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Essay for "Confinement" (by Carsten Rees)
Erik Krause 2020-Apr-19 19:00:00
Confinement
The word originally derives from the Latin phrase: con fines ? with
borders or borderlines. It found its way into the English language via
the French word ?confinement?. The original meaning in 18th century
England was being ?unable to leave the house or bed from sickness or
childbirth".
The Wiktionary still lists two major meanings:
?1. The act of confining or the state of being confined.
2. (dated) Lying-in, time of giving-birth.?
Well point 1 is not really elucidating the word. Let?s see, whether
Wikipedia can help us further (cited from the English Wikipedia):
?Confinement may refer to
1. With respect to humans:
a. old-fashioned or archaic synonym for childbirth
b. Postpartum confinement (or postnatal confinement), a system of
recovery after childbirth, involving rest and special foods
c. Civil confinement for psychiatric patients
d. Solitary confinement, a strict form of imprisonment
2. The confinement of an animal specimen in a zoo
3. In physics:
a. Color confinement, the physical principle explaining the
non-observation of color charged particles like free quarks
b. Confinement of thermonuclear plasmas, as a requirement to obtain
fusion energy
c. Confinement of liquids by pores or similar
d. Quantum confinement?
So basically, it is all about borders, limits, limitations, cells, cages, ?
In the current Corona crisis, we use the word in a new, somewhat
ambiguous way ? referring to a milder form of quarantine. In some
countries a once milder form is gradually getting stricter.
Ambiguous?
For most of us this ?Confinement? cause as whole lot of problems: it
exerts limits on our freedom to move and diminishes our livelihood, ?
But this ?Confinement? at the same time aims at saving our health,
securing our survival.
That of course does not make the current situation easier. In Germany
some people are starting to use the word ?Lagerkoller? ? best being
translated as ?Camp Rage? ? to describe their emotional state after
being confined for weeks with 4 children, 3 cats, 2 dogs, 1 husband, ?
or the like.
This ambiguity is why there is an image of an old keep on the banner of
the event. A keep can keep you imprisoned ? it can also keep you save.
And for a positive end of this little essay one last thought: Yes, many
of us are confined. Some of us are experiencing the influence of
propaganda on either side of the former iron curtain, trying to use the
current crisis for their means. But still the words of an old song hold
true:
Libert? de Penser ? Die Gedanken sind frei ? Thoughts are free
Have a look at an Alsacian/International version (From 2015 ? Je suis
Charlie):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j54HIGk_AEI
These are special times ? it may not at all be easy for all of you to
take a panorama. But we are counting on your creativity for many
contributions to this event ?Confinement?.
--
Erik Krause
http://www.erik-krause.de
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The World-Wide Panorama
For more information:
-Visit the web site at http://worldwidepanorama.org
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