as an attempt to trace the destinies of the Acts’ texts, from the oral utterance to the manuscript texts we have today. This will include the fullest study on ancient transcript techniques to date; a structural analysis of the Acts’ texts with the aim of highlighting edited passages; and a careful comparison of the various editions of the Acts, which survive in Greek, Latin, Syriac and Coptic, in order to detect traces of editorial interference.

1 497 250 €

Start date: 2016-05-01, End date: 2021-04-30

The goals are 1. To develop a scale assessing the diversity of active ageing with four dimensions that are ability (what people can do), activity (what people do do), ambition (what are the valued activities that people want to do), and autonomy (how satisfied people are with the opportunity to do valued activities); 2. To examine health and physical and psychological functioning as the determinants and social and build environment, resilience and personal skills as modifiers of active ageing; 3. To develop a multicomponent sustainable intervention aiming to promote active ageing (methods: counselling, information technology, help from volunteers); 4. To test the feasibility and effectiveness on the intervention; and 5. To study cohort effects on the phenotypes on the pathway to active ageing. “If You Can Measure It, You Can Change It.” Active ageing assessment needs conceptual progress, which I propose to do. A quantifiable scale will be developed that captures the diversity of active ageing stemming from the WHO definition of active ageing as the process of optimizing opportunities for health and participation in the society for all people in line with their needs, goals and capacities as they age. I will collect cross-sectional data (N=1000, ages 75, 80 and 85 years) and model the pathway to active ageing with state-of-the art statistical methods. By doing this I will create novel knowledge on preconditions for active ageing. The collected cohort data will be compared to a pre-existing cohort data that was collected 25 years ago to obtain knowledge about changes over time in functioning of older people. A randomized controlled trial (N=200) will be conducted to assess the effectiveness of the envisioned intervention promoting active ageing through participation. The project will regenerate ageing research by launching a novel scale, by training young scientists, by creating new concepts and theory development and by producing evidence for active ageing promotion

2 044 364 €

Start date: 2016-09-01, End date: 2021-08-31

In the past decades, there has been a considerable rise in the number of apologies offered by states for injustices and human rights violations. Among transitional justice scholars, there is significant debate about how useful such apologies are. Whereas some have applauded these gestures as an important step in peacemaking processes, others have argued that they may not fit in all cultures and may even be a risky tool for peacemaking. Unfortunately, theorizing and research in the field of transitional justice is still in its infancy and has not systematically addressed questions of cross-cultural variability yet. So, at present, we do not know whether political apologies are a universally viable way to restore justice and harmony. My project addresses this challenge. Using an innovative, interdisciplinary, and multi-method approach with in-depth interviews, (experimental) surveys, and content analyses of apologies, I analyze whether there are universals in how political apologies are valued, expressed, and interpreted or whether this varies as a function of cross-cultural differences in key values (collectivism and individualism) and norms (face and honor). Based on these findings, I build a theoretical framework that will fundamentally advance our understanding of the potential value and role of apologies in transitional justice processes. This project breaks new ground because it is the first to take the difficult step to collect cross-cultural data to examine whether key assumptions regarding political apologies hold across cultures. It is also the first in this area to use a multi-method approach, which makes it possible to take into account the complex reality of political apologies. Combining insights from transitional justice, cross-cultural psychology and anthropology, this project places theorizing on transitional justice on a much firmer footing and paves the way to more cross-culturally valid models to restore justice and promote reconciliation.

1 917 713 €

Start date: 2016-09-01, End date: 2021-08-31

Development economists and policymakers often face scenarios in which poor people do not make choices that would help them get out of poverty due to an “aspiration failure”: the poor perceive certain goals as unattainable and do not invest towards those goals, thus perpetuating their own state of poverty. The aim of this proposal is to improve our understanding of the relationship between aspirations and socio-economic outcomes of disadvantaged individuals, in order to answer the question: Can we design policy interventions that shift aspirations in a way that is conducive to development? In addressing the above question a fundamental role is played by social norms and by the ability of individuals to coordinate on “new” aspirations, hence the analysis of social effects is a salient feature of this proposal. The proposed research is organized in two workpackages. The first focuses on the media as a vehicle for changing aspirations, examining both commercial TV programs and “educational entertainment”. The second workpackage examines “tailored” interventions designed to address specific determinants of aspiration failures (e.g., psychological support to reduce perceived barriers; inter-racial interaction to change stereotypes; institutional reform to strengthen women’s rights and reduce the gender aspiration gap). The methodology will involve rigorous evaluation of several interventions directly designed to or indirectly affecting aspirations and social norms. Original data collected through survey work, large administrative datasets and media content analysis will be used. The results of this project will advance our knowledge on the sources of aspiration failures by poor people and on the interplay between aspirations and social norms, eventually opening the avenue for a new array of anti-poverty policies.

1 618 125 €

Start date: 2016-11-01, End date: 2021-10-31