engleski

Emotions as a source of stereotypical views in Ragusan diplomatic records

People expressed their emotions in the past as we are today, and their effects had a tremendous impact on shaping social relationships and forming stereotypes about Others in the sphere of high politics. My talk is focused on the study of manipulative strategies behind the expression of emotions towards individuals and groups shaped by Ragusan political authorities in the late medieval and the early modern period. These strategies played an important role in achieving foreign policy objectives on the one hand, and on the other, the beliefs about Others had a significant role in shaping the reciprocal decisions between specific groups and individuals. The conscious production of stereotypes based on specific emotions and the goals that those cognitive strategies were designed to achieve is of particular interest. Such a defined research framework will reveal the moral, socio-political, and religious values of the Ragusan ruling elite. In this study emotions are seen as "carriers of information", and utterances with the power to change social and political realities. Stereotypes were created on a basis of various emotional expressions which influenced international relations and sometimes had long-term historical consequences. The emotions examined are solely those arising from the Ragusan diplomatic records. The view from the other angle, that is the stereotypes formed about Ragusan noblemen are left aside on this occasion. However, these attitudes will be discussed partially in those cases when the same negative emotions among the studied groups were mutually expressed. Similarly, the interpretation will not entirely exclude the formation of beliefs regarding the self-identity shaped by Dubrovnik`s political authorities. Emotions, prejudice, stereotypes, beliefs, and goal-oriented actions all correlate, and in my talk, I will highlight their mutual causal relationship using several case studies preserved in sources kept in Dubrovnik's state archive.

Dubrovnik ; Late Medieval Period ; Emotions ; Stereotype

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